Introduction
Leadership theories are fundamental, as they help to understand patterns of interaction between the leader and the team. Besides, due to the existence of leadership models, the managers can better choose the leadership styles that correspond to the circumstances. Since leaders’ actions usually have a direct impact on the performance of the company’s business, the right choice can be critical (Barton, 2016). This paper aims to discuss the results of the leadership questionnaires, highlighting new information, unexpected results, strengths, and dimensions for improvement.
New Information about Self
After finishing questionnaires, I gained a more developed understanding of how leadership theories can be implemented in a real business environment. It is interesting that in different questionnaires, the level of belonging to a particular leadership type was assessed in different ways. For example, the questionnaire evaluating authenticity traits has only two categories – high and low, while the path-goal leadership and leader-member exchange questionnaires are more diverse in their assessments. In all likelihood, the difference in assessment approaches is associated with the characteristics of these types of leadership.
According to the questionnaires’ results, characterizing me as a leader, it turned out that I have quite high indicators and potential of the authentic leader. It also turned out that I am more inclined to applying achievement-oriented style in the framework of path-goal leadership. Besides, I showed high results in the LMX questionnaire, which suggests that I tend to have more durable and higher-quality leader-member exchanges, closer to relationships with in-group members. I was surprised that I scored reasonably high scores on all three questionnaires, as I tried to answer the questions honestly, and I do not have enough experience in managing teams of employees. Probably, the results reflect my leadership potential and not already existing qualities. Therefore, I clearly understand that I still need to develop my leadership qualities to motivate the team positively.
Improving the Dimensions of Leadership
It turned out that my best instinct is of the achievement-oriented style of leadership. It means that I have the potential to clearly and correctly set goals and a vision of the processes that lead to realizing these goals. I also have notable potential to become an authentic leader. It is a big plus since the presence of an authentic leader’s qualities speaks of a tendency to reflection, introspection, as well as analysis of what is happening around and perseverance in achieving goals.
Simultaneously, the supportive leadership style turned out to be less natural for me, as I scored below average. It means that I need to understand that it is possible to drop the barriers that stand between the leader and the followers and be just a person or a friend for associates in some situations. It is especially critical for me, as the directive style scores were above average, closer to high. Firstly, I would like to work on myself to improve the qualities of the authentic leader, since I did not manage to reach the line that would determine my capabilities as high (Good leaders are authentic leaders, 2009). Besides, I need to learn to be more flexible in choosing between different leadership styles that suit different situations.
Thus, the results of the leadership questionnaires were discussed, including new information, unexpected results, areas of strength, and dimensions for improvement. I was surprised by the overall high performance, although I need to remember that the questionnaire results only characterize my potential and not real qualities. The achievement-oriented leadership style proved to be my strong point, while the supportive leadership style results were quite low. It suggests that I will have to learn to be more flexible in responding to challenging circumstances adequately.
References
Barton, D. (2016). Leadership in the 21st century and global forces [Video file]. Web.
Good leaders are authentic leaders (2009). [Video file]. Web.