Leadership Report: Self-Assessment, Skills, and Career Objectives

This report is a self-assessment of leadership skills, focusing on personality traits, emotional intelligence, and leadership styles. The author reflects on their leadership qualities, using the Big Five personality theory, transformational leadership, and emotional intelligence frameworks to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. The report details improvements made since a previous assessment, particularly in areas like extroversion and neuroticism, and discusses the impact of these changes on their work duties and career objectives. The author analyzes their communication skills, decision-making abilities, and approach to team leadership, highlighting areas for further development and improvement. The report also explores behavioral leadership theory and the application of emotional intelligence in their leadership style, concluding with a discussion of the author's progress and future goals as a leader. The report also focuses on the author's qualities, positive or negative and the need to take improved measures on the negative aspect to change as a successful leader.

Running head: LEADERSHIP
1
Leadership
Name:
Institution:

LEADERSHIP 2
Introduction
This assessment was done for the purpose of reflecting my leadership aspects and skills
and analyses the impact they have on my work duties, resources and career objectives. I have
discussed the improvements from the first assessment. In this research paper, I have discussed
about my aspects of personality. The paper as discussed my strengths and weaknesses as a
leader. I have used theory of big five aspects of personality to evaluate myself. The theory has
evaluated my openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. The
discussion shows how I relate to other colleagues and how I make decision as a team leader. I
used the theory of emotional intelligence to evaluate the type of leadership that I perform and the
level of my emotional intelligence (Understanding Emotional Intelligence, 2014). Having
identified my weaknesses I have to put a way on how to improve it.
The research paper has discussed my thinking behavior, ideas and relationship goals. I
have discussed various theories of leadership. The first theory is the big five personality test
theory; the second is transformational theory; the third theory is emotional intelligence and
behavioral theory. What have been discussed are my qualities, positive or negative (Radd, 2000,
pp.19). An improved measure should be taken on the negative aspect to change as a successful
leader (Antonakis & Day, 2017, pp.24). My third assessment of reflective research will be based
on this research paper.
Self-assessment, analysis and discussion
From the first assessment there were areas I was not doing well and I was required to
work on them. I was needed to focus on my supervisory action so as to improve my situational
perspective. I scored very low in extroverse and neuroticism. I was required to improve them

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since they are very essential in developing leadership qualities. I have been working hard to
improve so as to shift to good leadership. I used the big five personality test to evaluate myself.
Tests on extroversion have improved and now it’s neutral; I try to involve myself in group works
and interact with my juniors. I am improving in the case of facing the situation; I can now face
some of the situations without fear to draw attraction of others (Radd, 2000, pp.20). These
improvements have helped to effectively attend my duties. I continue to score high in
conscientiousness, where I am very thorough and consistent in my duties. I always show self-
discipline, act dutifully and aim to achieve my objectives (Radd, 2000, pp.20). My good
relationship with others has been steady.
The test of personality on agreeableness was rising from neutral in the first assessment. I
am cooperative to my subordinates instead of being antagonistic towards them (Radd, 2000,
pp.20). My humbleness scored me a lot of marks. Humbleness helped me to create a good
relationship with my colleagues. I have a trust on my fellows and I manage them tactfully. I try
my best to help solve problems facing my workmates at both work and personal level. Being
considerate has been one of my personalities that could be seen by my heads. They described me
as a loyal and cheerful. Openness was the other personality test I did. I considered myself clever,
curious and intellectual since I have more skills on leadership which is my career (Understanding
Emotional Intelligence, 2014). Having worked in this institution for the last five years as a leader
has given me -experience to govern and manage my subordinates better. My intelligence has
been rising through increasing power of imagination (Understanding Emotional Intelligence,
2014).
Being optimistic is one of the things which have given me a quality of a team leader. My
effectiveness as a team leader has shown through honesty and integrity, which are the two

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ingredients which have made me a good leader (Chemers, 2014, pp.19). To bring effectiveness in
my leadership I always make sure that am confident enough to ensure others follow my
commands. In order to gain the respect of my colleagues, I always show some swagger, ooze
with confidence and assertiveness. I reflect my degree of confidence required to avoid
overconfidence to ensure that my colleagues trust me as their leader. Basing on transformational
leaderships, I have a quality of a charismatic leader where I always have a belief on myself.
As a leader, it’s hard to persuade your colleagues to others. I try to set an example to
others to follow. There are times when the situation gets tough; my workmates look up to me
waiting my reaction on the situation. I always try to handle them well. My positive thinking has
been always visible through actions. When there is pressure I stay calm and try to level up
motivation. In my working I practice the principle of John Quincy Adams, “as a good leader,
your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more.” I also apply
the assumption of transformational leadership, that people will follow a person who inspires
them. I like to inspire my juniors so as to overcome current and future problems easily.
On the part of accountability, I make sure that all my juniors are accountable for what
they are doing. I congratulate those who are doing well and assist those who are struggling to
realize their mistakes and work together to improve. I always follow the approach of Arnold H
Glasow which states, “a good leader takes little more than his share of the blame and little less
than his share of the credit.” When everyone is held accountable for their actions it creates a
sense of responsibility among the subordinate and will make them take the business more
seriously.

LEADERSHIP 5
The assessment portrayed me not capable of communicating clearly my vision to my
team and tells the business strategy to them to achieve the goal. This has made it difficult for me
to achieve the results I need. This has failed me as a goal leader since I cannot communicate the
message effectively to my team. It has been realized that words have power to motivate people to
do what they could not do to achieve better results. There is time when my juniors look up to me
because I want them to give them their all; I am always passionate about it too. This has been
helping me to gain the respect of my juniors and create new energy in working team for better
performance. When a person lack passion and fail to be committed, it becomes hard for a leader
to motivate his /her juniors achieving their goal.
Decisions I make have no great impact on masses. The test showed that I have a low
score on the ability to make the right decision at the right time. Before the taking a decision and
take a stand by it the leader has to think very well. Steve Jobs who was among the greatest
visionary differentiated a leader from a followed in this way, “innovation distinguishes between
a leader and a follower.” As a transformational leader I have I tend to see the big picture, but not
the details, where the devil often lurks (Rocco & Griffin, 2015, pp.55). As a leader I seek to
bring transformation in the organization to avoid frustration. My creativity and innovative made
me to get ahead in today’s fast moving world (Rocco & Griffin, 2015, pp.56). My constant
innovation and creative thinking has made me and my team stands out from the crowd. I always
think outside the box and I have come up with unique ideas and turn those ideas and goals into
reality.
I also used emotional intelligence theory to evaluate myself. I am a excelling, I have calm
assuring performance and I am in control no matter what the situation. I like to have complete
trust in all around me. I speak with clarity and kind. I used the four elements of emotional

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intelligence theory in evaluation. I used the element to test how I understand myself. It showed
that I have more strengths than weaknesses. It also shows that I understand my emotions and am
able to identify their impact to my duties.
I used self-management as the second element to evaluate myself. This measures the
ability to control what you say and do, while avoiding making rushed decisions. Under this I
scored very low since I had a challenge in decision making. But I showed trust in my working. I
actively apply conscientiousness, leading and I can adapt easily to changes. Social awareness is
the other element, where I scored highly since I have the ability to understand the emotions of
my team. I treat people around me very well according to their emotional reactions. I also have
ability to understand other people, expertise in building talents and valuing diversity. The other
element is social skills; which creates a link between leadership and emotional intelligence. My
scores here were average since my social skills were not very good because I was not a good
communicator. My ability of conflict resolution has improved from last assessment. I have been
setting an example so as my juniors can follow by demonstrating the acceptable values and
behaviors.
Since I cannot do everything right, I mostly focus on key responsibilities while I leave the
rest for others. I do this through empowering my juniors and delegate duties to them. I always
avoid micromanaging my subordinates, to avoid development of lack of trust for them. I delegate
tasks to my juniors, then provide them with all resources and I support them achieve the goals. I
also give my subordinates a chance to stand the responsibility. In my leadership I never follow a
dictatorial style; I have developed an empathy with my subordinates (Van Wart, 2014, pp.109). I
have made my leadership effective through understanding the problems of my subordinates. I
also try hard to provide them with the suitable solutions to their problems (Miner, 2015, pp.63).

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When the aspects of emotional intelligence were evaluated to explore my self-awareness,
social awareness, self-management and social skills, it showed an improved emotional quotient
from last assessment (Understanding Emotional Intelligence, 2014). It showed that I could now
act confidently on experienced areas and I was capable to know the feeling of being under
pressure. Still I was limited in taking decisions without support, keeping all pressures within my
duties.
Behavioral theory assumes that there are styles of leadership which are effective while
others are not. The functional behaviors of a successful leader include; determining goals,
motivating employees for achieving the goals, effective communication, building team spirit and
ability to interact effectively. Evaluation under this model involved my actual behavior and
action and not my traits or characteristics. Under this model, three skills were tested; technical,
human and conceptual (Ang & Van Dyne, 2015, pp.79).
My effectiveness was portrayed by this model. I interacted effectively with my juniors
where I give them motivation and always tried building team spirit for them to achieve the goals,
but the method I used to communicate to them were not effective (Ang & Van Dyne, 2015,
pp.80). My favorable behavior provided a greater satisfaction to my colleagues and always
recognized me as their leader.
Discussions
There are some improvements from the first assessment. This clearly shows that I am working on
my weaknesses noted on the first assessment. The degree of agreeableness was neutral but it has
in the second assessment has been found increasing. An improvement also has been found on
extroversion and neuroticism. There is an improvement on my supervisory action and situational

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perspective. They have moved from low to neutral. These improvements have helped me
develop leadership qualities. Lack of capability to communicate my vision clearly to my team
and tell the business strategy to them to achieve the goal was the other weakness. I need to put
better measures of communicating to team to make it easy to achieve the required results.
There are other areas where I am supposed to work on. The first and the most important is on
decision making. From the assessment it has shown that I have a challenge of making the right
decision at the right time. Decisions made impact the activities of an organization differently. I
need to improve this so as to have better performance. I also need to work on extroverse and
neuroticism to develop better leadership qualities.

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References
Ang, S., & Van Dyne, L. (2015). Handbook of cultural intelligence. Routledge, pp76-85
Antonakis, J., & Day, D. V. (Eds.). (2017). The nature of leadership. Sage publications, pp. 23-
31.
Chemers, M. (2014). An integrative theory of leadership. Psychology Press, pp. 17-24.
Ciulla, J. B. (Ed.). (2014). Ethics, the heart of leadership. ABC-CLIO, pp. 56-74.
Miner, J. B. (2015). Organizational behavior 1: Essential theories of motivation and leadership.
Routledge, pp. 58-65.
Radd, B. D., (2000). The Big Five Personality Factors: The psycholexical approach to
personality. Gottingen, Germany: Hogrefe & Huber Publishers, pp. 15-25.
Rocco, M. L., & Griffin, K. A. (2015). Exploring Leadership: For College Students Who Want
to Make a Difference by Susan R. Komives, Nance Lucas, and Timothy R. McMahon.
Journal of College Student Development, 56(1), 107-109, pp. 54-57.
Transactional and Transformational Leadership (n.d.), Retrieved from http://www.diss.fu-
berlin.de/diss/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/FUDISS_derivate_000000001791/05_05_ka
pitel.pdf,[Accessed on 10 May 2018].
Understanding Emotional Intelligence, 2014. Retrieved from http://www.free-management-
ebooks.com/dldebk-pdf/fme-understanding-emotional-intelligence.pdf, [Accessed on 10
May 2018].

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Van Wart, M. (2014). Dynamics of leadership in public service: Theory and practice. Routledge,
pp. 101-114.