Assessing Leadership Skills, Abilities, and Experiences - Term Paper Example

Leadership Introduction Scholars are defined leadership as the “activity to influence people to strive willingly for group objectives”(Terry 1960). A leader is a person who “exercise interpersonal influence in a situation and direct (people) through communication process towards a specialized goal or goals.”(Koontz and O’Donnell 1959). Certain traits are attributed to leaders, which make them stand above the rest of their group (Yukl 1989). Studies have shown that traits in people determine who are the leaders and who are the followers (Kirkpatrick ad Locke 1991). There are three general skills or competencies required of leader. Fist, he/she must know how to diagnose a situation or a target group that he/she wants to influence. In psychology, this is referred to as the cognitive competency. Meaning, a leader must be quick to understand a given situation and act accordingly. (Blanchard and Lorber 1987). Second is behavioural competency where he/she must know how to adapt tot present situations using all available resources to meet contingencies. Other refers to this aspect as the E.Q. or emotional quotient level (Tannenbaun et. al 1958). Third is the process competency where a leader must know to communicate to others in such a way that they are easily understood and accepted (Hersey and Blanchard 1993). Accordingly, there are many leadership theories and models, which have been developed over the years. Most of these theories are interrelated and should be regarded together in order to come up with a good self-assessment as to the degree of leadership of a person possesses. In assessing my leadership skills, abilities and experiences, I would rely mostly on the feedback I received on my colleagues, my performance appraisal results and my self-assessment based on my past experiences. 2. Peer Assessment Based on our working definition of what is leader, I asked my co-leagues to fill-up a questionnaire and give me an honest feedback about my leadership skills based on current and previous experiences. As a result, I received varies feedbacks which range from good to not so good. Using the trait approach method to leadership, I asked five of my closest colleagues to assess my capabilities using the table of Yukl, which is as follows: Traits Skills Adaptable to situations Alert to social environment Ambitious and achievement-oriented Assertive Cooperative Decisive Dependable Dominant (desires to influence others) Energetic (high activity level) Persistent Self-confident Tolerant to Stress Willing to Assume responsibility Clever (intelligent) Conceptually skilled Creative Diplomatic and tactful Fluent in speaking Knowledgeable about group task Organized (administrative ability) Persuasive Socially skilled Of the 13 traits attributed to a leader, my colleagues gave me good marks on at least 7 (adaptable to situations, ambitious and achievement-oriented, assertive, energetic, self-confident, willing to assume responsibility, dominant) fair on 4 (persistent, dependable, decisive, cooperative) and poor on 2 (alert to social environment and tolerant to stress). According to my colleagues, I am not very attuned to the social environment and am less likely to respond to casual conversations. I am also not good at handling stress and would often lose my temper in given situations. On the skills category, my colleagues rated my good in terms of intelligence, conceptual skills, creativity, and fluency in talking, persuasiveness and in the organizational aspect. However, they think I am not really good at diplomacy and tact, as well as social skills. Most of them attributed my lack of social skills to the fact I am too intense and I do not make feel people comfortable in my presence. I am not the type that they would enjoy setting with during coffee breaks as my presence is not calming. On the question why they would follow my lead, all of them replied that because I am logical and systematic. I stay focused and would not lose my sight on the goal. However, on the question why the would not follow me, the answer was a blunt because you are arrogant and a slave driver. In short, you are insensitive and have no social graces. One co-league cited an instance where we have project to finish and a member of the team asked to be excused to attend his son’s birthday party. He reminded me that I did not allow that team member to go until we have finished our transaction and by that time it was too late. Using the attitudinal approach to management through the management grid my leadership style according to my colleagues would be “task oriented” where efficiency of operations is the paramount consideration and allowing only minimal degree of human elements interference. 3. Feedback from Human Resource Department A good source for diagnostics on ones performance would be the human resource department. Upon my written request for an assessment of my performance, the HRD provided me with a series of test, which are aimed at assessing my leadership skills. The model used for assessing my leadership skill is the Managerial Grid where five types of leadership based on concern for production and concern for people are located in four quadrants (Blake 1964). Of the five leadership styles described in the quadrants, which include Impoverished1, country club2, Task3, Middle of the road4 and Team5, the HRD classified my leadership style as task oriented. The HRD recognized the fact that I am more concerned with the work output and is not very good at handling interpersonal relationships. A comment cited in the report reads that I have high level of energy, which tends to deteriorate under a sustained period of stress as evidenced by my short tempers. The reports also revealed that I am ambitious, competitive and driven but have the tendency to be obsessive and compulsive specially towards the later part of a project. Under stress and pressure I often compensate by driving the team harder disregarding human factors. 4. Assessment by Immediate Superior In gathering the opinions of my superior, I conducted an interview on how he sees me over a cup of coffee. I asked him as a friend to give his honest opinion on my leadership skills and how I relate to people around me. The response of my supervisor was similar to the observations of my colleagues. He explained that my strong point is that I am very much focused on the job and that I get things done efficiently. However, he observed that I am not very well accepted among the members of the group on a personal level and not many of the members of the team enjoys working with me as I am difficult to please and I am not very good at controlling my temper. Another point that my supervisor observed is that I am not very good as a team leader when it comes to personal concerns of the staff. In performing the task at hand, there is only one speed consideration and that is mine. As my supervisor who is representing the interest of the company, he liked the idea that we finish our projects really fast but he is worried of the consequences of burnout among the members of the team. Using the situational leadership approach through the Hersey-Blanchard Tri-dimensional Leadership Effectiveness model, my supervisor rated by behaviour as high task and low relationship where there is a well-defined methods for accomplishing goals and organizing work that are helpful to followers. However, the downside is that this method is seen as imposing, sometimes unpleasant and is good only for short-run output (Hersey, P. and Blanchard, K. H, 1999). 5. Assessment of my Friends Outside the Workplace For purposes of assessing how my friends in the community perceived my leadership skills, I participated in a community-focused group facilitated by the leader of our church. The guide question was that “how do I relate to others?” By recording the comments of the members of the discussion group I generated the following comments from my friends and the members of the community about me. These comments are as follows: 6. You take responsibility for a lot of things and deliver good results. 7. You are very efficient, good at planning and organizing things. You know what to do most of the time. However, because you know a lot of things, you tend not to listen to the suggestions of others. You tend to be annoyed if your instructions are not carried-out as specified. 8. You are not so good with dealing with personal issues and you tend to evade discussions, which involves emotions. You are generous with material things but not very fond of sharing yourself to others. You should learn to have fun. 9. My Assessment My assessment actually does not differ much to the ideas of the other whom I interviewed. I see myself as very much focused on the work at hand and would tend to be less concerned about the needs and comfort of the members of the team. My mind functions on a one-way traffic where I focus on one task at a time. For most people this will be viewed as anti-social, coldness and aloofness. However, for me, this a way of keeping my sight on the goal. I agree with my supervisor and co-leagues that in the Hersey-Blanchard Tri-dimensional Leadership Effectiveness model, I fall in the high task and low relationship category. However, I disagree with the conception of my supervisor that my leadership style is good only for short-run outputs. The Hersey-Blanchard Tri-dimensional Leadership Effectiveness model is situational is nature and one can move from different boxes depending on the situation. As high task low relationship situation may be appropriate in certain situations where time is of the essence and there is no room for asking question and soothing ruffled feathers. For instance, in the military, the chain of command is very important and each operation is very critical. Survival of the team would depend largely on the logical and focused attitude of the leader. Emotions have no place in tight situations where one is asked to deliver on a very short period of time. According to Fielder’s leadership Contingency model, task-oriented leaders tend to perform best in-group situations that are either very favourable or very unfavourable to the leader (Fielder 1967). This model talks about extremes, which can be favourable to intensely, focused people. On the comment that I am not very good at handling stress, I disagree with this statement. I would like to attribute my uncontrolled temper to the need for perfection and faster pace among the members of the team. I am irritated by the fact that some of the member of the team could not cope up with the pace and they tend to drag the other down with them. 10. Profile Based on the evidences gathered from my colleagues at work, my friends at the church, the HRD, my immediate supervisor and my own assessment, the conclude that I belong to the task orient group under the Management Grid and the Hersey-Blanchard Tri-Dimensional Models. In summary, my profile would read as follows: 11. Strength – I am a highly motivated and energetic person who is focused on the goal. I have good planning, organizing and critical thinking abilities. I get good results by directing people in a very precise and organized manner. I am driven, decisive and persuasive. I am very ambitious and competitive. 12. Weaknesses – A have a low tolerance level for human factors, which will tend to alienate the members of the team. I think too much and feel too little. Towards the later part of a project, I become obsessive and compulsive and tend to lose my temper. I generally become edgy and difficult to work with. 13. Opportunities – Being very well organized and focused, I will function well in tight situations. As such, working on sensitive project, which are short-term in nature, would put my abilities to maximum use. My planning and organizing skills will be very useful in setting parameters of a project and would provide good guidance to the members of the team. As I seldom lose focus on the goal, I would be a good anchor for the team. 14. Threats – Being a highly competitive and driven, I have the tendency to try out do myself in terms of performance (Hardy and Schwartz 1996) . This will be very bad for the other members of the team who are not used to such intensity. Since I often lose tract of human factors towards the end of a project, I have the capacity of wrecking the whole thing by driving the team too hard to the point of getting diminishing returns due to burnout. Aside from being a threat to the members of my team, I would become a threat to myself towards the end of a project where pressure builds to a high level (Silva and McGann 1995). Bibliography 1. Black R. (1964) Breakthrough in Organizational Development” Harvard Business Review, November-December Issue 2. Blanchard K and Lorber R. (1987). Putting the One Minute Manger to Work. New York; Berkeley Publishing Group 3. Brelin H., Davenport K. Jennings L and Murphy P. (1995) Focused Quality. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York 4. Davidson M. (1995) The Grand Strategist: The revolutionary New Management System. Mackay of Chatham plc 5. Fiedler, F.E. (1964). A contingency model of leadership effectiveness. In L. 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