I felt as though the results of these surveys are mostly accurate. I consider myself to be trustworthy, dependable, empathetic, friendly as well as sensitive. All participants strongly agreed that I portray these qualities. The participants informed me that they found it very easy to reflect on who I am and they felt that they were able to accurately answer the survey. In the categories of self-confident and self-assured, I ranked myself lower than the participants did. I feel that sometimes I hide things from other people and I believe that is why I ranked myself lower in these categories. Overall, I found that my friends and colleagues responses were expected. I was not shocked by any of the information they gave.
I am not surprised that my human skills score is the highest. I am confident in working with other people to achieve a goal. I also consider this to be the part of leadership that I enjoy the most. My technical and conceptual scores were a tie. I enjoy conceptual and technical work, however, I feel like I can definitely improve in these areas.
In the style questionnaire, I was slightly surprised by the results. My task score is higher than my relationship score. I would’ve expected a high relationship score and a lower task score. I believe that I am better at providing support and encouragement and that I am an excellent listener, rather than someone who is good at telling people what to do and spelling out their roles.
I am interested to pay more attention to this in future situations and to reflect further on what kind of leadership style I portray.
Sadie,
Assessments like these can be helpful in many ways (particularly when colleagues/friends take them, too). Sometimes they feel like they reflect us well, and other times seem to be a big of an awkward fit, which allows us to critically think about whether there is something for us to learn about ourselves, or perhaps conclude that the assessment does not accurately reflect our personality.
Sounds like you have very strong interpersonal skills, which will serve you well in your continued development as a leader.
— Leadership Prof