Introduction
I took an assessment of my leadership practices using the online Leadership Practices Inventory developed by Kouzes and Posner and received a feedback report. The report included an analysis of the responses from each of the people who participated and provided a comparison with my leadership practices assessment. As George, McLean, and Craig (2008) point out, “One of the hardest things for all of us is to see ourselves as others see us” (p.53). This paper discusses the findings from the report.
The LPI analysis requires feedback from three categories of people to provide “360-degree feedback”. In this report, the terms “superiors”, “peers”, and “juniors” represent the three categories. “Superiors” refer to immediate bosses such as the supervisor to whom an individual reports. “Peers” refer to people at the same level of authority. The influence exerted on peers is majorly a persuasive one, since neither the individual nor their peers report to one another. Finally, “juniors” refer to the people who report to the person under assessment. They provide the best indication of one’s ability to inspire others. However, they may provide a flattering response if they think that it will affect their relationship with their superior.
LPI Participants
My LPI assessment involved 12 respondents. In the “superior” category, I received feedback from my immediate boss, who is also my uncle. He is the head of the finance and marketing department of a business conglomerate in Saudi Arabia that has interests in real estate, gas stations, and supermarkets. I chose to include him in the LPI process because he knows me, and has been a role model to me. He carries a lot of influence over me. Five of the respondents were my peers. They are people who were in charge of specific areas but we did not report to one other. They are my brothers and cousins. They have interacted with me in formal and informal settings. This interaction makes them uniquely suitable for the exercise since they know me well. The third category is for people who worked under me. Six of them participated in the exercise. These were mainly close friends. I chose these friends because I was sure they would not be afraid to mention my weaknesses.
Report
General Findings
The LPI report clustered the responses into five leadership practice areas. Six questions were addressing each area. The best score I received was on the practice dubbed, “Enable”, on which I had an average score of 46.8. The questions under this practice related to my ability to help others to do their job. The second highest score came from the practice labeled, “Encourage”. It referred to the act of encouraging others. The average score was 44.5. The practices labeled “Challenge” and “Model” received the same average scores, at 42.2. These two related to my ability to contest the efficacy of processes and the degree to which I provided an example to others. The lowest score came from the practice labeled, “Inspire”, which received a mean score of 41.2. This practice captures my capacity to provide others with a compelling desire to achieve results. Also, the LPI included open-ended questions that addressed specific aspects of my leadership practices.
Figure one above presents a summary of all the five areas, showing the specific questions from each of the five areas. The responses that have an asterisk on them are those with a wide disparity between the views of the respondents and my views. In 17 of the 30 questions, there was a disparity exceeding 1.5 points. This illustrates the disparity between my self-perception and the views of others. The widest disparity was in question 16, at 6.1 points.
Strengths Not Sufficiently Used
The LPI process gave me a very good grasp of the views other people have of me. In particular, I learned of the following two things that relate to a strength I have not sufficiently used.
- I underestimate my leadership potential and capabilities.
- I am strong at facilitating other people to work.
One of the glaring patterns consistent throughout the report is that I underestimated the degree of my development as a leader, according to the leadership practices reviewed in the LPI analysis. In each category, my scores were lower than those that the respondents gave. From this pattern, I can tell that I have a stricter view of myself when it comes to leadership practices. This predisposes me to low self-confidence. One respondent pointed out that I will make a better leader if I increase my self-confidence. From this analysis, I can tell that I have untapped leadership potential because of the way I view myself. Secondly, I was surprised to note that others consider my approach to problem-solving as innovative. I had held it as my weakest trait giving myself a score of 1 out of 10. However, the rest of the respondents thought that I was strong in this area and gave me a mean score of 7.1. The related question sought to find out if I could use external resources innovatively for the good of the organization. The lesson this has for me is that I need to sharpen this skill more to provide the organizations I will work with, in the future, with the advantage of using external resources whenever required.
The one thing that I learned consistently was that I am strong at facilitating the work of other people. This showed in my scores in the “Enable” category. I had the best score in this area. Hitherto, I was under the impression that it was one of my weakest areas. I realized through the LPI exercise that my weakest area, in as far as overall impact among the three categories of persons covered in the 360-degree feedback model is concerned, is with “juniors”. I impress my “peers” more and my superior, the most. Almost all the scores in the various sections followed this pattern. I got the highest scores from my boss, median scores from “peers”, and the lowest scores from “juniors”. I have a clear-cut duty to improve my relationship with people who work under me. This is indispensable for any leader. This means that I make a better follower than I do a leader. No wonder, some of the respondents considered areas such as partnership, relationships, human resource management, and leadership as areas they would recommend for me to study to make me a better leader.
Areas of growth potential
I have identified the following two areas as crucial for my development as a leader. The first area is improving my self-confidence. The second area is relationships with my followers. The results convincingly showed that I have a much lower view of myself than others do. For a leader, a good measure of self-confidence is necessary to be able to motivate others and to inspire them to a cause. A leader with weak self-confidence scares away followers. This validates the statement that “When constituents know that leaders have the courage of their convictions, they become willingly engaged in following this example” (Kouzes & Posner, 2003b, p.4). Leaders need to win the hearts of their followers, which is difficult to achieve from a platform of weak self-esteem. One respondent advised that I work to increase my self-confidence.
Concerning followers, I seem to have the desire to please my “superiors” much more than I do my “juniors”. This skew makes me a good follower and not a leader. I need to focus on ways that I can improve my relations downwards to ensure that I become effective as a leader. One can’t lead when followers do not feel sufficiently enlisted in the cause. One respondent suggested that I should learn to trust others a little more. This may explain the lower ratings from “juniors”. I have a perfectionist tendency and always insist on the highest quality work. In reality, people lower than I in an organization will always possess a lower skill level; hence, I need to learn to live with that. Also, the only way to bring growth to a follower is by entrusting them with responsibilities and allowing them to execute it.
Steps for Improving My Leadership Potential
Based on the lessons drawn from the LPI, I realize I need a plan that takes into account two issues that are impeding my leadership practices. I need to focus on improving my self-confidence, to improve my relationship with all followers. I believe the following five initiatives will help me to do these things.
Reading on Leadership and Related Topics
One way I plan to tackle the shortcomings that I have is by reading to expand my knowledge of the areas in question. I believe that by reading books on leadership, relationships, and teamwork, I will become a better leader. I also need to read on self-esteem and self-confidence to identify the causes of my current predisposition. With knowledge, my confidence will increase and hence my ability to inspire others. By beginning with myself, I will be taking Kouzes and Posner (2003b) seriously when they state, “the quest for leadership is first an inner quest to discover who you are” (p. 33).
Learning from “superiors” Though Observation and Discussion
Secondly, I intend to learn from my uncle the skills and techniques he uses to handle the people who work under him. He is a very good and experienced leader with admirable relationships with his juniors. I believe that by discussing my desire to have better relationships with them, he will advise me on the best way to go about it. I want to “learn by example” (Kouzes & Posner, 2003c, p. 24). Also, I intend to observe him closely, and other leaders that I feel have the kind of relationship that I desire to have with my “juniors”. By learning from my uncle’s example, I believe I will become a much better leader. Kouzes and Posner (2003a) state, “Those who are best at leading are also best at learning” (p.1).
Recognizing and Managing Personality Related Challenges
Thirdly, I intend to improve on the relational issues I have had with subordinates by ensuring that personality differences do not derail my leadership practices. I know myself to be incessant when it comes to working. I strive for the highest standards and display traits consistent with perfectionism. I realize that not everyone looks at work this way. I need to ensure that I learn to accept satisfactory results from “juniors” as they refine their skills to produce the near-perfect results I always insist on having. This explains my higher scores with my boss because I have always strived to produce perfect results whenever I have an assignment at hand.
Practicing of Motivation Techniques
A strength that I have is encouraging others. I have previously done this by recognizing their efforts and celebrating their successes with them. My desire for perfect work leads me to admire those who produce very good results. As something that flows naturally from me, I would like to leverage it to improve my relationship with my “peers” and my “juniors”. I would like to commit to giving compliments at every available opportunity to encourage others, and to build their morale. This means that I will need to develop empathy as a skill to understand them better and to be sensitive to their needs (George, McLean & Craig, 2008).
Learning to Trust “Juniors”
The most difficult challenge I will face is learning to trust “juniors”. I am always afraid of delegating work to someone else because of the risk that the work will not reach the high standards that I crave. This must change. Delegation is a key component of outstanding leadership. I need to start getting comfortable with other people handling work that they can do to a satisfactory level. I would like to start with this one because I have the best chance of improvement where I am performing the poorest (Kouzes & Posner, 2003c).
Conclusion
The LPI analysis has helped me to see, in a new way, certain traits I have observed for a while. After going through the LPI analysis process, which required a lot of introspection and analysis, I feel better equipped to begin the process of improving on the weaknesses I have identified. Those weaknesses are clearer to me now. I feel more confident in my abilities because I have received a second opinion from people who know me well. I will seek to leverage those abilities to become a better leader. I am particularly pleased with the plan that I have developed after analyzing the results that I received from the LPI report.
Reference List
George, B., McLean, A., & Craig, N. (2008). Finding your true north: A personal guide. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2003a). Leadership practices inventory (3rd ed.). Pfeiffer, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2003b). Leadership practices inventory: Leadership Development Planner (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2003c). Leadership practices inventory third edition: Participants’ workbook: 10 steps to understanding and using our LPI feedback. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer An Imprint of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.