Leadership Style Inventory: My Personal Leadership Development

Leadership Style Inventory

A person’s title within the organization does not make them a leader. The driving factor which determines if someone is in a leader position is their behavior. This person who is a leader will guide those in the organization by influencing, guiding, giving direction, and opinions (Marquis & Huston, 2012). The culture as well as the climate of an organization begins with the leadership (Azaare & Gross, 2011). Each individual person has their own leadership style. Knowing one’s own leadership style will help them understand themselves and be able to grow as a leader. The purpose of this paper is to look at my own leadership style, including my strengths for leading others. A description of a potential challenge that I foresee due to my leadership style and a plan for my personal leadership development will be discussed.

Leadership Style

When looking at the three traditional styles of leadership of authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire; I believe that I generally fall in to the category of democratic. In breaking down leadership further into theories, I hold the leadership behaviors which are that of the Interactional Leader.

This leadership behavior is “generally determined by the relationship between the leader’s personality and the specific situation” (Marquis & Huston, 2012, p. 40). The Keirsey Termperament Sorter – II (n. d.) indicates that my personality type is that of a Guardian. The Guardian has characteristics of showing talent in managing goods and services, using skills to keep projects moving smoothly, and someone who focuses on keeping people happy and facilitating harmonious relationships. The DiSC Model (2003) shows my highest rated dimension is that of Conscientiousness. Emphasis on working conscientiously within existing circumstances to ensure quality and accuracy is a high point of my leadership skills. As well, thinking analytically, logically, and adhering to key directives and standards is a crucial aspect to my personality and leadership skills. Through the Personalysis Report (2001), I enjoy communication-type roles. My approach is consultative and reasonable, thoughtful, and friendly. In making decisions, I am not impulsive and will not be rushed. Delegating tends to be a difficult task for me as I want things done timely and accurately.
Potential Challenges Related to My Leadership Style
Delegating important tasks is a challenge that I face with my personality and leadership style. When I do not delegate enough tasks, I become weighted down and become overwhelmed in my duties. This has a snowball effect as I then tend to worry, become frustrated and anxious. When I worry too much, I get caught up in the “analysis paralysis” or tend to over-analyze.
Personal Leadership Development Plan
Fortunately in my organization, as a new leader, I meet every six months with the employment specialist who focuses on helping to strengthen our weaknesses as leaders.

Delegating tasks is one area that I must work on in my leadership skills. When a leader cannot delegate task appropriately, this can lead to their downfall. My action is to learn more of the reasons why I chose not to delegate tasks. When that piece is understood, I can then move forward in correcting and adjusting my delegating. The employee specialist along with the Vice President of Nursing give me projects where delegating is necessary. They both follow these projects closely and challenge my moves of when and what I delegate and to whom those tasks are delegated to. Attending a seminar on delegation is also in my action

plan.
Summary
Not all leaders are born with every skill needed to manage and lead. Utilizing the appropriate tools, one can educate themselves to be a better leader. Learning to better delegate is critical for me as a leader, to be more efficient in managing projects and my day to day duties.