Leadership Self‐Assessment and Development Plan
The success of any organization depends largely on effective leadership. It implies, therefore, that even if the organization has sufficient human and financial resources, it will not be successful unless there is effective leadership to spur development, growth, and innovation. It is worth noting that leadership is not about titles or accolades, but effective leadership is impactful, profound, and meaningful (Larson, 2019). Leadership qualities are always earned after a series of development steps. Moreover, there are no exact steps of attaining effective leadership, but it all depends on the needs and the culture of the organization. Every effective leader should plan for their success, which includes both professional and personal growth. The paper explores my strengths as well as weaknesses as a leader, areas which need improvement. Additionally, the paper also identifies the necessary leadership practices and skills that I will need to become an effective leader and identify priority goals that I will consider for my personal and become a good leader, Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook CEO.
Personal Strengths
As a team leader, I have several strong suits that make me an effective leader. My strong suits have been manifested in many situations where I had to make rational decisions. One of my primary strength is that I am courageous and can be able to make sound decisions, even in stressful situations. Having served in different capacities since I was young, I have been able to make courageous decisions regardless of the situation, which has impacted my team positively.
The character has been manifested in situations where the team is faced with difficult situations that need courageous decision making despite the uncertainty of the outcomes. As a leader, there are situations when one feels intimidated or doubt their decisions based on the complexity of the situation. However, being a fearless leader always helps one to interact freely with others who may offer their opinions, which the leader may use to make an effective decision and lead the team successfully (George, 2017).
According to George (2017), courageous leaders do not always agree on the culture of the organization but sometimes go against all the odds and take risks through revolutionary decisions that end up changing markets. Through their boldness, the teams they lead get inspired, customers get energized and positions the companies in very competitive positions. It is also worth noting that courage is a defining character in which every leader should possess to demonstrate other leadership qualities. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
Further, as a leader, I can quickly adapt to changes. Changes never bother me, and in many situations involving change, I have been able to manage and score well in stress and time management. Instead of being a bother, I have always taken advantage of changes to gauge my ability to manage my time and stress effectively while considering opportunities for growth. Changes still further my curiosity, which enhances my creativity in finding solutions to different problems that face my team and me.
The trait is essential, especially in today’s’ world, which faces constant changes marred with various complexities in terms of culture, new markets, competition, and new jobs. To thrive well as a leader, it is imperative to adapt easily to the changes and quickly adjust to the new conditions (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). Every leader who is flexible to change often sees opportunities in every change instead of obstacles. More often, adaptable leaders have very flexible ways of thinking. The different cognitive approaches enable the experiments certain things and shift as soon as possible.
With flexible thinking approaches, leaders can understand how the team thinks, how they think as leaders, and how the customers think (Keating, 2018). Consequently, they can be able to make decisions according to the needs and perceptions of each party affected by their choices. Adaptable leaders are also curious. With curiosity, their minds are opened, thus enabling growth and generation of new ideas. Curious leaders often ask questions and therefore think creatively in solving the problems. More often, they listen to others, ask questions, and consider others while making their decisions.
Additionally, I can work successfully with others. Throughout my time as a team leader, I have been able to work successfully with my team, even in situations where the team faces internal challenges. As a leader, I love ensuring that my team is always up-to-date with everything it goes on with the group and often listens to them. Consequently, the team always opens up hence becoming easy to solve some of the challenges we encounter as a team. Further, I ensure that everyone in the group does not work solely but with others.
Everyone is always empowered through training and briefing, and in the absence of one member, the team always continues working without disruption since every member empowered. Through team collaboration, there are always strong relationships with shared values (Kouzes & Posner, 2012)). In any organization, success is not achieved by a single person. Instead, it requires the collaboration of the whole team. It also needs strong relationships, trust, and confidence. For successful leadership, every leader is expected to open up to the ideas of the team members while making decisions that are critical to the organization. Collaboration should be fostered by facilitating relationships and building trust for successful leadership.
As a leader, I also have excellent communication skills. With my fluency, I can easily direct people based on organizational and team direction. I have gained significant experience from various leadership positions I have held since I was young, and I have witnessed real growth and improvement in my communication skills. In any leadership position, accurate and effective communication is an essential factor. To become successful leaders, one should learn to convince and communicate effectively within the team, thus help the team in completing projects successfully and attaining growth as an organization (Luthra & Dahiya, 2015).
Many researchers have termed leaders as people who can direct, take charge, stimulate, or encourage others. They also can convince others and making them attaining specific goals. Communication enables leaders to share their visions and goals with their teams (Luthra & Dahiya, 2015). Therefore, with effective communication, it is possible to lead teams more successfully. Excellent communication also helps in developing a better understanding among people and beliefs, thus inspiring the people to adhere to the values and principles which the leader inculcates in the team. Without good communication, a leader cannot achieve the set goals or lead the organization to succeed.
Effective communication enables healthy interaction between the leader and the teams. Therefore, a leader increases their potential and gets the work done easily. Notably, effective communication involves listening to others and speaking. While listening to others, there may be negative feedback (Luthra & Dahiya, 2015). Therefore as a leader, it is essential to keep the mind open to accommodate the negative feedbacks which he/she seizes them as an opportunity for learning something new. Therefore for one to be effective communicators, it is essential to be a convincing communicator and learn skillful communication, which will ensure that the team gets accurate information.
Weaknesses
According to a literature review conducted by Rudolph Muteswa, various studies prove that emotional intelligence is a very critical character of every leader. Having emotional intelligence means that an individual can control their behaviors to ensure that they maintain a healthy day-to-day relationship with others effectively irrespective of difficult situations facing them (Muteswa, 2016). Emotional intelligence encompasses self-management, self-awareness, social skill, and social awareness.
Self-awareness generally relates to a leader being aware of their emotional feelings at all times. A leader should always understand the feelings and attitudes of followers towards a certain to facilitate informed decision-making and enhance positive relationships among team members (Muteswa, 2016). Self-management refers to the ability of the leaders to control their destructive thoughts and feelings before taking action. On the other hand, social skill relates to how well the leaders associate with others and their abilities in dealing with issues such that everyone in the team does not feel that they have lost.
Lastly, social awareness relates to how leaders consider the impacts of their decisions on others before making a critical decision (Muteswa, 2016). As a leader, my most significant weaknesses relate to emotional intelligence. While I can effectively communicate with the teams successfully, I have a significant problem of ensuring consistency in the way I relate with my team. For example, as much as I relate well with my groups on many occasions, I fail to understand or listen to others effectively and thus make decisions that affect them negatively. The practice limits the openness of the team at some points. Moreover, sometimes feel that they avoid me for one reason or the other, and this is not healthy for the success of the team.
Further, while I can make some of the decisions courageously, some of the choices I make do not support teamwork since I lack social skills. Notably, Emotional intelligence is what is lacking in my role as a leader, as indicated by some of the wrong choices that I have made in the various leadership positions that I have held over my lifetime. Without a proper understanding of my emotions at every moment, it has become challenging to make decisions rationally, especially when I am emotionally disturbed.
Furthermore, lack of social skill has made some of my team members to opt-out of the team while team strength has been weakened and adversely affected due to my lack of social awareness. For instance, sometimes, I make decisions that hurt others without my knowledge, and as a result, it affects the cohesiveness of the team, thereby leading to poor outcomes. While my choices are sometimes affected by the inability to understand and manage my emotions, it ends up affecting the work environment in that; it becomes difficult to promote a conducive work environment.
The weakness has been proved by the fact that I have been scoring low in most interpersonal aptitude tests I have undertaken on several occasions. Considerably, I am weak in most of the personal competencies, such as understanding and managing my emotions. While creating a conducive working environment is largely dependent on how well I manage my feelings, my fearlessness has adversely affected the working environment since I sometimes make wrong decisions that affect others. Additionally, sometimes, I may show no remorse at the time until I am stable emotionally and realize that I made a mistake.
Although I try to correct my mistake, it is never the same because sometimes I realize the error when the damage is already done. The role played by emotional intelligence in my leadership sometimes renders my strengths of being an adaptive, courageous, and effective communicator worthless because, without emotional awareness and proper management, it becomes nearly impossible to become an effective leader.
The primary goal of the self-assessment and development plan is to enhance my emotional intelligence within the next two hundred and ten days. I understand that as a leader, I need to address my leadership deficiencies as soon as possible with determination and urgency. Notably, emotional intelligence can be challenging to achieve because they give insights into oneself innate nature. However, by putting emotional intelligence to practice daily, it is possible to overcome it. The fact that I am aware of my weaknesses as a leader is the first step in bringing a solution to the problem. By imitating an emotionally intelligent leader, it is possible to develop and execute the development plan well.
Necessary Leadership Practices and Skills
It is worth noting that leadership practices are always available for all who accept challenges. Therefore, leadership entails taking an organization and a team to where they have never been or doing what has never been done by anyone or organization before. Kouzes & Posner (2012) undertook thirty-year research and noted that as much as leadership changed dramatically over time, certain leadership practices have remained irrespective of the changes. There are five practices for exemplary leadership, as discussed by Kouzes & Posner (2012) include modeling the way, inspiring shared visions in organizations, challenging the existing organizational process, enabling other people to act, and motivating the heart.
- Modeling the Way
As a leader, the practices of modeling are always earned not by a title but by behavior. As noted by the researchers, everyone is a leader, and it is how one behaves that makes a difference (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). Exemplary leadership requires leaders to show commitment on their part and be an excellent example of others and should demonstrate behaviors that can be emulated by others. A leader, therefore, needs to know who they are and what their core values are, which, if emulated by others, they feel comfortable about it.
Furthermore, it is crucial to consider the shared values of the group. Every organization and team feel connected to matters of shared values. While eloquent speeches about the shared values in an organization and team are essential, they are not sufficient in modeling the way. The deeds of the leader a very crucial compared to their words since they determine how the leaders are on what they are eloquent about (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). The leaders must align their deeds to what they say about the shared values. Through their actions daily, exemplary leaders demonstrate their commitment to the shared values of the team and the organization as a whole.
- Inspiring Shared Visions in Organizations
As leaders, it is essential to share an imagined, attractive, and exciting future of the teams and organizations. Exemplary leaders should have an absolute personal belief in their dreams about the organization (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). They should always have confidence in making some extra-ordinary things to happen successfully. The goals are essential for the success of every organization. Further, continually reminding others of what one dreams about the organization is crucial as it keeps the vision alive over a long period.
It is also crucial for every leader to connect with the past before seeking innovative solutions to help them achieve future goals. This can be achieved by first inspiring others through the shared vision rather than forcing them to work towards achieving the vision. With clear visions and goals, it is possible to make a noticeable difference in the organization as well as the team before sharing the visions with others to make them believe in him or her (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). It is worth noting that the unity of a team can be forged when a leader designs a vision that is easily understood and informs the followers about the importance of having shared values and attaining the set targets to the team and the organization as a whole. Leaders should express their excitement and enthusiasm for the shared vision to ignite passion among the team members.
- Motivating the Heart
Leadership can be exhausting. While leading teams and organizations, it is normal for one to get exhausted, enchanted, and frustrated, and in some circumstances, one is likely to give up. It is essential for leaders to recognize the efforts of the teams, even in situations where one is in charge of large groups (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). Simple gestures such as rewarding the employees go a long way in motivating them to pursue the organizational goals and dreams even further. Notably, the approach helps enhance the team’s morale and ensuring a cooperative environment where everyone is valued.
- Enabling Other People to Act
The success of every organization is not solely dependent on the efforts of only one person; it needs the efforts of the team. It also requires strong relationships and solid trust among the team members (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). Further, it requires calm confidence and deep competence as well as individual accountability and group collaboration. Leaders should always foster collaboration though facilitating relationships and building trust to ensure the success of the team.
Everyone in the team should be empowered by establishing team competence and enhanced self-determination, thus enabling them to exceed even their expectations. It is essential also to people who need to be educated and always updated (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). When the team members are trusted and allowed to have more discretion and authority as well as always remaining informed, they are more likely to exceed their expectations. By enabling other people to act, leaders turn their team members to leaders.
- Challenging Existing Processes
Every leader should be involved in changing the status quo (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). Every exemplary leader tries as much as possible to change the culture or something within the team or the organization. The challenge could be relating to economic downturns, new products, technological changes, and legislation. The success of organizational change management requires the engagement of employees. Therefore, the administration should listen to what others are saying about the subject rather than tell them what to do.
A leader must always look outside the organization and themselves for innovative products, services, and processes. There is a need to search for more opportunities by designing creative ways for improvement (Kouzes & Posner, 2012. Since innovations require experimentation and risk-taking, contributions of a leader are essential in creating a suitable climate where other peoples’ ideas, support for the ideas, and willingness of the team to implementing the change.
Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg is one of the most intelligent leaders of the 21st century. I admire his leadership skills and practices, which have contributed significantly to his success as an entrepreneur (Shegani-Hamzallari, 2016). As a successful leader, Zuckerberg is very passionate about what he does and his leadership. Further, he is an effective communicator. He has one of the most open communication cultures with his employees, thus has built-in trust.
Moreover, Zuckerberg has excellent interpersonal skills, whereby he allows the employees to present their interests freely while they can take risks. Facebook employees are free to work on their projects since they are empowered and given the necessary information they need. His employees are always free to apply their creativity in the projects done in the company, thus enhancing their performance (Shegani-Hamzallari, 2016). Furthermore, he is a very visionary leader who has been developing innovations to meet the ever-changing dynamic technology and customer need.
Lastly, he is a great problem solver. He has encountered various challenges throughout his leadership, but he has been very innovative in dealing with these problems. He is an admirable leader who has influenced the sense of teamwork and excellent performance among his employees. He illustrates the transformational kind of leadership (Shegani-Hamzallari, 2016). He is also described as aggressive and encouraging.
Notably, he loves and demands growth and innovation from his employees while he also loves challenges and debates. Moreover, he uses the three types of leadership styles, which include democratic, autocratic, and laissez-faire (Shegani-Hamzallari, 2016). While he commands the employees to perform the assigned tasks, he continually looks for feedback from the employees. He trusts the employees and often treats them without discrimination. For that reason, the employees love him as their employer and their leader.
Gender and leadership
Traditionally, leadership positions were reserved for men. However, in the near past, there has been significant progress whereby women have been considered in leadership positions. Women have the capability of performing duties that are performed by men. Therefore, there is a need to give them opportunities, even in positions that were initially dominated by men. Despite the convincing evidence of the benefits of inclusivity in organizations, women are still under-represented in companies, especially when it comes to leadership (International Finance Corporation. 2018). Thus, as a leader, it is imperative to consider gender inclusivity in assigning roles to ensure that there is no discrimination. As a result, every individual will feel valued and increase their competitiveness in the workplace as well as enhance teamwork.
Culture and leadership
According to Schein (2010), individuals possess characters while organizations have cultures. Organizational leadership always creates a culture and drives changes in cultures even though the cultures define leadership. Notably, leadership plays a role in impacting the organization in their young, mid-life, and mature organizations concerning the needs of the organization and situations that provoke organizational cultural changes. Therefore, the effectiveness of an organization’s leadership is dependent on the culture, which is also reliant on leadership. Where the learning is not effective, it is the role of the leaders to implement changes and forge to ensure that the changes are successful and effective.
Development Plan
Having explored the exemplary leadership skills and practice which makes one a profound leader who can bring about a positive difference in the performance of people as well as their commitment, it is essential to identify priorities and goals that I will implement in my leadership development plan. After identifying my strengths and weaknesses as well as exemplary leadership skills and practice, it is crucial to develop the leadership development plan. In practice, emotional intelligence ranging from being aware of one’s feelings, managing feelings, showing empathy, and interpersonal skills, can be easily managed can be learned. The plan will involve three steps.
Learning Emotional Intelligence
The step1: The first step will be practicing mindfulness every day to develop self-awareness. Practicing mindfulness will involve self-assessment, which will help in developing self-awareness and regulation. It will include raising awareness of the feelings in oneself, both emotionally and mentally. The mindfulness will help in allowing one to respond to certain situations.
Step 2: The second activity will involve learning how to accept negative feedback from others without becoming defensive. While expecting input from the team members, it is crucial to remain open-minded to accommodate even negative feedback. Once negative feedback is received, a leader needs to accept the need for improvement rather than becoming defensive.
Step 3: The third activity will involve having a one on one interaction with the team to mentor them and develop empathy. Having one on one interaction with the team members will help in understanding them deeper. Apart from the fact that the interaction will deepen the relationship with the team, it will also motivate them and enhance collaboration among the team members without necessarily avoiding the leader.
Once the weaknesses have been addressed successfully, it is crucial to integrate the learned skills with the personal strength for effective leadership. Further, it is essential to apply the knowledge gained from class in regards to leadership and culture. First, it is necessary to understand that as much as organizational cultures shape the leadership, the leaders can change the corporate culture. As such, it is essential to change the status quo in organizations and make the place better than it was. Further, while exercising leadership, it is imperative to consider certain practices that define leaders and make workplaces worthy for every employee without discrimination irrespective of their gender.
References
George, B. (2017, April 24). Courage: The Defining Characteristic Of Great Leaders. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/2017/04/24/courage-the-defining-characteristic-of-great-leaders/#4f3a980111ca
International Finance Corporation. (2018). Increasing Gender Diversity from the workforce to the Boardroom. Retrieved from https://www.commdev.org/pdf/publications/ToolSuite1_Interior_FIN-05-16_LoRes.pdf
Keating, K. (2018, December 10). 3 Traits of Adaptable Leaders. Retrieved from https://www.td.org/insights/3-traits-of-adaptable-leaders
Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2012). The leadership Challenge. Retrieved from https://edisciplinas.usp.br/pluginfile.php/3988308/mod_resource/content/2/LEADERSHIP%20CHALLENGE.pdf
Larson, S. (2019). What Makes for An Effective Leader? Retrieved from https://managementhelp.org/leadership/development/leader.htm
Luthra, A., & Dahiya, R. (2015, September). Effective Leadership is all About Communicating Effectively: Connecting Leadership and Communication. Retrieved from https://www.mcgill.ca/engage/files/engage/effective_leadership_is_all_about_communicating_effectively_luthra_dahiya_2015.pdf
Muteswa, R. P. (2016). Qualities of a Good Leader and the Benefits of Good Leadership to an Organization: A Conceptual Study. Retrieved from https://iiste.org/Journals/index.php/EJBM/article/viewFile/32472/33363
Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership (Vol. 2). John Wiley & Sons.
Shegani-Hamzallari, J. (2016, September 26). Mark Zuckerberg: Leader of the 21st Century | PSY 532: Foundations of Leadership (Clarke). Retrieved from https://sites.psu.edu/leaderfoundationsclarke/2016/09/26/mark-zuckerberg-leader-of-the-21st-century/