My report on Clifftonstrengths established an order of strengths that reflect my capabilities as a leader. Based on my results, I have dominant relationship-building themes; this signifies that I build strong relationships and have the ability to hold a team together (Rath, 2007). My first identified strength is harmony which states that I seek areas of agreement. This strength means that I try to find common ground despite the different perspectives and views that individuals may hold. This strength matches my tendency to stay away from confrontation and move towards harmony. I believe that harmony is critical to my leadership abilities instead of attempting to impose my perspective on others, I try to gain consensus and support.
My second strength is an includer, which signifies an increased acceptance of others while showing awareness of those that feel left out. As an includer, my accepting nature has helped me identify colleagues and friends that may not be included and setting in place strategies that support their inclusion (Rath, 2007). The third strength that characterizes me is ideation, which falls within the theme of strategic thinking. This strength indicates that I absorb and analyze information that informs better decisions. This strength shows that I find connections between phenomena that are recognized as disparate (Rath, 2007). While working, I tend to have a fascination with ideas and like to evaluate and discover the complex base for these ideas. By identifying and exploring new ideas, I can have a better comprehension of simple concepts.
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My fourth strength is consistency which falls within the executing themes, signaling that I hold the capability to make things happen. People who hold the strength of consistency also know the existing need to treat people the same (Rath, 2007). This involves establishing stable routines and clear regulations and procedures that all individuals can follow. In line with this strength, I have a daily routine that helps me prioritize tasks and efficiently conduct the activities. By having routines and regulations, I not only ensure that I have clear tasks I must complete along with objectives and goals that I should meet. The last strength of my report is restorative, which also falls within the executive theme. People talented in the restorative theme are well-skilled at dealing with challenges and are good at identifying errors and resolving them. I love to solve problems, just as much as I love to explore new ideas. As a leader, these strengths will be critical for finding solutions to the problems that I encounter while restoring a level of efficiency to organizational operations.
Personal Leadership Strengths
The contingency leadership theory, which is sometimes known as situational theory, is focused on a leader’s context. These leadership theories assess the situational effect of the success or failure of a leader (Vidal et al., 2017). Therefore, this theory makes the suggestion that good leaders can make any adjustments to their leadership styles situationally. In accordance with the contingency theory, one of my main strengths is communication. I believe that I can effectively utilize communication skills for the proper pursue of goals and inspire positive changes across other employees. In accordance with my communication skills, one of my best competencies is the ability to adapt my communication style. Knowing how to tailor my communication is critical to influencing other individuals and attaining organizational objectives (Schlamp et al., 2020). I have also developed the ability to actively listen to the opinions, ideas, and feedback that is presented by others. By actively engaging in conversation, I have also eliminated distractions during communication, such as the constant notifications from my phone. Having effective communication skills will help me adapt to the different situations that I find myself in.
My second leadership strength is creativity. In leadership, creativity is a characteristic that is required to establish a successful and healthy environment. Over the years, I have identified the capability to create and realize innovative solutions. This is mainly observed as a result of my need to explore ideas and concepts and the need to identify the appropriate solutions. My application of creativity within different environments has enabled me to identify the proper solutions to dynamic situations or environments that are structurally complicated. In my growth as a leader, I believe that this creativity will help identify new approaches while establishing clarity for the outlined purpose. Working cooperatively with others has helped me develop innovative ideas and beliefs while also engaging the appropriate people (Hughes et al., 2018). The further application of creativity will help me be more self-aware and passionate about the goals and ideals I attempt to share with my subordinates. By being creative, I will be able to find solutions to any challenges that may occur in different situations.
My third leadership strength is motivation. Motivation is a goal-oriented feature that assists individuals in achieving their objectives. Over the years, through accessing a different form of motivation, I have been able to gain an understanding of my own needs as well as the needs of the others around me. Through this strength, I have been able to influence others and encourage them to work towards achieving their objectives. I am able to provide a vision and purpose by creating an inspiring vision of the future. I am able to provide the team with a purpose, something to look forward to and work towards. By making visions achievable and the results realistic, the goals that have been outlined can then be attained. In the future, this strength will help me to encourage teamwork within a work environment. Encouraging members to work together as a team will help stress the significance of and the coordination between teamwork and the achievement of group objectives. Therefore, in any situation that I may encounter, I will be able to establish teamwork and a common purpose.
Personal Leadership Weaknesses
The contingency leadership model establishes that the effectiveness of a leader is dependent on whether or not their style is suited to a specific situation. Based on this theory, an individual may be a good leader in one situation and a poor leader in another situation (Vidal et al., 2017). This theory emphasizes the significance of the personality of a leader along with the situation in which they operate. While this theory highlighted some of my strengths, it also emphasizes some of my weaknesses.
One of my main weaknesses is my resistance to change. When faced with the opportunity to change, I often insist on remaining stagnant as opposed to adapting to the dynamic environment around me. If the current way of doing things is working, I'll often prefer to remain stagnant. The largest threat to an organizational environment is remaining static and the loss of a desire for innovation to stay adaptive. Leaders also have to listen to feedback from individuals around them. Despite the importance of feedback to the growth of an institution, I often face a challenge when trying to handle any difficulties or challenges that I may face.
Another weakness that affects the growth of my leadership capabilities is being excessively connected to the world around me. While constant connectivity enables me to provide feedback readily and more easily manage others, it can always result in an always-connected approach to leadership. The state of excessive connectivity often results in a constant need to accomplish more and multitask several things even when there is no apparent need to do so (Hughes et al., 2018). This approach often leads me to be overcommitted and overstressed, making me unable to access the issues that I may face. When faced with a situation that is full of a wide range of tasks, being excessively connected can often lead to an elevated level of stress.
The third weakness is that while I am an effective communicator, I often fail to set clear expectations. Employees would rather receive instruction on the tasks to be completed as opposed to being left with questions and uncertainty (Schlamp et al., 2020). The provision of direction and defining missions is critical to motivating a team and keeping the members on task. Despite my proficient capability to express my ideas and opinions, I often face difficulty in setting clear expectations. The provision of direct reports can affect the achievement of goals and objectives by subordinates. I require to learn what information is essential and then provide clear instructions and expectations to ensure that proper success is attained.
Recommendation for Personal Leadership
Another recommendation that I make for my personal leadership is the provision of appropriate feedback to those around me. This will involve clearly communicating my opinions and ideas in a way that members of the team can understand. The second recommendation is gaining the ability to adapt to change. This will call for a greater level of flexibility and adaptability in my thinking. This form of thinking will enable me to shift and experiment as the situation changes.
To enhance my personal leadership capabilities, one of the areas that I will further work in self-awareness and situational awareness. Self-awareness is viewed as one of the main leadership strengths that have to be developed by individuals within leadership and management positions (Ehret, 2018). If I know myself fully, then I will be able to work on other aspects of my leadership. Being aware of what is going on around me will also be critical to ensuring I know the right steps to take. By having the capability to clearly assess myself and the environment around me, I will then have knowledge on what leadership style to implement in different situations, as in accordance with the situational theory.
SMART Goals
The two SMART goals that I have developed are focused on further building my strengths and are based on the recommendations that have been outlined:
The first goal is to develop presentation skills that will reduce the number of clarifications by colleagues by August 25, 2021, by taking a presentation training course.
The second short-term goal is to inspire and motivate team members to increase their sense of responsibility by November 24, 2021, by enhancing communication and feedback.
Specific Actions
To improve my presentation skills, I plan to take the following specific actions:
I will engage in a specific presentation training course that will educate me on how to provide proper feedback to those around me.
I will attend other presentations by my colleagues to understand what works best for communication and feedback between employees.
To increase the motivation of those that I interact with and enhance the level of productivity, the specific actions that will take are:
I will actively seek criticism and complaints from those around me to understand ways in which I could encourage their motivation.
Another step I can take is to encourage autonomy. Making employees feel they have better control over their duties will make it easier for me to influence them while establishing clear goals.
References
Ehret, M. G. (2018). Situational awareness and transparency as core concepts of authentic leadership [Doctoral dissertation]. Pepperdine University.
Hughes, D. J. et al. (2018). Leadership, creativity, and innovation: A critical review and practical recommendations. The Leadership Quarterly , 29 (5), 549-569.
Rath, T. (2007). StrengthsFinder 2.0 . Simon and Schuster.
Schlamp, S. et al. (2020). Same talk, different reaction? Communication, emergent leadership and gender. Journal of Managerial Psychology , 36 (1), 51-74. https://doi.org/10.1108/jmp-01-2019-0062
Vidal, G. G. et al. (2017). Contingency theory to study leadership styles of small businesses owner-managers at Santo Domingo, Ecuador. International Journal of Engineering Business Management , 9 , 184797901774317. https://doi.org/10.1177/1847979017743172
