Glyph Reflection

When looking at my glyphs side-by-side that I drew during my first and last semester of class in OT school, I made the following observations: 

      Differences

• The first difference I noticed between my two glyphs was that I added glasses to my person. According to the key, this indicates that I now feel that I have had more experience in leadership roles than most other people my age at this point in life. I believe that I made this change due to the fact that I have taken on two leadership roles since being in OT school: Anatomy TA and SOTA Public Relations Chair. I am proud of myself for stepping up and applying for these roles and earning them. Each position taught me so much about the importance of being pro-active, self-directed, organized, and confident in my abilities as a leader.
• I also noticed that my person's hair transitioned from being only curly to being half straight/half curly. This reflects that I used to see leadership as being solely about creativity but now perceive it as being equally important that a leader is organized but also creative. In both leadership roles I have held and also during my time on Level 1 fieldwork, I have learned that OTs and other leaders must be organized with their materials and responsibilities while also being creative enough to produce solutions to problems and think quickly on their feet when productivity is on the line. My person's hair did get somewhat longer, which reflects that my belief became stronger that an introvert can be a leader. Just because someone is an introvert and is not the first person to voice their opinion or to make social plans does not mean that he or she cannot be a leader. It may even be helpful for a leader to be introverted since they will not voice their opinion but rather promote a compromise among the opinions of the individuals he/she is leading. An introvert can still be organized, empathetic, driven, responsible, loyal, and proactive in addition to also being shy and less sociable. 
• I moved from four eyelashes on each eye to one eyelash on each eye, which reflects that I cannot remember as many personal areas of strength from the Clifton StrengthsFinder Assessment. This is understandable since it had not been long since we completed that assessment the first time I drew my glyph. I do think I should go back and review those strengths following this reflection to refresh my memory and increase my self-awareness of my strength areas. 
• Another difference I observed was that my eyebrows transitioned from being curved to pointy, which reflects that I initially viewed my leadership style as being out-in-front but now view it as being more "behind the scenes". This was a factor that I think was absolutely influenced by the leadership positions I have held while in OT school. The majority of my responsibilities for these positions were behind-the-scenes (posting on Instagram, planning OT day, preparing pictures to bring to anatomy lab), therefore it makes sense that my perspective on this aspect of leadership changed over the past year and a half. 

          Similarities

• Firstly, my head-shape did not change between my two glyphs. This illustrated that I am firm in my belief that leadership stems from nurture over nature and learning over time. I do not believe that someone is "born a leader" but rather develops leadership skills with time, experience, and learning. 
• My eyes seemed to become smaller between each drawing, which indicates that I now believe that there is a fairly equal mixture of leaders and non-leaders in the field of OT. I believe that this is due to the fact that I have been in a fieldwork setting where all OTs there were not necessarily demonstrating leadership skills that stood out to me. These individuals rather seemed to just arrive at work, treat the clients they were scheduled to treat, and leave once their work was done. Early in OT school, I did not necessarily view OTs through that "leader change agent" lens. As I make the transition to becoming an OT practitioner, I will strive to demonstrate what it means to be a leader in my work setting. 
• My person's nose remained a triangle, which indicates that I still believe that it is necessary to view yourself as a leader in order to be one. I believe that it is important to self-reflect on who you are and the roles that you hold in order to be confident in those roles and carry them out efficiently. This value of self-awareness is also evident in the fact that both of my glyphs have freckles (with a few extra on my latter glyph). 
•  Both of my glyphs contained a smiling mouth, which reflects that I am still capable of thinking of leaders in my own life who have had a positive impact on me. When drawing those, I immediately thought about my high school youth pastor, high school drama teacher, and my mom. 

All in all, I really enjoyed comparing my glyph that were drawn at the beginning and end of the didactic portion of my OT education. Some of my perceptions of leadership have remained the same while others changed as a result of holding leadership positions in school and observing OTs who are leaders on fieldwork rotations. I am sure that these perceptions will continue to change as I transition to Level II fieldwork and being a registered OT practitioner. I look forward to all of the lessons I will learn as a leader in future experiences as a future OT!