INTRODUCTION TO

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

The concept of personality - Dimensions

of personality – Theories of Freud &
Erickson- Significance of personality
development. The concept of success and
failure: What is success? - Hurdles in
achieving success - Overcoming hurdles -
Factors responsible for success – What is
failure - Causes of failure - SWOT
analysis.

THE CONCEPT OF PERSONALITY-

DEFINITION:
“Personality is that pattern of characteristic
thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that
distinguishes one person from another and
that persists over time”
“It is the sum of biologically based and
learnt behaviour which forms the person's
unique responses to environmental stimuli”

DIMENSIONS OF PERSONALITY:
The Big Five personality traits, also known
as the five factor model (FFM), is a model
based on common language descriptors of
personality (lexical hypothesis). These
descriptors are grouped together using a
statistical technique called factor analysis
(i.e. this model is not based on scientific
experiments).
This widely examined theory suggests five
broad dimensions used by some
psychologists to describe the human
personality and psyche. The five factors
have been defined as openness to
experience, conscientiousness, extraversion,
agreeableness, and neuroticism, often listed
under the acronyms “OCEAN”.

Dimension of High Level Low

Personality level
Openness to Inventive, Curious Cautious, Conservative
experience
Conscientiousness Efficient, Organised Easy going, Careless
Extraversion Outgoing, Energetic Solitary, Reserved
Agreeableness Friendly, Competitive,
Compassionate Outspoken
Neuroticism Sensitive, Nervous Secure, Confident
These five factors are assumed to represent
the basic structure behind all personality
traits. They were defined and described by
several different researchers during multiple
periods of research.
Employees are sometimes tested on the Big
Five personality traits in collaborative
situations to determine what strong
personality traits they can add to a group
dynamic. Businesses need to understand
their people as well as their operations and
processes. Understanding the personality
components that drive the employee
behavior is a very useful informational data
point for management.

THE FIVE DIMENSIONS OF

PERSONALITY: (THE FIVE FACTOR
MODEL)
a. Openness to experience: (inventive/curious

vs. consistent/cautious):
Openness to experience describes a person's
degree of intellectual curiosity, creativity,
appreciation for art, emotion, adventure,
unusual ideas, curiosity, and variety of
experience. It is also described as the extent
to which a person is imaginative or
independent, and depicts a personal
preference for a variety of activities over a
strict routine. High openness can be
perceived as unpredictability or lack of
focus. Moreover, individuals with high
openness are said to pursue self-actualization
specifically by seeking out intense, euphoric
experiences, such as skydiving, living
abroad, gambling, etc. Conversely, those
with low openness seek to gain fulfilment
through perseverance, and are characterized
as pragmatic and data- driven—sometimes
even perceived to be dogmatic and closed-
minded. Some disagreement remains about
how to interpret and contextualize the
openness factor.

Conscientiousness (efficient/organized vs.

b.

easy-going/careless):
Conscientiousness is a tendency to show
self-discipline, act dutifully, and aim for
achievement. Conscientiousness also refers
to planning, organization, and dependability.
High conscientiousness is often perceived as
stubbornness and obsession. Low
conscientiousness is associated with
flexibility and spontaneity, but can also
appear as sloppiness and lack of reliability.

Extraversion:
c. (outgoing/energetic vs.
solitary/reserved):
Extraversion describes energy, positive
emotions, assertiveness, sociability,
talkativeness, and the tendency to seek
stimulation in the company of others. High
extraversion is often perceived as attention-
seeking, and domineering. Low extraversion
causes a reserved, reflective personality,
which can be perceived as aloof or self-
absorbed.

Agreeableness: (friendly/compassionate vs.

d.

analytical/detached):
Agreeableness is a tendency to be
compassionate and cooperative rather than
suspicious and antagonistic towards others.
It is also a measure of one's trusting and
helpful nature, and whether a person is
generally well-tempered or not. High
agreeableness is often seen as naive or
submissive. Low agreeableness personalities
are often competitive or challenging people,
which can be seen as argumentative or
untrustworthy.
 Neuroticism:
e. (sensitive/nervous vs.
Secure/confident).
Neuroticism is a tendency to experience
unpleasant emotions easily, such as anger,
anxiety, depression, and vulnerability.
Neuroticism also refers to the degree of
emotional stability and impulse control and
is sometimes referred to by its low pole,
"emotional stability". A high need for
stability manifests as a stable and calm
personality, but can be seen as uninspiring
and unconcerned. A low need for stability
causes a reactive and excitable personality,
often very dynamic individuals, but they can
be perceived as unstable or insecure.

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT:
 Personality development includes
 activities that improve awareness and
identity, develop talents and potential,
build human capital and facilitate
employability, enhance quality of life
and contribute to the realization of
dreams and aspirations.
 When personal development takes place
in the context of institutions, it refers to
the methods, programs, tools, techniques,
and assessment systems that support
human development at the individual
level in organizations.
 Personality development includes
activities that develop talents, improve
awareness, enhances potential and looks
to improve the quality of life. It involves
formal and informal activities that put
 people in the role of leaders, guides,
teachers, and managers for helping them
realize their full potential.
 Hence, it can be concluded that the
process of improving or transforming the
personality is called personality
development.

SIGNIFICANCE OR IMPORTANCE OF
PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT:
Most people underestimate the
importance of having a pleasing personality.
Majority think it just means being born
good-looking, that there isn’t anything much
to do about it. But this is not true. The scope
of personality development is quite broad. It
includes knowing how to dress well, social
graces, grooming, speech and interpersonal
skills. Whatever your career, these are very
important skills that will promote your
objectives.

To better appreciate its importance, some of

the key benefits of developing your
personality include the following:

Confidence:
a.

Personality development gives more

confidence to people. When you know you
are appropriately attired and groomed, this
makes you less anxious when meeting a
person. Knowing the right things to say and
how to conduct yourself will increase your
confidence.
 Credibility:
b.

Personality development makes people more

credible. Despite the saying that you don’t
judge a book by its cover, people do tend to
judge people by their clothing and how it is
worn. This does not mean buying expensive
clothes. We all know people who look
shabby in expensive clothes. There are also
people who look great even if their attire is
inexpensive. Because of this, you must know
what to wear and you must be aware of other
aspects of enhancing your physical features.

Interaction:
c.

Personality development encourages people

to interact with others. Studies have
consistently shown that people communicate
more openly with people they are
comfortable with. If your hygiene and social
graces are unrefined, then expect to have a
much harder time connecting with people.

Leading and Motivating:

d.

Personality development enhances the

capacity to lead and motivate. A person with
a winning personality will be able to
motivate better. People are less likely to get
bored, and our ideas will have more
credibility. We can lead better if we project
an aura of confidence and credibility.

Curiosity:
e.

A single wrong word can destroy a business

relationship. Knowing the right things to say
shows both respect and intellectual
sophistication. This is especially the case if
you are dealing with foreigners or if you
conduct business outside the country. The
right thing to do in our country could be
horrible blunders in a different culture.
These are the soft skills that may break or
make a deal.

Communication skills:
f.

It improves your communication skills.

People are more receptive to what you say if
they are impressed with your personality.
Verbal communication skills are also part of
personality development; improving your
speech will strengthen the impact of your
message.

You cannot win by talent and hard work

alone. Personality development is a crucial
 ingredient that you must obtain. Most of the
people you see as models of great
personality have taken a lot of effort in
developing their natural features.

ATTITUDE & MOTIVATION

Attitude - Concept - Significance - Factors
affecting attitudes - Positive attitude –
Advantages –Negative attitude-
Disadvantages - Ways to develop positive
attitude - Differences between
personalities having positive and negative
attitude. Concept of motivation -
Significance – Internal and external
motives - Importance of self- motivation-
Factors leading to de-motivation

DEFINITION:
An attitude is a positive, negative, or
mixed evaluation of an object that is
expressed at some level of intensity. It
usually implies feelings that are either
positive or negative.
Attitudes are our established ways of
responding to people and situations that we
have learned based on the beliefs, values and
assumptions we hold and our life
experiences.
Our attitude towards a person or event is
displaced through our behaviour as a result of
interaction with that person. A person’s
attitude represents how he or she feels about
something or their state of mind.

Example:
If one can have a good (or positive)
attitude toward their work, it means they feel
good about their work, their job, their
organisation, etc.
If one can have a bad (or negative)
attitude, it means they dislike their
environment no matter what is going around
them.

CONCEPT OF ATTITUDE:
The concept of attitude occupies a very
favoured position in social psychology and
is considered very important for every
individual who wants success in their life.
Attitudes are evaluative statements,
either favourable or unfavourable,
concerning objects, people or events. They
reflect how one feels about something.
Example:
When you say “I like Mathematics”, you are
expressing your attitude towards the subject
of mathematics.

THREE CONCEPTS OF ATTITUDE:

1. Cognitive Attitude:
Our belief in something is the cognitive
attitude.
Example: “Gender discrimination is
widespread” - This is an opinion which
evaluates the topic of discrimation based on
gender.
 Affective Attitude:
It is the emotional or feeling segment of
attitude.
Example: “I don’t like Jon because he
discriminates against minorities.”

1. Behavioural attitude:
It refers to an intention to behave in a certain
way toward someone or something.
Example: Employees working in an organisation
commonly can follow certain behaviour for
the purpose of betterment of the
organisation

SIGNIFICANCE OR IMPORTANCE OF
ATTITUDE:
Attitude plays a very important role for
achieving the success. It is more important
than education, money, knowledge,
 intelligence, talents or skills.
It applies to every sphere of life,
including one's personal and professional
life. Can an executive be a good executive
without a good attitude? Can a student be a
good student without a good attitude? Can a
parent, teacher, salesman, employer,
employee be good in their roles without a
good attitude?
The foundation of success regardless of
your chosen field is attitude. If attitude is
such a critical factor in success, shouldn't
you examine your attitude toward life and
ask how your attitude will affect your goals?
Example:
Journalists, friends, armed forces, Specialists
and event their father laughed at an idea of
 an aeroplane proposed by Orville Wright
and Wilbur Wright (Wright brothers). Many
people told “What a silly and insane way to
spend money?” “Only birds can fly.
Machines cannot fly!”

The Wright brothers responded we have a

dream and we can make it happen”. As a
result, the aeroplanes were invented.
Thisthe
shows the importance of attitude towards
success.

FACTORS AFFECTING ATTITUDE:

There are primarily three factors that
determine our attitude. They are:
1. Environment
2. Experience
3. Education
These are called the triple Es of attitude. Let's
evaluate each of the factors individually.
 Environment
1.

Environment consists of the following:

 Home:Parents, Siblings, relatives,

Neighbours and friends.

 School: Teachers, school staff, seniors,

juniors.
 Work place: Colleagues, superiors
and subordinates.
  Media: Television, newspapers,
magazines, radio, movies
 Cultural background

 Religious background

 Traditions and beliefs

 Social environment

 Political environment

All of these environments create a culture.

Every place, a home, organization or a country
has a culture.
In countries where the government and
political environment is honest, generally
you will find that the people are honest, law
abiding and helpful. And the reverse is true
too. In a corrupt environment, an honest
person has a tough time whereas in an honest
environment, the corrupt one has a tough
time. In a positive environment, a marginal
performer's output goes up. In a negative
environment, a good performer's output goes
down.

Experiences:
2.

Our behaviour changes according to our

experiences with people and events in our
life. If we have a positive experience with a
person, our attitude toward him becomes
positive and vice versa.

Education:
3.

It refers to both formal and informal

education, not just academic qualifications.
Knowledge strategically applied translates
into wisdom, ensuring success. Education
makes the role of the educator vital. A
teacher affects eternity. The ripple effect is
immeasurable.
We are drowning in information but starving
for knowledge and wisdom. Education ought
to teach us not only how to make a living but
also how to live.

POSITIVE ATTITUDE:
A positive attitude helps you to cope
more easily with the daily affairs of life. It
brings optimism into your life and makes it
easier to avoid worry and negative thinking.
It will bring constructive changes into your
life and make you happier, brighter and
more successful.
People with positive attitudes have
certain personality traits that are easy to
recognize. They are caring, confident,
patient, and humble. They have high
expectations of themselves and others. They
anticipate positive outcomes. A person with
a positive attitude is like a fruit of all
seasons. He is always welcome.

The Benefits of a Positive Attitude:

These are many and easy to see. But what is
easy to see is also easy to miss. To mention a
few, a positive attitude
 increases productivity

 fosters teamwork
  solves problems
 improves quality
 makes for congenial atmosphere
 breeds loyalty
 increases profits
 fosters better relationships with employers,
employees, and customers
 reduces stress
 helps a person become a contributing
member of society and an asset to their
country
 makes for a pleasing personality

Steps to build a Positive Attitude:

Step 1: Changing the Focus and Looking for
the Positive:
We need to become good finders. We
need to focus on the positive in life. Let's
start looking for what is right in a person or
situation instead of looking for what is
wrong. Even in paradise, fault finders will
find faults. Most people find what they are
looking for. If they are looking for
friendship, happiness and the positive, that is
what they get. If they are looking for fights
or indifference, then that is what they get.
Looking for the positive does not mean
overlooking faults.

Step 2: Making a Habit of Doing It Now:

We have all procrastinated at some time
in our lives. Procrastination leads to a
negative attitude. The habit of
procrastination fatigues you more than the
effort it takes to do it. A completed task is
fulfilling and energizing; an incomplete task
drains energy like a leak from a tank. If you
want to build and maintain a positive
attitude, get into the habit of living in the
present and doing it now.

Step 3: Developing an Attitude of

Gratitude:
Count your blessings, not your troubles.
Take time to smell the roses. It is not
uncommon to hear that someone, because of
an accident or illness, became blind or
paralyzed but won a million dollars in
settlement. How many of us would like to
trade places with that person? Not many. We
are so focused on complaining about things
we don't have that we lose sight of the things
we have. There is a lot to be thankful for.

Step 4: Getting into a Continuous

Education Program:
Let's get some myths out of the way. It is
a general belief that we get educated in
schools and colleges. "Do we really get
educated in schools and colleges?"
Generally, there is a consensus that some do
but most don't. We receive a lot of
information in schools and colleges and that
alone is not needed in achieving our goals.
We do need information to be educated. But
we need to know the true meaning of
education.
Step 5: Building a Positive Self-Esteem:
Self-esteem is the way we feel about
ourselves. When we feel good within, our
performance goes up, our relationships
improve both at home and at work. The
world looks nicer. What is the reason? There
is a direct correlation between feeling and
behaviour.

Step 6: Staying away from Negative

Influences:
Today's teenagers learn from adult
behaviour and the media. They face peer
pressure. Peer pressure is not just limited to
teenagers; it is also prevalent in adults. It
shows a lack of self-esteem when people do
not have the courage to say "No, thank you,"
and stay away from negative influences:
What are the negative influences?

NEGATIVE ATTITUDE:
People with negative attitudes will blame
the whole world, their parents, teachers,
spouse, the economy and the government for
their failures.
Some people criticize no matter what. It
does not matter which side you are on, they
are always on the other side. They have
made a career out of criticizing. They are
"career critics." They criticize as if they will
win a prize at a contest. They will find fault
with every person and every situation. You
will find people like this in every home,
family, office. They go around finding fault
and telling everybody how bad things are
and blaming the whole world for their
problems.
All that they are doing is causing more
tension for themselves and for others around
them. They spread negative messages like a
plague and create an environment conducive
to negative results. Some people always look
at the negative side.

Who are pessimists? Pessimists

 are unhappy when they have no troubles to

speak
 feel bad when they feel good, for fear they

will feel worse when they feel better

 spend most of their life at complaint

counters
 always turn out the lights to see how dark

it is
 are always looking for cracks in the mirror

of life
 stop sleeping in bed when they hear that

more people die in bed than anywhere else

 cannot enjoy their health because they
think they may be sick tomorrow
 not only expect the worst but make the
worst of whatever happens
 don't see the doughnut, only the hole
 believe that the sun shines only to cast
shadows
 forget their blessings and count their
troubles
 know that hard work never hurts anyone
but believe "why take a chance?"
 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NEGATIVE
AND POSITIVE ATTITUDES.
S.
n Negative
personality attitude Positive
personalityattitude
o1 They are always part They are always
of the problem part of the answer
2 They
excusealways has an They always has a
program
3 Sees
everyaanswers
problem for Sees everyan answer for
problem
4 Says “It may
possible but beis too Says
it “It may
difficult but itbe
is
difficult”
5 Says possible”
fault “It was not my Says “I was wrong”
6 Always
the teamapart from Alwaysteam. a part of the
7 Sees only problems Sees all possibilities
8 Says “Life is hard” Says “Life is filled
with experiences”
9 Thinks
worst” “People are Thinks “Good
people are there”
10 Always
work placehates the Always work with
lovely people
11 They
losersare mostly They are mostly
winners
12 Always
negativelooks
side on the Always looks
the positive sideon
13 They
angry,are always and They
frustrated arepolite
happier, always and
14 stressed.
Always says lovable
Always says
. “Impossible” “Possible”
15
. Says “I can’t do” Says “I can do”

MOTIVATION
Concept of Motivation:
 Motivation is something that encourages

action or feeling. To motivate means to

 encourage and inspire. Motivation can
also mean to turn on or ignite the feeling
or action.
 Motivation is powerful. It can persuade,
convince and propel you into action. In
other words, motivation can be defined
as motive for action. It is a force that can
literally change your life.
 Motivation is the driving force in our
lives. It comes from a desire to succeed.
Without success there is little pride in
life; no enjoyment or excitement at work
and at home. Often life becomes like a
lopsided wheel giving a bumpy ride.
The greatest enemy of motivation is
complacence. Complacence leads to
frustration, and when people are frustrated
they give up because they cannot identify
what is important.
Significance and types:
Once you understand the principle that
motivates the motivator, you can proceed to
achieve your goal and can motivate others
too.
Your internal motivation is your drive
and attitude. It is contagious. Attitude is the
key to getting the response you want from
others. How does a person stay motivated
and focused? One important tool that has
been used by athletes for a long time is
called auto-suggestion. Auto suggestions are
positive statements made in the present tense
and repeated regularly. In other words it is
positive self-talk.
Motivation is classified into two types:
1. External motivation and

2. Internal motivation.
EXTERNAL MOTIVATION
External motivation comes from outside,
such as money, societal approval, fame or
fear.
Examples of external motivation are fear of
getting spanked by parents and fear of getting
fired at work.
A company wanted to set up a pension
plan. In order for the plan to be installed, it
needed 100% participation. Everyone signed
up except John. The plan made sense and
was in the best interest of everyone. John not
signing was the only obstacle. John's
supervisor and other co-workers had tried to
persuade him without success.
The owner of the company called John
into his office and said, "John, here is a pen
and these are the papers for you to sign to
enrol into the pension plan. If you don't
enrol, you are fired this minute." John signed
right away. The owner asked John why he
hadn't signed earlier. John replied, "No one
explained the plan quite as clearly as you
did."

Fear Motivation
The advantages of fear motivation are:
 It gets the job done quickly.

 It is instantaneous.

 It prevents loss, by meeting deadlines.

 In the short run the

person's performance may

improve. The
disadvantages of fear
motivation are:
 It is external, which means the
 motivation is there while the motivator is
there. When the motivator goes, the
motivation also goes.
 It causes stress. Performance is limited to
compliance.
 In the long run, performance goes down. It
destroys creativity.
 They get used to the stick and then need a
bigger stick.

Example: A customer asked an employee,

"When did you start working here?" He
replied, "Ever since they threatened to fire
me."
Incentive Motivation
External motivation can also take the form of
incentives, bonuses, commission, recognition,
etc.
What are the advantages of incentive
motivation? The major advantage is that it
can work very well as long as the incentive
is strong enough. Think of a donkey with a
carrot dangling in front and with a cart
behind. Incentive motivation will only work
if the donkey is hungry enough, the carrot is
sweet enough and the load is light enough.
From time to time, you have to let the
donkey take a bite of the carrot; otherwise it
is going to get discouraged. After the donkey
takes a bite, its stomach is full, and you need
to wait for the donkey to get hungry again
before it will pull the cart. This is typically
seen in our business environment. The
moment sales people meet their quota, they
stop working. This is because their
motivation is limited to meeting their quota.
That is external, not internal.

INTERNAL MOTIVATION
Internal motivation is the inner gratification,
not for success or winning, but for the
fulfilment that comes from having done it. It
is a feeling of accomplishment, rather than
just achieving a goal. Reaching an unworthy
goal does not give the gratifying feeling.
Internal motivation is lasting, because it
comes from within and translates into self-
motivation.
Motivation needs to be identified and
constantly strengthened to succeed. Keep
your goals in front of you and read them
morning and evening.
The two most important motivating factors are
recognition and responsibility.
 Recognition means being appreciated;
being treated with respect and dignity;
and feeling a sense of belonging.
 Responsibility gives a person a feeling of
belonging and ownership. He then
becomes part of the bigger picture. Lack
of responsibility can become
demotivating.
Monetary rewards are temporary and short-
lived; they are not gratifying in the long run.
In contrast, seeing an idea being
implemented can be emotionally gratifying
by itself. People feel that they are not being
treated like objects. They feel part of a
 worthwhile team. The reward of doing the
right thing by itself is motivating.

THE FOUR STAGES FROM

MOTIVATION TO DEMOTIVATION
1. Motivated Ineffective

This is the stage when the employee is most

open minded, receptive and easy to mold to
the culture of the organization. Training and
orientation become imperative.
Professional organizations, on the other
hand, take special care to induct people into
their organizations. They explain to them,
among other things, the following:
 the hierarchy

 expectations of each other

 do's and don’ts

 parameters and guidelines

  what is acceptable and what is not
 what are the resources

Motivated Effective:
2.

This is the stage when the employee has

learned what to do and does it with drive and
energy. He has learned the trade and it
reflects in his performance. Then he moves
on to the next stage.

Demotivated Effective:
3.

After some time the motivation level goes

down and the employee starts learning the
tricks of the trade. This is the stage when the
employee is not motivated. He continues
doing just enough so that the employer has
no reason to fire him but he is really not
motivated.
This stage is detrimental to growth--most
people in organizations fall into this third
stage. A motivated professional learns the
trade and leaves the tricks to cheats and
crooks, but a demotivated employee start
sabotaging the company. His performance is
marginal. He makes fun of the good
performers. He rejects new ideas and spreads
the negativity all around.
Our objective is to bring them back to the
second stage of motivated effective through
training. An employee ought not to stay in
the third stage too long; because from here
either they move back to the second stage,
which is being motivated and effective, or
they move into the fourth stage.
 Demotivated Ineffective:
4.

At this stage, the employer does not have

much choice but to fire the employee, which
may be the most appropriate thing to do
anyway at this point.
Remember, employers want the same thing
as employees do. They want to succeed and
improve business and if employees help in
this objective, then they make themselves
valuable and achieve their own success.

DEMOTIVATING FACTORS:
Some of the demotivating factors are:
 Unfair criticism

 Negative criticism

 Public humiliation

 Rewarding the non performer which can

be demotivating for the performer

 Failure or fear of failure
 Success which leads to complacence
 Lack of direction
 Lack of measurable objectives
 Low self-esteem
 Lack of priorities
  Negative self-talk
 Office politics
 Unfair treatment
 Hypocrisy
 Poor standards
 Frequent change
 Responsibility without authority

MOTIVATING FACTORS:
What we really want to accomplish is self-
motivation, when people do things for their
own reasons and not yours. That is lasting
motivation.
Remember, the greatest motivator is belief.
We have to inculcate in ourselves the belief
that we are responsible for our actions and
behaviour. When people accept
responsibility, everything improves: quality,
productivity, relationships and teamwork.
A few steps to motivate others:
 Give recognition

 Give respect

 Make work interesting

 Be a good listener

 Throw a challenge

 Help but don't do for others what they

should do for themselves

 SELF-ESTEEM
Term self-esteem - Symptoms - Advantages
- Do's and Don’ts to develop positive self-
esteem
– Low self- esteem - Symptoms -
Personality having low self esteem -
Positive and negative self esteem.
Interpersonal Relationships – Defining the
difference between aggressive, submissive
and assertive behaviours - Lateral thinking.

DEFINITION:
Self-esteem is how we value ourselves; it is
how we perceive our value to the world and
how valuable we think we are to others.
Self-esteem affects our trust in others, our
relationships, and our work – nearly every
part of our lives.

HIGH or POSTIVE SELF ESTEEM:

Positive self-esteem gives us the strength
and flexibility to take charge of our lives and
grow from our mistakes without the fear of
rejection.

Symptoms and Signs of High Self-Esteem:

Some of the outward signs of high self-
esteem:
 Confidence
 Self-direction
 Non-blaming behaviour
 An awareness of personal strengths
 An ability to make mistakes and learn
from them
 An ability to accept mistakes from
others
 Optimism
 An ability to solve problems
 An independent and cooperative
attitude
 Feeling comfortable with a wide range
of emotions
 An ability to trust others
 A good sense of personal limitations
 Good self-care
 The ability to say no
Advantages of High Self-Esteem
There is a direct relationship between
people's feelings and their productivity.
High self-esteem is evident in respect for
one's self, others, property, law, parents and
one's country. The reverse is also true.
Self-esteem:
 Builds strong conviction.

 Creates willingness to accept

responsibility.
 Builds optimistic attitudes.

 Leads to better relationships and fulfilling

lives.
 Makes a person more sensitive to others'

needs and develop a caring attitude.

 Makes a person self-motivated and

ambitious.
 Makes a person open to new opportunities

and challenges.
 Improves performance and increases risk-

taking ability.
  Helps a person give and receive both
criticism and compliments tactfully and
easily.

LOW SELF ESTEEM:

Low self-esteem is a worst condition that
keeps individuals from realizing their full
potential. A person with low self-esteem
feels unworthy, incapable and incompetent.
In fact, because the person with low self-
esteem feels so poorly about him or herself,
these feelings may actually cause the
person’s continued low self-esteem.

Symptoms and Signs of Low Self-Esteem:

 Negative view of life
 Perfectionist attitude
 Mistrusting others – even those who
show signs of affection
  Blaming behaviour
 Fear of taking risks
 Feelings of being unloved and
unlovable
 Dependence – letting others make
decisions
 Fear of being ridiculed

INCREASING OUR SELF ESTEEM:

Feelings of low self-esteem often build
up over a lifetime, and letting go of
ingrained feelings and behaviours is not an
easy task. It may take time, hard work, and it
may require professional counselling. But
there are some simple, positive thinking
techniques that can be used to help improve
self-esteem. These are called affirmations.
Using affirmations to stop negative self-
talk is a simple, positive way to help
increase self-esteem. Affirmations are
encouraging messages we can give ourselves
every day until they become part of our
feelings and beliefs. Affirmations work best
when a person is relaxed. But since people
are often upset
when they are giving themselves negative
self-messages, they may need to counter
negative messages with positive ones.

For example, replace the message “I made a

stupid mistake, and I am no good at this
job,” with “Yes, I made a mistake but I have
learned from it, and now I can a better job.”

Begin each day by looking in the mirror

and giving us a positive message. The
following affirmations can help you to work
toward a positive self-image:
 I respect myself and others

 I am lovable and likable

 I am confident, and it shows

 I am creating loving, healthy relationships

 I am a good friend to myself and others

 I accept myself just as I am

  I look great
 Life is good, and I like being a part of it

PERSONALITY HAVING LOW SELF

ESTEEM
 They are generally gossip mongers.

 They have a critical nature. They criticize

as if there is a contest going on and they

have to win a prize.
 They have high egos they are arrogant
and believe they know it all. People with
low self-esteem are generally difficult to
work with and for. They tear down others
to get a feeling of superiority.
 They are closed minded and self-centred.
 They constantly make excuses--always
justifying failures.
 They never accept responsibility--always
blaming others.
 They have a fatalistic attitude no initiative
and always waiting for things to happen.
 They are jealous by nature.
 They are unwilling to accept positive
criticism. They become defensive.
 They are bored and uncomfortable when
alone.
 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HIGH SELF
ESTEEM AND LOW SELF ESTEEM:

S.
n High
Esteem Self- Low
EsteemSelf-
o1 Personality
Talk about Personality
Talk about
2 ideas people
Caring attitude Critical attitude
3 Humility Arrogance
4 Respects
authority Rebels
authorityagainst
5 Courage
convictionof Goes
get along to
along
6 Confidence Confusion
7 Concerned
about character Concerned
about
8 Assertive reputation
Aggressive
9 Accepts
responsibility Blames
whole the
world
10 Self-interest Selfish
11 Optimistic Fatalistic
12 Understanding Greedy
13 Willing
learn to Know it all
14 Sensitive Touchy
15 Solitude Lonely
16 Discuss Argue
17 Believes
self-worthin Believes
worth in
only net
18 Guided Misguided
19 Discipline Distorted
of freedom sense
20 Internally
driven Externally
driven
21 Respects others Looks
others down on
22 Enjoys
decency Enjoys
vulgarity
23 Knows limit Everything
goes
24 Giver Taker
 OTHER ASPECTS OF
PERSONALITY
DEVELOPMENT

Body language – Problem solving -

Conflict and Stress Management -
Decision-making skills - Leadership and
qualities of a successful leader –
Character building -Team-work – Time
management -Work ethics –Good
manners and etiquette.
BODY LANGUAGE:
Definition:
"Body language is the unconscious and
conscious transmission and interpretation of
feelings, attitudes, and moods, through: body
posture, movement, physical state, position
and relationship to other bodies, objects and
surroundings, facial expression and eye
movement, the process of communicating
what you are feeling or thinking by the way
you place and move your body rather than
by words”
The study of body language is known as
kinesics, which is derived from the Greek
word kinesis, meaning motion.

Importance of Body Language:

 When one expresses his/her feelings, it has
been said that.
 55% of the communication consists of
body language.
 38% is expressed via the tone of voice or
intonation and amazingly only
 7% is communicated via words.
This means that we express most of our
feeling (93%) in a non-verbal way and our
words only convey 7% of what we are saying
or expressing.
Body Language is a significant aspect of
modern communications and relationships.
Body Language is therefore very relevant to
management and leadership, and to all
aspects of work and business where
communications can be seen and physically
observed among people.
Body language is also very relevant to
relationships outside of work, for example,
in families and parenting, behaving with
friends, etc
Communication includes listening. In
terms of observable body language, non-
verbal (non- spoken) signals are being
exchanged whether these signals are
accompanied by spoken words or not.
Factors of Body Language:
Body language is not just about how we hold
and move our bodies.
Body language potentially (although not
always, depending on the definition you
choose to apply) encompasses:
 how we position our bodies

 our closeness to and the space between us

and other people and how this changes

 our facial expressions

 our eyes especially and how our eyes move

and focus, etc

 how we touch ourselves and others

 how our bodies connect with other non-

bodily things, for instance, pens,

cigarettes, spectacles and clothing
 our breathing, and other less noticeable
physical effects, for example our
heartbeat and perspiration
Body language tends not to include the pace,
pitch, and intonation, volume, variation,
pauses, etc., of our voice.

Voice type and other audible signals are

typically not included in body language
because they are audible 'verbal' signals
rather than physical visual ones, nevertheless
the way the voice is used is a very
significant (usually unconscious) aspect of
communication, aside from the bare words
themselves. Similarly breathing and
heartbeat, etc., are typically excluded from
many general descriptions of body language,
but are certainly part of the range of non-
verbal bodily actions and signals which
contribute to body language in its fullest
sense.

More obviously, our eyes are a vital aspect of

our body language.
Our reactions to other people's eyes -
movement, focus, expression, etc - and their
reactions to our eyes - contribute greatly to
mutual assessment and understanding,
consciously and unconsciously.

Our interpretation of body language, notably

eyes and facial expressions, is instinctive,
and with a little thought and knowledge we
can significantly increase our conscious
awareness of these signals: both the signals
we transmit, and the signals in others that we
observe.

Doing so gives us a significant advantage in

life - professionally and personally - in our
dealings with others. Body language is not
just reading the signals in other people.
PROBLEM SOLVING:
Problem Solving is a mental process
wherein an individual analyzes interprets a
task or a problem at hand and chooses from
a pool of possibilities to reach the simplest
solution. It involves an individual’s
creativity and decision making abilities.
Following steps should be followed while
solving a problem:

1. Identifying the problem: It is important to

have clarity about what the problem at hand
is and what it demands. The resources
required to solve the task and the kind of
solutions that have been used before and
have been successes and failures.

2. Forming a strategy: The approach to

solving the problem will depend upon the
environment and the available resources. It
will differ from individual to individual
since they will have their own preferences
and set schemas.

3. Organizing Information: As stated before,

it is important to gather as much information
as possible and organizing it, segregating it
to identify the gaps. Whether it’s a top down
approach or a bottom up approach, one
should be able to identify the source of the
problem.

4. Allocating resources and monitoring the

process: Once you know the problem, its
source and have organized the information,
allocate the resources such as time, money
etc, including past experiences and future
 impacts. For effective solutions, one also
needs to monitor the progress of the
approach to avoid being caught in the
vicious circle of escalation of commitment.

5. Evaluating the Solution: Once the task at

hand has been solved, what is its present and
future impact? It can be immediate such as
solving a math problem or a long term
process such as a learning curve.

CONFLICT AND STRESS

MANAGEMENT:
a) Conflict Management:

 Conflict is a condition where there is

opposition, disagreement between two or
more people. This may be due to lack of
communication, differences over certain
issues and/or contradiction in ideas, beliefs
and thoughts.
 Conflicts at workplace can hamper the
progress of your work and in turn stunts the
growth of the organization.
 Conflicts act as barriers to healthy
organizational development. Sometimes,
however, how hard we try; we end up with
conflicting thoughts with team members.
Therefore it is necessary to manage conflicts
in a way such that it has minimum impact on
our lives.
 Unresolved conflicts can be hazardous
especially at work places. They can lead to
inappropriate behavior such as avoidance,
inability to work in teams, verbal assaults,
and overall resentment. In worst
cases, some of the employees in the
organization become so hostile that they
eventually have to quit their work and
separate from the organization.

Stress Management:
b)

 All of us are living a fast paced

demanding life, dealing with work pressure,
home responsibilities, and other
commitments all the time that leads to the
stress.
This stress becomes a part and parcel of
our life. However, managing stress is
extremely important. Stress has a lot of
harmful effects on our body and mind.
People under stress often experience
headaches, anxiety, depression, negative
thoughts, nausea, anger, frustration etc.
 Hence to avoid these problems,
maintaining stress is extremely important..
Regular Exercising, change the routine
work, yoga, meditation and breathing
exercises are great ways to combat stress.
The ultimate goal to manage stress is to lead
a balanced life.
 Some people with stress is to smoke and
consume large amounts of alcohol. Also,
avoid eating or sleeping too much when you
are stressed because this will make you
lethargic.
Relax, rejuvenate
that you can function and
morerecharge yourself so
efficiently.

DECISION MAKING SKILLS

A Systematic Approach for Making Decisions
In real-life business situations, decisions can
often fail because the best alternatives are not
clear at the outset, or key factors are not
considered as part of the process. To stop this
happening, you need to bring problem-solving
and decision-making strategies together to
clarify your understanding.
A logical and ordered process can help you to
do this by making sure that you address all of
the critical elements needed for a successful
outcome.
Working through this process systematically
will reduce the likelihood of overlooking
important factors. Our seven-step approach
takes this into account:
Create a constructive environment.
Investigate the situation in detail.
Generate good alternatives.
Explore your options.
Select the best solution.
Evaluate your plan.
Communicate your
decision, and take
action. Let’s look at
each of these steps in
detail.
Step 1: Create a Constructive Environment
Decisions can become complex when they
involve or affect other people, so it helps to
create a constructive environment in which to
explore the situation and weigh up your
options.
Step 2: Investigate the Situation in Detail
Before you can begin to make a decision, you
need to make sure that you fully understand
your situation. It may be that your objective
can be approached in isolation, but it’s more
likely that there are a number of interrelated
factors to consider. Changes made in one
department, for example, could have knock-
on effects elsewhere, making the change
counter-productive.

Step 3: Generate Good Alternatives

The wider the options you explore, the better
your final decision is likely to be.
Generating a number of different options
may seem to make your decision more
complicated at first, but the act of coming up
with alternatives forces you to dig deeper and
look at the problem from different angles.

Step 4: Explore Your Options

When you're satisfied that you have a good
selection of realistic alternatives, it’s time to
evaluate the feasibility, risks and
implications of each one.
 Almost every decision involves some degree
of risk. Use Risk Analysis to consider this
objectively by adopting a structured approach
to assessing threats, and evaluating the
probability of adverse events occurring – and
what they might cost to manage.
Step 5: Select the Best Solution
Once you’ve evaluated the alternatives, the next
step is to make your decision. If one particular
alternative is clearly better than the rest, your
choice will be obvious. However, if you still
have several competing options, there are plenty
of tools that will help you decide between them.

Group Decisions:
If your decision is being made within a group,
there are plenty of excellent tools and
techniques to help you to reach a group
decision.
If the decision criteria are subjective, and it's
critical that you gain consensus, Multi-Voting
can help your team reach an agreement.
When anonymity is important, decision-makers
dislike one another, or there is a tendency for
certain individuals to dominate the process, use
the Delphi Technique to reach a fair and
impartial decision. This uses cycles of
anonymous, written discussion and argument,
managed by a facilitator . Participants do not
meet, and sometimes they don't even know who
else is involved.
Step 6: Evaluate Your Plan
With all the effort and hard work you’ve already
invested in evaluating and selecting alternatives,
it can be tempting to forge ahead at this stage.
But now, more than ever, is the time to "sense
check" your decision.
Before you start to implement your decision,
take a long, dispassionate look at it to be sure
that you have been thorough, and that common
errors haven't crept into the process.
Step 7: Communicate Your Decision, and Take
Action
Once you've made your decision, you need to
communicate it to everyone affected by it in an
engaging and inspiring way.
Get them involved in implementing the solution
by discussing how and why you arrived at your
decision. The more information you provide
about risks and projected benefits, the more
likely people will be to support your decision.