Running head: LEADERSHIP PROFILE RESULTS

Leadership Profile Results and the Organizational Leadership Program

Melissa Sheldon (Student #253354)
Siena Heights University Graduate College
December 9, 2016

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Table of Contents

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3
Leadership Profile Results .............................................................................................................. 3
General Observations .................................................................................................................. 3
Transactional Leadership ............................................................................................................ 5
Capable management. .............................................................................................................. 5
Reward equity.. ........................................................................................................................ 6
Transformational Leadership ...................................................................................................... 6
Transformational leadership behaviors ................................................................................... 7
Transformational leadership characteristics ............................................................................ 9
Leadership Potential...................................................................................................................... 10
Leadership Strengths ................................................................................................................. 11
Leadership Weaknesses............................................................................................................. 12
Impact of Graduate Studies ........................................................................................................... 13
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 14
References ..................................................................................................................................... 15

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Leadership Profile Results and the Organizational Leadership Program

As a student in the Organizational Leadership program at Siena Heights University, I am
required to evaluate my leadership potential using the leadership profile 360-degree assessment
tool. This tool is designed to provide detailed information regarding my leadership abilities as
well as useful feedback for me to become a more effective leader by providing a side by side
snapshot of my personal assessment results along with the aggregated results of my observers,
including my peers, subordinates, and supervisors. This paper summarizes my assessment results
and provides an overview of my leadership potential, including my strengths, weaknesses, and
opportunities for growth.
Leadership Profile Results
The leadership profile assessment tool was created by Rosenback and Sashkin (2014) for
the purpose of helping leaders identify their strengths and weakness in order to become more
effective. They define leaders as individuals who help create opportunities, identify choices,
solve problems, and build commitment. Leaders are able to do these things by inspiring their
coworkers and helping them to construct a shared vision of their individual, organizational, or
community potential that is much bigger than any one person. The leadership profile results are
provided for transactional and transformational leadership traits. The results provide insight
regarding leadership strengths and weaknesses in addition to the opportunities for becoming a
more effective leader.
General Observations
Overall trends in each assessment section indicate that I underestimate my leadership
potential when compared to the opinions of my observers. A difference of more than ten points
between my score and the score I received from my peers is statistically significant and indicates

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a real difference in opinion between myself and my observers (Rosenback & Sashkin, 2014). My
personal score was more than ten points lower than that of my peers in both transformational
leadership behaviors and characteristics which indicates a real difference in opinion regarding
my leadership ability in these areas. Figure 1 shows my personal assessment results along with
the results of my observers for comparison.
The Leadership Profile Results for Melissa Sheldon (November 2016)

Figure 1. Comparison of Melissa Sheldons personal assessment results and the results of her
observers for transactional leadership, transformational leadership behaviors, and
transformational leadership characteristics.
I anticipated that my scores would be slightly lower than those of my observers because I
tend to not give myself credit for my abilities in many areas, however, I did not expect my results
to be significantly lower. Out of our entire class group, my personal score in transformational
leadership characteristics was the lowest which indicates a major lack of confidence in this area.
The following provides a detailed breakdown of my scores for each section of the assessment
along with my personal reflection.

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Transactional Leadership
According to Stevens (2010), transactional leaders are considered to be traditional in the
sense that they are efficient in the exchange of money for labor. Further, Rosenback and Sashkin
(2014) indicate that transactional leaders recognize the rewards that followers want in exchange
for their work and do their best to make the followers get what they desire in order to enhance
performance. Good transactional leaders understand what motivates their followers to do their
best work. However, the best traditional leaders inspire their followers and help them build their
confidence in order to reach their goals personal and professional goals. Transactional leaders
ensure smooth day-to-day operations and are generally more concerned with immediate issues or
short-term goals rather than strategic initiatives or long-term goals (Ingram, 2009). I rated myself
the highest in transactional leadership because I have the most experience as a day-to-day
manager of projects and people. I am more comfortable with short-term goals and I am confident
in my ability to make sure daily tasks are completed in a timely manner. Overall, my peers
provided much higher scores when evaluating my transactional leadership abilities than I
provided myself.
Capable management. The capable management scale measures how well leaders
handle day-to-day managerial tasks to ensure the smooth operation of an organization
(Rosenback & Sashkin, 2014). My personal score in capable management was more than ten
points lower than the score I received from my peers which indicates that my peers view me as a
more capable manager than I view myself. Reflecting upon my score in capable management, I
do not think I gave myself credit for my management abilities. I pride myself on making sure
others have the resources they need to get their job done well and I provide ample support and
training when needed. I believe I received a much higher score from my peers than I gave myself

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because they have experienced the support I provide in addition to the smooth operation of the
department I work in. I ensure my team members have what they need in order to succeed and
the high score from my observers proves that I am a capable manager.
Reward equity. The reward equity scale measures a leaders ability to communicate
their expectations and goals regarding performance and their ability to follow through with
rewards (Rosenback & Sashkin, 2014). According to Schrage (2015), workers respond to
incentives or a lack thereof in the workplace. In order to effectively offer incentives to
employees, a leader must be able to communicate their expectations for the individual or team of
workers. My score in this area was very similar to the score given by my peers. On the overall
scale, I fall right in the middle when it comes to reward equity. I suspect I am in the middle on
this metric because I am not great at communicating my expectations of others. Rather than
being very direct, I tend to provide a vague idea of what I expect and make an assumption that
my subordinate knows what I want. As a result of the leadership profile assessment, I have
identified reward equity and the communication of my expectations as an area that can be
improved.
Transformational Leadership
While transactional leadership skills are necessary for the smooth day-to-day operation of
an organization, transformational leadership skills allow an organization to flourish and reach its
full potential. According to Rosenback and Sashkin (2014), the creators of the leadership profile,
transformational leaders influence their followers to perform above and beyond expectations.
Transformational leaders think strategically in nature and are able to relate to their peers on a
deeper level of understanding when it comes to the goals of the organization and the culture
within. While I am skeptical of my own abilities to become an effective transformational leader,

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I do help others craft a vision of their personal, professional, and educational goals and help them
set reasonable, attainable goals in order to achieve them. Overall, my personal scores were more
than ten points lower in both transformational leadership behaviors and characteristics.
Transformational leadership behaviors. Transformational leadership behaviors
include, communication, credibility, caring, and enabling. I received the highest overall score
from my peers in transformational leadership behaviors.
Leadership communication. With a score of only 21, I ranked myself the lowest of all in
leadership communication. My peers provided a score of nearly 50 for my abilities in this
category which indicates a large deficit when it comes to my understanding of how I relate to
those around me. According to Rosenback and Sashkin (2014), the leadership communication
scale assessed my ability to manage and direct the attention of others through especially clear
and focused interpersonal communication (p. 9). While I care deeply about my peers and their
feelings, ideas, and aspirations, I find it difficult to communicate complicated topics to them on a
regular basis. I believe I have a hard time with this because I tend to second guess myself and not
view myself as the subject matter expert even when I am. Based on the scores provided by my
peers, I am better at communicating complex ideas than I thought, however, I still need to work
on my confidence in this area.
Credible leadership. Establishing trust is the first step in forming a working relationship
with others. Credible leaders can be relied upon and they follow through with their
commitments. Effective leaders know how to engage individuals from all levels of the
organization in order to fix issues as they arise (Dougherty, 2013). I am very good at establishing
and maintaining meaningful working relationships with others, no matter what the setting is.
Kasson (2016) indicates that understanding both the needs and the priorities of others is the basis

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of building strong professional relationships. This open and honest communication is a give and
take process where both parties must participate in order for trust to develop and for the outcome
to be considered a win-win. I pride myself on being a trustworthy member of the organization I
represent and I am not surprised that my personal scores aligned well with the scores provided by
my peers in this area.
Caring leadership. Caring leadership is the only category that I ranked myself nearly
identical to the ranking provided by my peers. I feel as though I am very strong when it comes to
constant and consistent concern and caring for others. According to Rosenback and Sashkin
(2014), caring leaders respect the feelings of others and value diversity. Transformational leaders
are able to use diversity as a strategic advantage because they are able to embrace and empower
the unique qualities and abilities of each staff member in order to achieve peak performance. I
am known to express genuine care and concern for others on a regular basis. As a result, I am
able to form close relationships with my peers, both internally and externally. I pride myself on
making others feel as though they are an active part of the organization I work for. I work hard to
make sure everyone is included in the decision making process at work so I am not surprised by
my high scores in the caring category.
Enabling leadership. Effective leaders encourage risk taking and encourage their
followers to take on challenges in the workplace (Rosenback & Sashkin, 2014). Essentially,
effective leaders enable their peers to take on challenges and they are able to create
opportunities. My peers provided a high score in this area which I believe reflects my ability to
encourage personal and professional growth. My work involves a lot of risk taking because we
are often working on research projects that have not been attempted by any other organization. I
provide a safe environment for my peers to fail which enhances the quality of our work. In

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addition to creating opportunities for learning and growth, I also ensure that each staff member
on my team has all of the resources they need to do their job. I am not surprised that the score
provided by my peers is high in this area because I consistently include them in the planning
processes and help them learn from their failures or mistakes.
Transformational leadership characteristics. Transformational leadership
characteristics include, confidence, follower empowerment, visionary abilities, and the ability to
build and maintain strong organizational cultures. My biggest surprise came from my results in
this area because I did not expect high scores from my peers.
Confident leadership. My personal scores indicate a general lack of confidence in my
own leadership abilities when compared to the scores provided by my peers. I was shocked to
see that my peers provided a score more than 25 points higher than my own evaluation of my
confidence. According to the creators of the leadership profile, Rosenback and Sashkin (2014),
this scale measures the extent to which a leader possesses and displays self-confidence (p. 6). I
must exude more confidence than I am aware of. I doubt my own abilities often, but I should not
do this anymore after reviewing my results. If my peers believe in me, I should believe in myself.
Undoubtedly, I have the biggest opportunity for improvement when it comes to my confidence.
Follower-centered leadership. The best transformational leaders use power by sharing it
with others rather than exercising power and authority over others (Rosenback & Sashkin, 2014).
I received the lowest score from my peers in this area. I believe I received the lowest score in this
area because I do not hold a position of authority within the organization I represent. The
questions in this section of the assessment made me uncomfortable because they referred to
using power to control the actions of others which I would never do. Therefore, I am not
surprised by my results in this section.

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Visionary leadership. I have never considered myself to be a visionary because I do not

feel as though I am the best person to develop a long-term future plan for the organization I
represent. However, I am great at assessing the needs and expectations of my followers in order
to discuss and defend their vision for the organizations future. I received a high score from my
peers in this section which was surprising to me because I tend to be more focused on short-term
goals rather than long-term, strategic goals.
Culture-building leadership. An effective transformational leader helps develop and
support shared core values and beliefs among group members (Rosenback & Sashkin, 2014, p.
8). I am rather intuitive when it comes to recognizing organizational habits and discussing them
with my peers. According to Watkins (2013), an organizations culture is a set of consistent,
observable patterns of behavior. A general awareness and monitoring of the organizations
morale along with the communication of the mission and vision are two areas that I feel I excel
in. While my personal score was low, the score I received in this section of the assessment from
my peers was over 55. I feel as though my high score reflects my dedication to the organization I
represent and my ability to lead by example when it comes to working hard to achieve shared
goals.
Leadership Potential
After reviewing my assessment results, I see plenty of opportunities for improving my
leadership abilities. I am committed to continuous learning and I am a firm believer that I will
never reach a point where there is no opportunity for improvement. The following is a summary
of my leadership strengths and weaknesses along with my personal goals for improvement in
both areas.

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Leadership Strengths
Although I have yet to become the leader desire to be, I possess many strengths that I will
continue to develop both personally and professionally. I have been told by several people that I
am a very caring and kind person. I pride myself on my ability to relate to people of all different
walks of life and provide empathy in most situations. According to Mayer, Goleman, Barrett, and
Gutstein (2004), leaders can read and regulate their own emotions while intuitively grasping
how others feel and gauging their organizations emotional state (p.1). I am skilled at
considering any given situation from multiple perspectives in order to make the best possible
decisions for myself and the organization I represent. I provide compassion and understanding in
nearly every situation I face even if I disagree with the decisions being made or the overall
outcomes. Essentially, I lead from my heart which makes me a strong contributing member of
any team. And, even though I lead from my heart and display a strong passion for the work I do,
I am not easily taken advantage of. I am a strong communicator that is able to easily establish
meaningful relationships with my peers based on my open and honest style. Pinet and Sander
(2013) identify building trust as the most critical aspect of a long-term professional relationship.
Arguably, establishing and maintaining relationships with others is the most important aspect of
becoming an effective leader. Without relationships with others, I would have no one to
represent in any short or long-term goals.
I plan to expand my relationship building and maintenance abilities externally on behalf
of my employer. I will measure my success in this area by the number or repeat clients that
contact our organization for assistance. I will also measure my success by the overall satisfaction
of our board member organizations and their staff members. In order to further develop my
follower-centered leadership abilities, I plan to seek out the ideas and opinions of others more

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often as a way to expand our service delivery, but to also be more inclusive of our entire team in
organizational decisions. Lastly, I will continue to enhance my day-to-day transactional
leadership abilities while also training new full-time staff members and interns on how to
effectively manage the operations of our department.
Leadership Weaknesses
In order to become a more effective leader I will need to become much more confident in
my own abilities. Confidence is often identified as one of the qualities that make a great leader.
Prive (2012) discusses how followers take their cues from their leader which deepens the
importance of confidence. A confident leader will inspire a confident team. I was recently
promoted to the position of Research Senior Manager from Senior Research Analyst and I
expressed my concerns regarding the new position to my departing supervisor. She told me that I
have always been much harder on myself than anyone else ever has been or will be in the future.
She explained to me that I am more than capable of filling a senior leadership position within the
organization and that I need to stop second-guessing myself. In order for me to succeed in my
new position, I need to heed her advice and believe in myself. Undoubtedly, others will become
concerned about my abilities if I am not confident in them myself. Aside from my lack of
confidence, I view my lack of strategic vision as a weakness. At times, I am not able to think
strategically or on a long-term basis because I become engrossed in the short-term goals or dayto-day management tasks. A very reputable woman once told me to remember that no one person
is smarter than I am. She told me that every person has different experiences and that others may
be experienced in areas that I am not as familiar with, but that does not discount my opinion on
the matter because I have experience that the others lack. Her overarching message was for me to
not be intimidated by others who may have different experiences than I do. Lastly, I need to

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improve upon my communication skills. Specifically, I need to work on the communication of

expectations and complex ideas when working with my peers.
In order to improve upon my weaknesses, I need to become confident in my abilities.
Quite honestly, reading through my assessment results and writing this paper have helped to
boost my confidence dramatically because I was not aware of my many strengths. In order to
become a better strategic thinker and plan long-term rather than short-term goals, I need to
become more familiar with the inner workings of each department within the organization I work
for as well as our boards vision for our future. Schoemaker, Krupp, and Howland (2013)
recommend identifying key internal and external stakeholders and evaluating their interests and
vision to look for alignment. Lastly, I plan to develop my communication skills regarding
expectations and complex ideas by asking more questions. I will be a more effective leader if I
have a better understanding of what my teammates expect or need from me.
Impact of Graduate Studies
I am far from the effective leader that I hope to be in the future, but I am much more
aware of what it will take to get me to where I want to be as a result of the organizational
leadership program. As a mentor of mine used to say, I now have all of the tools in my toolbox
and now I just need to go build the house. The organizational leadership program has provided
me with the opportunity to learn more about myself than I ever anticipated. I now have a better
understand of my current abilities and I have already developed the confidence I need to take
more risks and gain new experiences. By putting myself in situations that would have otherwise
made me very uncomfortable, I have grown both personally and professionally. Specifically, I
am more comfortable asking questions when it comes to accounting and finance details,
organizational culture concerns, internal and external communication methods, and strategic goal

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setting. I now know what it takes to set our organization apart from other similar organizations
and how to evaluate our success both internally and externally. The lessons learned as a result of
my participation in this program will stay with me for a lifetime.
Conclusion
The organizational leadership program at Siena Heights University has been instrumental
in helping me identify and embrace my leadership potential. Ultimately, I would like to be the
type of leader that is able to create opportunities, identify choices, solve problems, and build
commitment in order to move the organization forward. I see myself motivating and inspiring
others to do great things and engaging in continuous improvement activities. I have learned that
leadership development is a process that should never end because people tend to change and
evolve as they gain new experiences. And, after all, we are leading people. Effective leadership
skills that worked well yesterday may not produce the same success tomorrow.

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References

Dougherty, J. (2013). The best way for new leaders to build trust. Harvard Business Review.
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Ingram, D. (2009). Transformational leadership vs. transactional leadership definition. Houston
Chronicle. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/transformational-leadershipvs-transactional-leadership-definition-13834.html
Kasson, E. G. (2016). Building trust. HRMagazine. 61(1), 24-28, 30. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1763732869?accountid=28644
Pinet, A., & Sander, P. (2013). The Only Negotiation Book You'll Ever Need. Avon, MA: Adams
Media.
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Stevens, C. (2010). Four things employees need from leaders. Harvard Business Review.
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Schoemaker, P., Krupp, S., & Howland, S. (2013). Strategic leadership: The essential skills.
Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2013/01/strategic-leadershipthe-esssential-skills
Schrage, M. (2015). Reward your best teams, not just star players. Harvard Business Review.
Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2015/06/reward-your-best-teams-not-just-star-players

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Watkins, M. (2013). What is organizational culture? And why should we care?. Harvard
Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2013/05/what-is-organizational-culture