Individual Report
Smitashree Menon
My report below will help me leverage my wisdom, knowledge and skills to maximize my potential in society and in the workplace.
Exploring my generational identity values is a journey of self-discovery and personal growth. It will help me understand my unique place in the world, develop a strong sense of identity, and guide me towards a more fulfilling life.
My Generational Identity
Silent Generation
I identify as belonging to the Gen X Generation - 1965 to 1980
Gen X - Often described as independent, adaptable, and skeptical, shaped by economic uncertainty and technological advancements.
The Oil Crisis of the 1970s: This period of economic uncertainty and high inflation fostered a sense of pragmatism, self-sufficiency, and adaptability in Gen X. They witnessed economic instability and learned to navigate an unpredictable world. The rise of technology: Gen X grew up alongside the personal computer and the internet, becoming the first generation to embrace emerging technologies and adapt to a rapidly changing information landscape.
Key Attributes and Thrive Quotient
Independent Gen Xers are known for being independent and self-reliant. They are not afraid to go against the grain, and they are often more comfortable working independently than as part of a team.
Tech-Savvy - Gen Xers grew up with technology, and they are often more comfortable with technology than older generations. They are also more likely to be early adopters of new technologies.
Work-life balance - Gen Xers are more likely to value work-life balance than previous generations. They are not afraid to speak up about their needs, and they are more likely to leave a job if they are not happy with the work-life balance.
Results Oriented - Gen Xers are results-oriented. They are more interested in getting the job done than in following rules or procedures. They are also more likely to be entrepreneurial and to start their own businesses.
Adaptable - Gen Xers have had to adapt to a lot of change in their lifetimes. They are more likely to be flexible and adaptable than older generations.
Thrive Quotient
Work-life balance and flexibility: Witnessing the long working hours of previous generations, they value achieving personal fulfillment alongside professional success.
Independence and self-reliance: Raised in a time of latchkey kids and economic uncertainty, they value autonomy, resourcefulness, and the ability to solve problems independently.
Pragmatism and adaptability: Shaped by a volatile economy and technological advancements, they value practicality, problem-solving, and adapting to changing environments.
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Managing in the workplace
01
Offer autonomy and control over their work. They may value independence and the ability to manage their own time and workload.
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Provide clear expectations and deadlines, but allow flexibility in how they achieve them. They may appreciate structure and direction while still wanting the freedom to use their skills and preferred methods.
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Value their work-life balance and respect their boundaries. They may prioritize personal time and appreciate employers who understand and support that balance.
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Recognize their adaptability and resourcefulness. They may be well-suited for handling challenges and finding creative solutions to problems.
My Top Personal Values
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Act with integrity
My Proficiency Level
Mastery - Expert
Acting with Integrity is at the core of my personal values and philosophy in life. The ability of an individual to be able to take the right decisions based on the right ideals without fear of consequences, in a personal capacity as well as for the organization one is associated with, is a very essential part of my ability to thrive.
Value Description
Act with integrity - Our integrity is our moral compass, our core belief in doing the right thing. We find purpose and success through our uncompromising commitment toward our customers, partners and each other. We demonstrate candor, trust, respect, authenticity, honesty and accountability in everything we do.
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Excellence
My Proficiency Level
Very Proficient
Striving for excellence is an essential part of my DNA. The ability to reflect on your gaps and having the zeal to continuously improve those gaps until you excel, is my thrive quotient personally as well in the workplace.
Value Description
Excellence - The quality of being outstanding or extremely good. Excellence is a talent or quality which is unusually good and so surpasses ordinary standards. It is also used as a standard of performance as measured e.g. through economic indicators.
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Results
My Proficiency Level
Very Proficient
I am a results oriented professional. I thrive in executing vision, strategy and goals that can be measured. I excel in putting frameworks and dashboards that enable me to keep track of key milestones and results.
Value Description
Results - Leaders focus on the key inputs for their business and deliver them with the right quality and in a timely fashion. Despite setbacks, they rise to the occasion and never settle.
Managing in the workplace
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Act with integrity
Navigating Best Practices
Act with integrity - "The 7 most common traits that a person with integrity shows:
1) Expresses gratitude for others People with integrity recognize that their friends, coworkers, and community make their lives better. They show gratitude by always remembering to say a simple “thank you” when someone helps them out. They might also take the time to write a thoughtful note to a coworker who helped them complete an important project. Or, they may go the extra mile to give their friend a gift when they’ve supported them through a difficult time.
2) Communicates honestly and openly A person with integrity doesn’t run away from difficult conversations or situations. If they have a conflict with another person, they’re open about it — they don’t hide their feelings only to become resentful later on. They are also honest about their time, abilities, and preferences. No matter the situation, integrity ultimately means your moral principles are more important than your personal comfort — and honesty can be uncomfortable sometimes.
3) Takes responsibility for your actions, good and bad If you have integrity, it means you’re accountable for your actions — even when you miss the mark. It’s easy to take ownership when you do something well. However, integrity really comes into play when you face failure. If you want to live with integrity and grow personally, you must learn to admit when you make a mistake and then choose to learn from it.
4) Respects yourself and those around you, no matter where you are You might not think of boundaries when you think of integrity. However, living in integrity means living at peace with yourself and your values — and relationship boundaries, whether it’s with your coworkers or your family, help you do that. For example, if your friend wants to call you during work, but you need to finish a project, you need to set a boundary and call them later. Integrity also means respecting others’ boundaries. Let’s say your coworker doesn’t want to talk about their dating life. So as a person with integrity, you don’t ask them certain questions. You also need to respect their time, personal values, and their identity — for example, using correct gender pronouns.
5) Helps those in need without sacrificing your own health This trait goes hand in hand with respecting yourself and others. People with integrity naturally want to help others — but what separates them from most people is their ability to know their own limits. A person with integrity will help others with their time, abilities, and even finances. But they’ll always also prioritize self-care, fueling themselves so that they can stay resilient for years to come.
6) Demonstrates reliability and trustworthiness Knowing how to build trust is important in all of life, especially when it comes to integrity at work. If you’re a member of a team or organization, people count on you to do what you say you will. If you don’t, there will be consequences for not just you, but everyone around you. Being a reliable and trustworthy person is crucial to living with integrity.
7) Shows patience and flexibility, even when unexpected obstacles show up People with integrity overcome life’s obstacles with resilience. For example, let’s say they lost their job. They may feel hopeless or frustrated at first. However, a person with integrity would eventually see that this challenge is just another opportunity for growth. With a bit of patience and flexible expectations, they can take positive action."
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Excellence
Navigating Best Practices
Excellence - "Six ways to achieve a culture of excellence in the workplace
1. Communicate and understand the organization’s vision. It’s not enough to simply have a stated organizational vision. To achieve a Culture of Excellence, every employee must understand not only the company’s vision, but also know their own roles, responsibilities and the specific actions they need to take in order to help achieve this vision.
2. Be clear on your organization’s purpose and meaning. In a culture of excellence, employees feel that what they are working on is meaningful, significant, and purpose-based. Everyone concerned is highly inspired by the common purpose, which becomes the driving force behind everything that they do.
3. Focus on high performers and developing a mastery of roles. Companies with a culture of excellence set an expectation of high performance organization-wide. Every employee is supported and encouraged to become a master in their role and area of expertise. High performers are nurtured, rewarded, mentored and recognized, and average performers are coached to move into the high performance category. In these cultures, there is no place for low performers, and they either move up or leave the organization.
4. Practice resilience to changes and challenges. In most organizations, when change or challenges occur, employees become distracted and lose focus on the organization’s vision and goals. In a culture of excellence, employees develop the flexibility and resilience to deal with change, challenge and uncertainty. Even when there are obstacles and challenges that may seem impossible to overcome, the motivation to achieve the organization’s vision is higher than the urge to avoid the discomfort. With that clarity of purpose and a strong desire to succeed, employees push through the barriers and move forward toward their vision. Managers support their teams in staying focused and on track, despite difficulties and challenges.
5. Create highly collaborative teams. Most of us have worked at companies where the silo mentality reigns. Teams and individuals closely guard their expertise, projects and knowledge. Collaboration across teams is nearly non-existent unless forced. A key characteristic of a culture of excellence is highly collaborative teams— both internal and external. Because every employee and all teams are working together toward a common vision, they feel they are on the same side. And because this collaboration is encouraged and rewarded from the top down, there is no reason to protect individual roles, projects or expertise.
6. Instill a pioneer mentality. Most companies that achieve a culture of excellence do not settle for the mediocre. They are focused on creating something that has never been created before, breaking records and achieving unprecedented results. From the outside, it may seem as if they are achieving the impossible. The resulting energy, excitement and drive, creates a certain positive tension that reverberates throughout the company. Employees and teams are encouraged to explore, nurture and co-create to achieve common goals."
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Results
Navigating Best Practices
Results - "Let’s assume you’ve just moved into a new management role, or taken on a new team, and have to get to grips with how your team contributes towards organisational success – fast!
1) Agree the key deliverables First, make sure you know what the key deliverables are for the team, how they contribute to the overall strategy and organizational success and help other teams succeed. Without the bigger picture, you may miss opportunities to drive effective change. Are these deliverables feasible? Who pulled them together? What are they based on? Are the underlying assumptions accurate? Review them carefully. If you’ve any doubts, raise the issue now with your stakeholders. Be clear why the original goals won’t work and outline new goals that you are sure you can deliver on time and to specification.
2) Review the talent and potential in your team It’s critical to get the right people doing the right tasks, where they can shine. What are their strengths and weaknesses? Are you deploying these to best effect, or could reshuffling responsibilities to the people best suited to them give an immediate jump in performance? Who’s coasting and needs a new challenge to boost their productivity? Who’s lacking experience and eager to learn? Partner them with a more experienced high-performing team member who can develop their skills and knowledge and boost their productivity. Who’s a solid performer, delivering quality results consistently? Ensure they are feeling engaged and valued. These people will provide excellent cover for you whilst you take early action – moving around managing stakeholders, gathering the resources your team needs to deliver, refocusing the team’s efforts to what’s really needed and ensuring everyone is aware of the overall strategy for success. If you’ve under-performers in the team make sure they are aware of the contribution that’s required and why anything less just won’t work. Give them a chance to improve and support them with any resources required. Follow-up on their progress in good time so they know you are serious about performance management. Deploy good planning and organizational skills Make sure that you deliver on your promises and show that you mean business. You might use project management tools like Gantt charts, and will certainly hold regular meetings so you always know the exact state of progress. Progress reviews with your team and your manager
3) Budget reviews vs financial targets Stakeholder reviews to keep them informed – what good or promising data can you share? Collect hard evidence of improvement! If detail isn’t your strong point find someone in your team who ‘aces’ this to track progress and keep you updated.
4) Remain calm under pressure There are bound to be setbacks along the way. How you deal with these will set the tone: establishing a learning culture or blame culture, high energy or low morale, achievement focus or defeatism. Your leadership will either energize and protect the team, or lower their energy and commitment. Others will be watching your performance.
5) Follow-through Finally, make sure you follow through on your commitments relentlessly. If you don’t, people will assume you are not serious about the targets you set, the issues you raise, or the standards you say you require.
TAKE AWAY Your reputation and that of your team depend on your ability to deliver quality results time after time – and to act like high performers even where times are tough. Deliver consistently and you will soon build a reputation as a leader of a high-performance team who can be relied on to deliver consistent results. Resources will be more readily available because of the trust consistently reliable performance brings. Talented people will want to join your team, making recruitment easier. What is one of the key differences between high performing CEO’s and ‘the rest’? Reliable delivery. So why not ‘hang out’ with the best!"
Synergies with Corporate Values
Corporate Values
Very Synergistic
Act with honesty and accountability - When communication (verbal and otherwise) aligns with action, trust tends to build.
Support continued learning - move to skills-based structures, employees want meaningful opportunities to learn new skills.
Foster entrepreneurship - work hard to encourage a sense of ownership, empowerment, and innovation at every level, which can help boost engagement.
Please note that theboardiQ Compass is an unbiased instrument and the results are based on voluntary disclosure to help assist in forming the right team culture and managing a winning team. It showcases the "thrive quotient" of every generation in the workforce to provide effective styles of management and is not to be construed to be discriminatory in nature. We acknowledge that Corporate America welcomes and leverages the skills, knowledge and experience of all generations in society and in the workplace