Self-Assessment in Leadership Growth

Introduction

The short self-assessment quizzes throughout the course have tremendously helped me gain greater awareness of not only my strengths but also my areas of development. In order to develop a successful leadership development plan, it’s crucial to understand the strengths and weaknesses related to an individual’s leadership style. “To practice moral leadership, leaders have to know themselves, understand their strengths and weaknesses, know what they stand for, and often be nonconformists” (Daft 184). One of my greatest weakness is having a followership style of a conformist, meaning one that is actively engaged but not an independent thinker and often that can lead to consequences. For me to be an effective follower, it’s necessary for me to be an independent thinker, to best serve the organization (Daft 200).

Outcomes of Self Assessment Quizes

For one to be considered an effective leader, they must be ethical. To be ethical means to be truthful and nondeceptive, even if it’s at the expense of having an opposing opinion from authority. One of the best assets a leader can bring to an organization is their ability to connect with others while also being able to understand their emotions. “A high level of self-awareness and an ability to manage one’s own emotions enable a leader to display self-confidence, earn respect and trust, and consider the needs of others” (Daft 152). It’s important for leaders to strive to develop their personal strengths to reach their highest potential. My most prominent strength is my level of emotional intelligence. Emotionally intelligent leaders not only are aware of their feelings but also recognize how their emotions can affect other people. For me to continuously progress as a leader, it’s vital for me to be compassionate and sensitive to people’s feelings. Out of the four components of emotional intelligence, my strongest one is self-awareness and social awareness while my low points are self-management and relationship management. To strengthen the self-management component, the key characteristics I need to develop are conscientiousness and adaptability. A conscientious leader is well organized and is prepared for any possible problem ahead of time. Change is a constant in almost every organization, therefore it is important for me or any leader to be adaptive.

Risk-taking and challenging the “this is how we always do it” mindset is incredibly important to qualify as an adaptive leader. Relationship management helps leaders to understand and connect with their team by connecting with them on a more emotional level. “Leaders use their understanding of emotions to inspire change and lead people toward something better, to build teamwork and collaboration, and to resolve conflicts that inevitably arise. These leaders cultivate and maintain a web of relationships both within and outside the organization” (Daft 151). Being an empathetic leader can prevent future conflicts and encourage a positive teamwork environment. While on the other end, if I don’t build on my team management skills, it will be challenging for me to be a beneficiary leader to my team. One of my highest score was in involvement culture; which focuses on the needs of its organizations, making the work environment friendly and positive. On the other end, my lowest score was in achievement culture, which is more so results oriented. Although both cultures are capable of being successful, it’s important for a leader to understand that the success of the culture depends on the organizations needs. “The relative emphasis on various cultural values depends on the organization’s strategic focus and the needs of the external environment. Leaders might have preferences for the values associated with one type of culture, but they learn to adjust the values they emulate and encourage, depending on the needs of the organization” (Daft 446). An ideal leader can communicate efficiently while also listening empathetically, so they can benefit the organization. To create an effective leadership development plan, a leader should implement effective strategies that focus on improving weaknesses and further developing strengths.

Summary of Key Strengths and Weaknesses

Following the completion of the weekly short self-assessment quizzes, I was able to identify my key strengths and weaknesses. In this section, I shall present a summary of these key strengths and weaknesses which I possess and believe that will soon aid in leadership and professional development.

Key Strengths

When an individual is exposed to a strong situation, they are posited to exhibit similar behavior to suit that situation. Therefore, when exposed to a strong situation, such as one which involves leadership, I will be provoked to elicit behavior that corresponds to leadership (Sam Dalal, et al., 2015). I would consider my strengths in leadership as being situational, because, they are the explicit and implicit cues which are caused by an external entity that desires potential behaviors of leadership from myself. My key strengths are also important characteristics of my personality. In brief, my strengths, are presented from the short self-assessment quizzes are:

Excellent people skills,

Strong orientation towards consideration behaviour,

More oriented towards relating with people,

High emotional intelligence, especially by being socially aware and self-aware,

Active engagement in followership,

Inspires followers to go beyond their self-interests,

Tends to work well as a strategic innovator and strategic adapter,

Strong take-charge attitude towards change.

Key Weaknesses

I believe that my personal weaknesses in the context of leadership are malleable (Steimer & Mata, 2016). I am grateful for being able to identify these weaknesses, because I will be challenged to put effort in converting them into strengths. I perceive personality weaknesses as something which is undesirable, which causes me to think about their malleability to suit the qualities of an effective leader. The following are my key weaknesses:

Poor networking skills,

Weak orientation toward initiating structure behaviour,

Low focus on task orientation,

Lack qualities to develop followers into leaders, and,

Need for More Information on Behaviours

In order to acquire more information concerning my strengths and weaknesses as a leader, I will need to consult various sources which over valuable opinions concerning my personality. An individual’s personality defines who they are and how people relate to or think about them. It is common to hear people refer to others as having a good or bad personality (Alpatanni, 2015). These references are made because people use a person’s actions, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours as a pivot point for judging one’s personality. It is the stabilities, consistencies and continuities of personality dispositions and traits over time that define personality development. Therefore, I intend to use a variety of external sources, in addition to my personal reflections and outcomes from self-assessment quizzes, to gain a clearer picture of my behaviors in the context of leadership. These external sources include informational interviews, causal conversations, and previous performance evaluations. Causal conversations involve interpersonal communication with a goal of unveiling my personality traits pertaining to leadership from the perspective of another person. Informational interviews are more specific, such that they involve conversations with people who occupy recognized leadership positions (Doyle, 2019). The benefit of the informational interview is that the experienced leader will take time to reflect on their leadership experience, compare it with my personality and offer advice concerning my strengths and weaknesses.

After seven days of causal conversations and informational interviews, I learned the following. First, I have a tendency of getting lost in the crowd, and while at it, I would always try to acquire some form of control over the ideas being held in the group of people. In certain cases, I would have personal ideas and decisions, although, I would not proceed with them until I acquire a few other people to support them. As soon as someone supports my idea, I would not consider whether they fully agfree with me or not. Instead, I would lead them down my line of thinking, to the extent that I would become disappointed or infuriated when they eventually cease to agree with me. I always thought that I like to inspire change among people, and this ws confirmed through my interactions with colleagues.

Vision for Developing as a Leader

I would like to be a leader who is empathetic, adaptive, thinks independently, possess the qualities of a nonconformist and is open to taking risks.

Developmental Objectives

Objective 1

To become an empathetic leader, my objective is to develop the art of mindfulness. Out of the myriad definitions that exist and for the purpose of my study and growth in leadership, I shall focus on the description of mindfulness as the non-judgmental and purposeful paying attention on the present circumstances. Simply, mindfulness involved being consciously aware of the events that are happening in the present time (Djikic, 2014). Historically, mindfulness is a meditation technique rooting from Buddhist practices in the East, and blended with western psychology over the years as a form of perpetuating mental well-being. My empathetic skill will grow through openness, acceptance and curiosity that I will learn from the mental skill of being mindful.

Objective 2

To become an adaptive leader, my objective is to navigate the environment in which my followers are situated. Navigating the environment will help me understand the turbulent conditions and embrace the looming uncertainties so that I can come up with the best approaches of leading people. In many cases, people are subject to abide to rules in their environment. Although, sometimes, rules do not always lead to a solution, especially when new challenges present themselves (The Boston Consulting Group, 2010). Therefore, navigation will help me gain adaptability and flexibility by ensuring that my followers are ever progressing forward, both by sticking to instruction sets and keeping an open mind.

Objective 3

To become an independent thinker and non-conformist, my objective is to learn the relationship between power and leadership. Leadership cannot be dissociated with power (Kessler, 2009). Therefore, I will learn about power and its applicability in different disciplines such as business, theology, sociology, and science among others.

Actions to Achieve Developmental Objectives

Actions to become an empathetic leader

By practicing mindfulness, I will be able to control my breathing, increase concentration, and become more aware of my body. I shall also become better placed to withstand different physical and mental stressors by releasing tension. With good self-awareness, I can apply this skill in my relationship with others. Actions taken towards becoming an empathetic leader will be done within a month. I shall develop a routine where each day of the week shall be allocated one particular action that will lead me towards acquiring the skill of empathy. Since there are 4 weeks in a month, I will practice each action for each day, in the manner that the first action is done on the first day of the week, the second action is done on the second day of the week, progressively, until the end of the week, then repeat the same routine in the following week until the end of the fourth week. Success in these actions will be measured by the deep connections I will have created with people and the quality of interaction.

Actions to become an adaptive leader

Adaptive leadership is a development objective that needs a significant amount of time to develop. This is because it will require theoretical understanding coupled with field practice. Therefore, I will get enrolled in a student group which I will request to fill a specific leadership position. To acquire better traction towards becoming an adaptive leader, I will spread my actions in a routine that fits in 2 months. Two months is enough as it will help me carefully understand the group, its goals, how members want to be led, and my approach towards leading them. My success towards being an adaptive leader will be measured using the opinions held by members concerning my leadership gauged according to the extent at which I will have achieved the actions presented above.

Actions to become an independent thinker and non-conformist

Power is quite complex, especially in the morally sensitive world . Therefore, I would have to understand power by churning through books on the topic of power, leadership and the relationship between the former and the latter. One book that I would read to understand this concept is Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power. Then, I will develop a list of leaders in power-demanding positions and observe their decisions and strategies in order to understand leadership as a service. I will also observe the national government in order to differentiate between authority and power. Also, I will read books and find practical examples to help me understand the ethics of power. These (4) actions will be done in four weeks. With each week dedicated to each action. The achievement of this development objective will be gauged according to my degree of courage of practicing power and in depth knowledge about various power strategies.

Resources needed to implement plan

Guidance Materials

To acquire theoretical knowledge, I will have to rely on the bundle of knowledge that is present in books, peer reviewed articles, online news reports, podcasts, related films and documentaries. Written print and online materials will appeal to my development actions through reading. Podcasts on various leaders and different types of leadership will help me tread closer to my development objectives by learning through listening. Films and documentaries will help me learn through visual perception.

Mentors

A mentor is an individual that provides guidance, advice or help to a young or inexperienced person during a given period in a school or work environment. Just as mentors as useful in career development training, they are useful in leadership development training. I will select a mentor who is well experienced in their leadership position in the school, community or at home. Their experience will be the main resource that I will benefit from, as I will get to learn from them while they offer insight and correct my mistakes (Reh, 2019).

Mechanisms to acquire feedback on leadership behaviour and track progress

Discussions with mentors

Conversations result in sharing of valuable ideas and feedback that will help me in my reflection and growth as a leader. Interpersonal communication within designated periods of time with my mentors will give me a great amount of information that will propel my leadership traits and skills forward. There intervention will give me a clear picture of how I should focus on my actions effectively so that I can identify my mistakes, device ways of avoiding them and refine my leadership goals (Vamos, 2014). In many productive ways, mentorship will alter my perception towards good leadership which is crucial in the developmental stages.

Feedback from peers

My peers and colleagues are reliable sources of feedback too. Through my interactions with them, my social identity has developed according to our shared ideas, attitudes and beliefs of what a desirable should be like. They can be a reliable source of direct feedback because they can gauge my personality with the widely recognized standard qualities of an ideal leader. They will offer information concerning the strengths and weaknesses that I exhibit and suggest ways I can convert my weaknesses into desirable qualities of a leader.

Strategy to Review and Update the plan in future

Having completed the activities presented in the leadership development plan, I will make efforts for future revision. This will include developing a checklist of my leadership development objectives and the actions taken to achieve the objectives. Beside the checklist, I will have a section for brief comments which will help me note whether my fulfilment of that particular objective or action was satisfactory or not. For the unsatisfactory checks, I will develop a schedule to repeat the procedure with more precision and guidance from mentors.

Recommendations

To grow as a leader, I need to read extensively about leadership and integrate that knowledge with practical experience in leadership positions.

The applicability of leadership is broad. Therefore, I need to focus on leadership under my field of study instead of taking a wide approach.

Conclusion

Leadership is a valuable and desirable competence one should possess in the current digital world. As I set out to develop as a leader, I target to become empathetic, adaptive, an independent thinker and non-conformist. This will help become autonomous and charismatic in my leadership. I will be able to make decisions more confidently and independently and I will have a close relationship and deep interaction with my followers. In my efforts to become an ideal leader, I will deepen my interactions with my peers and mentors as well as gain extensive knowledge of the dynamics and trends in desirable leadership qualities.

References

Alpatanni, P., 2015. Personality.

Djikic, M., 2014. Art of Mindfulness: Integrating Eastern and Western Approaches. In: The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Mindfulness. s.l.:ResearchGate.

Sam Dalal, R., Meyer, R., Bradshaw, P. & Green, J., 2015. Personality Strength and Situational Influences on Behavior: A Conceptual Review and Research Agenda. Journal of Management, 41(1), pp. 261-287.

Steimer, A. & Mata, A., 2016. Motivated Implicit Theories of Personality: My Weaknesses Will Go Away, but My Strengths Are Here to Stay. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, pp. 415-429.