After being tasked with the completion of the Leadership Trait Questionnaire, Leadership Theory and Practice Questionnaire and Style Questionnaire, results from my self assessment in comparison to others assessment of me were fairly consistent. Perhaps not surprizing was how I was harder on myself than how other perceive me. My overall scoring was in the very high range which was not at all surprizing given that most of my life I have always felt like a leader and have also acted in a capacity of a leader. Perhaps the area where I’m most hardest on myself is in my ability to articulate and communicate with others. For this I scored myself as a three however in all responses by others they viewed me to be a good communicator. I guess in some respects I am a good communicator. I regularly meet with my staff and check in on them daily. I can get people excited and motivated about an idea rather quickly. In my self assessment however I believe why I scored myself lower is because in every organization there can be negative chatter. This can be derived from jealousy or a disgruntled employee. I pride myself on ensuring all employees are happy at work however it’s a task that is not always achievable. If I’m unable to succeed then I often ask myself what did I do wrong and how can I fix the situation. The other skill that I personally know I need to work on related to communication is my ability to public speak. Others tell me I’m a natural however they have no idea how much work I do to prepare and so they have no idea I’m actually faking it. I suppose though we all compensate for our areas of weakness and as leaders it’s important for us to continue to try and learn and do better.
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Brenda,
What great insights into your own leadership abilities! I do think that often our weaknesses are strengths pushed to an extreme. It sounds like you have a great strength in your desire to care for your employees and create an enriching work environment (sounds like a transformational leader to me). However, as you note, it is not always possible to keep everyone happy and (because this is your strength), if you push this strength to the extreme, you can be hard on yourself.
(Those high expectations for yourself are also a great strength, as they give you great motivation to push yourself in your leadership. However, high expectations can also be a weakness for many of us, as we are only human and cannot always meet our own expectations).
Do you think this is true in your experience?
— Leadership Prof
Yes you are absolutely reading me like a book! I am very much an example of a transformational leader and do push myself, often creating high expectations. I’m learning to manage this, mostly by trying to ignore the negative chatter. Every now and again I am gifted with positive feedback from those that are not comfortable speaking up and it motivates me to keep moving forward. I’m learning there are more silent supporters than vocal non-supporters. It still stings though when I hear negative chatter and so have set myself up with a few mentors that I can talk through situations and understand peoples ulterior motives. It’s a life long learning process being a leader!