Introduction
A person must develop his or her characters to acquire effective leadership skills, which is only possible after the identification of personal strengths and weaknesses. Some leadership self-assessment tools have been developed to assist people in the identification of strengths and weaknesses. One such tool is known as the Leadership Circle Profile. Many people prefer it because it can be used to assess the inner and outer elements of leadership. At the same time, it can be used to understand human behaviors, making it possible to gain knowledge of various dimensions that are being assessed. Thus the leadership that I used to identify my strengths and weaknesses is the Leadership Circle Profile. The Leadership Circle Profile helped me to understand my leadership capabilities are areas that need improvements.
My Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
According to the self-assessment report, one of my main strength as a leader is authenticity. I scored 62% under the authenticity character, which was the highest scores out of the eight traits that were evaluated. Therefore, I believe that I have the ability to relate to other people authentically. Importantly, the high score in authenticity trait is an indication that people can easily trust, which is important in leadership. Also, I believe that I value honesty that I can use to create a beneficial relationship with others. Besides, I believe that I dare to make tough decisions on controversial issues. I believe that authenticity is important in any leadership situation.
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The second major strength is controlling as I managed to score 61%. I view the high score in controlling as a strength because I need to take charge and exert control to lead people in an organization or group. To effectively lead other people, I need to be result-driven by ensuring that I do the best, especially by being forceful, aggressive, and controlling. Moreover, the ability to control the situation will give me an opportunity to set clear goals and objectives to be achieved within a given period.
The third strength is relating, which is mainly the ability to relate with others. A leader should be able to develop an effective and beneficial relationship with others to encourage and enhance productivity in an organization or a group. Thus, I believe that I am a people-oriented leader and I am willing to help others, especially when they are in need of help. The high score in relating is also an indication that I am a team player because of the interpersonal intelligence and the ability to collaborate with others. At the same time, I view my score on relating as leadership strength because it is essential in addressing interpersonal conflicts and controversies that can ruin relationships.
I also scored above average, 52%, in achieving and I consider it one of my leadership strengths. A leader should not only be visionary, but he or she should also be strategic and decisive. I can use my achieving traits to design clear vision and mission and develop a work plan to achieve the set objectives. I am always interested in empowering other people, and I am not afraid to take risks, mainly when I am persuaded that they can result in positive outcomes. Hence, my high score in achieving is in line with my dedication to always achieve something.
Weaknesses
The leadership self-assessment helped me to identify the weaknesses that I need to work on to improve my leadership. According to the self-assessment report, my worst weakness is self-awareness where I only scored 6%. I believe this is the worst weaknesses because as a leader I need to focus on personal development. The fact that I am weak in personal learning means that I may not be able to adapt faster to emerging changes or issues. To be an effective leader, I must improve in self-awareness. The self-assessment report also revealed that I am weak in complying, which is about adhering to the expectations of other people. A leader needs to set an example of following the set rule and regulation. Unfortunately, I am poor in following rules and regulations, as well as the expectations of others.
Unfortunately, I am also weak in system awareness. The self-assessment report indicated that I only scored 28% on system awareness. Although I agree with the report that I always focus on short-term goals and not a broader picture, I need to overcome this weakness. A leader should have the ability to focus on both short-term and long-term goals. Besides, my objective should be to improve organizational performance by focusing on the whole system. I can only be a good leader if work on my weaknesses and enhance my strengths.
Plan to Develop Strengths
Authenticity
To improve my authenticity trait, I will engage in training techniques that are engaged in trigger events. Specifically, I will use events that occur spontaneously and those that are challenging to improve authenticity. I will try to solve unique problems every day, especially those that challenge my knowledge and skills. Encountering and solving challenging tasks help in developing authenticity leadership skills because they require new behaviors and reframing personal views ( Baron & Parent, 2015) .
Controlling
First, I will improve my controlling trait by engaging in constant learning on new concepts and issues that emerge in my professional field. I can only take charge and be on top when I have in-depth knowledge of issues. Thus, I will rely on the information that is readily available on the internet to keep on learning. Secondly, I will strive to gain complete trust of the people I work with to be able to control them. To achieve this, I will be honest in whatever I say and do and use effective communication to make myself clear. According to Cullen & Gordon (2014), effective communication is one of the ways to gain control as a leader.
Relating
The main step that I will take to enhance my relating trait will be to work on my emotional intelligence. I will mainly use only self-assessment tools to identify emotional intelligence areas that I to improve. Secondly, I will learn to control my emotional in stressful situations. To achieve this, I will accept the fact that I am not perfect and stay calm and in control. I will not fear to venture or confront stressful situations. I will also evaluate how my action or behavior will affect others before making any decision. Besides, I will refrain from rushing to judgment. Poor emotional intelligence always ruins many relationships, especially in the workplace.
Achieving
To develop achieving trait, I learn to take challenges as opportunities that need to be explored. Specifically, I will not allow myself to be distracted or discouraged by failure or challenges that I encounter. Therefore, I will focus on transforming challenges into opportunities. At the same time, to be an achiever, I will engage in continuous learning to improve my knowledge and skills.
Plan to Develop Weaknesses
Self-Awareness
The main step that I will take to improve my self-awareness is to seek feedback from colleagues and friends constantly. I will regularly ask my colleagues to rate my performance when I make critical decisions (Tjan, 2015). I will also ask them to rate my performance and make recommendations on areas that need improvement. Mostly, I will rely on informal processes to get feedback. The second step will be to write down my plans and priorities and make sure that I achieve them. I will track my progress through regular personal assessment. Also, I will take at least one hour a day to learn about new things in the profession to improve personal knowledge and skills.
Complying
To improve compliance, I will take time to learn about existing rules and regulations, including ethical requirements. I will not be likely to go against the expectations of others when I know what is expected of me. I will learn to compromise and desist from being a hardliner whenever there is a controversial or conflicting issue. I will also be collaborative and seek support and approval of others before making critical decisions.
System Awareness
I will develop system awareness by learning and understanding the whole system. I will take time to get relevant information about the organization I will be working with. I will specifically use the websites and booklets to learn about the whole system. As a result, I will develop system perspectives. At the same time, I will focus on broader pictures and not limit myself to short-term goals.
Conclusion
I have learned through leadership self-assessment that there are some critical leadership traits such as self-awareness and system awareness. Therefore, I must address my weaknesses to improve my leadership skills. Nonetheless, I possess other important leadership traits like authenticity, controlling, relating, and achieving. I believe that I will enhance my leadership skill significantly if I improve my strengths and work on the identified weaknesses.
References
Baron, L., & Parent, É. (2015). Developing authentic leadership within a training context: Three phenomena supporting the individual development process. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies , 22 (1), 37-53.
Cullen, C. B., & Gordon, P. A. (2014). The relationship between leadership and communication skills of nurse managers and the organizational citizenship behaviors of medical-surgical nurses and nursing assistants. Management and Organizational Studies , 1 (2), 23.
Tjan, A. (2015, February 11). 5 Ways to Become More Self-Aware. Harvard Business Review . Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2015/02/5-ways-to-become-more-self-aware
