Leadership Self-Assessment
A revised definition of leadership
I have always pondered on the context that pertains to leadership, severally I have come across the question, “What is Leadership?” and most of the time, the simplicity in the question has been perplexing. While it is a simple question, it has challenged and vexed many consultants and laypeople alike. Nevertheless, I believe that we all have a shared opinion on the matter I included. Merriam Webster dictionary provides a concise definition by referring to it as ‘the office or position of a leader, the capacity to lead, and the act or instance of leading’ (Merriam-Webster, 2007). Although challenging, a clear interpretation of leadership is essential. It is among the most commonly used words in several fields of human life, namely military, industry, politics, spirituality, sports, etc. Every year, hundreds of books and articles on the concept are written. Millions of dollars are spent by companies who are working to grow their prospective leaders. Yet if no one knows precisely what leadership entails, all these attempts may be pointless.
Across history and time, leadership has been considered as a personal attribute. Confucius, the renowned Chinese philosopher who existed in the last two and a half millenniums ago, did not suggest any interpretation of leadership. Instead, he stressed the obligation for leaders to be noble and show concern for those around them. To Confucius, leaders are servants, and as such, should play the role effectively. Plato, on the other hand, as an established personality, and a founding father of philosophy believed that leadership is constructed and strengthened through wisdom. Subsequently, Machiavelli believed that good leadership is built on morals and virtues, through a leader harboring intelligence and a desire to help those around them (Silva, 2016). Looking at these three personalities, I gauge leadership as both a position and an action through which a person nobly facilitates the guidance and provides motivation and inspiration to others, either in a working environment or as an authoritative figure.
Who am I as a leader? Follower?
From my understanding of the concept of leadership, as a leader, I am focused on providing inspiration and motivation to my team members through working with them. Sharing in the experience enables me to forge positive relationships with them. Discovering one’s own purpose is an excellent thing in leadership because it facilitates the ability to coming to terms with your ambitions and what you want to accomplish. An individual with a mission expresses positivism on the potentials of future possibilities and focuses on reaching, obtaining, and establishing the objectives in their vision. As a leader, I understand and value the purpose of my dream, since it is a journey through which my skills facilitate the realization of this desire. A mere sprint does not destine the process of leadership; instead, it is a race, and breaking the record is a leader’s true purpose. Slow and steady wins the race, and I think that we all gain through collaborating collectively. Thus, my commitment towards the facilitation of the appreciation of collectivism in my team is founded on the belief that together we can break barriers. My ambition in leadership has to be genuinely illuminated on the importance of promoting, motivating, inspiring, and supporting those around me. I am a leader who can be relied on, always adding value, the biggest cheerleader for my team, to achieve results, and to inspire commitment.
Assessment Outcomes
As a person interested in facilitating a positive working environment between myself, and the team, it was crucial for me to appreciate every aspect of leading and why it continues to remain necessary to be an excellent leader. Throughout this process, I have gained numerous valuable insights, especially as a young leader and, the approaches I can employ for boosting my leadership skills in the long term. Journal entries, and my comprehension of applicable leadership frameworks, all provided an essential component of the experience over the period. With all the articles and analyses I have undertaken, I believe they have provided me a formidable picture of my current leadership position, as well as an opportunity to promote my future leadership prospects. Many of the different tests examined a spectrum of areas for approaching the context of leadership. Therefore, from the assessment, I was able to become aware of my weaknesses and strengths and the suitable regions through which they can be enhanced.
Based on arguments from Jenkins (2009), leadership entails the ability to influence, inspire, and encourage someone else to make a contribution to the overall productivity and performance of the organization. Making utilization of the correct leadership style is often essential to the accomplishments of transformation in the organization (Jenkins, 2009). Therefore, leadership self-assessment is a valuable resource allowing leaders to acknowledge their individual style of leadership’s, qualities, attributes, attitudes, and cognitions such that organizational transformation may be effective. After engaging in the process, the leadership self-assessment outcomes enabled me to become aware of my leadership style. I realized that I am a highly sociable leader, authentic, relationship-oriented, embraced the theory Y and, applied the servant leadership style.
Individuals with a high degree of sociability are also coordinated, in-depth, and make use of scheduling (Lussier & Achua, 2013). Because strategic development is a fundamental stage in implementing transformation across the organization, individuals with a high degree of sociability might become increasingly dedicated to strategic management. Being coordinated and thorough, leaders might become encouraged to identify and retain a competitive edge by developing principle skills such that a transition may be meaningful and sustainable (Lussier & Acua, 2013). Pertaining to arguments by Lussier & Achua (2013), leaders who engage in Y theory, considering the appropriate setting, individuals are increasingly plausible to participate in the performance of the organization. It ensures that workers are very likely to feel the improvements that are being introduced through careful preparation. It is important to note that the transformation process is the most important because employees may become insecure or hesitant. It is unclear whether or not my leadership attributes would successfully prove functional in an attempt to enforce a transition. The success of my leadership role during the transformation phase can only be explained if I have the ability to make improvements in the company in the future.
Lessons from my experience
An initial step towards becoming an effective leader is feeling self-conscious by recognizing the weaknesses and strengths. Growing conscious of one’s inadequacies adequately equips them with the ability to implement innovative strategies that strengthen over experience (Komives & Wagner, 2009). Through recognizing one’s own abilities, one may understand when to incorporate these qualities towards the advantage of a team or scenario. Engaging in self-assessment during this course has provided me an incentive to recognize my weaknesses and strengths. Assessments have proven as an eye-opening experience that has led me to gain a better appreciation of my behavior, motivations, and principles; and also the manner in which they lead to positive results or unfavorable impacts. The opportunity to learn about my leadership abilities from the self-assessments has become a valuable achievement in the sustainability of my private and professional life.
Leadership is comparable to driving a bus, with passengers depending on your abilities and skills to get them to their destination safely. Similarly, in healthcare service organizations, leaders ought to undertake, and make good choices, promote transparency both internally and externally, drive transformation, and possess the capacity to adapt and evolve in a fashion that gains everyone’s confidence. The book Finding Your True North: Personal Guide specifies that authenticity demands that leaders observe and possess the abilities to promote transparency, and show commitment in their mission, thus implying that being honest to oneself and to everything you believe in is a virtue in leadership (George, McLean, & Craig, 2008,). The skills one employs in their leadership style constructs the type of leader they become since the personality traits tattooed with a person make them who they are and also constructs what makes one unique (Craig, Snook, 2014).
As a leader, I have always vowed to be genuine and authentic, not only with myself but my team as well. Having and embracing an affirmative conscious and possessing an objective signifies that you are committed and molded to behave in a particular manner. Having a statement of purpose involves a concise declaration of leadership, including includes who you are, your strengths and weaknesses, as well as, everything considered as potential prospects for your mission. In my statement, I always remind myself that I should embrace the elements of honesty in my dealings across my organization of operation. I address this through questioning myself on whether my leadership anecdote signifies anything that anyone might respect, would like to imitate, and perhaps aspire to follow.
Productive leadership demands the mental fortitude to think beyond our position, which in turn involves teamwork, commitment, and the establishment of successful communication channels. It is important for a successful leader to be able to show a competent degree of tranquility and self-awareness in stressful circumstances, and that is how emotional intelligence originates.
Assessment’s Strengths and Weakness
The least preferred Co-worker measure of the assessment appeared to be exceptionally useful. My total rating acknowledged the importance I put on collaborating efficiently with everyone and fostering a productive interaction, especially with my team. Acquiring a high score in the measure implied that while I might not always like an individual in my team, I am capable of overcoming the differences and concentrate on developing a good professional relationship. The review indicates that “a higher score promoted the person’s ability to attend to responsibilities; however, it is usually after they become confident that relations among individuals are positive. I regard it as not only a beneficial and but also a negative aspect of the high LPC.
The Personal Style Inventory was in my self-assessments over the period. Through the evaluation, I found that my trait characteristic was perceiver, intuitive, feeler, Judger. However, these traits signify one of my weaknesses, a perceiver. I am tremendously affected by the flexibility of choosing to procrastinate things other than focus on them instantaneously. I always make choices and do something on impulse; as such, I tend to reschedule responsibilities. As an intuiter among my strengths, I relate to, is the ability to engage with the people regardless of their complexity easily. The characteristic of a feeler, provided me with a strength to identify emotions and feelings, while it challenged my abilities in being organized. As a judger, I can keep up with a project, but sometimes I can be quite uncompromising and adamant. This evaluation is authentic m, and I realize that having the inclination to identify both my strengths and weaknesses, I have the opportunity to improve on my limitations. Hence, able to manage potential circumstances more effectively.
After engaging in the Team player evaluation, I discovered that I was a really good collaborator and a weak challenger. My ranking as a strong collaborator is related to the other outcomes of the evaluation, showing that I am highly relationship-oriented. Based on Komives and Wagner (2009), collaboration concerns human relationships, how individuals function collectively, and also how they respect and respond to one another. Collaboration, extroversion, and relationship preference are mostly important facets of my personal character as a leader. Identifying as a low challenger is related to my characteristic of the feeler element. I appreciate comfort, keeping others comfortable, and engaging people may assess the sense of balance. Kouzes and Posner (2017), state that a challenge unlocks the possibilities that result in impressive outcomes. By stirring matters up a little and introducing new thoughts and ideologies, I’m able to evolve into a successful leader.
A self-assessment through the Orientation towards Change evaluation, I identified several aspects of my weaknesses as a leader. While I am of the opinion that I can become flexible and embrace transformation, the assessment contradicted the opinion. I realized that I am potentially hesitant in accommodating transitions. My aversion to transition is in line with the assumption that I am a weak competitor. According to Komives and Wagner (2009), a more robust perception of opposition and its origins, is likely to shift the opposing energy into producing efficiency in the transformation process. Resistances result from a person’s fear of failing in an endeavor. Therefore, as an approach to avoiding the potential failure, one decides to oppose the elements causing the challenge psychologically. However, as a leader, since, at times, I am expected to deal with specific significant decision-making responsibilities, I need to change my perception of unknowns. Embracing positivism will help me in improving my perception of uncertainties, regardless of the risk. Well, risks are part of the long journey to success, anyway.
Taking part in self-assessments is undoubtedly a positive approach in my abilities as a leader. Assessing the weaknesses and utilizing strengths along the leadership journey is bound to lead to untapped potentials in the profession. I was being a leader who appreciates productivity and values, learning better ways to engage the team. The knowledge acquired through the process offers great possibilities in improving my strategic planning. Across the process of learning about myself, I’ve been able to understand the concept of leadership and what it actually entails. My own definition of a great leader is someone who has a self-conscious mind and understands what they advocate for. They function in concordance with their beliefs and principles and aspire to reach their fullest potential in the team, as well as the fullest potential in the community. The leader never gives up, and they’re still dedicated. Another approach I may utilize in improving my leadership skills is by practicing listening skills more efficiently to others. By keeping eye contact, not developing thoughts ahead of time, and authentically attempting to understand a message without prejudice, I would be able to improve my listening skills. Efficient listening skills may result in valuable correspondence as well as more successful interactions. By questioning myself and developing my listening skills, my personal leadership and teamwork will experience potential growth.
Conclusion
In the course of this class and engaging with my team, I have become a better person in teamwork. Working towards our performance prompted us to face several challenges, but collectively scanned for a solution. I realized that in working as a team, with a focus on attaining the desired, the endeavor could be achieved. Subsequently, working with the team, I became aware of the important role that effective communication can play in sustaining performance. Further, I also learned that great leaders are conscious entities responsible for ensuring that all relevant evidence is accessible to the team. We promote a collaborative environment and encourage others to share information and expertise. Effective leaders concentrate on building teams of trust and integrity. Example leaders ought to continually evaluate the potential of individual members and teams to address the obstacles they encounter. This involves a commitment to the intensity of ability and the willingness of every entity you lead “(Komives & Wagner, 2009). Therefore, sharing a positively driven relationship with members of the team, facilitates the sharing of information and engaging amongst each other, with the aim of providing knowledge and acquire understanding.
Effective leadership involves a capacity to contest the procedure. As described in the self-assessment, it is an environment that I have significant scope for growth. Challenging the procedure is essential since it traverses the way for new possibilities. Lacking a leader determined to question the approach, the tactics and methods may not improve as well as develop. It is critically necessary for a leader to be fully involved in the group’s activities. Engaging with the group’s activities allows developing the confidence of the community and increases the reputation of your competence. Being an involved participant contributes to creating a community within a group. Therefore, as a team, the ability to communicate effectively improved our potentials in fully grasping the context of our team’s arguments. Subsequently, the excellent relationship forged between the team facilitated my responsibilities as a leader. Talking through everything as a group was our team’s effective activity over the semester. However, while working collectively as a team provided us with opportunities to engage and interact at a social level, there is an aspect of the team that I think we should have done differently. As a team, we failed to engage in the learning experiences fully; however, certain afflictions caused the impromptu challenge. Nevertheless, the experience was riveting and positive in the promotion of teamwork and collectivism.
References
Achua, C., & Lussier, R. (2013). Effective Leadership (5th ed.). Pearson Education Limited.
Craig, N., & Snook, S. (2014). From Purpose to Impact. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved 1 May 2020, from https://hbr.org/2014/05/from-purpose-to-impact.
Kibbler, W. (2009). Review of “The student leadership challenge: Five practices for exemplary leaders.” Journal Of Student Affairs Research And Practice, 46(4). https://doi.org/10.2202/1949-6605.5041
Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2017). The leadership challenge (6th ed.). Jossey-Bass.
McLean, A., Craig, N., & George, B. (2013). Finding your true north. Jossey-Bass.
Silva, A. (2016). What, after all, is leadership? ‘Leadership’ and plural action. Journal Of Business Studies Quarterly, 8(1), 409-425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2008.05.003