Look beyond assessment tools to find a full, honest account of your strengths and weaknesses
“Assessments are helpful, but they’re not the be-all and end-all of leadership development
Kellogg Insight
All leaders need some way to evaluate their current performance so they can continue to grow as decision-makers, managers, and colleagues. But what is the best way to find a full, honest account of one’s strengths and weaknesses—and then to act on it?
“Many leaders have the same questions,” says Karen Cates, adjunct professor of executive education at the Kellogg School. “‘How do I assess myself? How do I become more self-aware? And how can I turn that self-awareness into an effective leadership style?’”
Cates and her colleague, Brenda Ellington Booth, a clinical professor of leadership at Kellogg, have many years of experience coaching leaders through this particular challenge. Here are their four steps for becoming a more self-aware leader.
1. Look beyond assessments.
Cates and Booth both agree that assessment tools—and there are many—can be helpful. They see these tools as a way for leaders to gain new perspectives on themselves, their values, and their motivations.
“Anything that gives you a language to understand your thought patterns and behaviors can help crystallize self-awareness,” Cates says. “Leadership is dynamic, and sometimes you need to break out of the way you’ve always done things and see new possibilities.”
But the pair caution that these assessments should be thought of not as the end of the self-evaluation process, but as the beginning—as catalysts to start the kinds of discussions that lead to important insights.
“Assessments are helpful, but they’re not the be-all and end-all of leadership development,” Booth says. “So any assessment tool you use should be followed by a conversation with a coach, boss, or peers, because it’s important to get qualitative feedback face-to-face. It should be more like a conversation, where you can ask follow-up questions.”
Those conversations can be timed to the assessments themselves, because their results make the request for deeper feedback a natural next step. Cates and Booth recommend opening the conversation by asking to sit down and talk about how you might interpret and act on the results of the assessment, including asking for examples of how those results have played out in your work with your colleagues. Creating space for open-ended questions will allow others to add to your understanding of how the assessment might influence your personal and professional development.
Cates also recommends you tailor the questions for the person you are asking. “Your coach is going to dive deep with you. Your boss has her own goals when it comes to your leadership skills. Your peers may be more reticent. If you approach the conversation as a genuine opportunity to learn, you can help others provide more input to flesh out your assessment results.”