Self Analysis: A Tool to Enhance Leader Effectiveness

How many times have you asked yourself, "Why did I do that?", or say to yourself, "I wish I hadn't done that." Even more importantly how many times have you really reflected on why you behaved as you did? Good leaders in any field aren't born, but are developed over time through hundreds, even thousands, of experiences dating from early childhood. It is important that those experiences be examined in such a way as to provide knowledge and wisdom that helps the individual enhance his/her leadership skills. This same concept applies to those individuals as they prepare themselves in graduate school for leadership positions. One of the best experiences these future leaders can have is the chance for self-assessment. This opportunity to step back and view themselves at least quasi-objectively may well be the initiating experience that causes the melding of a life time of isolated events into a perspective of great leadership. Over the course of our careers as educators it is likely that most of us have used some type of self-assessment instrument. Typically this form of self-analysis is the result of a graduate class or workshop requirement. We compile the data, locate "ourselves" on a continuum or grid, and shrug off the results because they either confirm what we already know about ourselves or paint a picture that we don't care to see. It is human nature, and quite convenient, to question the validity of any instrument when it is applied to oneself, especially when the results are what we consider less than desirable. Surely, one would be ill advised, and it is certainly not the authors' intent, to make behavior changes based upon the results of a single instrument. Our Vision of Ourselves as a Leader It is often said perception is reality, but is anything truly what it appears to be? We expect people to understand us yet we do not understand ourselves. The authors believe a sound introspective look may help one hone his/her vision of themselves as leaders, helping them become more self-aware, productive, and effective. How we view ourselves colors how we view others. Practically everything we have experienced in our lives plays a part in how we view ourselves and other people, as well as how we expect ourselves and others to perform. To do this, principals must have a starting point of self-reflection and evaluation. By assessing him/herself based on the generalized results of several surveys he/she could determine what possible changes need to be made and the potential effects of these changes on his/her leadership career. Benefits of Self-Analysis One of the first exercises to begin the self analysis process is to help the administrators become aware of his/her own belief system. It will soon become evident that most know little about the things they truly esteem in life. Since this valuing system plays such a tremendous role in decision-making and in personal relations with others, it is important to know something about one's own value system, even though such value systems in adults have become pretty well fixed and difficult to change. However, knowing your own values can provide a basis for becoming more understanding and tolerant of others. Values While there is no absolute set of values to develop, there are several values that can prove beneficial for clarification exercises, we have listed 23. (Appendix A) By using this set of predetermined values the participant can do one or two things with them to clarify his/her strongest values. First he/she can rank order them or compare them in given situations and select the ones they consider most important. Another exercise could be to ask each participant to respond to a set of questions concerning collective values and let them develop their own set of values to work with. A fourth and final exercise is to provide a scenario about a values situation and have administrators rank order the characters in the story and identify what values they hold. …