Leadership Self-assessment

The conceptualizing leadership questionnaire is an excellent way to learn personal
perspectives of leadership. My scores were as follows: trait emphasis: 15, ability emphasis: 10,
skill emphasis: 14, behavior emphasis: 11, relationship emphasis: 13, and process emphasis: 13.
This shows that I perceive leadership as best demonstrated through trait. Certain personality
traits make some people better leaders than others. For instance, I believe self-confidence is one
such trait of an excellent leader (Northhouse, 2020). To inspire confidence in others, leaders
need to be confident themselves. They also need to express their thoughts and ideas confidently.
I also believe that leaders are in a continuous learning process. Leaders take any
opportunity to increase their knowledge about life’s aspects. They learn from various sources and
often read widely and listen to people’s opinions. Another trait associated with leadership is the
desire to lead. Sinek (2021) points out that leadership is an all-the-time job. The implication of
an all-time job is that there are no breaks; leaders are expected to be on their toes and
demonstrate leadership even when they are away from their workplaces. Other traits include
integrity and open-mindedness. Another perspective that I scored high in is a skill. I believe
leaders should have some skills that make them better placed to lead than other people. Such
skills include convincing people, mobilizing people to support a shared vision, and designing
teams to achieve the set goals (Northhouse, 2020). Therefore, I believe that the strength of
leadership can be explained by relationships.
Effective leaders are able to cultivate stable relationships between themselves and their
followers. Effective leaders are, therefore, approachable, and this helps them maintain good and
stable relationships (Northhouse, 2020). Secondly, effective leaders have problem-solving
capabilities. Such capabilities help to maintain good relationships between followers. The lowest

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scoring personal perspectives are behavior and ability. I believe that some leaders are naturally
born with leadership abilities, and others can learn them. Life experiences can be life-changing in
a manner that can help leaders become better placed even when they were not born naturally as
leaders (Sorensen et al., 2016). Leaders also influence others and can be influenced by the people
they lead. When leaders are in charge of a group of people, group dynamics come into play.
Followers can influence each other, and some resistance can brew. Such group dynamics and the
possibility of resistance make it necessary for leaders to have a wide range of leadership options.
This is one area I feel I have to increase my knowledge and tact. Besides resistance, leaders
require skills to earn followers’ trust.
From personal reflection and for personal improvement, I need to cultivate such skills to
become a better leader. In summary, the models of leadership continue to evolve as organizations
evolve. It has become more people-centered and collaborative. New best practices continue to
revolutionize the concept of leadership, and new leaders should always keep abreast with such
concepts.

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References

Simon Sinek. (2021, November 26). Be a better leader [Video]. YouTube. Online. Available at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNdkwaW_LwQ
Sorensen, T. J., McKim, A. J., & Velez, J. J. (2016). Leadership Identity Development through
an Interdisciplinary Leadership Minor. Journal of Leadership Education, 15(1).
Northouse, P. G. (2020). Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice (5th ed.). SAGE
Publications, Inc.