Leadership Self-Assessment and Reflection
Developing the Leader Within You by John C. Maxwell is a practical application to servant leadership. In this book, Maxwell outlines the skills necessary to become a great leader, or to simply excel from one level of leadership to another. Manville suggests ten principles on which the foundation of great leadership is built. In assessing my own leadership skills, the principles with which I am most effective are Influence, Integrity and People.
In order to become a better leader, must adjust my Attitude, learn and study Staff Development and organize my Priorities. According to Maxwell “leadership is influence” (Maxwell, 1993 p. 1). It is the ability to get people to follow you. Maxwell uses this chapter to introduce the 5 levels of leadership: Position, Permission, Production, People Development and Persephone (Maxwell, 1993). I believe that I am transitioning from Position to Permission. In my last leadership position, people followed me because of who was affiliated with and the position I was in.
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Now people follow me because of my ability to build and maintain effective relationships and they are starting to acknowledge my skills as well as the effort I put into my work. As I move toward the Permission level, I would like to start investing my time and energy into the people around me to develop leaders within my organization. I believe this will highlight how influential I can be as a leader. Maxwell defines integrity as words matching deeds. A leader with integrity practices what he/she preaches (Maxwell 1993).
Integrity is really important to me. It builds a solid reputation and strong relationships through trust. According to Maxwell, leaders are called to a higher standard of living than their followers, setting an example to do the right thing in the NY situation (Maxwell, 1993). In my opinion, being morally gray does not define your integrity. A leader’s credibility depends on their ability to be consistent in their choices and their actions. My goal has always been to clearly define my moral and ethical standing by living my life honestly and with integrity.
Maxwell regards people as our most appreciable asset (Maxwell, 1993). Hiring and keeping the right people on your team is an integral part of being a successful leader. Value, Commitment, Integrity, Standard and Influence determine a leader’s success in developing others (Maxwell, 1993). Knowing what motivates and denominates people is an important part of building a strong team. Keeping your team motivated with a clear vision and making them an active part of your goal will strengthen the organization.
I have always had great people skills and getting along well with others is a powerful tool in building new and fruitful relationships. I have had the opportunity to apply these principles successfully in my professional relationships and the result, though not immediate, has always been favorable. As I have highlighted my strengths, it is also important to acknowledge the areas in which I require improvement in order to become a better leader. Maxwell tells us that attitude is very important in leadership. The attitude of the leader is usually reflected in the followers.
The right attitude sets the tone for the atmosphere and inspires a good attitude in response (Maxwell, 1993). Usually have a very positive attitude and have really matured through my work experience in recent years. My challenge with this Maxwell trait is that I do not always maintain that attitude when I am faced with an adverse situation. I sometimes get frustrated and revert to taking control of things and trying to do everything myself. I know that this is ineffective and great leaders don’t do everything themselves.
Maxwell also tells us that people respond to the attitude that we project (Maxwell, 1993). Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Choosing to respond with the right attitude in certain situations will yield better results in my personal and professional life. Staff Development is my weakest point. As my business grows and I start to build a team, I would like to use Maxwell’s principles to develop a staff that fit the needs of the organization and will do more than the job requires because they want to.
I understand that the people around a leader can determine how successful that leader will be and would like to surround myself with people who influence each other’s success and strive for continuous improvement. According to Maxwell, it should be the leader’s priority to develop people (Maxwell, 1993). The leader should communicate specific goals clearly and help the staff understand their role in achieving that goal. I hope that as I grow as a leader, I will be able to develop other great leaders within my company and y industry.
Though I am great at organizing events and activities for other people, I have trouble proportioning my own activities. In college, I developed a habit of procrastinating. It is one of my biggest flaws. Know that proportioning is an important skill to possess to become a successful leader. This is something that I will have to work on throughout my career. It will be impossible to expect my team to prioritize and treat matters urgently if I do not set an example in my own work. Incorporating Maxwell’s principle of self-discipline will be a useful tool to change my habits.
Start early. Start Small. Start Now (Maxwell, 1993). Maxwell tells us that procrastination has destructive potential. I malls change the way I prioritize my own work because I do not want procrastination to keep me from achieving my career goals. Maxwell also highlights the Praetor principle, giving the top 20% of your priorities 80% of your attention will yield the greatest result (Maxwell, 1993). Effective application of the Praetor principle to my business will require identifying the most important things, putting them first and investing most of my energy into those things.
Though every leader does not incorporate every Maxwell principle into their leadership style, it is important to identify which of his ten principles are adaptable leadership skills. Leadership is a skill that requires constant development. Maxwell’s own leadership style is rooted in service to the people. There is always something new to learn when leading and developing others. Maxwell’s principles provide a great road map to becoming a successful leader. Works Cited Maxwell, John C (1993) Developing The Leader Within You. Nashville, TN; Thomas son, Inc.
