I was reading the headlines in a Scoop.it newspaper online today called, Leadership in Distance Education. It is basically a newspaper that highlights recent blog posts written by people in leadership positions. Some of the headlines of the posts were quite interesting and included titles such as, “Leadership Theories” (OK, maybe that is not that interesting), “100 Serious Twitter Tips for Academics”, “Google+ Grabs 20 Million Users”, “Online Reputation Will Shape Our Lives More” (No kidding! – couldn’t agree more), “Internet Use Affects Memory, Study Finds”, and the list goes on. There must be 20 different articles posted here. After reading some of the articles posted in this newspaper, I saw an article that caught my eye. It was near the very bottom of this newspaper-like website and was titled, “Online Tools for Understanding Your Own Leadership Abilities“.
“O.K., I’ll play”, I thought to myself.
Of course, this is somewhat biased because it is only MY view about my leadership abilities. To be more accurate, it would be best to have other people who know you well – some who may like you and others who may not – complete the same questionnaire. But, still, I’m pretty honest with myself about my strengths and weaknesses. I know which areas are my strengths and which areas I need to focus a bit more attention developing.
I used the tool listed first in the list, called the Mindtools Quiz: How Good Are Your Leadership Skills.
After answering 18 questions by rating myself on a 5-point scale (ranging from “Not at All”, to “Very Often”, I click on the “Calculate my Score” button. Duh, Duh, Duh…
Out of a possible score of 90, I scored 77, and the descriptor for those who score between 53-90 says,
“Excellent! You’re well on your way to becoming a good leader. However, you can never be too good at leadership or too experienced – so look at the areas below where you didn’t score maximum points, and figure out what you can do to improve your performance.”
I believe in being transparent and learning from each other, so I will share the breakdown of the quiz below:
- Self Confidence – 7/10
- Positive Attitude and Outlook – 9/10
- Emotional Intelligence – 8/10
- Transformational Leadership – 9/10
- Motivating People to Deliver the Vision – 10/10
- Being a Good Role Model – 8/10
- Managing Performance Effectively – 7/10
- Providing Support and Stimulation – 18/20
I am amazed that this little 18 question quiz gave this amount of information! Under each of these leadership skills, along with your score, is information about what each of the skills mean in a leadership position and how to improve in this area.
Again, this is one little quiz, which I completed myself. How much does it really reflect my actual leadership abilities? To get a more complete picture, it would be much more informative if a number of staff members were willing to complete this quiz for me as well.
What a great learning experience that would be!
I do encourage anyone I have worked with to complete this survey for me. I would love to know if our results are any different, and, if so, where these differences become apparent.
Off I go to reflect on the two areas where I received a score of 7/10 – Self-Confidence (I was not at all surprised about this score) and Managing Performance Effectively.
What are your strengths and which areas require further growth as a leader?
If you take the quiz, were the results surprising to you or were the results what you would have expected?
Would you be willing to share these results with your staff and ask for their input?
It's All About Learning 