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The Importance Of Self Awareness

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As emerging community practitioners, it is important to have a strong sense of self in order to interact with individuals and communities in an authentic manner (Pyles, 2016, p. 23). A thorough understanding of self can also be used when deciding tactics to address micro and macro issues within different communities. Tactical self awareness involves the ability to know one’s own organizing strengths and when to utilize planning and additional supports to effectively work through roles we may feel uncomfortable or weak in (Burghardt, 2014, p. 78). Through the course of this paper I will discuss my working strengths and efficient ways to adapt my specific personality and organizing weaknesses to best respond to varying situations. This will be examined through my professional aspirations, attitude towards authority, and reflections upon my past work experiences. I will also discuss the struggles I have with my social identity as a white professional working in poor communities of color, and the potential ways I can use my understanding of privilege and oppression to become an effective organizer and accomplice. Before I am able to dissect my own behavior, it is important to understand how varying personality styles can be associated with different organizing situations. As described by Burghardt (2014), organizing tactics exist on a spectrum between process and task orientations. While on one end, task oriented people focus on achieving goals in formal and impersonal meetings

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