Leadership Assessments and Your Understanding: A Path to Continuous Growth

In the world of leadership development, various assessments serve as crucial tools to help you understand your strengths, areas for growth, and overall leadership style. However, it’s essential to remember that these assessments are not set in stone. They are merely snapshots (data points) of your current capabilities and tendencies, reflecting where you are in your leadership journey at a specific moment. As you continue to grow and develop, your assessment results will evolve, providing new insights and opportunities for improvement.

The Role of Leadership Assessments

Leadership assessments like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), CliftonStrengths, DiSC, and Hogan Assessments are valuable data points. Each offers a unique perspective on your personality, strengths, communication style, and potential derailers. These assessments can help you triangulate a more comprehensive understanding of your leadership core when used collectively and over time.

1. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): This assessment categorizes individuals into 16 personality types based on preferences in four dichotomies: Introversion/Extraversion, Sensing/Intuition, Thinking/Feeling, and Judging/Perceiving. Understanding your MBTI type can help you recognize your natural inclinations in decision-making and interactions with others.

2. CliftonStrengths (formerly StrengthsFinder): This tool identifies your top strengths out of 34 possible themes. It helps you understand what you naturally do best and how to leverage these strengths to achieve your goals.

3.DiSC Assessment: DiSC measures your tendencies and preferences in four key areas: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. This assessment provides insights into your behavioral style and how you interact with others in the workplace.

4. Hogan Assessments: Hogan focuses on personality traits that influence workplace performance. It examines three main areas: the bright side (everyday personality), the dark side (potential derailers), and the inside (core motives and values). Hogan helps you understand how your personality impacts your leadership effectiveness and relationships.

Using Assessments for Continuous Growth

Imagine you’ve taken all four assessments. Your MBTI results show you’re an ENTJ (Extraversion, Intuition, Thinking, Judging), known for being strategic and decisive. Your CliftonStrengths highlight your top themes as Strategic, Achiever, and Command, indicating a natural ability to envision and execute plans. The DiSC assessment reveals a high Dominance score, suggesting a direct and results-oriented approach. Finally, the Hogan Assessment flags potential derailers like overconfidence or being overly critical.

Individually, these assessments provide valuable insights. Together, they offer a richer, more nuanced understanding of your leadership style. Over time, as you retake these assessments, you may notice changes reflecting your growth and development. Perhaps your DiSC profile shows an increase in Influence, indicating improved interpersonal skills or your Hogan results reveal a decrease in derailers due to better self-management.

The Importance of Coaching

Incorporating the knowledge from these assessments into your leadership practice can be challenging. This is where coaching becomes invaluable. A coach can help you interpret your assessment results, identify areas for growth, and develop strategies to enhance your leadership capabilities. Through regular coaching sessions, you can:

•  Set specific, measurable goals: Based on your assessment results, identify key areas for improvement and create actionable plans.

•  Develop self-awareness: Gain deeper insights into how your personality traits and behaviors impact your leadership effectiveness.

•  Receive feedback and support: A coach provides ongoing feedback and support, helping you stay accountable and motivated.

Remember, leadership is not a fixed destination but a continuous journey of growth and development. By engaging with various assessments and working with a coach, mentor, or both, you can become a stronger leader and a more effective developer of people.

While leadership assessments provide valuable insights, they are not definitive markers of who you are as a leader. They are tools to guide your ongoing development, helping you to understand, reflect, and grow. Embrace the journey, seek continuous improvement, and leverage the support systems available to become your best leader.