A few years ago, my workplace gave me a comprehensive assessment (the Pro-D assessment) based on nine key career values. The assessment ranks the career values against themselves in three areas, mission, competency, and style. I found it extremely accurate and insightful!
Recently, I revisited the assessment results, but with my writing work in mind. It was very interesting to consider! The results were not surprising to me (though they may be to some of you).
My top three areas over all (considering not only my natural competency, but also what motivates me and how my personality affects my interactions) are Production Efficiency, Natural Appreciation (which has a lot to do with observational skills), and Societal Change. Entrepreneurial Challenge is in fourth place out of nine. What’s missing? Overall, I’m quite low in the career value Artistic Creativity.
Though I enjoy many artistic pursuits, I’m not really surprised by the result. Often when someone says I’m creative, my response is, “I can just follow a good recipe”, “I had a good pattern, so it wasn’t hard”, or “I just wrote down what happened!”. This is not just self-depreciating, it’s true! There are a few ways we use the word “creative”. It could mean someone who makes something. I like to do that, but perhaps a more precise word for that idea would be one who produces things (Production Efficiency is a top area for me). Another more accurate sense of the word “creative” is the ability to make something new or original. This meaning of creativity doesn’t describe me well. Almost everything I make I’ve seen somewhere else, though I am able to adapt and merge other people’s ideas (at least when it comes to arts that I am well versed in like textiles and writing).
When I look at my assessment results, my response is not, “Oh well! I’m not creative so I’ll give up making things.” I will still be pursuing creativity, but the assessment did give me a lot of insight into how I can pursue it successfully. For example, it makes sense that non-fiction writing comes so much more quickly and naturally to me. I can write and explain things well (Societal Change), especially because I have strong observational powers (Natural Appreciation). But if I have to create a scene I’ve never witnessed or develop a plot line for a fictional person, it’s much harder for me. It takes a lot more effort and time. Even my fictional stories are often composites of things I’ve seen happen in real life or heard about from history or other people’s stories.
I also realized where high competencies in Entrepreneurial Challenge and Human Development help me out, especially when it comes to fiction. My love for challenge makes submitting my work (for critique or for publishing consideration) not seem risky to me. I know this fear of rejection can be a huge hurdle for some authors so I’m thankful that this isn’t overwhelming for me. My love for challenge makes me want to see what I can do, test my limits, or reach a higher goal. I am willing to keep on working on more creative fiction pieces or poetry even if it doesn’t come as naturally to me. Additionally, my skills with people lead me to thrive off networking and collaboration, something writers are stereotypically bad at. Even if my artistic creativity isn’t high, if I have an idea for a fictional story, I have the people skills to ask for and exchange feedback and let other people’s input make my work even better.
So how will this analysis change my writing? Probably not much at all. =) I’ll keep writing in all the genres that interest me, including fiction and poetry. But it may mean I’ll give myself a little more grace if I’m struggling to come up with something original. It’s also exciting to see how my giftings fit so well with writing in general (more specifically with non-fiction) and even with publishing!
Have you ever examined how personality tests or career assessments results could give you insights into your hobbies?
Photo by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash
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