Three Keys to Development: Defining and Meeting Your Leadership Challenges

Browning, Van Velsor

• Publisher: Center for Creative Leadership Press
• Year: 2000
• Print ISBN: 9781882197408
• eBook ISBN: 9781604917505
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Leadership
• Index: Business

During times of personal and professional growth, you feel as if your learning and development were accelerated. What caused that acceleration? How do you keep the learning momentum going once the experience ends? This guidebook shows you how to enhance the value and impact of developmental experiences.

Assessment

If you are like many managers, you are probably in a work situation that lacks excitement and learning potential and you need more challenge to help you develop. Or you may be faced with excessive challenges that outstrip the skills you can bring to bear. Your first step is to assess yourself and the challenges you face. Assessment helps you define what you have and what you need. Then you can bring challenge and support into a balance that lets you perform effectively and continue to learn.

When Is Assessment Necessary?

Assessment is necessary whenever your situation changes. In today’s work environment, situations can change frequently and abruptly. At a minimum, make an assessment when you take on a new role, when your job changes, when there has been a major organizational change, or when you haven’t made an assessment for 12-18 months.

As you plan your assessment, keep in mind these three guidelines:

1. Assess yourself and your situation.

2. Use formal and informal assessment techniques.

3. Balance self-assessment with data from other sources.

Assessing Yourself and Your Situation

To assess yourself, you will need to collect data on your job performance, your current areas of strength and your development needs, and you will need to understand what you have learned from your experiences. If your company’s HR department has

access to personality assessment tools, take advantage of those instruments to clarify your preferred learning and behavior styles.

In assessing your situation, you will want to get the best possible information on the key elements of your job or situation; on the desired outcomes or criteria for success; and on key aspects of your organizational environment, culture, or climate. Consider all of the sources that may be available to you, including job analysis, company climate and culture surveys, and talking with colleagues.

You can carry out your assessments either formally or informally. Formal assessments include such sources as questionnaires or surveys used in leadership development programs or the performance reviews used at your job.

Informal assessments include such sources as the feedback you might get (or can ask for) in conversation with peers or direct reports, or insights gained from personal reflection. They also include such things as private reflection or writing in a journal. It is important to carve out some time on a regular basis to reflect on your situation, your skills and development needs, your goals and priorities, and the strategies you are using to handle your situation and achieve your goals.

With age and experience, people can come to believe that they know all there is to know about themselves and their situation, and then be blindsided when their leadership is called into question. One of the most powerful and informative assessment techniques is comparing your self-assessment to assessments from others. Getting feedback from others can seem difficult, time consuming, even threatening. But because self-assessments are often out of line with how others see us, relying on that view alone is deceptive and dangerous. That’s why CCL uses 360-degree feedback and other tools to create accurate and effective assessments.

Assessment Starting Points

• Which challenges have I had?

• What lessons did I learn?

• Have I leveraged the lessons adequately?

• Which challenges have I yet to experience?

• Can I get those experiences in my current position?

• What position within my domain can give me those experiences?

• Does my company offer a 360-degree f...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Why Seek Assessment, Challenge, and Support?
• Assessment
• Challenge
• Support
• Keeping Your Balance
• Suggested Readings
• Background
• Key Point Summary