{"id":117,"date":"2009-09-06T04:26:20","date_gmt":"2009-09-06T04:26:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.renando.com\/blog\/?p=117"},"modified":"2021-01-15T21:39:16","modified_gmt":"2021-01-15T21:39:16","slug":"a-response-to-who-am-i-exploring-identity-for-you-your-organisation-and-your-position","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/2009\/09\/a-response-to-who-am-i-exploring-identity-for-you-your-organisation-and-your-position\/","title":{"rendered":"A response to \u201cWho am I\u201d? (exploring identity for you, your organisation, and your position in the organisation)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We often hear advice cautioning us against letting work define who we are.\u00a0 Research I did for a recent assignment turns that advice back on itself, as I discover that our interaction with others may be the only way in which we truly know who we are.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The question of our identity is one that burns in me.\u00a0 It motivates my studies, drives my efforts in the organisations I engage with, and resonates in conversations with others.\u00a0 But who are we really?\u00a0 Are you the sum of your personality and experience?\u00a0 Are you what is printed on your position description?\u00a0 Are you who you or I think you are?\u00a0 After a bit of research, I believe the answer is \u201cyes\u201d to all of the above.<\/p>\n<p>To support this response, I propose that our identity comes from three perspectives: roles, internal influences and external pressures.\u00a0 All of this is reinforced and controlled by the worldview in which the identity exists:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-118\" title=\"Identity Model\" alt=\"Identity Model\" src=\"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/roles_worldview1.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Roles<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>These are our \u201cidentity markers\u201d.\u00a0 For example, my personal markers include: husband, father, and son within my immediate family context; board member, delegate, volunteer, and constituent within community organisations; and employee, manager, customer and vendor within my work spheres.\u00a0 In addition to the objective nature of these roles, a subjective component adds emotional satisfaction based on a value attribution of \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad\u201d, \u201csuccessful\u201d or \u201cunsuccessful\u201d. \u00a0This assessment is based on the importance placed on these roles, as well as a comparison to a standard for the roles created by experience, culture, and interpretations of performance of others in similar roles.<\/p>\n<h3>Internal<\/h3>\n<p>The internal element can be broken down into three elements:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Personality<\/strong><br \/>\nYour personality is largely based on your genetic makeup, a bit on your experience and peers, and by the time you are an adult, is largely set in stone.\u00a0 Many are afraid of being put in a box, but no one is a pure type and there is value in getting professional input to understand what makes you \u201cyou\u201d.\u00a0 Myers Briggs is a popular model, and I use the Keirsy temperament sorter myself.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Strengths<\/strong><br \/>\nWhile personality can not be easily changed (if at all), your strengths are the core attributes you can develop.\u00a0 These can be considered high level \u201cvirtues\u201d as well as discrete tasks that make you feel alive.\u00a0 For high-level, you can check out the &#8220;VIA Signature Strengths&#8221; test (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu\/Default.aspx\">http:\/\/www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu\/Default.aspx<\/a>) and for low level tasks, Marcus Buckingham books are a start.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Vision<\/strong><br \/>\nIf personality and strengths are what you have to work with, then vision is where you are going.\u00a0 Studies show that your vision of your future direction dictates not only your ability to achieve that vision, but also your perception of yourself as that vision aligns with reality.\u00a0 If your vision is to get away from a negative situation, you will have a more pessimistic view of yourself in the end than if you are moving towards a positive opportunity.\u00a0 How we define goals determines who we are when we achieve those goals<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>External<\/h3>\n<p>External pressures in identity include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Power<\/strong><br \/>\nPower can be broken up into five distinct \u201ctypes: Expert (I have influence based on my technical expertise); Legitimate (I have influence because of my position), Coercive (I have influence because I can do bad things to you), Reward (I have influence because I can do good things for you) and Referent (I have influence because you like me).\u00a0 The amount and type of power involved in relationships can shape your identity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Position<\/strong><br \/>\nRelated to power, the position of the relationships has a big impact on your identity.\u00a0 There are two aspects of position to consider: distance, such as an entry level employee working for a public official; and group type, such as the \u2018in\u2019 crowd and \u2018out\u2019 crowd or gang mentality.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Perception<\/strong><br \/>\nWhat people think about is can determine who we are, but not as much as you may think.\u00a0 Finding out that people respect or think less of you can rock your world.\u00a0 However, studies have shown that often people\u2019s assessment has less to do with our identity than our perception of their assessment.\u00a0 Our self-perception can not only act as a barrier to receiving praise or criticism, our projection of what we think of ourselves can become a self-fulfilling prophesy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Worldview<\/h3>\n<p>This depiction of identity occurs within the context of a worldview, with worldview defined as a fundamental belief system that dictates how you approach life and your actions.\u00a0 For the Australian organisation, this is defined as a neoliberal or capitalist approach.\u00a0 For individuals, this can be a belief system or lack thereof.<\/p>\n<h2>Identity Alignment: putting it all together<\/h2>\n<p>As demonstrated in the diagram below, this model of identity applies to you, the organisations you associate with, and your position within the organisation.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-120\" title=\"Organisational, individual and positional identity\" alt=\"Organisational, individual and positional identity\" src=\"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/roles-3d1-791x1024.jpg\" width=\"710\" height=\"919\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We often hear advice cautioning us against letting work define who we are.\u00a0 Research I did for a recent assignment turns that advice back on&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/2009\/09\/a-response-to-who-am-i-exploring-identity-for-you-your-organisation-and-your-position\/\" class=\"bwp-excerpt-more-link\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[184,185],"tags":[69,98,101,104,107,114,125,143],"ecosystem_role":[],"class_list":["post-117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-organisations","category-about-you","tag-identity","tag-perception","tag-personality","tag-position","tag-power","tag-roles","tag-strengths","tag-vision","bwp-masonry-item","bwp-col-3"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6084,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions\/6084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117"},{"taxonomy":"ecosystem_role","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ecosystem_role?post=117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}