An Assignment Submitted by
Questionnaire
My results in the Leadership Skills Questionnaire claim that I have the most developed skills in conceptual domain (27); I am also in high range of administrative (23) and interpersonal (21) skills. The results of the questionnaire became a surprise for me, as I thought that I do not have enough interpersonal skills. However, I have noticed earlier that I am able to resolve the problems at once, reveal the cause-and-effect relationship between the reason and the issue, and create the solutions and plans for the future. I am technically competent in questions and can allocate the resources for creating the solution, which helps me to prevent and solve difficult cases. Yet, as the interpersonal skills are the least developed abilities, I will have to foster emotional intelligence and understanding of other people by improving my empathy and sensitiveness to my environment.
Leadership Vision Questionnaire produced the results of 43 points indicating that my ability to create vision is well-developed. The result coincided with my own perception of my capabilities. I have the resources to allocate the strengths and challenges in the group and the organization by producing a clear picture what should be done about it and how to achieve the improvements. Also, I think I can articulate the vision to my team members by using understanding terms and effective concepts that can persuade them to bring about necessary alterations.
My results in the Organizational Climate Questionnaire shows that I will be able to organize the climate in the group, because I have high results in providing structure (23), clarifying norms (23), and promotion of standards (21); and high moderate score in building cohesiveness (16). I am aware that my ability to unite the workers is the weakest, because while I can clarify the principles of work and promote the excellence, I sometimes forget that each member of the group is unique and has his/her own perception of work. I think that I lack individual approach to the employees, which can devalue my ability to be quite articulate regarding the tasks.
Observation
During this exercise I managed to observe one of my managers, Allan, who manifested all his skills throughout the period of observation. As to the administrative skills, Allan is quite proficient in managing people (5) and resources (4), yet he lacked technical competence (2) due to his lack of attention to the technical details. His interpersonal skills were the strongest of his merits, as he was socially perceptive (5), emotionally intelligent (5), and was good in managing contacts (4). I admired how he balances between the friendliness to the staff members and his ability to lead. As to the conceptual skills, I think that problem-solving (2) was the weakest side of Alan’s leadership because he managed to forget the details of the issues that usually led to the inconsistent resolution of the problem. Strategic planning (3) and the ability to create a vision (2) for the company were also quite weak. I think the main problem is that Alan could not predict the occurrence of the problem or an emergency, which hindered him as well as his team from obtaining long-term results.
Overall, his main strengths were the ability to communicate with people and allocate tasks for the employees, while strategic thinking and conceptualization of the different work situations have become the weakest side of Allan’s leadership. I do not think that the setting has determined his behavior and skills, because Allan works in the company for a long time. Also, according to my knowledge, his inability to develop long-term plans and lack of vision affected his personal life as well, which made me conclude that it is his weakest side. For instance, Allan managed to address immediate problems by appointing a right person for resolving it and providing the resources for decision; yet still we had a major crisis that was partially affected by his inability to see a bigger picture. I think that the main coaching solution for Allan will be the development of his logical and visual skills that would enable him to see the link between cause and effect. I consider that he will develop the same strengths and weaknesses in another situation due to his overall tendency to be unable to exhibit conceptual thinking.
Essay
I think leadership skills designate the styles they are using for guiding the followers. For instance, a leader with well-developed interpersonal skills will use democratic style if he/she has also the skill to manage the critical situations; also, such leaders can use laissez-faire style if they are afraid of personal responsibility. Consequently, people with well-developed administrative, but lack interpersonal skills may prefer to implement authoritarian leadership. However, to my personal point of view, effective democratic leadership may be implemented by the leaders with the skills equally well-developed due to the efficiency of this particular style. I think that laissez-faire and authoritarian leadership are applied only when a person is deprived of administrative or interpersonal skills accordingly.
I think that the team members have to work on the same goals, but have different visions of how to achieve them. I consider this ability of the group as the advantage, because it enables each member of the team to invest his/her creative vision. At the same time, when the group has different goals, it will be impossible to be effective because the corporate objectives are usually the same for all group members. The main goal of the leader is to correspond all methods the group uses with the goals set for a specific task. In this situation, the leaders will need to use their creative and conceptual skills as well to see the bigger picture.
For establishing group norms, a leader has to articulate them clearly to the team members. Also, the leaders have to show on their personal example that these norms can be achieved. If it is necessary, the norms may be explained for the team members that demonstrate their misconception about the norms. Overall, the leaders’ goal is to connect the norms to the goals and principles of the company they operate within to create cohesiveness in the group and to facilitate the attainment of corporate aims.
