I definitely liked this idea of getting external leadership assessments and getting real world feedback from those who are around you most of your week. I was surprised by a few things, the first one being that under the emotional intelligence scores, I gave myself lower scores in all categories, but for the most part, were close. I heard someone in the class ask if it was a reflection of our self esteem or how we value ourselves, and that question still remains in my head a little. I am also wondering that there must have been some slight margin of error since those taking it may have felt that it was possible for me to see their individual surveys. As for the section on influence tactics, most of everything was pretty similar, with the exception of upward appeal and exchange. In the last section for transformational leadership, I mostly scored in line or slightly below the external assessors.
With regard to leadership goals after receiving the assessments, I believe that with upward appeal, I definitely perceived myself as being lower on the scale with regard to this tactic... My peers, subordinates, and superiors all believe that I use the tactic of trying to convince them that if they accomplish their task, it will appease those in higher positions. I think I need to be more clear and express that my inspirational appeal and rational persuasion, which are my highest score categories are my true motivating factors...
Normally, because we are so busy, and working everyday up until the end of the day, feedback is very limited for our team. Also, for myself, I do not get feedback regularly, most of the time I should be the one trying to give regular feedback.
I think that acquiring honest feedback is important, because it can be a directional indicator in how we need to change our own internal behaviors as managers to allow us to motivate those around us more effectively. None of us are perfect, and the people around us are constantly changing, so it is important that we read this feedback (normally without the need for an online survey) and understand how we are misunderstanding those around us, and especially in which area's so we can tune ourselves better when it comes to situations that may lead other to perceive ourselves as being out of tune with those around us.
So, how would you solicit the honest feedback? I'm curious, because I think it's a challenge.
ReplyDeletePerhaps set a date with a manager outside of the work environment and ask him to take note of particular concerns he may have as he/she sees you work through your daily routine. Maybe drive him to specifics (how you interact with others, how you go about delegating tasks, etc.). This makes the manager more aware to not just observe and forget, but observe and record some specific events to be reviewed at a date in the near future (again, offsite?). You can explain that you would like to grow, and they will likely be very open to this. To test this, I asked a member of our most volatile client account, a very neutral guy when it came to opinions, to meet me over lunch and review my behaviors and what he would like to see for growth so I can better serve the account. He was happy to put it all out there, no restraints and it was probably the most insightful meeting I've had. My managers had nothing of the sort to share as my customer did. Both perspectives would only help here.
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