Leadership Self-Analysis

The “new” leadership driver self-assessment tool was mostly accurate in evaluating my leadership style. I found that the overall scores in the four categories reflected my strengths. The tool also pinpointed specific points regarding my leadership abilities.

In completing the Leadership Skills Questionnaire, I realized that I ranged from moderate to very high. This questionnaire definitely highlighted my strengths and weaknesses as a leader. In beginning from the results from my administrative skills, I scored a 23 out of a possible 30 points. This scored helped me understand that I range high at handling a wide variety of responsibilities as a leader. As I think more deeply about this score, I believe that it is important to have a high range for the company will operate much more fluently.

Throughout this course, I have learned several things about myself as a leader and about a leader in general. I feel like I now have the ability to point out many strengths and weaknesses I did not notice before. Strengths such as being able to find better ways of doing certain things, spot things that may or may not be really working, motivating team members, and working great under pressure. Some of my weaknesses include resisting change, constantly working within a group, because I always tend to feel like I'm doing either all or most of the work, and sometimes micro managing in an attempt to help/coach closely. Sometimes the micro-managing is unattended but at the same some things don't get right in time unless you keep a close eye on it.

As per MSMQ assessment my dominant leadership styles are "Coaching", "Coercive", and "Affiliative" and my least preferred styles are “Pacesetting”, “Visionary” and “Democratic” in that order. I expected to see myself high on coaching as I use that style a lot at my work, hence I was not surprised to see that as my most dominant style in self-assessment. I did not expect to see my coercive style usage to be high and visionary style usage to be low. In fact, I was under the impression that I am more authoritative than coercive. I try to set vision for the team and make lot of effort to involve people in my decisions. I would need to observe myself if I instead of setting vision for the team, am becoming too

However in order to become a greater leader I am willing to accept this learning challenge and list “the great ‘I am’” five times. I am a trustworthy person, I am an excellent listener, I am extremely respectful of other people, I am very encouraging of other people’s ideas and I am a strong believer of do what makes you happy. “From self-knowledge, Lombardi believed, we develop character and integrity” (Kerr, J. 2013), where from “character and integrity comes leadership” (Kerr, J. 2013). So if I continue to appreciate my own personal values then this should start to guide me in the right direction of being a great leader.

I come from a system where leadership development never ceases. As soon as we join the Army we are tasked out with responsibility. A new Soldier will at one point be responsible for the actions of the troops and carrying out the directive of the Drill Sergeant. From that point on a Soldier who is competent will receive more responsibility and subordinates. When I reached the end of my career in the military, I was responsible for a brigade-size platoon and millions of dollars’ worth of equipment. Now that I have taken the education route I have continued with my leadership development and have even had to tone down my perception. I have to constantly

The leadership self-assessment above indicates own leadership strengths, specifically interpersonal skills. These skills include verbal and non-verbal communication, negotiation, problem-solving, and assertiveness. As a matter of point, interpersonal skills build strong working relationship among employees, hence, improving efficiency in management. Besides, political skills help to manage the organizational politics and reduce workplace conflicts (Hersey, Ken, and Dewey 15). However, self-assessment indicated some weakness in analytical and drama fairness skills that needs development.

I am a very goal oriented person and will help people to achieve my goal or theirs if I can. Everything I do is because of a goal that was set either by myself or by a situation. I’ve had many times in my life where that has served me well, but at times it has also created a moment of loss of understanding.

The results of the self-assessments are not consistent. According to the Authentic Leadership Self-Assessment, I rated low on self-awareness. This is due to my inability to recognize my strengths and weaknesses. I did, however, rate high on internalized moral perspective, balanced processing, and relational transparency. Next, the LMX 7 Questionnaire, I rated high. This questionnaire was given to my supervisor and one of my followers. The results of my Path-Goal Leadership Questionnaire, I rated average in all leadership styles. I rated highest in the directive style. The Skills Inventory Assessment resulted in a high score in technical and human skills, and moderate in conceptual skills. Having a moderate score in conceptual skills results in my inability to see the goals of the organization. I should familiarize myself with the organizations aims and objectives and align my goals with theirs. Furthermore, the Leadership Trait Questionnaire scores averaged between a 3 and 4, the highest scores being in dependability and friendly.

I can be characterized as a strong but quiet leader. I am not loud and outgoing, like the stereotypical leader is. My leadership skills are different, and are not immediately noticed because I am quiet. I don’t immediately draw the title of being a leader for a group, but my impact of leadership becomes apparent over time. I lead by example, and also by gaining respect of my peers.

I scored an eighty-seven (87) on the How Good Are Your Leadership Skills? Self-assessment quiz, which rated my skills as excellent. This score was not surprising to me because I’ve worked hard to become the best leader possible, and leading people is something I enjoy. Motivating people to achieve or surpass a particular goal is rewarding to me.

In Module 1, I completed the Teacher Leader Self-Assessment (2009). At that time, I felt I fit into the “developing” or “proficient” category in the skills and knowledge areas. With the knowledge and skills gained through this course, I now feel I have moved into the “proficient” or “refining” categories of the skills and knowledge areas. At this time, I am confident I would enjoy and strive in a coaching role, with my confidence and knowledge, to help the adult and student learners in my current (or any) district. I am more comfortable in all of the categories of this self-assessment, which include: Working with Adult Leaders, Collaborative Work, Communication, Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy, and Systems Thinking (2009).

Before this class, I had a very primitive and vague definition of leadership. Not only did I define it as per my views and ideologies, but I also said that each individual has their own definition of leadership. My initial belief was that leadership does not have a clear cut definition, but there were well defined leadership traits which made an individual. I also initially believed that personal traits did not translate into leadership traits with no strong correlation. After going through the various modules this class offered, it is safe to say that I have significantly redefined leadership and underwent a strong personal assessment. This paper talks what I took back from each of the class activities, assignments and how my self-assessment compares to the perception of others.

One of the biggest lessons learned from this course is that to be an effective leader, you must have a diverse skillset. I’m not sure if there is any one magical component or characteristic in being a great leader. One influence during my review of the literature was that; although easier for some, I see leadership as something we must continually improve upon. This is in contrast to my belief during my first day of class, when I thought leaders just

During the past ten weeks, I have strengthened my concept of what constitutes effective leadership. Importantly, it is a leadership style that maximises the contributions of followers to achieve the desired outcomes for the organisation they represent. As Nanjundeswaraswamy & Swamy (2014, p.57) explains, effective leaders need to balance the drive to achieve a task with managing relationships. Therefore, it is essential for good leadership to not only focus on the task but develop, motivate and empower team members to strive for the achievement of task goals.