Is important because it allows you to prevail in the face of difficulties. Self-reliance allow you to push back against obstacles or setbacks, with confidence, to achieve goals and continue moving forward. They allow you to not be discouraged and never give up, while simultaneously doing the best you can and be patient for desired results.
Adaptable
“After performing badly on a test, I ask the teacher questions, do the homework, and go to the after-school tutorials.”
Takes Initiative
“I go door to door cleaning cars, shovelling snow, and mowing lawns to fundraise money for a summer camp I want to attend.”
Determination
“I ran my first half-marathon and could not complete it. I was committed to not fail again and trained extra hard and completed it on my second try. I am now training for a full marathon.”
Photo: Tourism Calgary
Photo: Shane Kuhn
Photo: Rachel Gulotta
Adaptable is…
The ability to work well no matter the context. The contextual setting can include the culture, socio-economic conditions, organization size, industry type, culture, and team composition.
Takes Initiative is…
The discipline and ambition to start a task, regardless of difficulty, with limited guidance from others and be self-reliant under pressure.
Determination is…
When in the face of professional challenges, it is essential to have adaptive capacity. This includes improvements in an individual’s control of their emotional reactions to an intellectual challenge, learning from failure, understanding the importance of practice for competency development, how to manage obstacles in career advancement, and personal hardiness when faced with adversity.
Self Reliance in Practice
Driven by the need to constantly challenge himself, 18-year-old Ben decided to work a new job every single month. That unorthodox choice led him to work in a variety of industries including retail, engineering and hospitality. Each new job needed new skills and he was able to develop a diverse set of skills that would prove to be useful in the years to come.
Ben later pursued a major in marketing and minor in entrepreneurship, driven by an interest in social innovation. In his third year at university, Ben was persuaded by a professor to attend a networking breakfast. There, he met a mentor who totally altered his professional path.
Ben’s mentor helped him figure out who he was, what he wanted to do with his life and what kind of career he wanted. Together, Ben and his mentor developed an extremely detailed strategy to achieve Ben’s goal of gaining a position at one of the top management consulting firms in the world.
Only months after graduation, thanks to the hard work he and his mentor had invested, Ben found himself with a position at his dream company. Over the past three years with the company, Ben has relied on a blend of his formal education and the transferable skills he developed in his month-long jobs prior to university, allowing him to rise within the organization.
Ben showed his ability to adapt by working different jobs in various industries, while also showing how he takes initiative through attending a networking event. He is determined when he makes a strategy and follows through on it to work for his dream company.
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Banner Photo: Tourism Calgary