Social Work Leadership Assessment

Introduction

The leadership skills questionnaire offers an important approach of assessing one's leadership skills. The results of the assessment reveal not only the strengths and weaknesses of a person but also offer an opportunity to address the shortcoming and enhance the strong traits that an individual has. In the social work sector, leadership skills are essential to guide projects and ensure positive outcomes for teams, and more benefit to the targeted populations that are targeted by social work projects. I used the Leadership Skills Questionnaire by Northouse (2017) to assess leadership skills of my work supervisor as reported below.

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Results of the Assessment

The leadership questionnaire by Northouse (2017) presents a set of eighteen questions that assess three important leadership traits, which are administrative skills, interpersonal skills, and conceptual skills. For each skill, there are six questions whereby a person has to select a response between a range of 1 and 5, and finally sum up the answers to obtain a score. In this case, after undertaking the assessment, the scores for my supervisor were as follows: Administrative Skill Score-25 out of 30, Interpersonal Skill Score-26 out of 30, and Conceptual Skill Score-25 out of 30.

Based on the results above, my supervisor scores high on administrative skills. For example, he is extremely keen on details and requires all the subordinates to go out of their way to ensure all questions regarding a task are answered comprehensively. Furthermore, he is very good at managing people, and this has ensured that the team is cohesive and dedicated to achieving the set goals at the workplace. On the other hand, he scores even higher on interpersonal skills. With a score of 26/30, the supervisor is indeed very good with people, and as previously indicated, this has led to a highly cohesive and motivated team at the workplace. On conceptual skill, the supervisor scores high at 25/30. However, his score for problem-solving is wanting. The score is evident from his frequent outbursts that affect the team when the organization faces challenges.

Personal Leadership Strengths and Areas of Improvement

I have strong leadership skills in conceptual and administrative skills. In this areas, I am highly effective in administration where I effectively manage people and programs and ensure all needs a person or a program requires for success are met at all times. In this process, I am very effective at managing resources where I ensure that an activity consumes the required resources without wastage. Furthermore, I ensure that there is strict record keeping for future reference and accountability. However, one of the important skills that are required for administration is the ability to respond to individual needs and concern. While I strive to ensure all the required needs of a program are met upfront, I struggle trying to meet subsequent requests and emerging needs. Consequently, it is an important area that requires improvement to ensure that I become an all-around leader. Lastly, I while am good at managing available resources for a program, I am not so good at obtaining or finding the resources. Therefore, I need to improve on the area to ensure that I am more effective at administration.

On conceptual skills, I am highly proficient in problem-solving yet there are some areas that I should improve. For instance, while I strive to foresee problems that a program may face and strive to solve them, I can easily become overwhelmed by emerging problems. Furthermore, making strategic plans for my company is an enjoyable task for me as it enables me to apply my skills of "seeing the big picture" and therefore plan ahead. Consequently, I am highly effective at conceptual skills yet I must improve on problem-solving for emerging issues during the implementation of a program.

On interpersonal skills, I score poorly on some aspects yet it remains an important skill for an effective leader. For instance, I am not good at predicting or assuming how people will respond to a question or a task until they reveal their thoughts. In my perspective, people are complex and as such, trying to predict their behavior is an area that hinders my ability to connect with them. On the other hand, I recognize the importance of understanding and enhancing the social fabric of the organization and the workplace for better outcomes for all individuals. Furthermore, I am not good at sensing emotional distress in my groups, and this makes it difficult to address or recognize problems early enough before they affect the performance of my team. Consequently, the above weaknesses make it challenging to lead effectively and thus the need for improvement.

Actions for Improvement of Leadership Weaknesses

Solving the identified leadership problems and challenges above requires a plan and various actions that will enable gradual overcoming of the issues for more effectiveness in my leadership. Firstly, addressing the challenges in obtaining resources for a program will require more training on resource mobilization and project planning. I believe such skills will be essential in providing knowledge of predicting required resources and finding them for a program. The second problem that I face in my leadership skills is the ability to respond to the needs of individuals or a project. In this case, I require more skills for contingency planning, as well as interpersonal skills that will enable me to interact more with different people, understand their needs, and most importantly be able to solve or meet their needs.

The last important problem that requires a solution is the poor interpersonal skills that characterize my leadership. Firstly, communication is critical to the success of an organization (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013). With the understanding, it is essential to have good interpersonal skills that will allow other employees to communicate with each other, and thus facilitate better team achievement. Furthermore, good interpersonal skills facilitate a collaborative and cooperative team environment where each person's opinion is considered (Northouse, 2017). Therefore, to enhance my interpersonal skills, I will seek to gain problem-solving skills that will enable me to not only detect but also solve any issue that my team may face. Additionally, I will strive to communicate, greet, and check on my employees each day, while at the same time giving feedback on their work. I believe such activities will enable better interpersonal outcomes.

Conclusion

Finding the leadership skills of a person is the starting point towards effective social work. In this case, the leadership skills questionnaire offers an important tool for assessing one's leadership strengths and weakness, and thus the possibility of finding ways of improving the shortcomings that are revealed. The assessment above has revealed my leadership strengths as administrative and conceptual skills. On the other hand, the revelation that I have a weakness in interpersonal skills has enabled the creation of an improvement plan for my leadership weaknesses.

References

Avolio, B. J., & Yammarino, F. J. (Eds.). (2013). Introduction to, and overview of, transformational and charismatic leadership. In Transformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead 10th Anniversary Edition (pp. xxvii-xxxiii). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Northouse, P. G. (2017). Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practice(4ed). Sage Publications.