Response to Riggi Solinap’s Survey Analysis

This is my response to Riggi Solinap’s Survey Analysis.

In his conclusion, Solinap (2017) mentions that there are certain situations where leaders may show less of certain qualities. I completely agree with him. In Solinap’s situation, even though he considers himself friendly, sensitive, and empathetic, one person rated him neutral for these traits (2017). I had the same findings in my surveys. While I thought myself to be a sensitive and empathetic person, I was surprised to find that others rated me lowest in these two categories. While I understand that the way I perceive myself is not always the way I am perceived by others, I also wonder if sometimes it is necessary to suppress certain traits (such as sensitivity and empathy) in order to be an effective strategic leader in a group? And if so, how does this relate to servant leadership as empathy is one of the characteristics of servant leadership mentioned by Northouse (2016)?

Another point that Solinap (2017) mentions is how self-assured he feels compared to how others see him. I had the opposite where I thought that I present as fairly self-assured, but others rated me lower than I expected in this category. At work, while I feel extremely competent in my own work as a mathematics teacher, I sometimes lack confidence when it comes to leadership roles because I am at an early stage in my career where most other teachers have more experience than me. This is an area I would like to work on.

Overall, I agree with Solinap (2017) in that different situations call for different leadership qualities. When I am working with other teachers my age, I take on a different role than if I was working with a group of very experienced teachers. I think that leadership approaches and strategies are dynamic characteristics and I hope to continue to develop and refine my skills as a servant leader.

References

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Solinap, Riggio. (2017, October 6). Result of Survey Analysis. Retrieved from https://create.twu.ca/riggisolinap/2017/10/06/result-of-survey-analysis/