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Introduction Leadership is a process where a leader influences a group of people towards achieving certain goals. An effective leader is someone who motivates a person or a group of people to accomplish more than they would have otherwise accomplished. Not all managers are leaders; however, they share with them the desire to achieve the goals of organizations[i]. Leadership is associated with certain qualities or characteristics. These leaders’ qualities include self-reliance, independence, assertiveness, risk-taking, dominance, ambitiousness, and self-sufficiency. People who possess these attributes are often labeled as “leaders”.
Understanding one’s leadership style is a necessary first step in leadership development. The following is a SWOT analysis of my leadership potential and personality profile using selected self-assessments from the Leadership textbook. Leadership Potential Profile A leader is like a coach in the sports arena. In the sports arena, a team consists of individual players; each with certain skills, but the team as a whole forms a well tuned instrument by the coach who is hopefully arranging them into a cohesive unit. One of the most important tasks in an organization is identifying and developing the next generation of leaders.
There are certainly a number of signs that may indicate the potential for leadership. My Leadership Potential Profile assessment indicates that I have a high leadership potential with a score of 33 out of a possible 35. Strength – Influence Many believe that leadership is the foundation of influence and that great leadership ability comes from the ability to influence those around them. In one of my recent job reviews it was written that “Michelle is a natural leader with a hearty and frankly style that seems to positively influence her colleagues and project team”. I readily accept authority and display a high level of energy when doing so.
I am normally action-oriented, preferring to rise to the challenge. I tend to take initiative, drive things around me, and thrive in situations where I can use my influence to resolve problems. I work on Capitol Hill, as with many new hires here, your resume and list of accomplishments precede your arrival. I was no exception. As a former Wall Street and dot com technology manager, it was assumed that I would bring a certain business savvy to my division. Therefore, during my first few months, I had a level of influence based on my past experience. Weakness – People Interactions
It is important to those with high leadership potential to work well with others, appreciate critical comments about the work, and value the work and needs of others. Unfortunately, I sometimes find myself in situations where I am overly critical of what I believe is the lack of hard work by other team members. Since I am highly organized, I am impatient with disorganized individuals especially when that disorganization contributes to missed deadlines. I am not always accepting of critical observations of my work especially when it may require rework that adds more time to the project schedule.
This was evident recently when a Project Management Officer who reviews all projects over a certain budget, asked me to delay closing a project because of a document they believed was important to the project. However, delaying the closure would also mean that my project would not be considered as “completing on-time”. I defended my project to numerous senior managers explaining why I thought the requested document unnecessary. Although, I was able to successfully argue my point and the project ultimately was closed (without the new requirement).
It was certainly not the best way to handle my disagreement with the Project Management Officer—someone that I certainly need in my project team’s corner going forward. Opportunity – Organizational Objectives Effective leadership is required to achieve organizational objectives. Since effective leadership requires being able to influence individuals, I see my greatest opportunity in influencing people to achieve organizational objectives. I thrive on having clearly defined goals and objectives. Using a systematic approach, I set about achieving scheduled project goals on time and in an efficient manner.
I can use these abilities in order to help meet and exceed the stated goals for a larger number of people across the organization. Threat – Change Effective leadership is also required to transform an organization. Most change is difficult to achieve even when it is for the greater good. Therefore, change is often the cause of organizational failure. I tend to be adaptable and enjoy the challenges of change. I especially like to be on the ground floor of any major change especially if it directly affects my projects. However, others may not be so adaptable.
I have to work hard to strike a balance by being patient with those who are not willing or able to adapt easily. As a team leader, I can also bring vision to team members who may not be able to easily identify the “what’s in it for me” when it comes to change. I can also enlist team members to be change agents by showing them how changes can improve team performance, ultimately making them “look good” to senior management. Personality Profile People who have different backgrounds have different attitudes, values and beliefs. These differences result in different personalities that determine actions and behaviors.
Personality refers to the characteristics of the person that account for consistent patterns of feeling, thinking and behaving. [ii] Many researchers believe that leadership is not a genetic thing. They believe that a person’s approach to leadership is directly related to their personality. Personality also influences the decisions we make. [iii] Understanding people’s personalities is important because personality affects perceptions, attitudes as well as behaviors. Knowing personalities helps you to explain and predict others’ behavior and job performance. [iv] Big Five
My Big Five Personality Profile assessment indicates that I am highest in Adjustment (scoring 34 out of 35); high in Surgency, Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience (scoring 33 out of 35 for all); and lowest in Agreeableness (scoring 23 out of 35). Strength – Adjustment Adjustment refers to emotional stability such as having self-control or being calm under pressure. I currently manage high profile technology programs at the U. S. Capitol. My position involves working directly with high level staff of Members of Congress. I have to perform a number of roles simultaneously and efficiently especially during election years.
I consistently receive praise for being focused and good under pressure. There are times when I have to calmly listen to and deal with very irate staff that are under press to deliver a service for their Member of Congress. I pride myself on being able to calm people down and get to the bottom of any situation. For the most part, I come across as a composed, confident, and focused professional. Weakness – Agreeableness Agreeableness refers to being trusting, compliant, caring and gentle. I can often come across as abrasive and when others describe me, terms like “forthright” and “blunt” are used.
I can tread on people’s toes—albeit sometimes unknowingly. Since I can be obsessive about achieving a result, I often will not show great care in people’s feelings. I am outgoing and direct, but as a participant can take control sometimes when I shouldn’t. I can disregard opposing views and appear not to be overly concerned with the needs of others. I also dislike being told exactly how to do something and may irritate others by insisting on doing things my way. Opportunity – Surgency People strong in surgency—more commonly called dominance—personality traits want to be in charge. v] This definitely describes me well. I have a take- charge attitude and want to get things done quickly and efficiently. However, I should take time to sit back, listen and appreciate others’ perspectives; consider alternative solutions to decisions; avoid driving others as hard as I drive myself; and avoid shutting others down when they offer opposing views. Threat – Openness to Experience Openness to experience is the disposition to be imaginative, nonconforming and unconventional. I work in the technology field so certainly being imaginative is an asset. However, I work in a highly political work environment.
There is little room for nonconformity and convention is the order of the day. Therefore, I have to rein in this trait as there is less interest in new principles, theories and practice as there is in just getting the job done, on time and under budget. Myers-Briggs My Myers-Briggs Personality Profile assessment indicates that I am an Extrovert/Sensing/Thinking/Judging (ESTJ). Strength – Extrovert I see being an extrovert as one of my greatest strengths. I can turn my talents to many jobs, but find more satisfaction from work that allows me to use my interpersonal skills and outgoing personality.
Since I derive energy from being around people, I display a high level of it when working in a team environment—which is the case for my current role as a technology program manager. From developing websites that are used by Members of Congress to showing newly hired Chiefs of Staffs how to use their new iPads to navigate the Capitol Hill complex, my current work is always done either as a team leader, team member or presenter/trainer. I can honestly say that my professional success is in part because I am an extrovert. Weakness – Judging I certainly appreciate a structured and well-ordered work environment; and refer that decisions are made quickly with few or no loose ends. Therefore, I find that judging is a weakness in that I have little patience with confusion, disorganization, and decisions that go unmade for weeks, months and sometimes years. I currently work in an environment that is bureaucratic and rarely are decisions made quickly and easily. In fact, Capitol Hill and Congress are known for their long, drawn-out discussions played out in the media. Unfortunately, that extends to those of us who support Congressional administrative functions behind the scenes.
My obsession with achieving a result in a timely manner certainly is a weakness in my current work environment. Opportunity – Thinking I am a pragmatic, rational thinker who prides herself on being logical almost to a fault. I believe my unique ability to analyze problems and situations has created many opportunities throughout my career to see things that others have missed. A recent example of this is I was asked to work with a colleague who had been struggling to bring a high profile project to a close. I used my logical (almost linear) approach to move the project, which had been stalled for months, along.
In future, I can use my analytical skills to effectively manage complex projects and solve problems that others may have been unable to resolve easily. Threat – Forceful Decisive, practical, organized, matter-of-fact, quick to implement plans are all adjectives that describe me and other ESTJ types well. However, I can have a tendency to be forceful when implementing plans. Since I have a strong active conscience, I am sometimes not prepared to even consider others’ opinions if they are not prepared to follow my lead. I can also be seen as aggressive with arguing my position.
I believe I need to slow down and pay closer attention to the finer details of my projects. Since, I know all the adjectives listed above can be seen as too forceful, I should be more flexible and open-minded. I should also take more time to consider the impact of my decisions—writing down the advantages and disadvantages and looking at it from a 360 degree view. Motive Profile The Leadership Motive Profile (LMP) Theory proposes that regardless of culture or gender, people are driven by three motives: achievement, affiliation and power/influence.
According to the LMP theory, the power motive is necessary for leaders to be effective because it induces them to engage in social influence behavior, and such behavior is required for effective leadership. Further, when the power motive is higher than the affiliative motive, individuals do not engage in the dysfunctional behaviors usually associated with high affiliation motivation – favoritism, submissiveness, and reluctance to monitor and discipline subordinates. My Motive Profile self-assessment indicates that I am high in need for achievement and need for power as I scored 32 out of 35 for both.
However, I have a much lower need for affiliation where I scored 23 out 35. Strength – Power I readily accept authority and am action-oriented in my approach to meeting objectives. In previous performance reviews, I have been described as a “good innovator, negotiator, and manager who is alert to changing situations and will act quickly to get results, give direction or instructions”. As a technology program manager, I am often found in situations where I use my expert knowledge to influence key decisions. I tend to take charge of situations especially when no clear leader is apparent.
I like to make things happen and drive everything around me. In my current role, I am often directing a technology team in creating a website or software application. It definitely helps that I have a keen sense of priorities and am able to drive toward division or organizational goals. Weakness-Affiliation I enjoy working in a team environment but am less interested in “making friends” than I am in “getting the job done”. Therefore, I can be seen as curt and abrasive and may sometimes appear to be critical of or de-value the work of others. I may be totally unaware of others’ feelings, when my focus is on “getting the job done”.
I dislike confusion, inefficiency and half measures and therefore may exhibit impatience with disorganized individuals. I generally make friends at work but usually with colleagues who have similar work styles and attitudes. Opportunity-Achievement High achievers are usually more interested in their own performance and furthering their career. Scoring high in need for achievement is an opportunity for me to do a better job at channeling my ambition and need to achieve into the overall goals of my team and organization. This past year, I worked on a Strategic Plan team within my division.
I, along with my colleagues, thrived in an environment designed to challenge us to explore possibilities and develop strategies to achieve success. The highlight for me was that it provided an opportunity to put my creative talents, emotional and intellectual abilities towards furthering the mission of the organization Threat-Bottom Line The main threat I see in my need for power, influence and achievement is that I sometimes become too focused on achieving results, better known as the “bottom line”. In my current role, I am constantly given specific objectives along with a budget and timeframe to get them done.
I tend to set precise goals, give team direction, and then drive myself and the team to achieve those goals. Often this is done without focus on the people that make-up the team. I need to learn to use each project as an opportunity to coach my team and learn valuable lessons for future projects. I need to recognize that my team can be nurtured while achieving the bottom line. A good way to do this would be to meet separately with team members to allow them time to express their individual ideas and thoughts outside of the project team meetings—meetings that are primarily used to check the status of the project and keep it moving forward.
Personal Values Profile Values-based leadership focuses on the core beliefs of a leader that influences the organization. The approach takes the stance that if people act in a way that is ethical and moral, they will do the “right thing” for the organization. Leaders are key in building a values-driven organization. [vi] My Personal Values self-assessment indicates that I place the highest value on Family and Spiritual (scoring a 200 in both). I also place a high value on my professional life, finances and the community at large (scoring a 180 in all these areas).
Finally, I scored a 170 in social, intellectual and physical well-being. Strength – Family My family is by far the most important thing to me. But it wasn’t always that way. At one point, climbing the corporate ladder was first on my short list of goals. However, growing older and having children changed that. I am still very much interested and engaged in my career goals. However, my focus is on how my career aspirations can help my children succeed and enjoy a better future. I also find that being family-focused is helpful in a work environment where it seems everyone has a family and is actively engaged in their family’s success.
I believe that being family-focused has helped me to set and achieve realistic goals, be more team-oriented and be more practical and logical in decision-making. Weakness – Social Since my family is very important to me, I prefer to spend my time outside of work with them. In fact, my lowest score on the personal values assessment was for the category—meeting new people and attending social events. These days you will find me playing Wii with my children rather than attending the many professional networking events that I would normally attend during most weekday evenings.
Recently one of my colleagues won an award from a professional organization that we have both been members of for over 10 years. I actually am a former officer of the local chapter. However, I attended the awards ceremony only after much pressure from my colleague to do so. Opportunity – Community As mentioned previously, I work on Capitol Hill. It is a demanding job, but I enjoy every minute of it. I am so much more in tune to the economy, politics and the state of the nation. But what is really exciting about my job is that it feeds my need for public service.
I can use a lot of the information I get at work for the greater good of my neighborhood and community. Everything good that happens in our country starts in a community or neighborhood. Most communities are also made-up of business and civic leaders, many of whom I come in contact with at work. Threat – Professional My career has been on auto-pilot for a number of years. I know my job well, am confident in my abilities, and consistently get awards and high marks on my annual performance reviews. Basically, I have a great job, good pay, and good benefits but am unchallenged by my work.
My long resume up until 5 years ago consisted of 3 to 5 year stints at organizations where I would come in clean-up a department, program or project and move on to the next challenge. Somehow over the last 5 years that I have been at my current employer, I have become complacent. My normal need to push for more responsibility, a higher position and higher salary has greatly diminished. This past January, I set some career and professional goals to achieve in the next 3 to 5 years. Starting the MBA program at Amberton was one of them of course.
Political Behavior Profile There is a relationship between power and organizational politics. [vii] Organizational politics is so intertwined with management systems that relationships, norms, processes, performance and outcomes are hugely influenced and affected by it. Larger organizations tend to be more political; and the higher level of management, the more important politics becomes. [viii] The Political Behavior Profile assessment shows that I am more likely to be a loyal and honest team player because I have my highest score of 4. 75 on these questions.
I am also willing to develop good working relationships, especially with my boss as I scored a 4. 4 on those related questions. However, I am less likely to learn the organizational culture and power players nor do I seek to gain recognition as I scored a 2. 6 and 1. 5 respectively. Strength – Team Player I am at my best when I am working on a project team where everyone’s talents and skills are being utilized fully. I usually bring common sense and vision to the team while ensuring that results are achieved on time. I have a “can do” attitude and will look for ways to improve the team’s performance.
Currently, my job role is as a team lead or project manager. I don’t have to work hard at keeping the team focused on goals and outcomes as I derive energy and enthusiasm from team dynamics. Weakness – Gaining Recognition Among my peers, I have one of the highest on-time project completion rates. However, I do very little self-promotion of that fact. I expect others to see my good attributes without me pointing them out. I am somewhat envious of the person who can smoothly promote themselves and their accomplishments without coming across as pompous. However, I have never been that person.
Anytime I have gained recognition for an achievement it has been because I was part of a team and another team member promoted our achievements; or the project or program I was working on was highly visible within the organization. Opportunity – Power Players In my role as a technology leader, I spend a great deal of my time with the power players in my organization. I should take the opportunity to get to know these leaders better–outside of the particular project on which we are working. This would enable me to learn about other initiatives that may impact current or future projects for which I am responsible.
It would also make it easier for me to approach other leaders when issues or situations arise that may directly impact their respective divisions. Threat – Working with My Boss My relationship with my supervisor is a threat to my success in the organization. In the past, I have worked well with my supervisors probably because we shared similar work styles. However, I learned early on that my current supervisor and I would have a difficult road ahead. Three weeks after starting my job, all the staff in my department took a personality and leadership style assessment.
It revealed that my supervisor and I are almost complete opposites in our work and leadership styles. A couple weeks after taking the assessment, signs of our opposite natures began to show as we began clashing on everything from project tasks assignments to communicating with senior management. We immediately began meeting one-on-one more frequently and using our respective profiles as a means to breakdown barriers and work together. Interestingly enough, my boss’ supervisor, the Deputy CEO has a profile that is almost an exact match for mine. Often times, the Deputy CEO bridges the communication gap between me and my supervisor.
We still do not have an easy working relationship but it is much better than it would have been had our personality and leadership styles not been assessed and analyzed. Normative Leadership Profile The normative leadership theory suggests that one of the primary functions of a leader is to make decisions. The quality and acceptance of decisions are also key factors in this theory. My preferred Normative Leadership Style is Facilitation. I scored 8 out of 10 in this style while scoring 2 or less in all the other normative leadership styles. The Facilitation Leadership Style is concerned with engaging others in the process of doing.
People with this preferred style are also concerned with encouraging and supporting the team in making and implementing decisions. Strength – Facilitating It comes as no surprise that this is my preferred leadership style. As a technology program manager, part of my role is to advise on the pros and cons of technology choices and facilitate peer groups and leadership teams in agreeing on a decision that fits with the goals of their respective divisions and the organization overall. On any given work day, I spend 60% of my time in the pursuit of facilitating and implementing change.
It is a role that I thrive in because the decisions and associated change usually directly affects me. Therefore, being part of this group of organizational leaders ensures that I have an opportunity to influence outcomes. Weakness – Delegating Where facilitating is my preferred style, delegating is where I am the least effective. I believe delegating gives up my influence and control over the outcomes. It is difficult for control freak in me to delegate key decisions and tasks. In fact, I can think of rare instances in my management career where I have delegated key objectives.
However, each and every time it happened, I delegated to folks that I knew shared my management style and were close enough to me professionally and personally that I could somewhat control the outcomes. Opportunity – Building Partnerships My preferred style of facilitating gives me a unique opportunity to build relationships with my peers. This relationship building can lead to forming vital partnerships in my organization. For example, one of the people I partner with regularly is the Chief Executive Officer for Visitor Services at the Capitol. The CEO is in charge of tours and tour logistics at the Nations’ Capitol.
I met her when I was facilitating a discussion on the organization’s new contact management system. At the time, she was looking for a new reservation system that would allow efficient tour management of millions of visitors to the U. S. Capitol each year. We talked for almost an hour after meeting about how I could help her organization move from an antiquated reservation system that had been used for over 10 years. My skills in facilitating change, directly led to me partnering with the CEO and her staff to oversee one of the largest system transitions at the Capitol.
Threat – Controlling Outcomes It’s true. I am an action-oriented, competitive person who desires to control outcomes. “Do it now” is my motto. Trying to control outcomes is a threat in my current work environment where most of the works gets completed in a slow, steady, and more facilitative approach. Most of the time, I can adapt to this style. However, there are instances when I am impatient with what I deem as little or no progress. Therefore, in order to move tasks along and ensure a timely outcome, I attempt to implement a decision or handle a task myself.
It is during these times that I need to realize that the team dynamics and a slow and steady approach are most effective in my work environment. I can work to facilitate action by building collaborative relationships and supporting my team members. A good example of this is offering to assist with a task and letting my team members know that I am available to discuss questions or concerns about the objective(s). Communication Style Profile Communication is the process of conveying meaningful information. Communications is critical to organizational success. [ix] Leadership is about influencing others, as we do so through communications. x] My Communication Style is Participative. I scored 7 out of 10 in this style while scoring a 2 or less in all the other communication styles. Strength – Participative Since I am more than twice as likely to communicate in a participative style, there is no surprise that this is a strength. My job is all about bringing people together to discuss ideas, solve problems, or strategize about how to achieve our mission and goals. In this way everyone has a voice. I personally like to chart my own course and the participative communication style fits that need.
Recently, I chaired my organization’s Telework Committee that holds monthly learning sessions and gathers feedback from employees who work from home. The committee was initially a group of human resource division staff, but we (a group of teleworkers) lobbied to change the committee to be comprised of staff who actually participated in the telework program. Our human resources division was all too happy to oblige. When you allow employees to put forth their suggestions and given them some sense of control, it makes their jobs more rewarding and they are more likely to contribute more to the organization’s success.
Weakness – Autocratic I scored lowest in the autocratic style of communicating. I have always preferred to be asked, rather than told and am slower to react to tasks when not given a chance to voice an opinion. A leader with an autocratic communications style does very little asking. A former company executive once told me and a group of colleagues to either “get on board or get run over”. This communication style can create an environment of fear and resentment. I work best with people who are less autocratic in their communication and leadership styles.
Opportunity – Learning to work with Autocratic Communicators An autocratic communication style can be healthy in a sense that it limits debate and certainly ensures focus on a specific task or objective. I believe that there is a professional growth opportunity for me in learning to work with the leaders who have an autocratic style of communicating. There are two people who come to mind, one is my boss and the other is a frequent project team partner. It has often been difficult for me to work with both of them as they prefer making decisions without input and communicating those decisions as if final.
However, both usually make good decisions. In fact, most of their decisions would be more readily accepted if not for how they are communicated. I can be more effective if I focus on the message rather than how it is communicated. I should also seek to find common ground that may help me to readily embrace their ideas instead of challenging them. Threat – Personalizing Communications When communicating with team members about ideas, I tend to take critiques of my ideas or opposing views personally. In order to thrive in a team environment, there is little room for putting your ego first.
Therefore, I need to be aware when I am taking things personally rather than dealing with the business aspect of how it helps to solve a problem or achieve an objective. A former mentor once told me that when you start to feel personally attacked, think of a decision that you made in the past that had little to do with the people affected. References ———————– [i] Pervin, L. A.. , Cervone, D. and John, O. P. (2005). Personality: Theory and Research. USA: John Wiley & Sons [ii] Pervin, L. A. , Cervone D. and John, O. P. (2005). Personality: Theory and Research. USA: John Wiley & Sons [iii] Lussier, Robert N. nd Achua, Christopher F. (2010). Leadership Theory, Application and Skill Development, 4th Edition: South-Western Cengage Learning [iv] Lussier, Robert N. and Achua, Christopher F. (2010). Leadership Theory, Application and Skill Development, 4th Edition: South-Western Cengage Learning [v] Lussier, Robert N. and Achua, Christopher F. (2010). Leadership Theory, Application and Skill Development, 4th Edition: South-Western Cengage Learning [vi] Lussier, Robert N. and Achua, Christopher F. (2010). Leadership Theory, Application and Skill Development, 4th Edition: South-Western Cengage Learning [vii] Lussier, Robert N. nd Achua, Christopher F. (2010). Leadership Theory, Application and Skill Development, 4th Edition: South-Western Cengage Learning [viii] Lussier, Robert N. and Achua, Christopher F. (2010). Leadership Theory, Application and Skill Development, 4th Edition: South-Western Cengage Learning [ix] Lussier, Robert N. and Achua, Christopher F. (2010). Leadership Theory, Application and Skill Development, 4th Edition: South-Western Cengage Learning [x] Lussier, Robert N. and Achua, Christopher F. (2010). Leadership Theory, Application and Skill Development, 4th Edition: South-Western Cengage Learning