PERSONAL LEADERSHIP EVALUATION

PERSONAL LEADERSHIP EVALUATION

Explain how you view your strengths and weaknesses, along with a development plan to address both

In the present world, businesses and people want results. Therefore, leaders should be in a position to move and influence individuals to give results. Leaders are examples to people below them. Leadership is not all about titles but the ability to lead well. Today the good leaders foresee failures prior to an appraisal of their skills of leadership. They diligently and continuously work on, evaluate and hone those skills. Therefore, where to leadership start? The questions that follow will assist in explaining how an individual can view the weakness and strengths and develop a plan for addressing them.

1. Where is one’s influence?

As a successful leader, your title or position should not influence people but your ability. Narrowing down to leadership, it is basically being able to influence others. Therefore, a should question himself or herself the influence level in the current work. Moreover, is there any visible evidence of influence among the people he or she leads. A leader should also know the area where he or she can influence.

2. Where to improve on

A person can lead for some time on the basis of a position of ability to solve problems, though the permanent success is greatly dependent on developing relationships and getting along with individuals. Leadership is the final relationship business. I view my strengths and weaknesses by questioning whether I have healthy relationships and get along with others. Another question that can assist in the assessment of one’s weaknesses and strength does how a leader interacts with others motivate them?

3. Do I possess a positive attitude and outlook?

Having a positive attitude alone does not constitute leadership but being negative diminishes a person’s leadership potential. Being positive gives a person an advantage particularly in times of crisis when positive leadership and optimism is critical. The following questions will assist according to John (2004), “Do I see possibilities or obstacles? Do I focus on solutions or problems? Am I quick to blame others? Do I frequently allow my emotions to dictate my actions?”.

4. Is there evident growth in self-discipline?

Leaders should have self-discipline. A leader must lead himself first in order to lead others. People expect you to have self-discipline before following along. That is why a leader has to control himself first. The following questions will assist: Do I have good management of time? Can I sacrifice to reach worthwhile goals? Do my looks display indiscipline or work habits interfere with my leadership ability?

5. Is there a proof of success in my area?

In simple words have you achieved success? Being busy does not indicate success, as much as some people are workaholics and achieve dismal results. The accurate in case of future success is the past success. The following questions will help: What accomplishments have I made? Were the accomplishments inclusive of others? Do others view them as success? Am I in a position to repeat the same?

6. How are my skills in solving problems?

Many can spot problems but leaders should have the ability to solve them. Any individual with no problem should not be a leader. Great leadership is one that can identify a problem and solve it. Consider the following: Can I solve a problem after spotting it? Can I solve difficult issues? Can I employ the effort others to solve an issue?

7. Do I go against the status quo?

For one to develop as a leader, he or she has to know the value of progress. A leader must be both dissatisfied with the prevailing situation and a vision for the possibilities. Good leaders take risks and resist a status quo at the price of improvement. The following questions will assist: Am I comfortable? Am in a position to take the risk to change the status quo?

8. Can I see the bigger picture?

The key trait of a good leader is being able to view the big picture. The followers can be unable to sort issues but leaders need to take it to the next level to achieve goals. The following questions should assist: Do I hold on to get a big perspective, particularly in times of pressure or distraction? Do I view the big picture, or get distractions with details?

Development Plan

It is not a surprise anymore to constantly get individuals working in positions where they give little results. It is a usual thing to find an individual preferring to resist information and opt for shorter routes running an organization as a leader. Or a leader who opts for employing ideas that waste many resources.

For leadership to be the good one has to develop a plan that will address all the weaknesses and strengths for better results (Robert, et. al., 2015). Therefore, the following should be considered while developing a leadership plan.

Fix Weaknesses

To fix one’s weakness, good leaders need not focus much on the weaknesses because it only leads to a repeat of the same thing. It also lowers the self-esteem of a leader, blurring his vision and it might divert one’s focus in the negative direction. The reality is that no person is perfect. Your weaknesses will always be part of you throughout your lifetime. Therefore, a leader should not forget about the weaknesses completely but understand them so that the void can be filled by hiring a person who is better in that field because there is someone who is strong at your weakest point. The main reason why people stick to places where they don’t excel in is that they concentrate on their negatives that keeping pulling them down.

There are leaders who resist systems as the way of solving problems by avoiding them and opting for shortcuts. But without good systems in any business, it is bound to stall. Therefore, the leadership is always left with two options which are to either act while is weak in that area and create pressure on the business by concentrating on the area or hire individuals who will perfect in the area and concentrate on what they are perfect in. The two options incur the cost but hiring an expert is less costly as it only involves labor cost while the other involves wastage of time, well being and energy. Therefore, leadership requires that you concentrate on what you are good at instead of weaknesses. Accept that no one is perfect and avoid the weaknesses as there are people who are better where you are weak. By doing that a leader will be fixing the weakness (Tom &Barry, 2008). .

Know your Strengths

One of the effects of concentrating on weaknesses is the diversion of perspective. The weaknesses will most of the time block one’s vision and cloud your strengths. A leader should not be contented with his current situation as there is room for improvement. A leader may not be successful not because he needs to work on the weaknesses but due to lack of improvement on the strengths. One may question the following

what he is good at?

what is one’s core strength?

Where should one focus?

I have learned my core strengths after the evaluation of my strengths and weaknesses. It takes one time to understand the core strengths but after knowing them you are bound to succeed. After an individual is a where of the strengths, one will always have in mind what he or she can do better and what they will never perfect (Tom &Barry, 2008). A good leader who is aware of the strength will always do the best where he or she is strong and spend less energy on spots of weakness as they can be delegated.

Maximizing Potential

All good leaders share something in common and that is maximizing on areas where they have potential. In fact, all people who are successful in life maximize on the area where they have potential. They choose where they are perfect and maximize and they avoid areas where they are weak. When a leader turns away from the weaknesses and focuses on the core strengths, the next step will be to concentrate on how to maximize potential and expand the strengths. To do that a leader has to think in the way of progress and not perfection. The world is about making improvements constantly. Any successful leader must have a team where ideas are shared and problems are solved together. A good leader should give others a chance to contribute to matters that concern them before drawing any conclusions.

References

John C. M. (2004). Evaluate your strengths and weaknesses as a leader. https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2004/04/19/smallb3.html

Robert J. A., William A. A., & Bill A. (2015). Mastering Leadership: An Integrated Framework for Breakthrough Performance and Extraordinary Business Results. John Wiley & Sons, 384 pages

Tom R., Barry, C (2008). Strengths Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams, and Why People Follow. Simon and Schuster, 266 pages