Self-Directed Leadership Improvement and Development - Research Paper Example

Self-assessment Name Institution Course Unit Instructor Date Executive summary The particle presents and explores a scaffold of self-directed leadership improvement and development aimed at enhancing conceptual understanding of one’s skills and personality relevant in leadership. The article draws from a diversified literature associated with effective organizational leadership and human behavior, and self-assessment tools to explore the personal journey of self-development in leadership. It is argued that the underpinning personality traits and self-development ideologies are critical in defining leadership effectiveness and leadership qualities as perceived by others in general. Leadership self-development is thus presented as a skill that is driven by several skills such as self-reflection, and self-regulatory, that is geared towards advancing leadership skills and leadership effectiveness in the workplace. The process is aided by self-assessment tools, whose objectivity has been questioned by some, that have aided in identifying the values framework, preferred communication style and preferred leadership style. The identified parameters provide a starting point for the self-developing process by providing an objective or biased idea, depending on one’s perception of self-assessment tools, of the current leadership skill inventory. These skills are identified through reflecting on my whole life and from apposition of leadership as a group leader. The experience is mapped on the various strong and weak skills identified. Specifically weak areas are identified as getting personally when under stress which can hinder trust and communication. Other areas require improvement such as promoting values that enhance competition to power productivity and profitability. Specific actions steps are laid out in a personal action plan including forming new relationship, learning a new language to improve employability and also improve cultural competence. All these factors are geared to make me improve my leadership effectiveness. Table of Contents Executive summary 2 1.0 Introduction 4 2.0 Literature Review 5 3.0 Method 6 3.1 Instruments 6 3.2 Data collection 6 3.3 Procedures 7 4.0 Analysis 7 4.1.1 Collaborate 7 4.1.2 Create 8 4.1.3 Compete 8 4.1.4 Control 8 4.2 Communication Style 9 4.3 Leadership style questionnaire 9 5.0 Discussion 10 5.1 Leadership values 10 5.1.1 Collaborate 10 5.1.2 Create 11 5.1.3 Compete 11 5.1.4 Control 12 5.2 Communication style 12 5.3 Leadership style 13 6.0 Conclusion 13 7.0 Personal action plan 14 7.1 Vision statement 14 7.2 Personal action plan chart 14 References 16 Appendices 18 1.0 Introduction A good leader who is fully capable of leading others must have a high level of knowledge and understanding of oneself. To gain this knowledge, one must objectively and honestly identify his strengths, weaknesses, skills and competences that are critical in performing effectively as a leader. These are a variety of tools developed by experts in various fields used to assess individual’s level of competence in leadership. These tools are modeled and designed to address a specified area of concern or the issue of leadership in general. The tools also aim at ensuring that there is an acceptable level of congruence or semblance between one’s view of his/her leadership abilities compared to others mainly subordinates, superiors and colleagues mainly because it is not self-perception of leadership effectiveness that matters but that of others. This is even more important for leaders managing people as a critical resource in any organization. Nonetheless, the key starting point is to understand one’s abilities as a leader with the help of self-assessment tools. In this paper, I have employed three assessment tools, competing values framework, leadership styles questionnaire, and communication style to analyze and help reflect on my effectiveness as a leader. 2.0 Literature Review Today, the role of a leader has changed from that of giving orders to the role of working alongside followers and setting an example (Williams 2014). Leaders are more concerned with the long term vision of an organization and motivating people to achieve the vision while managers are more concerned with day to day affairs of the organization which primarily involve coordination of people’s efforts and ensuring optimal resource utilization to achieve set goals (van Dierendonck 2011). Some of the shared skills and traits include honesty, diligence, good communication skills, planning skills, delegation capabilities, etc (ibid). Leadership assessment tools apply more advanced ways to assess these skills. These tools have become more complex and specific as organizations demand specific leadership qualities, traits and personality from their leaders (Baron & Morin 2010). Organizations are also worried that leaders/managers may lose direction and serve self-interests as opposed to their own as witnessed in the case of major organizational scandals such as Enron and now Volkswagen (Williams 2014). Leadership and management effectiveness assessment tools are some of the best ways that leaders can assess their place at the seat of power while executive coaching is comes in handy in instilling soft skills required in managing people (Baron & Morin 2010) more so when managing a diverse workforce (Ewoh 2013). Alternatively, self-reflection, emotional management of feedback, and self- regulation processes have been shown to improve people management skills (Nesbit 2012). Generally, there are two types of tools; self-administered and other-administered. Self-assessment tools are filled out by leaders/managers in an attempt to honestly rank their effectiveness in their positions. The other-administered tools are filled out by colleagues, subordinates and other people to appraise the leaders. There have been questions raised over the suitability of self-rating tools as predictors of leadership outcomes and competences (Fleenor et al, 2010). This is mainly because objectivity is rare with self-bias taking over. Nonetheless, there is adequate research that supports the use of self-rating tools and their efficiency in improving leadership effectiveness and self-leadership (Fleenor et al 2010; Whitmore 2010; Nesbit 2012, p. 201). 3.0 Method 3.1 Instruments In order to capture changes in the variable, three self-assessment tools shall be used, namely: competing values framework, leadership styles questionnaire, and communication style questionnaire. The instruments were provided in the coursework. 3.2 Data collection The research was informed by primary and secondary data. Secondary data was collected from published sources relevant to the topic. Secondary sources were accessed from online databases, EBSCOHOST, SAGE Journals and Google Scholar. Google was sparingly used for accessing organizational website materials. Key search words including “leadership competencies, self-analysis tool, self-assessment tools, efficiency of self-assessment tools” in various combinations were used. Articles were limited to those published not later than 2009. Of the 108 articles identified in the first search, 74 were eliminated based on titles and the rest evaluated based on abstracts and purpose of study. 3.3 Procedures I individually filled out each of the tools as a required. Each of the tools provides clear instructions on use and interpretation of results. The researcher supplied objective and honest answers based on personal experience. 4.0 Analysis This section presents and summarizes findings from the three (3) self-assessment tools. A range of key concepts, theories, and analytical tools relating to personal competency issues have been applied. 4.1 Competing values framework (CVF). The self-assessment section of the tool has 36 questions to answer. Each response is scored between one and seven points with one being “almost never” and seven being “almost always”. Responses to the questions are grouped into the four models thus giving rise to four distinct sets of leadership competencies shown by the scores. The average score from each model are then graphed on the quadrant to provide a graphical profile of self-perspective. 4.1.1 Collaborate Score Self-assessment score 6.4 Assessment by other- 5.375 This kind of approach is best suited for organizations that operate in the top left and bottom left quadrant. These skills require one to be committed to creating the right human relationships in the workplace to enable people to be more productive in various ways. One such approach involves creating forums through which personal differences and conflict are resolved in the workplace. 4.1.2 Create Score Self-assessment- 6 Assessment by other- 5.625 This shows my competence in facilitating flexibility in any leadership role is good but there is room for improvement. 4.1.3 Compete Score Self-assessment score- score 5.4 Assessment by other- 5.625 This category of skills calls for differentiation and high competitiveness among employees. However, competitiveness should be managed within strict levels of control to avoid conflict and sabotage among employees. Highly competitive leaders ensure that the units that they lead are highly competitive by articulating goals constantly and investing in the unit to boost capacity and performance. The investment may be in form of training or motivation talks. 4.1.4 Control Score: Self-assessment score 6.1 Assessment by other- 5.375 This section of the tool assessed a leader’s ability to be in control of the situation. Leaders who love to be in control demand strict adherence to set procedures and also monitor compliance to these procedures. 4.2 Communication Style The tool, borrowed from Hartman and McCambridge (2011) enables users to understand their communication styles. The tool comprises of 67 statements on management and leadership ideas. Individuals are required to score one (1) for a statement that describes them and naught (0) for one that does not. To analyze the results, different sets of statements are group into four categories of amiable (slow pace, priority relationships), expressive (fast pace, priority relationships), analytical (slow pace, priority tasks) and driver (fast pace, priority tasks). According to the tool, the category that has the highest score is one’s preferred communication style while the one with the least score is the least preferred. The score was as follows: Amiable - 13 Expressive - 15 Analytical - 14 Driver - 14 Therefore, my preferred style of leadership is expressive while amiable is the least preferred. 4.3 Leadership style questionnaire This tool recognized four types of leadership styles; facilitating, coaching, delegating and directing. The styles are identified through a set of 24 statements which are scored 1 (to almost no extent), 2 (to a slight extent), 3(to a moderate extent), 4(to a great extent) and 5(to a very great extent). After taking the test, the results were as follows: Facilitating- 26 Coaching- 29 Delegating- 28 Directing-28 Therefore, my main leading style is coaching. 5.0 Discussion 5.1 Leadership values 5.1.1 Collaborate Collaboration leadership values lean more towards forming human relationships and ensuring harmonious human relationships. This entails resolving conflict and engaging all parties and participatively resolving the conflict in a manner that transforms their view towards the source of conflict to avoid future recurrence (Zhang & Tjosvold 2011, p. 1603). However, I may have overestimated my collaborative skills given that it differed significantly with how others view this ability. My limited experience in facilitating collaboration in a team was in an academic workgroup that faced task and cultural differences. Members from different cultural backgrounds had different ways of expressing dissatisfaction with some lethargic attitude of others. This created a lot of friction that threatened the groups. As the group leader, I had to calm emotions first and seek to understand the antagonists’ cultural background and their stand in the conflict. As a leader I had to invite members through constructive talk to arrive at a solution as opposed to imposing conditions. To further avert such conflict and held up emotions, I created a social group on the WhatsApp platform that allowed members to update and question one another on progress on tasks assigned. The group also allowed members to share jokes and exchange information and grow closer to break the cultural divide which proved very effective (Ewoh, 2013; Williams, 2014). 5.1.2 Create Modern day organizations operating in dynamic market environments need to be highly flexible to respond timely to changes in the market and be innovate and creative to respond well in a superior manner that can be a source of competitive advantage (Yu 2009, p. 39). Therefore, in my case I believe that people should be nurtured to allow the creative inner being in them to come alive. I have practiced this by being charming to group members and even paying compliments where they are due. 5.1.3 Compete My perceived competitiveness by others is similar to my creativity. However, in my view, it is weaker as per the results. My experience in the group as a leader pertained to assigning clear and well-articulated roles of each member in the group. This was very critical in handling group assignments where individuals must deliver for the unit to function well as whole. At the same time, individuals were afforded freedom in choosing the areas of the assignment where they felt most competent in. This ensures that persons assigned different roles are the best in those positions and that as the leader I can lead by example where I inspire employees to put the good of the organization above self-interest (Patiar & Mia 2009). Furthermore, job designs and clearly identifying roles and responsibilities of members of a work group is critical in promoting efficiency and also encouraging knowledge sharing (Foss et al 2009).This is something I look forward t uphold as a transformative leader. 5.1.4 Control I consider myself to be a person who is always interested in the details and one who likes to be in control things. At the same time, I recognize the need for employees to have a little breathing space as human beings. I do also believe in empowering people by laying down procedures and sharing knowledge as opposed to micromanaging them in person, which increases motivation and efficiency (Patiar & Mia 2009). 5.2 Communication style As an expressive leader, I dislike routines and deadlines and prefer spontaneity. This means that I lean more towards flexibility as opposed to stability. I also do take initiatives as opposed to waiting for other people to do things. I therefore have the capacity to inspire and motivate people who can follow me and even mirror my actions. According to Foss et al (2009) expressive leaders are the fun and life of the party. They enjoy the journey of life and bring humor into interactions and remind others not to be too serious about life. This perfectly matches with who I am. I believe that for one to have a fulfilled life, one must also enjoy the journey towards the goals and not just goals themselves. On the other hand, expressive leaders may be hard to deal with when under stress. They may use get angry very quickly and launch personal attacks at their targets. They do not hide their emotions which can be a problem to other employees and colleagues (Fairhurst & Cannaughton, 2014). Gibson and Hodgetts (2013) also say that expressive leaders are opinionated, loud, aggressive, and love manipulating others. Although this communication style has its benefits, leaders may have trouble avoiding its negative side. To address these negative aspects, I have sought to address one issue at a time and reflect over it. Nonetheless, some negative aspects can be modified to be beneficial. For instance, manipulation according to Seltzer (2013) can be used to achieve desired results if the intentions are genuinely benign. Additionally, Gibson and Hodgetts (p. 48) support the “manipulation of causal variables” in the workplace to influence final results in a consistent manner. 5.3 Leadership style My leadership style is coaching. This style of leadership lays a higher focus on tasks and relationship. The leader spends time listening and advising where appropriate and enables followers or employees gain skills or learn to accomplish certain tasks on their own. In fact, coaching “fosters evolution at every stage when new knowledge emerges from within and cannot be offered in prescriptive ways” (Whitmore, 2010, p. 5) and as time goes by it “becomes a way of relating with people at work and elsewhere” (ibid p. 20). Upon reflection on my experience as group leader, I realize that applied the said tactics. I always made sure that the instructions on various tasks are clear and leave members it to members to employ their skills in accomplishing the tasks. However, this style can be overbearing and even patronizing (Dierendock, 2011, p. 1232). 6.0 Conclusion The self-assessment exercise as discussed above has revealed some of my strengths and weaknesses pertaining to leadership. The exercise has given me something to think about and reflect as I look forward to taking higher leadership positions in future. The only way to go is up. And for that reason, I have identified my weaknesses that I need to work. The most critical areas I need to address are my perceived self-bias my leadership style. It is clear I may have overestimated my leadership values as indicated by the difference between self-assessment results and assessment by others. This will mainly involve improving my competitive aspects. Last but not least is a change in my communication style which is currently expressive and blighted by foul language and getting personal when under pressure. Other than this, I also want to improve on my strengths as there is room for improvement. As a leader, I aspire to be open-minded and flexible in thought and tactics and also friendly and at the same inspiriting, motivating and approachable 7.0 Personal action plan 7.1 Vision statement To use my gifts of intelligence, charm, and positivity to help others learn and grow and have fun while doing it. I believe that in helping others learn and grow, I also learn and grow. This learning and growth can only take place if I am open to making mistakes and learning from them. 7.2 Personal action plan chart Competency Goals Action steps Resources to assist Timeline Communication Advance my collaborative skills Avoid curses/expletive words Avoid expletive movies Apologize to others when used Keep friends who don’t curse Read unrated books 3 months Patience Tolerate mistakes of others Be less judgmental Reflect on conversations with others Invite others to talk first Taking interest in people Making a new friend Personal journal Skills upgrade Learn a new language Choose a language (preferably Japanese) Enroll in course Have Japanese friends Japanese learning materials Tuition fees Study partner(s) 1 year Relationships Establish more professional acquaintances (networking ) Attend professional forums Contribute more in professional blogs Time 2 years Help others Volunteer at a home once a month Examine my skills vis a vis skills needed at home Revise my time plan Time 2 months Writing Write a professional paper for publishing Choose topic Read widely on the topic Attend professional forums Access to libraries 3 years References Baron, L & Morin, L 2010, ‘The impact of executive coaching on self-efficacy related to management soft-skills’, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 18-38. Ewoh, A 2013, ‘Managing and valuing diversity: challenges to public managers in the 21st century’, Public Personnel Management, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 107– 122. Fairhurst, G & Cannaughton, S 2014, ‘Leadership: A communicative perspective’, Leadership, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 7–35. Fleenor, J. Smither, J,Atwater, L, Braddy, P & Sturm , R 2010, ‘Self–other rating agreement in leadership: A review’, The Leadership Quarterly ,vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 1005–1034. Foss, N, Minbaeva, D, Pedersen, T & Reinholt, M 2009, ‘Encouraging knowledge sharing among employees: how job design matters’, Human Resource Management, vol. 48, no. 6, pp. 871– 893. Gibson, J & Hodgetts, R 2013, Readings and exercises in organizational behavior, Elsevier, New York. Hartman, J & McCambridge, J 2011, ‘Optimizing millennials’ communication styles’, Business Communication Quarterly, vol. 74, no.1, pp. 22-44. Lincoln, S, 2010, ‘From the individual to the world: how the competing values framework can help organizations improve global strategic performance’, Emerging Leadership Journeys, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 3-9. Nesbit, P 2012, ‘The role of self-reflection, emotional management of feedback, and self- regulation processes in self-directed leadership development’, Human Resource Development Review, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 203– 226. Patiar A, & Mia, L 2009, Transformational leadership style, market competition and departmental performance: Evidence from luxury hotels in Australia. International Journal of Hospitality Management vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 28254–262. Seltzer, L. (2013). A New Take on Manipulation. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolution-the-self/201302/new-take-manipulation Van Dierendock, D 2011, Servant leadership: a review and synthesis. Journal of Management vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 1228-1261. Whitmore, J 2010, Coaching for performance: GROWing human potential and purpose: the principles and practice of coaching and leadership, Nicholas Brealey Publishing, New York. Williams, M 2014, ‘Serving the self from the seat of power: goals and threats predict leaders’ self-interested behavior’, Journal of Management, vol. 40, no. 5, pp. 1365– 1395. Yu, T 2009 ‘A Review of Study on the Competing Values Framework’, International Journal of Business and Management, vol. 4 no. 7, 37-42. Zhang, X & Tjosvold, D 2011, ‘Linking transformational leadership and team performance: a conflict management approach’, Journal of Management Studies, vol. 48, no.7, pp. 1587-1611. Appendices Tool 1 Tool 2 Tool 3 Read More