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Mentorship January 14, 2019
I didn't know I needed soft skills until I needed them.
I learned really early into ENTITY Academy that I, and perhaps many other individuals, severely undervalue soft skills.
If I’m being honest, I didn’t think they were necessary before. Other than class-wide discussions and debates during lecture, I hadn’t needed to work with my classmates. As a freelance audio engineer, I’m able to choose my clients so I wouldn’t have to compromise. And as pretentious as it sounds, I serve in high-ranking positions for the volunteer organizations of which I’m a member.
I’m always in a position to be demanding of other people to fit the whims of my schedule and working pace. ENTITY Academy totally kicked my butt on this, and now I’m off to some major soft skill development.
ENTITY Academy is designed to be extremely challenging, which is why it’s such a valuable experience. In addition to learning hard skills like graphic design and SEO, the program emphasizes soft skill development such as task prioritization, pitching and work ethic. The work environment is extremely fast-paced; the high volume of tasks combined with the fast deadlines kept all mentees working on something all the time, if not doing take-home work.
More than anyone, I’m a diligent but slow worker. I’m not sure how high-quality others perceive my work to be, however, I hold a very high standard of excellence and uncompromisingly high personal expectation in my work. If I’m already good at something I’ll speed through the task, but I’ll work slowly and surely if it means that I’m happy with my end product. Oftentimes, my peers and I will learn a new skill at the same time and be given the same tasks, but I’ll still be working on my first task long after my peers finished their third one.
During the past two years in college, I was constantly told I had excellent time management and self-monitoring skills. I could overbook my own schedule with research, club meetings, freelance work and volunteer events and still stay in the in the top 5% of my class. If any of my peers or project-mates were slacking on work, I would sacrifice a little more sleep to pick it up. I could go days with no sleep when I was in a productive groove.
But during my time at ENTITY, I finally learned that I overestimated my abilities, and it negatively affected every aspect of my life. I was taking home Academy work every day because I was struggling to keep up. In addition to that, my family situation worsened two weeks into the Academy, which was extremely inconvenient. But also, many of my project-mates in one of the organizations I volunteer at quit after an argument amongst themselves. This was especially problematic; one of the projects they abandoned was a sponsored charity concert in-the-works since last November.
Almost immediately, my productivity at work plummeted. I was pulled out for talks often because I was obviously struggling. And while my motivation to finish tasks and projects never dropped, my energy level did whenever I thought about having to go back to work somewhere else.
I was blessed with the most understanding supervisor in the history of mankind; she was extremely patient with me and offered alternatives so that I could work without falling behind throughout the Academy. It was my fault that chose not to tell her how much I’m struggling, negotiate for a more achievable workload, and fell behind. I actually told her that I’d rather drown in work than have any taken away from me.
P.S. I caught up with the work, but now it’s the last week and I feel like I’ve missed out on so much by not being mentally present.
Over the duration over the program, I learned that I completely lacked soft skills and it adversely eroded my work ethic.
If I was more self-aware of the actual state of abilities and my physical limits, I would have gotten more out of the Academy. My under-performance was not due to a lack of competence but rather a lack of recognition that I wasn’t working in my best mental-physical conditions. If I had been more self-aware, I could have communicated to my supervisor more clearly what I could do and by which deadlines. We could have come up with strategies to make the deadlines more flexible around the uncompromising parts of my schedule. There is no excuse for this; I know what my personality is like and what my tendencies are.
I really struggled with developing a work-life balance. This soft skill is completely foreign to me; I define myself by my work and not by my behavior and personality. (This is in why I lack self-awareness, I suppose.) I didn’t stop to think how much… life it’d take out of me when my volunteer work tripled while no other workloads decreased. Because I’d stopped eating and sleeping and sustained myself through a doppio espresso every 40 minutes, my productivity definitely dropped. There’s no way to time-manage my way out of this; I should have delegated more of the volunteer work to other people. I don’t know why I thought I could handle it. Maybe I was literally blinded by all the things I wanted to finish.
Of course, lacking in self-awareness and work-life balance lead to poor communication, no flexibility and most importantly, missing deadlines. In less generous work environments, deadlines are non-negotiable and extensions don’t exist.
I have nothing but admiration for my supervisor. Not only is she extremely good at her work, but she has strong soft skills as well. She’s dependable, great at troubleshooting and adaptable in any situation. But the things I love most about working with her are that she knows when to be strict and when to be flexible, and that she’s always smiling. She’s such a strong person; she’s smiling even while upset or frustrated at someone. My supervisor is the kind of super-adult I want to become.
I spent some time reflecting on the way I treated the other volunteers during the concert. Although I work with them often and they know I’m temperamental and demanding, it doesn’t excuse me from being a terrible person. I can be a strict department head without snapping at other volunteers, and I most definitely can empathize, listen and be more flexible with other people’s opinions and schedules.
Bottom line? Treat people the way I want to be treated – humanely.
Remember that article on expectations I had for ENTITY Academy? One of the things I looked forward to at ENTITY Academy was a close-knit working environment. And I got it! I really enjoyed saying good morning to the other mentees and getting into deep discussions with them. Through learning and listening to the other mentees’ experiences and perspectives, I discovered that I have a deep love for humanity that I didn’t have before. I didn’t know I craved conversation until I got it.
I was at ENTITY Academy on my 20th birthday. Two of the mentees I’m close with organized a surprise for me, complete with two cakes and a candle. For the first time, I celebrated my birthday outside of my home with my little brother. I had only mentioned my birthday once in passing when we all were figuring each others’ ages! I’ve never felt so appreciated before. But most of all, I felt hope. Previous to ENTITY Academy, I lived as if I was running out of time. I wanted to be perfect and all-competent right away. ENTITY Academy instilled in me a sense that I have so much room to grow. It also reminded me I have so much time to do so and so much achievement to be excited about.
I’m grateful that I participated in ENTITY Academy. It’s a life-changing experience that shifts and challenges perspectives on everything I know. Nothing compares to ENTITY Academy in mentorship and personal growth.
