Running head: Personal Leadership Evaluation Personal Leadership Evaluation Joshua Carter Western Governors University 1 Personal Leadership Evaluation 2 Table of Contents A: Five Categorical Strengths ..........................................................................................3 B1: Leadership Theory Strengths ...................................................................................5 B2: Leadership Theory Weaknesses ................................................................................6 B3: Actionable Items .........................................................................................................7 C: Short-term Goals ....................................................................................................... 7 C1: Specific Actions ...........................................................................................................8 References .........................................................................................................................10 Personal Leadership Evaluation 3 A: Five Categorical Strengths As a leader for a large online retailer, it is important to know my strengths and weaknesses. If you can identify your strengths and weaknesses, you can evaluate your leadership style and become a better leader. To identify my strengths, I took the Clifton Strengths assessment. The Clifton Strengths assessment identified my top five strengths as the following, deliberative, analytical, restorative, consistency, and responsibility. Deliberative The first strength identified is deliberative. Deliberative leaders calculate and evaluate risk before acting. Being deliberative is a big part of my personality and leadership style. For any project I am working on, I evaluate all risks to determine what can go wrong. I plan ahead and have contingencies in place. Since my projects have far-reaching outcomes, I tread carefully to mitigate negative outcomes and take a deliberate, calculated approach. Analytical The second strength identified is analytical. This strength is spot on. I am a very analytical person. I like to dive deep to determine the root causes of issues. I enjoy analyzing data looking for patterns, trying to connect the dots. As a procurement analyst, my day consists of running reports and analyzing usages to plan purchasing decisions. By analyzing the data, I can determine trends that will help with my future purchases and plans. Deliberative and analytical go hand in hand. Once I can analyze and determine causes, I can make a deliberate plan on what my next steps should be. I can mitigate the risks and make the best decisions for my company. Personal Leadership Evaluation 4 Restorative The third strength is restorative. Restorative leaders are problem solvers. They like to seek out problems, identify the cause, and find the solution. In my opinion, all three of these strengths coexist. To be restorative, you must be deliberate and analytical. In my position with Amazon.com, I also solve problems. My General Manager refers to me as the “utility man” on the Sr. Leadership team. If there are problems that no one can solve or no one can take ownership, they are escalated to me. I use all three of these strengths hand-in-hand on a daily basis. Consistency The fourth strength identified is consistency. Consistent leaders are fair and treat everyone equally. Consistent leaders make sure rules are applied across the board and no one receives special treatment. Consistent leaders do not care what your last name or who you are related to. Everyone gets their chance to prove themselves and earn their spot on the team. I manage several people in my department and treat all my associates the same. I do not practice favoritism and make sure the rules are the same for everyone. Favoritism can lead to decreased morale and cause issues within the team. Responsibility The fifth and last strength is responsibility. Responsible leaders are just that, responsible. They take ownership and responsibility for their areas and team. They own their projects and take responsibility no matter the outcome. At my job, I take full responsibility and ownership for my area and team. I have lead several projects that have had less-than-desirable outcomes. As a leader, it is important to take full responsibility for your projects regardless of the outcome. Personal Leadership Evaluation 5 B1: Leadership Theory Strengths Based on my leadership skills and my top five strengths identified by the Clifton Strengths assessment, the transformational leadership theory best fits my style of leadership. Being a leader at Amazon.com is challenging and requires many skill sets. My first major is strength is flexibility or being able to adapt to changes. Transformational leaders adapt to new situations in their environment to keep moving forward (10 Transformational Leadership Characteristics, 2020). Being flexible is a key part of being a leader at Amazon.com. Amazon is constantly changing and we must be able to react to the demands of an ever-changing, growing company. For example, 1-day Prime shipping was a big change within our network. In my building, we had to change our processes to keep up. Transformational leaders can adapt and drive that change with their team. My second biggest strength is my analytical problem-solving skills. At my job, I must be able to determine the root-cause of issues and plan my course of attack. Being able to take calculated risks is a key characteristic of a transformational leader (10 Transformational Leadership Characteristics, 2020). One project, in particular, comes to mind when taking calculated risks. This project entailed the elimination of some on-site services for over $100,000 in savings YOY. I was able to analyze the data and prove that my hunch was right. As a transformation leader, I must also be able to get my team on board while taking calculated risks. This is where my third strength comes into play. My third strength is being able to stimulate those around me. Over the years at Amazon, I have been able to get my team to see the final vision of the projects we were working on. Transformational leaders can intellectually stimulate their followers and share their vision of the future by recognizing their needs and abilities (Hamstra, Van Yperen, Wisse, & Sassenberg, Personal Leadership Evaluation 6 2014). Several years ago, our Amazon location introduced standard work. This introduction completely changed our ways of doing things. As a co-lead of the project, it was imperative to get my team to understand the end goal of this project. By showing them the future state of the process, I was able to get them motivated to participate and ensure the project was successful. B2: Leadership Theory Weaknesses My biggest weakness that affects me as a transformational leader is the ability to develop my team. I often focus too much on the project instead of focusing on the coaching and development of my team. I worry too much about the results and end goal rather than using it as a teaching moment to develop team members. Transformational leaders develop their followers by paying attention to their needs and coaching them accordingly (Bass, 1999). Trusting in your team is a key part of being an excellent leader. This is something that I need to work on if I want to grow as a leader in my career. My next weakness would be a lack of optimism. My analytic and deliberate tendencies lead me to be more pessimistic than I should. I usually go into a project with a pessimistic attitude. Once the data is analyzed and the desired outcome is visible, I become more optimistic. Transformational leaders can inspire and motivate by enthusiasm and optimism (McCleskey, 2014). If I could take a more optimistic approach, then my team would likely be optimistic as well. Another one of my big weaknesses is the failure to adequately reward performance and provide praise. It is easier for me to provide negative feedback to my members rather than positive feedback. Having tough conversations comes easier to me than positive conversations. Personal Leadership Evaluation 7 Successful transformational leaders inspire and reward their people (Khan, Nawaz, & Khan, 2016). This is something else that I need to work on as I grow and develop as a leader. B3: Actionable Items One actionable item I can take to improve my leadership is by increasing the amount of positive feedback I give. As I stated above, successful leaders can inspire and reward their team members (Khan, Nawaz, & Khan, 2016). If I can increase positive feedback, the morale of my team will improve. Workers usually have a better attitude toward the task if they are being recognized for their hard work. Focusing too much on the negative can be detrimental to the performance and morale of the team. Another actionable item I can take is delegation to my team members. This actionable item is directly related to my weakness in developing individual team members. I can help develop my team by delegating to them instead of trying to own everything myself. I want to be in control and that can often give the impression that I lack faith in my team. Good leaders delegate assignments and use them as growth opportunities (Bass, 1999). The 3rd actionable item I can take is to increase my self-confidence. I often doubt myself and my abilities to be a good leader. This lack of confidence can have negative consequences on the team and their morale. How can teams have confidence if it is evident their leader lacks confidence? Great transformational leaders arouse motivation by demonstrating confidence (Kuhnert & Lewis, 1987). C: Short-term Goals The first goal I have is to increase the amount of positive feedback I provide to my team. I must be able to motivate my team by providing positive feedback and reinforcement without solely focusing on the negative. I will measure my goal by documenting the amount of positive Personal Leadership Evaluation 8 feedback (no matter how small) I provide each week. Each week, I will set an increase of 50% for the positive feedback and have my direct manager sign off. I feel this goal is very attainable since it will be documented with my direct manager. This goal is very relevant to my position and desire to become the best leader I can be. My period for this goal is six weeks ending on March 4, 2020. The next goal I want to accomplish is to increase delegation to my team members. Currently, I try to own all aspects of our projects and action items. This has caused issues with my team as some see it as not having faith in them. I will measure my progress of increased delegation by keeping a chart of tasks that I delegate. The chart will consist of all action items that I currently complete. Each week, I will assign one of those tasks to a team member and mark it on the chart accordingly. This goal is easily attainable. Having a visual will help keep me on track with my progress toward my goal. This goal is relevant to my role, as it will increase team morale and effectiveness. It will also free me up to take on other projects or work on developing more as a leader. I will set a four-week period for this goal ending on February 19, 2020. C1: Specific Actions There are specific actions I can take to achieve my goal of increasing the amount of positive feedback I provide. The first action is to meet with our HR manager. Since most HR departments are experts on positive and negative feedback, it would be the best place to start. I will meet with her once per week to discuss my progress and review the positive feedback I have provided. Having HR provide feedback on my progress will help me achieve my goal. The second action I can take is to sign up for training that is provided to managers at Amazon. Once per quarter training is scheduled for all interested managers. I will sign up to attend the training during Q1. The training covers all aspects of being a leader at Amazon. A Personal Leadership Evaluation 9 large portion of the training is centered on interactions with associates and team members. This training involves many role-playing scenarios and feedback is provided by the group in realtime. Attending this training will help me achieve my goal and grow as a leader. There are action items I can take to achieve my other goal of delegating a task to my team. The first action item I can take is to find a mentor at my location. I will work with the Sr. Leadership team to identify a suitable mentor that I can meet with weekly. I will take notes and use our weekly meetings to discuss any concerns I have with delegating specific projects. Meeting weekly to discuss my progress and ways to get better will be key to achieving my goal. The second action item I can take is identifying members that are suitable for delegation. I will ask for volunteers on my team to take over some of the smaller tasks first. After gauging interest, I will assign the tasks accordingly. It will be easier to delegate once I have a good idea of those who want more responsibility. I will work with those who do not want added responsibility to understand why. If those not interested feel they are not ready, I will work to develop and help them grow. Having a well-balanced team willing to take on more responsibility will help me delegate more. The third action item I can take is signing up for the same training course I mentioned above. The four-day interactive course covers many topics including delegation. The training helps you develop team members and get them ready for more responsibility. The training also covers what type of tasks to delegate and what type of tasks that should not be delegated. Courses like this are an added benefit of working at Amazon. Training resources are readily available and accessible. You can take full ownership of your development as a leader and own your career growth. Personal Leadership Evaluation 10 References Bass, B.M. (1999). Two Decades of Research and Development in Transformational Leadership. Retrieved from http://techtied.net/wpcontent/uploads/2007/10/bass_transforrmational_leadership.pdf Hamstra, M., Van Yperen, N., Wisse, B., & Sassenberg, K. (2014). Transformational and Transactional Leadership and Followers’ Achievement Goals. Journal of Business & Psychology, 29(3), 413–425. https://doi-org.wgu.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s10869-013-93229 Khan, Z. A., Nawaz, A., & Khan, I. (2016). Leadership theories and styles: A literature review. Journal of Resources Development and Management, 16, 1–7. Retrieved from https://web5.wgu.edu/aap/content/leadership%20theories%20and%20styles.pdf Kuhnert K. W., & Lewis P. (1987). Transactional and transformational leadership: A constructive/developmental analysis. Academy of Management Review, 12(4), 648–657. Retrieved fromhttps://wgu.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=tr ue&db=heh&AN=4306717&site=eds-live&scope=site McCleskey, J. A. (2014). Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and leadership development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), 117-130. Retrieved from https://wgu.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquestcom.wgu.idm.oclc.org/docview/1548766781?accountid=42542 10 Transformational Leadership Characteristics. (2020, January 21). Retrieved from https://yscouts.com: https://yscouts.com/10-transformational-leadership- Personal Leadership Evaluation 11 characteristics/?fbclid=IwAR3cQYPhbxtIjgk4uJkmM2qVscUoGZr9iX9_q6fS12nvBO_ mNg9mbB0pOQE
