This paper reflects on the results of a personal emotional intelligence assessment, examining scores across five dimensions: relating well to others, managing emotions, self-motivation, self-awareness, and emotional mentoring. The author identifies relating well to others as a principal strength and self-motivation as the primary area for improvement. The paper explores how these findings inform career direction — particularly toward roles involving interpersonal interaction and measured autonomy — and outlines concrete steps for leveraging external motivation, increasing self-awareness of organizational goals, and developing emotional mentoring competencies in a professional setting.
The assessment that has the most bearing on my career and its future direction pertains to emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is a valuable component of interacting with individuals both within and outside of an organization, because it represents one's ability to manage intangible factors that can significantly influence organizational productivity and overall cohesion. The findings of my emotional intelligence assessment were fairly revealing and indicate that my principal strength is in relating well to others. In fact, my score in that area was nearly double the scores in the other assessed dimensions, which include managing emotions, self-motivation, self-awareness, and emotional mentoring.
The area in which I can most improve is self-motivation. I had recognized this tendency in myself prior to taking the assessment; however, the measure used to evaluate this construct was valuable because it helped validate an awareness I had carried for some time. The category in which I performed second-best, after relating well to others, is self-awareness. I have generally considered myself acutely aware of others. However, some fairly recent events have suggested that perhaps I am not as aware of myself — and of the impact I have on others — as I had believed.
I received the same score in emotional mentoring and managing emotions, placing them third overall. I do not have substantial experience in emotional mentoring, or in mentoring generally, and I believe my responses to questions in that category tended toward neutral as a result. I am somewhat surprised by my score in managing emotions. I am generally cognizant of my emotions, but cognizance and active management are not the same thing.
The primary implication of these findings for my career is that there are certain aspects of my personality and work demeanor I should actively leverage. Specifically, my ability to relate well to others means I should seek a career involving a meaningful degree of interpersonal interaction — which is, in fact, a goal I already hold. Beyond identifying a suitable career path, however, these findings also suggest how I can advance within that career: by utilizing my strength in communicating with and relating to others. I believe the results indicate that I am a capable networker, both in the traditional sense and in the contemporary sense of social and professional networking.
Because self-awareness is my second principal strength, I also believe I should pursue a role that affords a degree of autonomy. It may seem paradoxical to seek both strong interpersonal connection and independent work, but the practical reality is quite the opposite. Individuals who work autonomously must still check in with others regularly and demonstrate responsiveness — doing so is what sustains the confidence others place in them to continue working independently. Of course, increasing my self-motivation — my lowest-scoring area — would be essential to succeeding in such a role.
"External motivation drives performance; improvement needed"
"Low mentoring experience prompts new awareness"
"Concrete steps for motivation and mentoring growth"
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