Leadership Styles, Skills, and Global Mindset: A Personal Report

This report provides a comprehensive evaluation of personal leadership styles and skills, beginning with a self-assessment and analysis of interpersonal skills such as communication, teamwork, organization, and control. The assessment utilizes the MLQ/Birkman/GMI frameworks to compare self-perceptions with established leadership models, identifying similarities and differences. The report explores the first impressions of these assessment tools, highlighting their ability to define personality traits and group dynamics, including the use of lifestyle grids to determine leadership orientation. The report categorizes leadership styles into transformational, transactional, and passive-avoidant behaviors, emphasizing the importance of a global mindset. The self-reflection section details pre-assessment perspectives on leadership, task orientation, and disciplinary approaches, contrasting these with post-assessment findings. The report confirms the author's preference for task-oriented, direct communication, and control-oriented leadership, aligning with transactional leadership styles. The report concludes by examining the implications of the assessment for managing stress, embracing teamwork, and understanding diverse leadership styles, and how the concepts relate to the nine leadership competences. The assessment highlights the importance of innovation, people development, team leadership, and strategic thinking. The report also discusses the significance of planning, organizing, collaboration, and service orientation within the context of the MLQ/Birkman/GMI frameworks.

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Introduction
The paper evaluates the personal leadership styles and skills. It begins with an
assessment of personal understanding before taking MLQ/Birkman/GMI. In this
section, leadership skills and interpersonal skills regarding communication,
teamwork, organizing and control are evaluated. This is then followed by comparing
what I thought about myself with what I have learned using the MLQ/ Birkman/GMI
to determine whether what we thought is similar or different from the framework
(Ledlow& Coppola, 2011). The knowledge gained from this assessment is evaluated
and the framework is compared with the 9 leadership competences.
First impression of MLQ/Birkman /GMI
My first impression of MLQ/Birkman/GMI is that the techniques of identifying
personalities and character traits are very interesting and advanced. They are able to
define relations between persons and groups of people. I have the impression that
there are different lifestyles grip reports using Asterisk, Diamond, Circle, and Square.
The location of each of the symbols in the square is used to determine whether a
person is task oriented, people oriented, do they like direct communication or indirect
communication? The paper also identifies the leadership goals in a grip with the goals
that are closely related on one side of the grid. This grid is used to identify the
leadership goals of an individual based on the assessment criteria outlined in the
report (Ebener, 2010). The MLQ reports seem to evaluate and measure the leadership
profiles of individuals. This is used to help optimize the outcomes of an organization
through shaping leadership styles and leadership skills. The leadership styles are then
grouped into three district categories depending on the nature of leadership behavior
and expected leadership outcomes. The groups are transformational leadership,

transactional leadership, and passive avoidant Behavior. Global mindset is very
important since it enables people of different characters and ideological believes to
work with and influence one another. Global mindset can be developed among
employees to enable them understand the behavior and mindsets of other so that they
can work and deal amicably with people who are different from them (Wang, 2016).
Global mindset score is also measured to determine how people are able to relate and
interact with people from different cultures, with different ideologies and
personalities. MLQ/Birkman and GMI is crucial in understanding different leadership
styles. It helps in profiling people into different leadership styles and also in shaping
the mindset of individuals in a particular manner to help them develop a global
mindset.
Self reflection
Before undertaking MLQ/ Birkman/GMI, I had a very different perspective about by
leadership styles, my leadership profile and even the mindset I had concerning people
who are different from me. I thought I had a lot of focus on practical matters and I
easily had control over my peers. This has helped me to get various positions of
leadership since my school days. My leadership skills and ability to get things done
has also helped in my college mates choosing me to lead various groups since I get
tasks accomplished effectively and on time. Before I undergone this assessment, I
thought I was very disciplined and always adhered to the written code of conduct. I
found it difficult why people fail to follow instructions and this irritated me so much.
It brought about fall out with some work mates at the workplace and also my friends.
I followed instructions without questioning orders from my seniors and hence when I
gave instructions to people,I expected them to obey and do what I required of them.
The other thing I noted about my leadership styles before taking MLQ/Birkman /GMI

is that I was so task oriented. Sometimes I had so much focus on what needed to be
done to the point that I forgot that the people we work with are human beings and
ended up harassing them as well. I noticed this as a weakness after I noted that people
were becoming rebellious and it was becoming difficult to accomplish tasks without
focusing on the needs of the people we are working with. This has encouraged me to
try to understand and solve the issues employees face so as to help them focus on
tasks and hence achieve objectives easily. My leadership goals before taking
MLQ/Birkman/GMI include completion of a project. I was so obsessed with
completing a project or task assigned to me irrespective of the methods I would use to
achieve this objective. Achieving a definite goal was my main motivation and nothing
would distract me from this. It did not matter to me whether or not my colleagues
were in support of what I was doing or not. I had a desire of getting actively involved
in group activities. I would not take a backseat on any activity and I often found
myself taking over leadership of projects that I had been assigned a junior role
unknowingly. I thought mu leadership style was transactional where achievement is
rewarded and mistakes and deviations are monitored and are monitored when they are
repeated.
Most of perceptions I had about myself have been confirmed. To begin with, after
taking MLQ/Birkman/GMI, I noticed that according to the lifestyle Grid, my
leadership style can be located in the red box in the grid. The red box in the Grid is
where the characteristics of task orientation, Direct communication, and expediting
coincide. It is on the upper left corner of the grid. The interpretation of leadership
style located in this Grid is that “you enjoy activities that are practical in nature and
you like being actively involved in implementation of projects” (Grossman & Valiga,
2016). It goes further to say that individuals who trace their leadership style to this

grid like activities involving measurement, recording, monitoring and designing laws
and policies. The other thing that confirms my perceptions about my leadership style
is that Birkman explains that people in this grid combine activities with strict keeping
of records. They also organize activities and people while focusing on exerting
control. This is something I found myself with during self assessment. I organizing
activities to ensure that everything goes to plan and in this process, I find myself
being in control of these activities and the people. The other confirmation that my
perceptions have been confirmed by Birkman evaluation is that I like accomplishing
tasks expeditiously and thoroughly.
The MLQ has helped me confirm that I belong to the transactional style of leadership.
After undertaking the MLQ leadership style test, I found out that once in a while, I
ought to focus attention on irregularities ,mistakes and deviations from rules and set
standards. However,I don’t focus all my attention on dealing with mistakes and
complaints. I really give them attention but when mistakes occur and complaints are
brought to me, I take the issues very seriously since they have a huge impact on the
performance of an individual or group. The leadership score shows that I provide
assistance to people in exchange for their efforts (Lussier& Achua, 2015). I also like
allocating specific roles to specific people in order to ensure that everyone is
accountable. This helps in rewarding those who achieve extra ordinary outcomes and
seek ways to motivate and improve those who fail to meet expectations. I often give
people promises and they perform tasks knowing what they can expect when they
meet the threshold or set targets. An evaluation of my leadership skills using this
model also shows that my behaviors are active as indicated earlier in the report. This
is confirmed by the answer to the question on interfering with problems before they
get serious (Wakeman, 2014). I interfere before problems get serious since I like

organizing and being in control and therefore its difficult for problems to get serious
under my watch. My mindset is global since am able to work and interact with people
from different cultural backgrounds, religion, beliefs, educational backgrounds and
people with different personalities from me. This has helped me to make a lot of
successful deals and create strong networks.
I have gained new knowledge as a result taking MLQ/Birkman/GMI. One of the
things I learned is the important of managing stress as a leadership style. I have
learned that under stress, some people resist change and are inflexible. Some become
impatient and insensitive to the feelings of others. I have known my position when it
comes to managing stress and hence will be able to improve in future. I also learned
that it is important to embrace team work and allow other people to take control since
it gives one an opportunity to learn from other people (Roe, 2014). Before the
assessment, I did not know the classifications of leadership styles but am now able to
identify which leadership style a possess. The significance of global mindset to
organizations has also been realized by undertaking this assessment and hence it will
help to shape my mindset to become more global.
MLQ/ Birkman/GMI have a lot of importance in my professional and practical
leadership. MLQ helps me to understand the different leadership styles applied by
different people and which are the best technique to use in leadership. It helps in
understanding the importance of involving people in decision making as well as
rewarding good performance. This is very important in an organization leadership
since people have different personalities and it is important to understand them and
learn how to work with them. It also helps in understanding how to deal with stress at
the workplace and hence avoid being rude and incentive to other people (Rothstein&
Burke, 2010). The need for emotional stability at the workplace and in other situations

is also realized. The assessment also helps in understanding decision making
procedures. MLQ/Birkman/GMI also in understanding the behavior, attitudes and
personalities of people in the work environment and therefore behave and act in such
a way that you can accommodate everyone and work with them to achieve the goals
and objectives of the organization. One is also able to understand the leadership styles
of different employees at other people they interact with. By doing this, a person is
able to know how to treat people and best ways to motivate different types of
employees and hence optimizing output from every employee.
The MLQ/Birkman/GMI concepts are very closely related and connected to the nine
leadership competences. MLQ/ Birkman and GMI encourages innovation. It
encourages leaders to allow other to participate actively in activities and to be creative
to come up with new processes and ways of doing things in an organization. They
also encourage people development through continuous training and improving their
global mindset to help them deal with people of different personalities (In Scott, In
Scott & In Webber, 2016). The concept of team leadership is also discussed in the
leadership styles in Birkman. It encourages team work to contribute ideas in order to
compete tasks more efficiently. Many leadership styles are result oriented. Some
people are so focused on achieving the desired results and nothing can destruct them
from this goal. Different people have different reactions to change. This depends on
the psychological characteristics of the individual and their experience. It encourages
flexibility and the need to accept and adopt change in different environments.
Strategic thinking and vision is also encouraged in to help plan better for the future
and to enhance innovation and personal development .(Smith& Cockburn, 2013)
Planning and organizing is also discussed in MLQ/Birkman/GMI, it explains that
there are some people who like organizing tasks and activities which gives them

control. This leaders fall under the red square in the Grid. Collaboration and good
relations is discussed as one very important aspect of leadership styles in
MLQ/Birkman/GMI. It helps in promoting harmonious working relations and
promotes sharing of resources. Just like in the LIP leadership concepts, orientation to
service and quality is discussed as a characteristic of transformational leadership style.
This helps in meeting expectations and needs of customers in an organizational
context. This therefore leads to customer loyalty.
Conclusion
The report discusses various concepts of leadership and self assessment styles. The
report begins with self assessment of leadership styles and character. Its an in depth
analysis of the perceptions I have about myself and how they have influenced my
leadership. This is followed by an analysis of the differences between the perceptions
I had and the new view after taking MLQ/Birkman/GMI. The new knowledge gained
from the assessment is discussed. The final section of the paper evaluates the LPI nine
leadership competences and how they are related to the concepts discussed in
MLQ/Birkman/GMI.

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