Have you been familiar with the leadership assessment tool? Do you know its benefits in our corporate and personal life? If not, please have a cup of coffee and dive deep into it.
1. What are Leadership Assessment Tools
Leadership assessment tools are used for the same reasons as other leadership development tools. Leaders and managers can use them to evaluate their current leadership style, discover how they may be causing or contributing to existing problems in a group or organization, develop and assess potential leaders.
It also assesses the natural strengths of individuals, determines whether someone is well suited to lead a team or project. And create comprehensive action plans based on what is revealed during these assessments. All of this information will help organizations do better at matching people’s strengths to specific roles.
Another thing is, you can enhance your leadership quality by taking a free online course with Coursera.
2. Why do I need a leadership assessment tool
Usually, when the benefits of using any leadership tool are discussed they break down into one of 3 main areas…
1. Personal Development – Improving skills and understanding
2. Developing – Coaching and Mentoring
3. Team Development – Better Collaboration, Communication and Conflict Resolution
Leadership assessment tools can specifically be used to establish one’s leadership style, determine the effectiveness of a given leader in relation to his or her team(s), gain insight into how well leaders are able to motivate their teams, conduct work analyses, identify areas for improvement based on results of assessments and provide an opportunity for feedback.
In addition to assessing current skills and abilities, there are many additional benefits from using leadership assessment tools…
- Leadership Assessment Tools Help Improve Workplace Culture
- The Right People Are Promoted To The Right Jobs
- More Engaged Employees – Get Their Feedback So Leaders Can Adapt Their Leadership Style To Be More Effective
- Better Decisions Are Made
- Prevents Burnout And Helps Leaders Stay Focused
- Increase Productivity and Boost Other Key Metrics (i.e. Customer Satisfaction And Sales, Employee Retention Rates, New Hires Loyalty/Retention, Recruitment Process Etc.)
- Create a Plan for Leadership Development
3. How to use a leadership assessment tool
The use of leadership assessment tools has been shown to be an effective method in improving employee engagement and organizational performance.
Studies show that leaders should have a specific goal or focus when they make changes to their leadership styles if they want to experience good results. It’s important that leaders do not try to implement more change into their leadership styles than they can handle.
This is an area where these tools can be very beneficial. Because they will capture the necessary information and results for leaders to make useful changes based on what is revealed during the process of using it.
Organizations who truly value employee engagement, well-being and success should seriously consider implementing a tool like this one for providing valuable leader. And team development in order to get even greater benefits from them moving forward.
There are many types of assessments you could use that have different areas or topics that are best suited for your purpose.
Read More on skill development: Selfgrowth
4 examples of assessment tools that cover different areas
If I'm looking to hire someone to run a sales team, but want some additional insight into the candidate then I may choose to use a leadership assessment tool that will determine if they are a good fit for that role. Something along the lines of "Yes" or "No" questions and responses, multiple choice answers, short answer format with room for comments.
If I'm looking for additional insights into how best to coach someone who is already in another department that has some challenges around teamwork and collaboration.Maybe they have been spending more time as individuals than team members and struggle with communicating and sharing information. Then I may choose to use a leadership assessment tool that asks more in-depth questions, longer answers and/or scenarios.
If I'm looking to grow my business or team in general by hiring new candidates who are already showing great potential but want some additional insight into what motivates them so I know how best to keep them moving forward on track, then I may choose to use a leadership assessment tool that has more open ended questions, provides them with space to share stories and gives them an opportunity to be creative in how they respond; this approach is the most extremely time consuming for both parties because it takes longer than others.
If I'm looking for insights into how effective my planning and decision-making process is different from my peers, but want some quick results then I may choose to use a leadership assessment tool that has short answer format with room for comments.
Choosing a Leadership Assessment Tool
Want to find out which leadership assessment tool you’re most like? Take this brief assessment and find out.
For the following situation or challenge, select the answer that best describes what you would do first:
1. To provide direction for your team, tell them exactly what to do in a detailed manner. (A) Yes (B) No
2. When working with others on projects, it is important that I have the final say on all decisions made about work activities and deliverables. (A) Yes (B) No
3. While leading projects/teams on complex issues or tasks, I make my final decision based on information shared by my team members only after we discuss alternatives and come to an agreement. (A) Yes (B) No
4. When I want someone on my team who is close to delivering results to wait a bit longer before completing their work, I explain why and how much more effort he/she needs to do, but allow him/her the freedom to decide if they will make the extra effort. (A) Yes (B) No
5. To be considered a good leader one must always tell others what action must be taken in order for them to meet your expectations or reach defined goals. (A) Yes (B) No
6. When leading teams or projects that members are assigned tasks and deadlines that they need to meet, you check up with each team member to make sure they are on track with their commitment. (A) Yes (B) No
7. When teams or individuals are not moving fast enough, I take the blame even if it’s not my fault. (A) Yes (B) No
8. Before working on a team project or task, you like to know who else is participating, when they’re expected to complete their work and what role each person will play in contributing towards reaching your goal/outcome. (A) Yes (B) No
9. If team members miss deadlines for tasks that were assigned by their manager due to factors outside of their control, you would let them know about your expectations for meeting deadlines so they can do better at future tasks. (A) Yes (B) No
10. You are willing to let others on your team know when they have not met expectations or commitments that were made during a project or task. (A) Yes (B) No
Result of the Assessment
If you answered “Yes” at least 4 out of 10 times… You’re most likely an Autocratic Leader. This style of leadership can be effective, especially in situations where there is little ambiguity about the objectives, and people on the team are expected to follow orders and complete work within deadline timelines without asking for additional guidance.
As an Autocratic Leader you may find some positive traits like: being decisive, visionary and able to make tough decisions quickly; but also find some negative traits like: being aggressive, stubborn and short-tempered.
If you answered “Yes” at least 2 times… You’re most likely a Democratic Leader. This style of leadership is effective in situations where team members are trusted to work independently within clear goals and expectations.
As a Democratic Leader, you may find some positive traits like being open-minded, approachable and willing to listen to everyone on the team; but also find some negative traits like: letting others take control, lacking awareness of your impact on peers/team members and not believing that a leader must always decide.
If you answered “No” more than 4 times… You’re most likely an Authoritarian Leader. This style of leadership can be ineffective in situations where team members need to rely on each other’s ideas and insights for problem-solving.
As an Authoritarian Leader, you may find some positive traits like: showing confidence, being direct about expectations, and taking charge of situations requiring immediate attention; but also find some negative traits like: trying to control every situation, lacking trust within your team/group members and not allowing people to make independent decisions.
If you answered “No” more than 2 times… You’re most likely a Laissez-Faire Leader. This style of leadership can be ineffective in situations where people need to follow defined procedures or protocols before problems can be solved.
As a Laissez-Faire Leader, you may find some positive traits like high levels of motivation and the ability to bring out the best in your team; but also find some negative traits like not giving clear direction, taking a backseat role during decision making and being inconsistent with providing feedback.
4. The benefits of using a leadership assessment tool
Leadership assessment tools can be beneficial for managers. Because they provide a way to analyze the effectiveness of their leadership style. They should use them as one way to evaluate how their decisions are affecting others on the team. And consider ways to improve when necessary.
In addition, these assessments can be used to help identify traits that you possess as well as areas. Where you need to work on improving your leadership skills or the situation at hand. A good leader always focuses on self-improvement. So, if you feel that your current style of leadership is not working well for your team or organization. You may want to consider taking a leadership assessment test.
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