Strategic Leadership For Leadership Skills

Diagnostic Tools for Assessing Leadership Skills

Discuss about the Strategic Leadership for Leadership Skills.

In the assignment, the writer puts an emphasis on the subject of power and influence. The managerial authority requires powerful candidates. Such candidates always want to remain at the helm of the corporate affairs. The diagnostic tools (as discussed below) are the phenomenal one that underscores the potentialities and the business acumen of the corporate level.

Based on the three diagnostic tools, I have analysed my cognitive faculties in a broader sense. In the segment, I have used three diagnostic tools such as the Quinn Management questionnaire, the ESCI (Emotional Intelligence) and Situational Leadership Questionnaires. With the help of these diagnostic tools, I have assessed my capacities related to the activities from the past months. The diagnostic tools reflect on my practice and help me identify the indices from the past.  Here, I have compared and contrasted the diagnostic tools used in the workshop. The diagnostic tools offer me a brilliant insight into my capacities and cognitive faculties (Montalescot et al., 2013).

The Quinn Management Questionnaire shows that certain positive elements are conspicuous in me. It claims that I have a moderate level of leadership qualities and representation skills. The survey report says that I have to work on certain elements that entail positivity in every way. It can make a confident personality and help me hone the managerial skills. The Quinn questionnaire management helps me comprehend the profundity of my managerial knowledge and capacity (Daft & Marcic, 2016). 

I have selected another diagnostic tool i.e. the ESCI (Emotional Intelligence) that help me assess my attitude towards management. The ESCI (Emotional Intelligence) is another diagnostic tool that addresses m capabilities and other skills. From the name, I can understand that the tool will help me comprehend the emotional capacity and my intelligence. Therefore, it forms an amalgamation of emotional and cerebral capacities. It claims that I have a moderate to excellent level of leadership qualities. The added advantage is it shows that I have a good perception and presentation skills. The diagnostic tool states that I can handle the work huddle and listen to my employees with full concentration. At the same time, I can strike a wonderful balance between monitoring the employees and executing the final deal. I do not possess sufficient communication skill for communicating the tasks with the subordinates. With the help of the ESCI (Emotional Intelligence) diagnostic tool, I can exhibit my specific talents and clarify my orientation towads any particular task. The tool helps me understand my innate qualities and give me a cognizance of my strength and weakness (J. R, 2013).

Experience in a Research and Development Organization

The Situational Leadership Questionnaire is another fundamental diagnostic tool that is helpful. It is highly indispensable for me, as its gives an overarching view of my capacities as a top official or manager in the corporate setting. Like other tools, it addresses the important features of the managers (Chernis & Boyatzis, 2013).  However, it anticipates that I have the mediator qualities in me. I can be a pacifier and a benevolent employer. I have some inherent generous attributes that I can use in this respect. Such attributes will tilt my approach towards employees. This quality brings out a positive thing in me. I can think about my employees’ welfare and their safety concerns. Therefore, this diagnostic tool gives me a comprehensive overview of my managerial abilities and functions (Gregoire & Arendt, 2014).  At the same time, it also develops the quality of faresightedness or visionary. It makes me understand that my workculture approach needs an overhaul. Therefore, the Situational Leadership Questionnaire is the best of all (Smith et al., 2016).

Using these diagnostic tools, I am going to reflect light on my experiences in a corporate setting. Earlier, I used to work with a corporate organization that deals in electronic gadgets. In that organization, I used to work as a senior official and represented the Research and Development wing. The organization was an US multinational entity and involves in the manufacture of electronic gadgets. The Research and Development wing of that organization involves the use of many activities and skills. The scientists and the engineers devote their energies to the making of some phenomenal products. These people of the Research and Development wing contribute to the society and culture.

A very important role was devolved on my shoulder. In that company, I manifested the managerial section of the development chain. My responsibility was to guide the research assistants and intern scientists. Being a senior official of the organization, I had to execute many functions and supervise the research work of the assistants. However, the main challenge that I countenanced was tackling the work huddle every day. I had to make a blueprint of the future research development (Sanchez Nunez, 2015). At the same time, I inspected the flow of the work that was engineered by the researchers.

At the managerial level, one has to deliver many crucial responsibilities. The task of supervision, execution of orders and maintenance of the work culture discipline are the significant features of any top official. These are some of the challenging facets of the organization. In the process, I had to monitor the function and the workflow of variegated employees. Sometime, it was difficult for me to handle the work pressure at the top level. Another important role was to listen to research inquiries and problems. At the same time, one of my prime responsibilities was to mediate between the employees and listen to their grievances. The research organization, as we know, needs disciplined and sincere employees. The researchers have to contribute to the development of the society and culture. My responsibility was to look into the matter in detail and inspect whether they are delivering quality research.

Literature Review

In the process, I understood the graveness of the situation. I comprehended that I could not guide the research team in an effective way. At the same time, I could not strike a proper balance between the research leads and the production. My duty was to monitor the research deliverables and determine the power dynamic. In the organization, I was hailed as the supreme head of the Research and Development team. I was greatly responsible towards my research team and the organization simultaneously. However, I failed in my endeavour as I could not tackle my team and administer them properly. In the hindsight, I have come to the realization that my leadership and presentation skills need a complete overhaul.

The leadership skill is an important organizational skill that must be possessed by an employee, if he intends to accomplish huge success in future. As a leader, an employee has to assume the role of a team leader, project leader or even a business leader, and hence the employee will be required to exercise his influence over a group of subordinates. Now, in such a situation, if the employee does not possess the skills of power and influence, he is likely to fail as a leader. A leader is required to exercise his power over the employees, showing them the proper direction of work, explaining them the tasks assigned, and influencing them to work harder.

While speaking of power and influence, it is not expected that the leader will take undue advantage of his own power, and will terminate the service of an employee. The term “power and influence” refers to the leadership skill of an employee, that helps him guide and convince his subordinates, encouraging them to work harder for the completion of a project. There are different kinds of power that a leader is expected to use, such as the legitimate power, the coercive power or the reward power. A leader should not only possess the skills of power and influence, but he must necessarily have a clear comprehension of when to use which power skill. For example, if he assigns a complex job to the employees, he must use his reward skill, whereby he can incentivize the employees for offering him sufficient motivation. On the other hand, if the subordinates are unable to accomplish a task effectively, one has to use the coercive power, whereby threatening and punishing the employee, can help the leader gain sufficient control over the team.

The personal influential skills of the leader are of paramount importance, as it enables him to persuade the subordinates to undertake an activity. Leader has the power to motivate its subordinates thereby deriving maximum output from the subordinates.The subordinates must be encourages to work for a task, so as to accomplish the same in an effective way. However, if the subordinates are not being properly guided, encouraged and motivated to pursue the task, it is likely that they will lose their enthusiasm, and may not work with adequate commitment, for the fulfillment of the task. The leader must know how to dictate and command, without being autocratic. The leader should use his power to keep control over his team, and yet he should ensure that his behavior does not affect the employees in a negative way. A leader should be powerful, and his power lies in communicating to his employees, the nature of a task, the strategies to be adopted as well as the benefits of the employees from the accomplishment of the task. The concepts of power and influence are quite inter-related. Power is also defined as the potential of a leader to influence his subordinates. Power can be used in a positive way so that it re-enforces positivity in the suboridinates and motivate the employees to achieve the goal.

As far as the leadership skill analysis is concerned, I have observed that I am unable to monitor and supervise the activities of the employees. Proper subversion  helps in easier accomplishment of goal.Although, I assign the tasks in an effective way, I fail to ensure that the employees are performing the tasks properly. Consequently, it is only at the end, am I able to evaluate the performance of the employees and the status of the task. I am not confident enough to communicate with my subordinates, for the purpose of keeping myself regularly updated with the status of the tasks.

I have learnt that I am required to improve my inter-personal communication skills, as it will help me to explain the task to my subordinates, as well as follow up with their course of activities (Hawkins, 2015). As a leader, I can effectively perform the role of a pacifier and I can easily convince my employees to work on a task, and yet because of the composure I possess, I fail to exercise sufficient command over my subordinates. Even if my persuasive skills are unquestionable, I need to develop my commanding skills. I require upgrading some important professional soft skills, such as my intrapersonal communication skills, interpersonal communication skills, reflective and commanding skills that can help me achieve greater success in my future professional life. Besides, by analyzing my professional skills with the help of the diagnostic tools, I also found out that I lack in my administrative skills as well.

Any leader should learn the ways of leveraging his power. I should learn to command my subordinates to complete the tasks within the strict deadline, failing which I must employ the use of the coercive power (Schoemaker, Krupp, & Howland, 2013). While I am always keen on ensuring that the leadership power is not typically misused by me, I should also ensure that I am capable of exercising authority over my subordinates. I need to develop and leverage power at different levels. For instance, I need to develop my power of charisma, so that my personality or merely my presence can help in influencing the subordinates working under my guidance. Although the diagnostic tools have clearly shown that I can successfully perform the role of a guide in an effective way, I need to develop my skills of exercising my authority over the subordinates.

Conclusion:

It has been understood from the above discussion that although I possess certain important leadership qualities, I still will be requiring the need of enhancing a few other skills. In order to be an effective leader in future, it is important to chalk out a action plan that can help me comprehend how I can successfully work on my weak areas of leadership skills and knowledge. First of all, the importance of communication is unquestionable in case of a leader, and yet I have discovered my incapability of communicating to my subordinates at regular intervals. However, I fail to influence and persuade my employees to accomplish the tasks, because of the lack of communication skills.

Hence, accordingly I will participate in different seminars and workshops that help in developing and improving the communication style of the leader. Besides, I will also participate in various training programs, to upgrade my communication skills. Since I also need to develop my administrative leadership skill, I will also seek the assistance of different professional learning courses. By enrolling myself in the leadership skills developing programs, I will be able to create a vision, communicate the same to the respective subordinates, and accordingly influence them to accomplish the goals.

I will definitely avail the professional guidance and assistance of different skill developing institutions, such as Association for Talent Development provide adequate resources that can help one imbibe the important leadership skills. Besides, I think that I should also consider seeking the assistance of different books, articles and journals that can also enlighten me about the ways I can develop my administrative skills. Besides, I will also avail the help of different workshops and conferences for this reason. Above all, I will myself also monitor my leadership skills, by taking feedback and response from my subordinates at regular intervals, about the nature of leadership skill I possess, and what are the areas which I need to work on.

Reference List:

Schoemaker, P. J., Krupp, S., & Howland, S. (2013). Strategic leadership: The essential skills. Harvard business review, 91(1), 131-134.

Hawkins, J. E. (2015, November). Promoting Interprofessional Collaboration, Global Health Awareness and Leadership Skills through International Service-Learning. In 43rd Biennial Convention (07 November-11 November 2015). STTI.

Cherniss, C., & Boyatzis, R. E. (2013). Using a multi-level theory of performance based on emotional intelligence to conceptualize and develop ‘soft’leader skills. Leader Interpersonal and Influence skills: The Soft Skills of Leadership, 53-72.

Daft, R., & Marcic, D. (2016). Understanding management. Nelson Education.

Gregoire, M. B., & Arendt, S. W. (2014). Leadership: Reflections over the past 100 years. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 114(5), S10-S19.

Montalescot, G., Sechtem, U., Achenbach, S., Andreotti, F., Arden, C., Budaj, A., … & Ferreira, J. R. (2013). 2013 ESC guidelines on the management of stable coronary artery disease. European heart journal, 34(38), 2949-3003.

Sánchez-Núñez, M. T., Patti, J., & Holzer, A. (2015). Effectiveness of a Leadership Development Program that Incorporates Social and Emotional Intelligence for Aspiring School Leaders. Journal of Educational Issues, 1(1), 65-84.

Smith, A. B., Jacoby, J. L., Pellosie, C., & Carolyn Lamparella, L. P. C. (2016). A Study of Emotional Intelligence, Empathy and Burnout in Graduate and Post Graduate Medical Training at LVHN.