Tapping into your leadership skills
Francisca Oboh-Ikuenobe
Missouri University of Science & Technology
What is Leadership?

The ability to guide, direct, or influence
people

Guidance or direction

Office or position of leader
Synonyms
Management
Control
Guidance
Headship
Direction
Definition
Leadership is a process that unifies
diverse groups of people to work
effectively as a team toward common
purpose under varied and often difficult
circumstances, through:
 the elimination of scapegoating;
 the maximization of mediation; and
 the judicious use of power.
How will you recognize your leadership
style?
Common Assessment Tools

FIRO-B® (Fundamental Interpersonal Relations
Orientation Behavior™) – page 2 of handout
—Based on 3 basic interpersonal needs: inclusion, control, affection

MBIT® (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®)**
—Based on preferences/behaviors

SYMLOG (Systematic Multiple Level
Observation of Groups)
—Based on ratings by coworkers
**We
will focus on MBTI
The MBIT® Tool
ENERGY
INFORMATION
DECISION
LIFESTYLE
EXTRAVERSION (E)
INTROVERSION (I)
Focus on your outside world &
get energy through interacting
with people and doing things
Focus on your inner world &
get energy through reflecting
on information, ideas, and
concepts
SENSING (S)
INTUITION (I)
Notice & trust facts, details, and
present realities
Attend to & trust
interrelationships, theories, &
future possibilities
THINKING (T)
FEELING (F)
Make decisions using logical,
objective analysis
Make decisions to create
harmony by applying personcentered values
JUDGING (J)
PERCEIVING (P)
Prefer to be organized &
orderly & to make decisions
quickly
Prefer to be flexible &
adaptable & to keep options
open
See pages 3-5 of handout for additional information
Group Exercise
(20 minutes)
Examining Everyday Behaviors and the MBTI Preferences
 The extraversion-introversion dichotomy
 The sensing-intuition dichotomy
 The thinking-feeling dichotomy
 The judging-perceiving dichotomy
What is your behavior style? As a group, discuss and list examples of
how you have seen one of two of these preference dichotomies
(assigned) play out at work or home. You can share personal
examples of how this preference influences you; or examples of
things you have observed in others.
Each group will be asked to share a few examples.
See pages 6-7 of handout
Your Leadership Skill

Case study – imagine you as a leader in your
unit.

Three essential components of successful
project management:
1. Running effective meetings
2. Decision making
3. Influencing others

The following three slides are left intentionally
partially blank for discussion of best practice
approaches during the workshop.
Running Effective Meetings





Maximize the amount of relevant information
exchanged
Empower the participants
Generate good ideas
Bring problems to resolution
Clarify next steps and accountabilities
Best practices approach:
Best practices approach

How can you ensure extraverts don’t talk too much, and
introverts are heard?

How can you ensure you engage at the right level of detail, when
sensors prefer to look at details and intuitors prefer the big
picture?

What can you do to be sure information is efficiently exchanged
while an appropriate amount of relationship building is going on?

What can you do to stay on task without blocking new ideas or
opportunities?

How can you exert enough control in the meeting while
empowering others to take ownership?

Additional points to consider?
Influencing



Your success depends on others, and you influence
these people on a regular basis.
Depending on how well you do this, people will be
motivated to help you succeed … or not.
How can you best influence others in a way that helps
you advance your goals; build relationships and
communicate with key people in your network to build
loyalty and a feeling of collaboration?
Best practices approach:
Best practices approach

How can you present project / change initiatives in a way
that energizes both extraverts and introverts?

How can you craft “hooks” to build interest and motivation
around an opportunity that would appeal to a fact-based,
here and now perspective (sensor) versus a big picture, bluesky thinker (intuitor)? How could you combine these
approaches into one presentation (or memo, etc.)?

How can you best answer “what’s in it for me” (WIFIM)
when you approach your peers about an opportunity to
collaborate, without knowing their MBTI type or FIIRO-B
profile?

How can you attempt to make requests or assign roles in a
way that plays to people’s strengths (e.g., networking,
organizing and planning)?
Quality Decision Making
You’re faced with many decisions every day – some you
make without much pause for thoughts, others you may
ponder on and off for days.
 Even when you put decisions off you’re making a
choice about how to handle the problem.
 How can you ensure you’re making high quality
decisions?

Best practices approach:
Best practices approach





How can you best ensure the decisions you make are well
informed? That is, how can you be sure you have considered the
issue from the different type “lenses” – sensing, intuition, thinking,
and feeling?
How can you encourage those reporting to you that they do the
same?
What can you do to balance the need for thorough research with
timeliness?
What can you do to ensure others feel welcome to come to you
with conflicting data, rather than just telling you what they think
you want to hear?
To what extent does discipline play a role in good decision making?
How can you ensure discipline is exercised when you make
independent decisions? When you are making decisions with a
group?
Goals and Action Plans


Goals: There are so many ways to set goals. One strategy is to
follow the creation of “SMART” goals, which have the following
characteristics:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Actionable
- Relevant
- Time-Bound
Barriers: For each goal, identify potential barriers to attainment
(e.g., hectic travel schedule; difficult timelines; etc.).

Beginning Steps: For each goal, make a list of how you plan to begin
accomplishing the goal.

See pages 8-9 of handout for suggested sequence and rationale in project planning

See page 10 for extra information on leadership
Leadership Development Goals

Write below drafts of two development goals that you are committed to accomplishing over
the next year. Link each goal with specific actions that will not only help improve your
development areas, but will boost your strengths as well. Effective communication is important
for success.
_________________________________________________________________________
Goal One
Goal Statement:
Possible Barriers:
Beginning Steps:
_________________________________________________________________________
Goal Two
Goal Statement:
Possible Barriers:
Beginning Steps:
Resources
Waterman & Rogers, 1996: Introduction to the FIRO_B.
Consulting Psychological Press.
Roger R. Pearlman, 2001: The Leadership Advantage Using the
MBTI Tool for Effective Leadership. Consulting Psychological Press.
Human Synergistics International,
http://www.humansynergistics.com/site/default.aspx
Univ. of Missouri Academic Leadership Development Program.
SYMLOG Consulting Group, San Diego, CA.