SOCW 6070 Leadership Assessment Final Project
Self-Assessment of My Leadership Traits
Walden University
Self-Assessment of My Leadership Traits
Assessing leadership strengths and weaknesses helps a person build on his/her strengths and improve on the weaknesses. A self-assessment of my leadership skills indicated that I am a Democratic, articulate, self-confident, conscientious, trustworthy, dependable, friendly, and determined individual. The same leadership strengths were confirmed by my colleague’s assessment of my leadership trait. However, my friend rated me highly in terms of being sensitive and persistent. Being articulate means that I can communicate messages and ideas effectively, and I hold a significant ability to inspire and unit people for a cause (Northouse, 2018; Luthra & Dahiya, 2015). Being a self-confident leader means that I have a high sense of self-esteem, a positive self-image, and self-assurance and belief that I can make a difference. Self-confidence is a necessary skill for a leader to take risks and accomplish high goals (Axelrod, 2017). I am also conscientious, concerned about getting tasks performed in the right way to create results and exceed expectations. Being careful means that I contribute in numerous ways in teamwork, and much of my contribution is more task-oriented than team development.
Additionally, I am a trustworthy leader who believes in other people’s abilities and allows them to excel in their responsibilities. Credible leaders are approachable, responsible for their actions, and they are mutually supportive of everyone. Trustworthy leaders also expect the best from others, and they enjoy being around, and that confirms my other strong trait, which is being friendly (Northouse, 2018). As a friendly person, my actions are mutually supportive of everyone and flexible to changing situations. I can control and adapt my reactions to display a consistent response that people can trust me. A friendly leader is approachable and keeps communication channels open to allow team members to express their concerns and contribute with ease.
Weaknesses.
On the other hand, there are several weaknesses that the assessment established, and I need to improve on. My self-assessment and colleague assessment established that I am less emphatic, persistent, sensitive, and outgoing. Lack of empathy means failure to care about the emotional welfare of the people around me. If a leader lacks understanding, he/she does not care about his/her followers’ emotional needs, and this makes the followers approach with their guard up, and they feel alone in looking after their interest (Kock et al., 2019). To improve this trait, I will practice taking a personal interest in people’s lives and challenges, leaving judgment behind, and becoming more attentive to other people’s body language.
Empathy is an essential trait which any leader should strive to possess. Empathy creates strong bonds and cultivates understanding and improved communication in team settings (Lam, 2017). It is a vital skill needed in building strong teams and productive work relationships. Empathy has a strong relationship with being a sensitive leader. Lack of sensitivity means that a leader does not take time to understand the people he leads in a way that inspires them to follow instructions. I will strive to improve my emotional awareness to comfort others and make the right decisions to avoid hurting others’ emotions.
Another area that I need to improve on is being persistence as a leader. A leader is supposed to be persistent to ensure he remains motivated and focused in the face of challenges (Northouse, 2018). losing focus or motivation as a leader would negatively impact the leader’s ability to work hard and achieve the intended outcome. I will train myself to pursue my goals even in the face of challenges. I will be outlining my motivation and define the action plans that I need to follow to remain positive in my mental attitude. Overall, the analysis proves that I possess most of the required traits of any successful leader. However, to be a successful leader, I must improve on my weaknesses while leveraging my strengths.
References
Axelrod, R. H. (2017). Leadership and self-confidence. In Leadership Today (pp. 297-313). Springer, Cham.
Kock, N., Mayfield, M., Mayfield, J., Sexton, S., & De La Garza, L. M. (2019). Empathetic leadership: How leader emotional support and understanding influences follower performance. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 26(2), 217-236.
Lam, M. L. L. (2017). Empathetic leadership as an alternative paradigm for responsible supply chain management. In the Palgrave Handbook of Leadership in Transforming Asia (pp. 295-314). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Luthra, A., & Dahiya, R. (2015). Effective leadership is all about communicating effectively: connecting leadership and communication. International Journal of Management & Business Studies, 5(3), 43-48.
Northouse, P.G (2018). Introduction to leadership. Concepts and practices (4th ed). Washington DC. Sage.
Personal Assessment
| Leadership quality | Self-rating |
| Articulate | 4 |
| Self-confident | 4 |
| Conscientious | 5 |
| Dependable | 4 |
| Determined | 4 |
| Trustworthy | 5 |
| Emphatic | 3 |
| Sensitive | 3 |
| Outgoing | 3 |
| Persistent | 3 |
| Friendly | 4 |
Colleagues Assessment of my leadership Traits
| Leadership Trait | Rater 1 |
| Articulate | 4 |
| Self-confident | 4 |
| Dependable | 4 |
| Determined | 5 |
| Trustworthy | 5 |
| Emphatic | 3 |
| Sensitive | 5 |
| Outgoing | 3 |
| Persistent | 4 |
| Friendly | 4 |
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