VALOR is not just fun and games. Sure, we travel to exciting destinations and meet with dynamic people in order to gain a better working knowledge and understanding of the many facets connected to the agriculture industry in Virginia. But….there are also…. tests. (and homework too, for that matter) Not just easy little true/false quizzes — nooooo — they’re deep, probing exams with hundreds of questions to see just how well you know the subject matter and the nuances behind it. And to top it off, a six hour long session to review the results after the testing is done, scheduled, of course, for right after lunch. Man…. This could be brutal…. Better grab a red bull…
And so it was that, on the Eastern Shore during the second day of the second gathering of the VALOR inaugural class, participants grabbed a sandwich from Panera Bread (and, if they were lucky, soup) and took their seats.
The test had already been taken and it dealt with the “Emotional Intelligence”, or EQ (as opposed to IQ) of the person taking the test. You can get the briefest of tastes of the types of questions asked and get a very basic assessment of EQ with this online quiz of sorts.
The results of the assessment that was taken, EQ-i2.0, break down personality traits into 16 different facets; such as “stress tolerance”, “problem solving”, “social responsibility”, “assertiveness”, and “empathy” among others, and points out strengths and weaknesses. It offered valuable insights into the how and why the test taker reacts to various situations as they do, and gave suggestions on how to improve. (should improvement be needed.)
What became clear was that, if results are to be obtained by leaders of agriculture in Virgina, a conscious awareness and study of EQ during interactions with others – superiors, subordinates, peers, everyone – will increase the likelihood of a positive engagement.
And that six hours devoted to a single subject may not be as brutal is initially expected… Especially when lead by such capable and engaging facilitators such as Melissa Lubin and Stacy Harvey. Even the topics not listed on a course outline and raised by coincidence proved most enlightening. Sometimes even more so than the prepared subject matter. Thank you both for your work.
(My musings of a more random nature can be found here and here, should you feel so led)
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