Glyph 2020

Glyph Key for Drawing A Self-Portrait of a Leader

Face Shape: If you believe that leadership is an inborn trait, draw a triangle-shaped head.  If you think that leadership stems from nurture over nature, draw a square-shaped head.

Eyes: If you think the vast majority of OTs are leaders, make big circles for the eyes.  If you think there is a fairly equal mixture of leaders and non-leaders in the field of OT, draw small circles for the eyes.  Fill in the pupils.  Add glasses if you feel that you have had more experience in leadership roles than most other people your age at this point in life.

Eyelashes: Draw one eyelash on each of the eyes for each of the five themes you can name based on your personal Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment from earlier in the curriculum.

Eyebrows: If you like to take the role of the leader in an out-in-front way, make curved eyebrows.  If your leadership style is more behind the scenes, make pointy eyebrows.

Nose: Draw a triangle nose if you think that seeing yourself as a leader is necessary to being a leader.  Draw a rounded nose if you believe that a person can be a leader without seeing himself or herself as a leader.

Skin:  Add a freckle anywhere on the skin of the face if you believe that self-awareness is vital to effective leadership.  Leave the skin clear if you don’t think it’s an essential trait.

Mouth: Draw a smiling mouth if you can think of at least one leader who has had a positive impact on you.  Draw a frown if you can’t think of a good example of a leader.

Ears: Draw round ears if you think technology is an important part of effective leadership in many situations. Draw pointy ears if don’t think so.

Hair: Draw the hair based on a continuum, based on your personal viewpoint in two areas: 

What’s more important in leadership:             Curly hair  <------------------------->  Straight hair 

          creativity or organization?                   Creativity  <-------------------------->  Organization

                        AND

Can an introvert be an effective leader?         Short hair <-------------------------> Long hair

                                                                           No way  <------ I’m unsure -----> Definitely yes

Accessories: Add at least one accessory (example: a piece of jewelry) if you see yourself as a leader.  Add a hat if the way you think about or approach leadership has changed as a result of what you have learned since beginning in OT school.

Finishing Touch: Label your paper with your name, writing in cursive if you have a written plan or goal about to serving in leadership roles in the future; write in print if you do not yet have a written plan. 

Above is a picture of my newly completed Glyph from Fall 2020. After completing this glyph, I realized several things had changed since I completed one last year. My belief of being a leader and becoming a leader has stayed somewhat consistent; although, I do believe I have taken more leadership roles since entering OT school than I have in previous years. I believe anyone can become a leader, yes, there are natural born leaders and people who are born into leadership through their familial connections; however, I believe anyone can make applicable decisions and adjust their mindset in order to become a leader. I hope to continue to invest time and effort into developing leadership skills and taking on leadership roles as a new practitioner and down the road as well-established OT.

Locus of Control

Locus of Control

After taking the LOC questionnaire, I calculated my score to be a 15. I found this somewhat surprising, because I am usually internally locus and believe individuals’ decisions play a MAJOR role in the outcomes of their life. In the past, I listened to a podcast on Spotify called “How I Built This.” The podcast interviewed different entrepreneurs about how they founded their businesses, how the scaled it from 1 to 100 million dollars, and so on. One thing that stuck out to me listening to this podcast was how every entrepreneur stated they worked harder than anyone they knew AND they had a tremendous amount of luck along the way. I think this speaks volumes of how success can come about in mysterious ways and I find this to be true in my own life as well. All in all, my score of 15 was weighted more towards externally locus; which I think can eb and flow depending on a multitude of different factors. I do believe that there are things in this world that are out of our control; however, I wholeheartedly believe the decisions we make will influence the outcomes of our life. 

After reading the supplemental income, I believe we should fully understand LOC for patients and other therapists. It is important to understand a patient’s LOC to know how to properly decision their intervention plan and know what would challenge them. If a patient is internally locus then we could understand they are motivated and will work strenuously to regain their abilities. However, the externally locus patient could play the victim during therapy, work, and other areas of their life. This is so important to understand even during our basic, everyday interactions with our patients. 

In conclusion, I believe it will help us become better therapists to understand locus of control in our patients and fellow employees. I think designing a patient’s intervention/plan of care will be impacted by understanding this. A patient that is externally locus will not respond well if we are blaming them for a slower progression in rehab. This may require us to be creative in our treatment design and responses to their comments.