What is Personality Development ?

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

WHAT IS PERSONALITY?

Personality is the way we look, feel and behave. It is the totality of a person’s being – not merely the external appearance but also various other traits.
Personality includes the following:

• Character traits:
• Integrity: a person’s honesty in dealing with others, loyalty to one’s beliefs, value systems etc.
• Acceptance: by others who come into contact with a person, and recognizing and accepting them as a whole.
• Discipline: refers to a person’s disciplined approach to life and work.
• Dedication: refers to the commitment a person shows towards the achievement of individual as well as group goals.
• Behavioural traits:
• Interpersonal skills: the way a person develops and sustains interpersonal relations with all those he/she has dealings with – bosses, co-workers, fellow students, customers/clients, suppliers, private and government organisations.
• Communication skills: refer to the effective way a person communicates with others through various channels – writing, speaking, listening, and using positive body language.
• Leadership qualities: refer to the qualities which help a person behave in a leadership position – getting work done willingly, exercising participative leadership style, and be a role model by setting example.
• Team management: refers to the effectiveness with which a person demonstrates ability to build and manage team in order to achieve the desired goals and objectives.
• Stress management: the quality of keeping cool in stressful circumstances, identifying the factors causing stress, and finding solutions to reduce – if not eliminate altogether – the stressors.
• Attitudes:
• Positive attitude: be able to have a positive attitude even in the face of difficulties and impossible situations, and be willing to try out ideas in the face of obstacles and hardships.
• Win/Win situation: be able to negotiate and bring around the other person to an acceptable solution to a problem – thus creating a win/win situation for both the parties.
• Keep the end in mind: be able to focus on the ultimate end (goal) in mind bypassing the various problems that may crop up on the way.
• Synergize: be able to combine or work together in order to be more effective, or to make things or people do this.

TYPES OF PERSONALITY

There are several types of personality people have. Some of these are:

• Perfectionists: They are never satisfied till they achieve perfection. Sometimes people forget that there is nothing which can be absolutely ‘perfect’; it may be rather very close to the idea of being perfect. Such people are usually a source of stress for themselves as well as for others working with them. However, such people cannot be categorically criticized for aiming at total perfection as they tend to achieve excellent results.
• Helpers: They are always willing to help others in times of need – with guidance, advice, resources etc.
• Romantics: They are sometimes called dreamers and think of innovative ideas which sometimes people think are impractical. But sometimes the craziest idea can lead to a wonderful new design, product or service. Quite often the world moves on the shoulders of dreamers! If we can’t dream, we can’t think, we can’t imagine, we may not be able to act on some new idea.
• Achievers: These are the people who are determined to achieve what they have planned for. They put all their efforts in performing to their utmost capacity, show dedication to the task in hand, and ultimately reach their goal. It is the expected sense of achievement that propels such people.
• Asserters: These people neither remain passive nor aggressive in any situation. They rather assert their rights, respect the rights of others, and have the innate ability to convince others and thus elicit cooperation from all.
• Questioners: They are ‘Doubting Toms.’ They question everybody’s opinion, behaviour, ideas, way of working etc., and quite often are dissatisfied with the outcome. Others quite often misunderstand such people and consider them to be obstacles to progress.
• Adventurers: They are ever ready to take risks in order to reach their goal. No risk is too big for them, and so they believe in experimentation with an adventurous spirit.
• Observers: There are some who are great observers of people and things around them. They visibly – or surreptitiously sometimes – observe people, events, things, environment etc., and are often a source of important information which others might not have noticed. Quite often such people are good at analysing things, events, people etc.
• Peacemakers: They avoid confrontational situations, and always take initiative in making peace with different parties who may be at loggerheads with each other.

We cannot say that every individual can be categorized into only one of these. More often than not, we have several characteristics common to the above-mentioned types. However, one particular characteristic may be dominant in one person, and another in the other person. So which one are you? Think about it!

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

Personality development means enhancing and grooming one’s outer and inner self in order to bring about a positive change to their life. Each individual has a distinct personality that can be polished, refined and developed.

IMPORTANCE OF PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

Personality development is gaining more and more importance because it enables people to create a good impression about themselves on others. It helps them to build and develop relationships, helps in their career growth. Some people have particularly charismatic persona, while others are strong listeners and advice-givers. It is important to have the ability to build on and develop strengths, while at the same time acknowledging and working to improve on the weak points in your personality. After all, personality development is a tool that helps you realise your capabilities and your strengths making you a stronger, a happier and a successful person.

ELEMENTS OF PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

The following elements are crucial to the development of personality:

• Self-awareness;
• Goal setting;
• Creativity;
• Innovation;
• Human Values.

SELF-AWARENESS

It includes recognition of ‘self’ – your character, your strengths and weaknesses, desires, likes and dislikes. Developing self-awareness can help you recognize when you are stressed or feel under pressure. It is often a pre-requisite to effective communication and interpersonal relations, as well as for developing empathy with others. You need to think of these aspects:

• Self-concept:
• Attitude: to life, people, and work.
• Beliefs: political, moral.
• Values: moral, social, political, economic, community.
• Self-image: It is important to realise how you look at yourself. You need to know how others would view your image, and that is why you need to nurture it. In order to nurture your self-image you need to know how many ‘selves’ you have, and how you look after each.

They are:

• Material self:
• Your body: You have only one body so take care of it.
• Your possessions: You need to be concerned for keeping all the things in immaculate condition, e.g. car, bike, music system, air-conditioner, books, and any other things you own.
• Your home: This is where you and members of your family live and interact with each other. So you need to ensure a supportive and congenial environment.
• Social self:
• Interaction with others: Interaction with other people – family, friends, bosses, co-workers, neighbours – needs to be unbroken and effective.
• Relationships with people: A clear demarcation needs to be made with regard to your relationships at the social as well as the professional level. These relationships need to be nurtured over a period of time and sustained.
• Spiritual self: You need to be clear in your spiritual beliefs and your relationship with forces in the universe. You need to have the courage of conviction to stand by your beliefs and values.

In order to be clear in your perceptions you need to ask yourself:

• Who am I? What are my strengths and weaknesses? What are my priorities? How do I see myself? How do others see me?
• Who do I want to be? What are my short-term goals? What are my long-term goals? (In personal as well as professional life)
• How do I go about it? What steps do I need to take in order to achieve my goals? What resources are available to me? What more resources can I avail?

To understand all this, it would be beneficial if you do your SWOT Analysis.

SWOT ANALYSIS

SWOT is the acronym for ‘Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.’ It is in effect a distillation of all the steps and considerations that should be taken to know about your own self and take appropriate measures.

STRENGTHS

Answer these questions about yourself:

• What are the professional qualifications I have that make me stand out from others?
• What are my outstanding skills?
• What do others think about my strengths?

WEAKNESSES

List your weaknesses. (You may consult a close friend or a family member about them.):

• Do I have some undesirable habits?
• What do others think of my weaknesses?

OPPORTUNITIES

Think of the opportunities that are available and you can make use of:

• What technology and/or new knowledge can I use for improvement in my skills?
• What new skills can give me a competitive advantage over others?

THREATS

There are likely to be a number of threats that may pose obstacles to your progress. List them:

• Is someone doing better than me?
• Are new technologies threatening my progress?
• Are my personal traits preventing me from achieving my targets?
• What are the obstacles I am facing?

So do a SWOT analysis of yourself and know your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This exercise will help you to analyse yourself and prepare the ground to take corrective measures.

SWOT analysis



How can you use the results of your SWOT analysis?

• Focus on your strengths when:
• Writing your CV;
• Facing an interview;
• Aiming for promotion;
• Interacting with others.
• Be prepared for multi-tasking:
• In modern times doing just one task at a time is not enough. Learn to do multi-tasking at a time.
• Quite often several of them may be related to each other.
• Multi-tasking prepares you for a more responsible position in future.
• Pay attention to, and take suitable steps to:
• Work on your weaknesses and reduce them (if not eliminate them altogether).
• Work on changing your threats to opportunities you can explore and use to your advantage.

GOAL SETTING

Setting goals is a major step on the road to developing an engaging and fascinating personality. read about what is goal?, and types of goal and SMART goal, read here

CREATIVITY

It means to:

• Perceive the world in new ways;
• Find hidden pattern in things, situations and behaviours;
• Make connections with unrelated phenomena; and
• Generate solutions and act on them.

PROCESS OF CREATIVITY

There are two steps to creativity:

• Thinking: Think of an idea, an approach which is either different from others or altogether new.
• Producing: Convert your idea into action.

If you have ideas but do not act on them, you are imaginative but not creative.

INNOVATION

It is an extension of one’s creativity, and means implementation of a new or improved:

• Product;
• Service; or
• Process.

Moreover, any innovation should be able to create value in order to be acceptable.

BARRIERS TO CREATIVITY

Creativity can take a back seat if one faces the following barriers:

• Making assumptions: You are prepared to look at all aspects and make your own assumptions, and do not care for others’ feedback or ideas.
• Over-reliance on logic: If you are over-reliant on your logical thinking, you create obstacles to new thought or approach. Everything cannot be achieved only by logic. Whereas logic opposes, a hunch, a dream can become reality through experimentation.
• Cultural barriers: Sometimes some people are unable to involve themselves in tasks that require a creative approach on account of cultural barriers – fear of castigation from the community or orthodox religious beliefs.
• Emotional barriers: A lot of people have strong emotional approach to changing the existing pattern of things and remain attached to the old order without realizing that change is the only constant factor in life. This feeling of emotional attachment to the existing order creates obstacles to creativity.
• Perceptual barriers: Our perceptions play a crucial role in our approach to creativity. If we have a mental block with respect to the ways things could improve by using creative and innovative methods, we just cannot be creative.
• Resource barriers: In order to create something several resources may be needed, and if we have a resource crunch, we won’t be able to proceed further.
• Stress: Any creative work can be done only with a relaxed mind and body. If we are passing through a stressful phase, it is just not humanly possible to generate creative ideas.

STEPS TO STIMULATE CREATIVITY

You can stimulate your creativity by going through the following steps:

• Associating: looking at different ideas, analysing and grouping problems.
• Questioning: posing questions to yourself and others, and questioning the validity and practicality of ideas and approaches.
• Observing: surveying the environment, and observing people, events, situations.
• Networking: You may need the cooperation and support of those who are willing to help you in your creative ventures.
• Experimenting: The validity of any idea or approach cannot be ascertained unless there is a process of experimentation. A lot of ideas emerge to be viable propositions with trial and error process. This is the way to learn something new.

TYPES OF PEOPLE

Creativity and innovation are greatly dependent on the type of person one is. There are basically three types of people:

• Those that make things happen.
• Those that let it happen.
• Those that don’t know what happened.

Which one are you? You can be creative only if you belong to the first category.

HUMAN VALUES

Values play a crucial role in our life. They are the driving force to develop the personality of an individual. Values determine what we should do and how we should do. The choice between two things (ideas, beliefs, actions) depends upon the relative value of things. This choice keeps changing according to one’s interest and contemporary circumstances.

According to Dorothy Lee (1959),

“We can speak about human values, but we cannot know it directly. We infer value through its expression in behaviour.”

This phenomenon depends upon one’s expression out of which may emerge certain general guides to behaviour. These guides tend to give direction to life and may be called values which in turn play a pivotal role in shaping up our overall personality.

CATEGORIES OF VALUES

Values may be broadly classified into three categories:

• Personal values: such as honesty, courage, self-reliance, hygiene, maturity of thought, dignity of labour, courtesy, loyalty etc.
• Community values: such as service, justice, sharing, team-spirit, non-violence etc.
• Social values: such as cooperation, concern for others, sense of social responsibility, secularism etc.

In order to identify and develop the concept and practice of values, it will be worthwhile to answer these questions:

• Is this something that you really wanted?
• Are you glad about that?
• How did you feel when that happened?
• Did you consider any alternative?
• What is that something that you yourself chose?
• Did you have to choose that?
• Did you do anything about that behaviour pattern?
• Can you give some examples of that behaviour?
• Would you really do that or are you just talking?
• Have you thought much about that behaviour?
• What are the other possibilities?
• Is there a purpose behind this activity?
• Is that very important to you?
• Would you do the same thing again?
• How do you know it is right?
• Do you value that?

Introspection on the above questions will guide you to the development of values so necessary for the development of your personality.

VALUES AND ETHICS

As people develop the ability and inclination to articulate their doubts and concerns, of which there are clear indications in every corner of the globe, matters of ‘ethics’ – behaviour, good conduct – in relation to one’s activities as well as others assumes greater importance.
We can say that:

• Values determine what is right and what is wrong; and
• Doing what is right or wrong is ethics.

In order to develop the overall personality it is essential to adhere to the values of life and be involved in putting them into practice through ethical behaviour.

BECOMING A ROLE MODEL

You can be a role model to a large number of people in whose contact you come – directly as well as indirectly. You can do so by following these:

• Demonstrate confidence;
• Demonstrate leadership;
• Do not be afraid to be unique;
• Show respect to and concern for others;
• Be knowledgeable;
• Have humility; and
• Have courage to admit mistakes.