Assignment:
Part 1
Leadership self-Awareness
Case Assignment
For this first Case Assignment, your task is to apply some of the leadership development tools that you read about in the background materials to your own personal development. As a warning, this assignment as well as several other assignments will involve taking a lot of surveys. Of course surveys are not the only tools used in leadership development, but they are one of the most popular tools and many leadership coaching companies charge a lot of money for the surveys that they've developed.
Fortunately some of the surveys discussed in the background readings are available for free. The purpose of taking the quizzes are both for use in your leadership development, and also to get a taste of what various leadership coaches out there are doing and charging their clients for.
Make sure to thoroughly review the background readings before writing your paper. The main tasks in this assignment are A) read the background materials, B) take some self-assessment quizzes, and C) write up a self-development plan based on what you've read about in this module and your score on the quizzes. More specifically, write a four to five page paper addressing the following questions:
1. Take the Values in Action (VIA) Inventory of Strengths that was discussed in the background materials. This instrument is available for free but you need to register: https://www.viacharacter.org/survey/account/register
If you can find a free variation of the Strengthsfinder survey online you take this one instead, but the "official" Strengthsfinder survey from Gallup is not free. Report and discuss your results. Were your results surprising or what you expected to find? [One half to one page in length]
2. Now take the Emotional Intelligence Self-Assessment of Sterret (2006) as well as the Leadership Assessment in this chapter. Discuss how you scored on each of the different elements of Emotional Intelligence as well as your Leadership Assessment. Report and discuss your results. Were your results surprising or what you expected to find?
3. Now we get to the main heart of the assignment. Based on what you have learned in this module and the quizzes you took above, give some specific examples of how you will improve your leadership skills. Your examples should be based on both your results on the two quizzes, and from the required readings. Make sure to cite at least two of the required readings in your answers, and support your answers with specific results from the quizzes that you took.
4. Finally, discuss the main limitations of the quizzes you took and the concepts you read about for this module. What information is missing from the quizzes you took? What additional important aspects of leadership development are not covered in this material or quizzes? What else do you think you need to know about yourself in order to improve your leadership skills?
Assignment Expectations
- Follow the assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the instructions
- Stay focused on the precise assignment questions, don't go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials
- List supporting references and cite sources in proper format
- Use appropriate writing style in essay form (organization, grammar, and spelling).
Part 2
Leadership self-Awareness
For the Session Long Projects you will also be applying the concepts from the background materials. But instead of applying them to yourself, you will imagine that you are a leadership development coach who is hired to by organizations to diagnosis or give advice to managers. For each of the situations below, explain what advice or diagnosis you would give them based on your knowledge of the background readings. Make sure to cite at least one of the required background readings in each of your answers. Your paper should be two to three pages in length:
1. Susan is a manager who decides to assess her strengths using some of the 24 classifications of the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths that you read about for this module. She discovers that two of her biggest strengths are "humor" and "teamwork." She concludes that since these are her strengths she doesn't need to change anything regarding her use of these strengths. Do you think this is a good use of her assessment, or should she make changes to her use of humor and teamwork? If so, what kind of changes?
2. Harold has an MBA from Harvard and is focused on becoming a CEO before he is 45 years old. He is very good at networking and often makes friends with those who rank higher than him at his current organization. However, employees under his supervision feel that he often makes decisions based on what will get him promoted rather than on what is best for his employees or his organization. How would you characterize his emotional intelligence (EQ) skills based on the different elements of EQ discussed in the background readings? Be specific regarding which elements of EQ you think he is likely high on or which elements you think he may be lacking.
3. Carl is known as a very caring manager based on his ability to understand his employee's problems and taking careful to time to get to know each and every employee. He is personally well liked by all of his employees. However, the one complaint they do have about Carl is that he gets very upset when things don't go well and takes things very personally.
For example, when he found out that profitability for his unit had fallen over the last month he was so upset he had to take a couple of sick days off from work. How would you characterize his emotional intelligence (EQ) skills based on the different elements of EQ discussed in the background readings? Be specific regarding which elements of EQ you think he is likely high on or which elements you think he may be lacking.
Assignment Expectations
- Follow the assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the instructions
- Stay focused on the precise assignment questions, don't go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials
- List supporting references and cite sources in proper format
- Use appropriate writing style in essay form (organization, grammar, and spelling).
Required Material
Tearle, R. (2014). Emotional intelligence. Intelligent Executive, Maidenhead, UK.
Seligman, M. (2009). Dr. Martin Seligman's top strengths.
Kaufman, C., Silberman, J., & Sharpley, D. (2012): Coaching for strengths using VIA. In Passmore, J. (Ed.). Psychometrics in coaching: Using psychological and psychometric tools for development (2nd Edition). London, GBR: Kogan Page Ltd. [eBook Business Collection. Note: when looking up books in any of the eBook search engines don't copy and paste the entire reference into the search engine. Instead, only include the title of the book. For example, to find this book enter in the following search terms:
Psychometrics in Coaching: Using Psychological and Psychometric Tools for Development]
Sterrett, E. A. (2000): Defining emotional intelligence. Manager's pocket guide to emotional intelligence: From management to leadership. Amherst, MA, USA: HRD Press.
Optional Reading
Cantore, S., & Passmore, J. (2012): How can people understand and build on their strengths? Top Business Psychology models: 50 transforming ideas for leaders, consultants, and coaches. London: Kogan Page.
Rath, T. (2007). Strengths Finder 2.0. New York: Gallup Press.