The Role Of Inadequacy in Transformation - Part 2
Recognize and Own Growth
When leaders and managers begin with a knowledge of the need for improvement, recognizing and owning key areas for development follow. Assessment tools can play a critical role in illuminating strengths, deficiencies and flaws. Selecting the right tool in today’s myriad of choices is like navigating in a maze.
Grinding through a day is often an accomplishment on its own. Few leaders dedicate time for reflection and self-assessment. High performing leaders practice self-evaluation disciplines they consider essential for honing their edge. They seek unfiltered feedback from people they trust and rigorously critique their motives and performance. In addition, they look for demanding leadership instruments that offer candid, objective analysis that detect deficiencies that make their leadership influence sluggish.
They use their findings and feedback to aggressively discern any gap or flaw that could diminish their effectiveness. Uncommon leaders own any constructive or destructive criticism that can improve or expand their leadership performance. They acknowledge that these things are left unattended; they would likely drift toward mediocrity.
Building upon a mindset of inadequacy, they are motivated to search out people and instruments that provide them with insights to increase their skills and influence. Leaders who employ this approach realize awareness, information and insights are not enough. They must shift to embracing a personal and real intention to change.
LionsLead develops behavioral assessments that inspect and reveal truth-telling insights about the assessed individual that personality profiles don’t reveal. Our assessments not only measure behavior, but they are used to change behavior for positive impact and performance.
The merits of any assessment must be scrutinized against the question...”do they really work?” From decades of advising leaders of Fortune 50 C-Level Executives to Entrepreneurs of small business, the following statements represent a synopsis of why leaders either actively engage or vehemently resist assessments:
It is a requirement, so I must, but I don’t see the value
I don’t trust them, but my results will either qualify or disqualify my advancement
Taking assessments is always interesting, I like to compare my findings to other assessments
I like the challenge of beating or disproving the assessment
I want to be the best in my position, new insights of any sort are revealing and can help me become better
I am at the top of my game; assessments are for those who have not had my same experiences and are still grooming themselves
I am terrified by them; I might not like or agree with the findings, so I’d rather just not take any assessment
I believe I am in a role above my level of effectiveness and am afraid the findings will confirm or threaten my position
Most of these expressions miss the mark. One must move mindfully from what an assessment can or cannot do, and into a mindset of a personal need to change and grow. The question to ask yourself... ”Is my will to become better, perhaps even extraordinary, greater than my laziness or procrastination.”
One must begin with a real sense of inadequacy, induced by pain, and reckon with the potential risks and work that must be done.