The Self Assessment Exercises - Assignment Example

Leadership Section A: Module The results of my view on the nature of people made me realize that I am quite flexible in my perception of others. Iunderstood that I strike a balance between the democratic and aristocratic styles of management. A score of 30 in the test for motivation indicated that I am very motivated to manage. It made me realize that I am very well suited for managerial roles. The low scores in both concern for people and concern for task indicate that I need a lot of improvement in leadership style. The score for ‘Concern for task’ is 9 and hence I need a very little improvement in this area; however my score of 4 in the ‘Concern for people’ highlights that I need to change my views and give more importance to the emotional values of people. Module 2: Though my score (31) in Emotional Intelligence is not low, it is essential for me to improve the EI. This will help me improve the ‘Concern for People’ as well. I also have to improve a lot on the face- to – face communication skills. I should improve my listening skills and be a little more friendly to people. This is also reflected in my score in the test for listening skills (39). Hence I need to make an effort to improve my listening skills. Module 3: In the test for trustworthiness, the results indicate that I am a trust worthy person and I have a considerable influence on others. The score is 45 indicates that I am truthful and fairly honest in dealing with people. I prefer the two bases of power, namely, ‘Legitimate’ and ‘Referent’, as the scores are 4 and 4.25 respectively. There were 7 answers as ‘yes’ indicating that I am not politically naïve and I will fit into an organization which demands politically active managers. Module 4: The total score on the six dimensions of charismatic leadership is 76. This indicates that I need to improve in certain areas in order to become a charismatic leader. Based on the low scores, it is essential for me to improve my skills in the management of risk and management of feelings. I have scored multiple sections over 3.5 indicating that I am effective in using impression as a management technique. When assessed on ‘how good I am in giving feedback?’, I realised that I have a number of weaknesses. Hence I need to improve my confidence in giving feedback to others. Module 5: I need to improve my skills in building and leading a team, as my score of 60 lies in the third quartile. My primary conflict handling style has been identified as ‘Accommodating’ as my score is the highest (15) in this style. My secondary approach will be ‘Avoiding’ or ‘Compromising’ with a score of 13 in both of them. I also need a lot of improvement of delegation skills, as my score is only 59. The test for ‘burned – out’ indicates that I need to take action to address my problems. Section B: Scenario 1 – One on One meeting with Oli: Scenario 1 made me realize that I need to improve my leadership skills and exercise more power. I consider that my ability to bring out ideas as my strength whereas lack of exercising enough power as my weakness. In this scenario, Corey has to function more as a manager, as he is relatively new and has to exercise his power to get things done. The thought behind the shift from aristocratic to democratic leadership is mainly a need to reduce the tension in the situation. A leader should definitely develop an individualised relationship, as this will only make the leader understand the mindset of the team members and can give him more input on how to handle and make the best use of all the team members. The scenario made me realize that I need to be more interactive and also listen to the team members in order to get them to do the work. Scenario 2 – The new person team building: When the two co workers are opposed to an idea in the agenda, it is essential that the leader brings in topics which is of interest to both the individuals and induce them to reinforce each others’ ideas, so that they lose the tension between them. I found that the most effective style is to combine both the participative and delegative styles at the appropriate time and context. I learnt that it is important to maintain a slight tension in the room in order to make the members productive. Scenario 3 – Challenging Status Quo: In order to get productive solutions to the issues under consideration, it is essential to complete the tasks of highest priority initially and also induce the members to come up with ideas. Oli is more productive when the tension is lower, as evident from the first scenario. Herman was more interested in getting the party task completed and tends to be more relaxed. Hence the tension has to be increased to get Herman to focus on the high priority tasks and also to be productive. Corey has to involve in a participatory style of management, as there are 3 team members with different stress levels and also different behaviours. It is evident from the scenario that in order to deal with a situation such as this, the leader has to maintain tension in the room and also be supportive to the productive members. Scenario 4 – Merger of two cultures: In a situation like this, Corey exercised stewardship to get Alan on board with the idea of keeping the small vendors. Though Will and Herman were completely against the organizational change, Corey managed to get them on board with the new policies and thus demonstrated the characteristics of a transformational leader. In the earlier scenarios as well, Corey agreed to some of the productive ideas during the meeting and was completely supportive. The scenario indicates that situations like this have to be handled carefully when there is a clash of opinions and ego among the members. It is essential to empower the member to get him on board. Scenario 5 – Crisis and opportunity management: In this scenario, Corey was able to effectively come up with solutions to the crisis by ‘staying calm’ and letting the members participate and come up with solutions. The main thing to do in this situation is take a firm stand and stay calm so that the members are supportive and cooperative. Creating a slight tension in the situation will help the members to be productive and also stay on focus. Getting them bored or too relaxed will induce them to complete the meeting at the earliest. Section D: The self assessment exercises were very effective as a starting point for the leadership development plan. The exercises played an effective role in understanding my own strengths and weaknesses as a leader. It also highlighted the different perspectives and qualities in general that are required for an effective leader. Understanding the human nature is very essential in order to motivate and lead them. The exercise indicates that I am motivated to manage. From the exercises, I realised that I need to develop my Emotional Intelligence. All the modules indicated that I need to give more importance to people’s feelings and understand their emotions. This indicates that I need to develop my concern for people. The self – assessment changed my belief and made me realise that I need to improve my face – to – face communication skills and be a good listener. The theories indicate that personal influence play an important role in leadership skills and the exercise highlighted the areas that I need to improve in order to develop my influence on others. A major part of being a leader is to delegate tasks and I realised that I need to improve my communication skills and encourage people by listening to them and delegate the tasks. Overall, the self assessment exercise gave a good start to the leadership development plan by highlighting the areas in which I am strong. The areas that I need improvement are also reflected. This analysis helped me to understand myself a little better, in terms of leadership and management skills. It is very important to get a practical experience and the scenario play using the virtual leader simulation was very useful. It gave a diverse experience of different situations to be handled and gave a deep insight of the practical difficulties in handling team members and accomplishing tasks. The importance of applying the 3 to 1 approach and its usefulness were clearly portrayed in the scenarios. The scenarios made me realise that I need to improve on various factors, such as, creating tension and extracting ideas, keeping up the enthusiasm of the team members and also exercising my power to get the work done. This practical approach played a great role in improving my leadership skills. The situations that were simulated helped me learn the approaches step by step. The simulations played a major role in my leadership development plan. It is essential to look objectively at the leadership styles of some great personalities, as it will give a good understanding of the styles and methods that have been proved effective. Lincoln and Gates as already discussed are two leaders with excellent communication skills. Both these leaders have portrayed strong leadership skills which will be remembered by many generations to come. The two leaders in their own ways have ensured that the message they need to pass on to their people is precise, crisp and clear. They have used techniques and styles which have helped them pass the right message to the people and also be liked by the people. Although the two leaders follow an authoritative style of leadership, their communication skills has lead them to be liked and be followed by all their people. Bill Gates portrays a strong logical – mathematical analytical intelligence. This means that he is great with numbers and is a person who is highly analytical. Lincoln on the other hand shows intrapersonal intelligence, which means that he possess great self – knowledge and self – awareness. Also people with this style of communication generally prove to be very confident. Thus these leaders have proved to be the best at what they do and are leaders who will be remembered by all for a long time. Thus the three sections have improved my leadership skills to a great extent. Not only my strengths and weaknesses are understood, but also a practical experience is gained through the simulation. The leadership styles practiced by Lincoln and Gates also provided insight into the best practices and varied approaches based on the task and people concerned. Read More