Individual Learning Journal

Mid Point Reection on the MSOD Journey

Marco Cassone
July 19, 2013
MSOD 616 ! OD Practitioner as Global Citizen ! Dr. M. Lacey
616 Individual Learning Journal
I have broken my Personal Development Contract into six categories; Id like to report my
progress on goal clarity for each of the following domains: Spiritual, Mental, Physical, Creative/
Artistic, Socio-Intuitive (as in, OD values in relation to self & others), and Overall Integration.
What I realized recently is that I have not been clear on the kind of goal Im choosing for a
particular category, which then turns into fuzziness in both how I should track progress (what type
of evidence I accumulate) as well as how to ultimately demonstrate goal attainment. This had me
look to see if I could create a tool for myself and others to help bring clarity to PDC goals.
(Incidentally, I have found the 615/616 metaphors of OD tools and developing a practitioner
toolbox extremely helpful; thank you for these.) Please refer to the following page for my model.
Spiritual. My spiritual goals are a good example of the need for clarity for me in demonstration
and tracking. Bringing more mindfulness and gratitude into my life are not necessarily S.M.A.R.T.
goals, as these are achieved simply by doing mindfulness meditation and keeping a gratitude
journal. One does not, for example, benchmark gratitude at goal beginning in order to prove
gratitude later; the practice and attainment are one and the same. These are going very well.
Mental. My work on goals related to healthy mind choices are of a personal nature and are in the
care of a mental health practitioner; I am halfway through 24 therapy sessions in which we are
working on issues ranging from perfectionism (rigidity that compromises personal e"ectiveness)
to personal boundaries (understanding when and how to say No Thanks to people or choices that
increase life complexity for me). Im extremely satised with my progress here.
Physical. For goals such as physical exercise, maintaining good nutrition, and getting proper rest,
I have created a Qualtrix survey for myself to use as a tracker for goal progress. The URL for it is:
https://s.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_2mlWA8dzeVE2Ogt&Preview=Survey&BrandID=pepperdine
Im happy to report Ive fallen in love with fresh fruit juicing, and my morning routine is fantastic.
Creative/Artistic. This goal is changing for me, likely because who I am in relation to the MSOD
program is changing. Before, I felt like I was giving up my creativity in order to t in with whatever
my perceptions were of my cohort and faculty. As such, Id created a goal of monthly participation
in some kind of artistic performance as a way of mitigating what felt like losing myself. Now,
however, Im nding ways to infuse creativity into my academic output, such as bringing to life the
crazy Frenchman and owner of the Hotel Des Congers, Monsieur Jacques Le Fou, for the
benchmarking presentation for Alchemy. Im incredibly lit up about my thesis, and have recently
made huge strides in my e-portfolio: http://e"ectiveperspective.weebly.com. Sufce it to say, I no
longer need to go outside myself for creative balance; it is emerging in my Practice Point of View.
(Go to p. 4)
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MARCOS MODEL: THE FOUR POTENTIAL CATEGORIES FOR PDC GOALS
There are four general categories for PDC goals if one considers the type of change desired
(external vs internal) and manner in which evidence of such change is tracked.
Personal development goals can be distinguished by the internal vs external change intended:
external demonstration (public & visible) vs internal learning & discovery (personal & private).
Meanwhile, evidence of goal progress can be tracked in two ways: quantitative (or measured) vs
qualitative (more descriptive). Both are valid, but need to align w/ the kind of goal output intended.
This 2x2 chart identies four potential categories of PDC goals:
1. ACHIEVEMENT: Publicly visible w/ quantitative tracking (such as S.M.A.R.T. goals)
2. PERSPECTIVE: Publicly shared w/ qualitative tracking (i.e., a Practice Point of View blog)
3. SELF-MONITORING: Privately explored w/ quantitative tracking (allows increase in choice)
4. INSIGHT/SELF-AWARENESS: Privately explored w/ qualitative tracking (fosters insight)
[Theres a dangerous 5th kind of PDC goal outside these categories: UNCLEAR & IMPOSSIBLE!]
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External
Demonstration
of Change
Internal
Learning &
Discovery
Quantitative
Tracking
Qualitative
Tracking
ACHIEVEMENT
Quantitative + External
S.M.A.R.T. Goals
Specic
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely
I II
III IV
PERSPECTIVE
Qualitative + External
Blogging
Reection papers
Process journaling
e-Portfolio
Sharing & developing a
Practice Point of View
SELF-MONITOR
(MORE CHOICE)
Quantitative + Internal
Personal budget
Food or caloric intake
Health & tness record
Activity participation
Curbing/quitting habits
INSIGHT & SELF-
AWARENESS
Qualititative + Internal
Gratitude journal
Counseling or Therapy
Mentoring or Coaching
Mindfulness meditation
Spiritual practice/prayer
Socio-Intuitive. I created this category to adapt how I occur professionally; I am no longer on
stage as a performer, and I have had to take a deep look at what I bring into group dynamics.
These goals, as evident in my Qualtrix PDC tracker, are designed to align the Marco Im becoming
with OD values relating to self-as-instrument and the nature of true helpfulness to others.
Overall Integration. My peers have commented that they see me as one of the most diligent and
hard-working members of our cohort. This is not because Im a workaholic, its because Ive been
terried of my career transition. It has been fear that has driven me, which I can now see has had
less-wise versions of me at the helm in some of my public interactions. Im happy to report that I
can feel a very clear tipping point coming toward me, which is evaporating my fear as a motivator
and leaving in its place a profound appreciation for the program and for my MSOD journey.
Jet lag & health. If a pictures worth a thousand words,
then heres 2,000. These supplements, in addition to proper
rest, hydration, good nutrition, and exercise, will do the trick.
Connection. The iPhone has many new apps that allow for voice-over-IP technology, which allows
one to text, call, or video-chat using a wi connection rather than incurring expensive international
roaming charges. I helped introduce the Viber app to the cohort, which many downloaded to use.
Ambiguity. Having lived in Italy while studying abroad in my college days, I got very comfortable
with going with the ow. It could be said that Rome is one of the complexity capitals of the world;
there, everyone knows that life, trafc, public transportation, strikes, the government, the Maa
all these factors make reality overwhelmingly unpredictable. For example, time (as in scheduling of
appointments) is almost always thought of as a suggestion rather than concrete. All this to say, I
have always been very comfortable with the emergent and ambiguous.
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Cultural Intelligence (CQ). I must say, the Antal & Friedman article on Negotiating Reality is
among my favorite. During my 615/616 study, I had somewhat of a paradigm-shifting conversation
with a new friend who serves with me on the board of the American Society of Training and
Development. She is a daughter of Pauline Arneberg an international pillar in the OD community.
One day she made the comment to me that I display some of the same characteristics she has
come to identify in herself as a byproduct of having grown up accompanying her mother on
consulting engagements around the world. She mentioned to me that I have the perceptiveness
and sensitivity of whats called a TCK, which stands for trans-culture (or third-culture) kid. In the
conversation with her, I described my own past as the son of two incredibly bright academics on
the move, mentioning the twelve homes I experienced by the time I was twelve years old. Like
military kids or children of foreign ambassadors, I never had the benet of a single, stable culture
or set of norms to which I could adapt or habituate. A sentence from the Antal & Friedman article
jumped out to me: Studies of bicultural individuals, for example, have shown that they switch
from one cultural frame to another, confounding attempts to predict how they will interpret
particular stimuli (Hong et al., 2000). This gives me insight into why members of my learning
group who have a much stronger need for structure might nd me unpredictable at times.
This also helps explain to me my love-hate relationship with tting in and seeing my role within a
system, as well as why the topic of personal boundaries would be identied by my counselor as
such an important component of our time in therapy. It was further explained to me that this
difculty earlier in life for me is and will be the source of a capacity to see circumstances from
multiple points of view, to nd innovative solution within overwhelming complexity, and to observe
my own process and interrelationship with others midstream as dynamics unfold before me.
Perhaps this is why I so enjoyed facilitating experientially-based diversity and inclusion trainings
early in my career; like my educator parents, I live for the ah-ha moment in those I teach. Perhaps
this is why Ed Scheins nal chapter in Organizational Culture and Leadership so resonated with
me especially the metaphor of creating cultural islands as safe zones where vastly different
individuals can begin to listen to, express, and negotiate understanding of foreign realities.
All this to express a genuine readiness and appreciation for the upcoming components of the
MSOD program. Ive fallen in love with all Im learning, Im doing the hard work in setting aside ego
and former xed ways of being, and rolling up my mental, emotional, and psychological sleeves in
preparation for whats next.
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