Innovative Leadership Assessment
By Greg Smith
A leader is a person that inspires you to take a journey to a destination you would not go to by yourself. The traditional manager who maintains status quo leaving what he found will not be effective in today's environment. Today's business challenges revolve around change, innovation, passion and creativity. I developed the "Innovative Leadership Self-Assessment" as a self-evaluation tool for those wanting to know what competencies lead to business success now and in the future.
As times change, leadership skills must also change. What was successful in the past is still relevant, but may not be everything needed for the future. Use this assessment to rate yourself. You can also give it to others and have them provide you an honest appraisal.
Scoring Directions - Rate yourself or your organization on a score of 1 (lowest)--5 (highest) for each item. This assessment can also be used as a peer assessment by others on your standing in the organization.
- Process Management-Designs and manages processes that are efficient and effective. These processes support the delivery of either the organization's service or the manufacture of the organization's products. Processes move horizontally across organizational boundaries. Score yourself higher if you have identified your critical processes.
- Customer Driven-One of the highest leadership priorities is the ability to focus on the needs and expectations of customers. Do you build and maintain relationships with customers? Do you have metrics in place to measure customer satisfaction and customer loyalty? (Customers can also be employees). Add points if you know the needs, expectations and desires of your customers. Deduct points if there are only certain select parts of the organization having this information.
- Information Management-The innovative enterprise thrives on information. There are multiple avenues and many means of expressing the goals, plans, and status of the organization to all people working within the enterprise. The enterprise shares success stories, ideas with everyone. How many available means are available to improve communication? For example, meetings, LANs, bulletin boards, E-mail, etc. Score yourself lower if there is no organized system in place to spread information.
- Change Management-A leader of the organization is knowledgeable of and manages change appropriately. Dovetails ongoing programs and management philosophies into the strategic or business planning. Deduct more points if your last change action created anger, resentment and frustration.
- Innovation-Makes focused efforts to initiate new ideas and suggestions. The leader is constantly looking at other industries and trends to see beyond the horizon for new ways to do things. The organization does not maintain status quo. Add one point if people from your organization have taken site visits or benchmarked other organizations during the past six months.
- Continuous Improvement-Continuously improving everything the enterprise does. Processes and procedures are constantly being improved. Score yourself higher if you have a continuous improvement program. Deduct one point if it is only a "suggestion box."
- Obstacle Removal-The innovative leader spends time pinpointing and removing barriers and obstacles obstructing work flow. Employees feel free to go to anyone in the organization for advice and assistance. Deduct points if you have not had an employee survey or sensing session during the past year.
- Charts the Course-Provides a clear direction toward the future. Are you enthusiastic and inspiring others to take a journey to a particular destination? If there is no clear direction or inspiring vision, mark yourself low. Give yourself points if people are involved in the goal setting process.
- Provides Motivation-You have a system of reward and recognition. Team based rewards lead to higher morale. Employees feel that they are contributing to the vitality of the enterprise. Give yourself two points if you have provided recognition to a worker or team during the past five days. Reduce points if you only recognize length of service.
- Trust Builder-This leader allows people to learn from their mistakes and allows risk taking. The leader who tolerates risk taking scores higher in innovation. Bad signs--more than two signatures on any form, too many auditors and inspectors and time clocks.
- Provides Purpose-Purpose gives people a reason why they should work for this organization. People relate best to the enterprise when they understand how their actions relate to the big picture. The person who understands how their actions affect the organization is more empowered to take action.
Add up your scores from all of the above categories.
TOTAL SCORE = __________
Results:
Excellent 55-50
Good 49-44
Average 43-33
Needs Improvement 32-0
Note where you excel and fall short. Resolve to work on your weaknesses and play upon your strengths in the New Year.
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