After reflecting heavily on my leadership style, how I have interacted with others in the past and what others have said about me while doing projects, I have developed an idea as to my strengths as a leader and which aspects I need to work on. As a whole, I am a very strongly motivated individual and through my work ethic, I lead by example and inspire the rest of the group to be motivated as well. However, at the same time, I am not the best at encouraging my team members around me and sometimes fail to manage the relationships of my fellow group members.
Here is my K & P Self Assessment Self Assessment Ba 352
K & P Practices
In regards to the 5 K & P practices, I was strongest at inspiring others around me and allowing them to succeed through their projects. The top two practices I had as a leader were Enabling Others to Act and Inspire a Shared Vision. I feel I am very strong at getting the group to be excited about an idea and have everyone energized to challenge the problems presented to us. For example, I used to be the captain for my high school soccer team and as captain, I inspired others to work hard through my own actions. I constantly was talking about how we were going to improve and how we were going to make a statement in the league. This “we” before “I” mentality is one thing I feel I strongly exemplify through my leadership ability.
Although I feel very strongly about my ability to inspire the group and get everyone moving towards one goal, I fail to congratulate the successes of the team members. In the same example as before, whenever someone made a great play or we won a tough match, I never really praised the team on successes. This explains why “Encouraging the Heart” was low. Additionally, I have a problem stretching outside my comfort zone and challenging the norms of society. I think outside the box but when I do, I become timid with the risks involved and push my ideas back into simplicity.
Emotional Intelligence
My main strength in terms of emotional intelligence is self-awareness. Like all people, my emotions can get in the way of the group and over the years, I have learned to control my emotions and make decisions based off what I feel is best. I used to be an athletic trainer in high school and a lot of the decisions occurred on the spot. Certain times, I would rush out on the field and the decision had to be made by gut feeling on the field. This is something that I learned to do tremendously through that time in my life.
My main weakness in terms of emotional intelligence is my social awareness. Sometimes, I can get very frustrated with people and not understand that they are going through something, very busy or have a very challenging task ahead of them. In certain projects, my team does not pull their weight on an assignment and my emotions boil over. Instead of trying to understand why they are acting lazy or not doing their part, I get upset with them and just do the part by myself. This is something I definitely need to work on and understand my groups’ behaviors.
Action Plan
When it comes to improvements in regards to the K & P 5 practices, the main tangible thing I can do to improve my leadership skills is complement my team members on good work. I do not give my team enough credit and never take the time to appreciate their work and successes. I want this part of my leadership style to definitely change. I am going to make it my goal this term to compliment each team member at least once a week on the job they are doing in a way that is constructive and professional. This will allow the work of each member to not go unnoticed and improve my ability to “Encourage the Heart” of each group member.
Secondly, I sometime let my emotions get the best of me in situations when a member of the group is being difficult. I do not take the time to analyze the situation but instead, get upset with the teammate. I want to become more wary of my teammates reasoning behind their decisions, as that will improve the team dynamic. If a situation ever arises when a teammate makes a decision I don’t like, I will first ask them what is going on. This will allow a conversation to see the problem and allow for my emotions to not get the best of me. Ultimately leading to a better group structure.