This blog is a companion to the four-part interview series, âLeaders Building Self-awareness by Stepping Through the Worldview Membrane: Learning to Engage your Organization,â with Christopher and Sheila Cooke on the VoiceAmerica Business Leadership show âInnovative Leaders Driving Thriving Organizations,â begins July 12. The first interview is a conversation about personal freedom and flow, and how they used the online LeaderView Self-Assessment to build it. This conversation includes a discussion of how the assessment helps leaders discover their leadership strengths and biases. This blog is a companion to the interview series.
This model and approach are pulled from the Innovative Leadership Workbook for Emerging Leaders. Before moving to the assessment, I wanted to provide a post on how we use assessments in the leadership development process. The process shown below suggests that the first part of the development process involves creating a compelling vision for yourself for your future. If you donât have one, we recommend using the information in this post as the foundation for assessment and analysis.
To validate your vision, we find that reading futurist publications in specific industries is helpful. The role of the futurist is to evaluate current trends and build possible scenarios for how the future might unfold. By building on your capacities for leadership, you can use these scenarios as part of your planning process to provide insight into overall societal trends, ensure that you are well prepared for the potential impact of ever-changing business conditions, and suggest imminent scenarios that help you navigate those trends effectively.
There are several organizations providing very effective views into the future. One that we regularly reference is The Arlington Institute (TAI), founded in 1989 by futurist John L. Petersen. It is a nonprofit research institute that specializes in thinking about global futures and creating conditions to influence rapid, positive change. They encourage systemic, non-linear approaches to planning and believe that effective thinking about the future is enhanced by applying emerging technology. TAI strives to be an effective agent of advancement by creating intellectual frameworks and toolsets for understanding the transition in which we are living.
Once you develop (or refine) your vision, it is time to examine your strengths and development opportunities. This step will help you refine and clarify those strengths and weaknesses. In the interview series, we will be walking through the assessment process using the LeaderView assessment tool set. Once you take the assessment, you will then decide which areas you would like to improve by building on what you already do well and addressing weaknesses. Your approach to development will depend on the assessment results and what you need to be and do to accomplish your vision while living your values
We recommend using a general guideline that focuses 80 percent of your effort on building your existing strengths and 20 percent on addressing weaker areas. Though this a general approximation, the 80/20 rule is a directional one stemming from the belief that you are already successful and have simply taken the opportunity to further advance and refine your capabilities. If you find serious deficiencies, it will be important to address them quickly.
It is important to combine your vision with a firm understanding of your current performance,
abilities, and personality type. The data will help you become more aware of your strengths and weaknesses, and also clarify how others see you. By looking at your vision in conjunction with your assessment results, you should have the data required (or a solid start) to determine the gap between your current state (based on assessment data) and your vision.
Now to focus on the assessment process. One of the major values of using objective assessments is to uncover unconscious biasesâour way of seeing the world that we believe is innate and shared by others is actually unique to each of us. These biases influence all that you do. Research since the late 1970âs has shown that such biases are actually the basis of your leadership strengths. Through a process of assessment and self-discovery, leaders build self-awareness, learn what it means to step through the worldview membrane, and learn how to dramatically increase engagement in their organizations.
So, now to the interview series. This four-part series that will walk you through the process of taking the LeaderView assessment, interpreting it, and getting feedback from others as the foundation to support leadership behavioral change. After explaining the assessment tool and flow of the four-part series, the Cookes introduce two participants, Carla Morelli and Jim Svagerko, both accomplished leaders who took the assessment and share their development process with listeners. This conversation includes their discovery of how âadaptive intelligences,â or how we adapt to challenges we face, influence all that they think, say, and do. Morelli and Svagerko gain insight into the leadership signature they are next naturally growing into as well as appreciating the richness of their natural leadership, learning, emotional, organizational, decision-making, relationship, creative, and motivational biases. This process allows them to âlisten inâ to discussions with actual leaders discussing their development process.
We are very excited to share the step-by-step process of assessment and feedback with you, our readers and listeners. You can now get the value of the expert coaching of Christopher and Sheila and also listen into two very accomplished leaders. To take the LeaderView Assessment, just log onto the site created for the show and purchase the assessment to follow along. In addition, you will get an interpretation and planning manual. The assessment cost, including two participants giving 360 feedback, is $40.80 which is a 20 percent discount off the normal rate. You can also learn more about the show layout at the website
Author Information
Maureen Metcalf, founder and CEO of Metcalf & Associates, Inc., is a renowned executive advisor, author, speaker, and coach who brings thirty years of business experience to provide high-impact, practical solutions that support her clientsâ leadership development and organizational transformations. She is recognized as an innovative, principled thought leader who combines intellectual rigor and discipline with an ability to translate theory into practice. Her operational skills are coupled with the strategic ability to analyze, develop, and implement successful strategies for profitability, growth, and sustainability.
In addition to working as an executive advisor, Maureen designs and teaches MBA classes in Leadership and Organizational Transformation. She is also the host of an international radio show focusing on innovative leadership, and the author of an award-winning book series on Innovative Leadership, including the Innovative Leaders Guide to Transforming Organizations, winner of a 2014 International Book Award.
