Refined Self-Assessment: The Seven Ages Of The Leader

This semester, we learned specific ways to build our leadership capabilities by reading “How Remarkable Women Lead” by Joanna Barsh and Susie Cranston, researching Boston women leaders, interviewing a present day woman leader, and reading a group book. Throughout all of these resources and research, common themes of how to be a successful leader emerged. Not only did I learn more about leadership in general, but I also found ways to improve my own leadership without going too much out of my comfort zone. The important lessons of leading with perseverance, framing, and an activist's mindset thoroughly influenced my identity as a leader and gave me new tactics to grow as a person.

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.

Recently, our doctoral cohort was given two surveys that prompted reflection upon our leadership skills. One survey, the Skills Inventory (SK), yielded some very confirming as well as surprising results while another, Leadership Traits Questionnaire (LDQ) produced results that were not as telling due to the requirements of participation. According to Northouse (2016), “the skills inventory is designed to measure three broad types of leadership skills: technical, human, and conceptual” (p. 67). This measurement was the most effective of the two tools because it produced specific data that aided in insightful reflection. The LDQ’s results were not as reliable because it was intended to be administered to five others including the leader. The Skills Inventory; however, consists of eighteen statements that describe an individual to some degree. Once complete, the surveyed is to add up the scores to specified numbers indicating the skills that one possesses.

This is an introduction to the Skills Inventory introduced in Chapter 3 of the textbook “Leadership: Theory and Practice” by Peter Northouse, a tool by which one can measure leadership strengths in three major skill areas, Technical, Human & Conceptual (Northouse, 2016). An additional introduction is made to the Leadership Behavior Questionnaire, which measures the type of leadership behavior style one is most likely to practice, the task style or the degree to which you define the roles of others, or the relationship style -the degree to which you attempt to make others feel at ease (2016). Upon taking these two assessments, the responses when combined will indicate my personal leadership philosophy. When analyzed in conjunction with Katz’ Three-Skill Approach, the outcome should be in alignment with the experiential and educational leadership background I possess thus far (Katz, 1955).

Over the past couple of months, we discussed several traits, skills, and behaviors that have contributed to the success of both past and present leaders. Intelligence, integrity, charisma, and confidence are some of the traits that characterize many of these leaders. Interpersonal skills, oratory skills, and conceptual skills are some of the more important skills that helped to shape their leadership style. Some of these skills go hand in hand with the traits that are essential for strong leadership. Meanwhile, the behaviors that drive these leaders include inspiring and motivating others, collaboration, having a strategic perspective and trust. Combined, these traits, skills and behaviors make for effective leadership.

"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." Dwight D. Eisenhower This quote from Eisenhower rings true on many levels. During my career in the military and the private sector, I have been subjected to many different styles of leadership, good or bad. In my leadership roles I have attained, I tried to model leadership abilities by taking bits and pieces of previous leader’s styles and forming them into my own model. This has proven to work well as dealing with people from all different walks of life there is no one size fits all approach. In writing this paper, I will detail my own leadership platform drawing from the course material and various other sources. The goal of this paper is to show a solid understanding of the course teachings and perhaps give the reader a new found perspective on leadership.

For me to be an effective leader, I must first evaluate my strengths. I took the Gallup 2.0 Strength Finder report which showed my strengths in an insight and action planning guide. The results indicated the top five themes for me were input, learner, responsibility, maximizer and arranger. I believe the

In order for someone to be an effective leader, one would have to bestow certain skills and characteristics or some can be obtained over a period of time. Various assessments and questionnaires are designed to measure and give insight on certain skills or traits an individual may have. Some of those assessments include the skills inventory, leadership trait questionnaire, style questionnaire, leadership questionnaire, least preferred coworker, path goal, LMX, and the authentic leadership self-assessment. By conducting these questionnaires and assessments, not

In the Leadership Challenge, 4th edition, it is Kouzes & Posner (2007) intention to present a road map for individuals to follow on their leadership journey. The authors stress that “leadership is not a gene and it’s not an inheritance.” Leadership they assert is “an identifiable set of skills and abilities that are available to all of us” (p. 23). They make clear that the “great person” theory of leadership is “plain wrong.” Leaders are our everyday heroes who do extraordinary things on a regular basis (p. 23).

Over the course of this semester, I have learned about the theoretical foundation of leadership and management. From various leadership styles to numerous learning tools have all aided in shaping me to become an effective leader not only in the health care profession, but everyday life as well. Through utilizing these tools, I have managed to put them into actions through working individually and in teams which has helped me to learn more about myself and the type of leader I am. Throughout this action plan I will reflect on my definition of leadership, what I’ve learned about myself in the capacity to demonstrate leadership, my leadership strengths and weaknesses and three action steps that will help me to develop my leadership in the future.

A society with an absence of leadership is one that exhibits disarray and pandemonium. Leadership, therefore, is a vital facet of human life and can be seen as a building block from which great nations were built upon or large corporations have thrived under. I believe leadership is intrinsically in all human beings, however some leadership traits in people are far more superior than others. This paper will evaluate results from multiple assessments that identify my particular leadership potential. Using Northouse’s text, this paper will also identify my particular strengths and weakness within leadership. The penultimate paragraph of this paper will consider how my evaluated leadership style interacts within my work environment.

Strong and effective leadership is one of the most significant factors in determining the success and durability of an organization or group (Huber, 2014). A health care professional that is able to identify their own style of leadership can develop their unique characteristics and skills and become a better leader, as well as develop and improve relationships with other leaders and colleagues (Giltinane, 2013). In this paper, I will discuss my style of leadership based on the completed self-assessment and describe what leadership and management theories align with my leadership style. I will also discuss the type of work environment and three key actions or behaviors that I must demonstrate to be a successful leader.

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.

I also believe that an effective leader plays a significant role in promoting and molding individuals’ readiness as it relates to motivation and commitment. As such, I developed my leadership assessment with these points in mind. The assessment focuses on 14 attributes that I believe are important not only for a leader to be successful within the parameters of the SLT, but for most any leadership model adopted by a successful leader in the modern business environment. The assessment was completed by Bobby, my manager of nearly six years, and by Katrina, my highest-ranking direct report of nearly four years. Each was asked to assign a candid rating to each attribute using a one-to-ten (worst-to-best) scale as well as to make notes or offer any suggestions so that I may incorporate it into my leadership style in an effort to improve the areas of weakness and become a better leader. In addition, I did a self-assessment using the same criteria. It should be noted that while Bobby offered both a ranking and narrative feedback, Katrina completed the assessment using the numerical ranking only. The results were consistent in some areas and mixed in others, but revealed some valuable information that I can use not only within the context of this course, but also as my career is better defined over time.

Accurate self-assessment. Leaders, who usually know their limitations and strong points, display an interest in learning where they need to develop, and encourage positive criticism and