What goes through your mind when you hear the word assessment? Did your eyes just roll? Did you think, “Here we go again? The latest gimmick on the market?”
Assessments can be a dime a dozen. However, they can also be a useful tool when approached with an open mind and an attitude of inquiry. It is important to remember that self-assessments are simply a reflection of how you showed up at the moment you answered each question. They are not a full out, factual, permanent determination of your character.
This is not to say that self-assessments have no value. In fact, the results can be eye-opening and revealing. How the results are used is what adds to the value of the assessment. Are the results just a printout on a piece of paper shoved in a file folder, or do they serve to help set a direction for self-improvement? Are they just numbers on a screen or a hint of opportunity?
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Assessments can cost thousands of dollars or they can be free. Follow-up can involve consultants and experts or simply clicking links to related articles. Assessments can be personal, completed by just yourself, or they can be 360-degree style, involving your peers, direct reports, and immediate supervisor.
One assessment that I really like is called the Leadership Legacy Leadership Styles Assessment (Galford & Maruca). It is just thirty questions and will take about five minutes to complete. Online scoring is provided immediately, along with an explanation of what the score means. I have found it to be usually on target. Scores are revealed for six natural leadership types:
- Ambassador – instinctively knows how to handle a variety of situations with grace. They tend to be the people diffusing nasty situations. The ones getting involved in conflicts on behalf of broad constituencies, as opposed for their own benefit.
- Advocate – instinctively acts as the spokesperson in a group. They tend to be articulate, rational, logical, and persuasive. They also tend to be relentless (in the positive sense of the word), championing ideas or strategic positions.
- People Mover – Talent-spotter, career-builder, motivator, someone with parental, nurturing qualities. People Movers instinctively take the lead in building teams. They’re also instinctive mentors.
- Truth-Seeker – Fairness, good judgment, equalizer, level-headed, process-oriented, scrupulous neutrality, objectivity is the high standard. This is the only role for which there is a “prerequisite;” Truth-Seekers are unfailingly competent in their field; their competence is unquestioned.
- Creative Builder – These individuals are visionaries and entrepreneurs – they are happiest and most driven at the start of things. They instinctively: see new opportunities for new products, new companies; spot niche markets; take ideas and make them real.
- Experienced Guide – have an ability to listen, and to put themselves in others’ shoes. They have a way of helping people think through their own problems; they are natural therapists. Often, they are seemingly bottomless wells of information on a diverse range of topics.
More details are available on the website. You can also download a brochure about The Leadership Legacy book here and you can order the book here. However, even if you just take the online assessment and read the online results, you will still learn – or, perhaps confirm -something about yourself.
It can also be a quick team activity to help understand what each member’s style reflects. The more you know about yourself, and the more your team knows about each other, the better chance you have of working well together.
My scores were highest (and nearly identical) for Ambassador, Truth-Seeker, and Experienced Guide. I think the results suit me.
How about you? Take the assessment and let me know if you think it matches your natural leadership tendencies. Or, share with us another assessment that you have found to be useful.
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Eleanor Biddulph is the Executive Vice President of Client Services at Progressive Medical, Inc.
She can be reached at [email protected]
I am a BIG assessment fan. I use the DiSC assessment for much of my teambuilding and communication training along with executive coaching. I agree with Eleanor, “how you showed up at the moment you answered each question” is very important. I remind my clients to put their “work hat’ on as they are completing the assessment.
I also believe another key to gaining true value from ANY assessment is to have a trained expert walk you through your results. As Eleanor shares, sometimes our eyes are not as open as they could be and an outside expert can help you better understand what the assessment reveals and how you could use the results for short and long term improvement.
The DiSC assessment allows you and your teams to:
• Celebrate individual and team strengths and weaknesses and learn to effectively work together.
• Appreciate personal diversity.
• Build relationships in our challenging environment.
• Begin to set aside ineffective habits and attitudes.
• Build new skills and habits for collaborating.
• Learn to be effective with all kinds of people.
• Create a dialogue about personal preferences, frustrations and differences.
If you would like further information feel free to explore; http://www.klrconsulting.com/DiSC/index.htm
I would love to hear how assessments have supported you and your teams growth. Thanks!!
One reason I’ve found myself cynical about assessments would be the “horoscope factor”. Regardless of the results, people can identify with them. In most cases, the tools usually include the security statement “all of these characteristics exist in all of us to some extent…” or something to that effect.
Still, to your point that the value comes from what you do with the results – I would recommend Strenghts Finder 2.0 from Tom Rath and Gallup. See:
http://www.strengthsfinder.com/113647/Homepage.aspx
The application is made very easy by the tools and processes for mobilizing what you’ve discovered being provided within your results – which are all online.
Everyone in our organization has done the assessment, and we are trying to focus on one another’s strengths. That’s a positive and worthwhile result in and of itself.
Kristi and Andrew – thank you both for stopping by L2L, commenting on my post, and for suggesting other assessments our readers can explore. Your experiences and expertise offers great value to us. Please stop back often!
What’s your management style? I just learned about a new assessment produced by Inscape Publishing called the Everything DiSC Management Profile and it is free. If you go to:
http://www.everythingdisc.com/training309
before June 30th and request a personal code you will have access to a free $80 report. I completed the assessment, found it very informative and am using it with a number of my clients.
I wanted to share this opportunity with you. Have fun and let me know what your management style is and how what you learn about bringing out the best in each of your employees.