„Strive to improve.“

What was your first reaction when you were faced with the concept of Competency Development during your studies?

When I faced the concept of Competency Development, I realized that there are many important aspects regarding a person’s behavior and actions in daily life, which were reflected in the KODE test results. These made me aware of my own strengths and weaknesses and made me strive to improve them.

How do you feel about Competency Development now?

Today, Competency Development is very useful to me, as I now understand my own personality and how I tend to react under certain circumstances. An analogy to a heart exam can be drawn: You know exactly in which situations the heartbeat increases or decreases, how it reacts in certain situations. Once you know how your personality works, you can make use of it and change your own behavior.

Which competencies did you strive to improve and why?

The competencies I strive to improve are Initiative, Analytical skills and Acquisition Skills.
I believe that one barrier is me having difficulties with the German language, which leads to me sometimes misunderstanding details of projects or meetings. One other aspect is my personality, which leads to me being not so strong in the aforementioned competencies.
I would like to improve these competencies in order to be capable to manage bigger projects successfully.

Which measures did you take to improve these competencies?

The most important measure I took, was to voluntarily put myself in situations, in which I am forced to use the competencies I wanted to improve. Such as taking a leadership role for projects, which will require all my “weaknesses” at the same time. Furthermore, I sought situations in which I had to use German to further improve my language skills.

Were these measures successful? Were you able to improve your chosen competencies?

Yes. After taking a leadership role I have been improving my competencies over time, as I am being forced to use them repeatedly.