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2 Self-Leadership OJO Images/SuperStock Learning Objectives After reading this chapter, you should be able to • Define the three components of career motivation.

• Identify and analyze how to overcome career barriers.

• Explain the importance of self-assessment for continuous learning.

• Describe common leadership traits and behaviors, including self-monitoring and self-regulation.

• Interpret clues about what is important for successful leadership in your organization.

• Illustrate how an organization uses a competency model to specify leadership abilities.

• Identify learning styles and drivers of self-development.

• Describe how one learns from new experiences and others’ challenges.

• Describe the value of feedback from your supervisor, subordinates, peers, customers, and others.

• Describe the value of assessment centers.

• Describe different types of training and development programs. Describe the value of role models, mentors, and coaches.

• Create a career development plan.

• Measure gaps in self-leadership.

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Introduction Introduction In Chapter 1, we provided an overview of the key roles of leadership: leading one’s self, lead- ing one to one, leading teams, and leading organizations. This chapter is about leading one’s self, or self-leadership. Self-leadership means engaging in continued growth and development that promotes self-understanding. A leader needs to par- ticipate in such activities to be successful in the long run.

Leaders must assess their own knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) and determine which competencies they need to acquire to effectively lead in their organizations.

Leaders need not only self-insight, but also insight about their environments. The world is constantly changing, and leading the way through the uncertainty of change requires that leaders understand how they affect and are affected by their environments.

Although leaders should continuously strive for improve- ment, they may not always be focused on developing and advancing their own careers. Leaders may also focus on developing others’ careers, as discussed in the next chap- ter. In this chapter, we concentrate on the goals leaders have for themselves. Career advancement is one goal, and it can take different forms and directions over time.

At lower levels in the organization—for example, Level III, where managers are managing managers (Hunt, 1991)—leaders typically want to attain higher levels of accountability and leadership responsibility. Once attained, leaders in and progressing through the higher levels of an organization are more likely to interpret career advancement in terms of self-satisfaction, contrib- uting to the growth of their organizations and the people in them, and building a better world (described as corporate social responsibility in Chapter 1).

The Mone-London organization model described in Chapter 1—also known as the direction- enabling organization model—can be applied to self-leadership, as seen in Figure 2.1. (Recall that we will be using this cyclical model to frame each chapter’s discussion and illustrate the relationship between the main themes of the chapter.) As noted in the figure, leaders must continually seek performance improvement, which is likely to contribute to career develop- ment and advancement. Motivation and effort toward performance improvement and career advancement requires ongoing assessment of oneself and the environment. In accordance with the model, we will discuss the personality and dispositional characteristics that are important for leadership, including career motivation, metacognitive skills, and the leader traits and behaviors that provide the foundation for the leadership styles addressed in Chap- ter 1. We will explore methods leaders can use for fostering self-development and insight, including assessments that focus on self-monitoring, learning styles, and innovative thinking.

We will also explore practices—performance enablers—in the work environment, which enhance role performance and results but, at the same time, foster self-assessment. These enablers include learning from experience, feedback processes, training and develop- ment, competency models, and role models, mentors, and coaches. When leaders practice Blend Images/Blend Images/SuperStock Leaders must engage in self- leadership to promote their own growth and development.

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Introduction self- leadership, they develop a better understanding of their own performance, absorb feed - back about their behaviors, and explore new and better ways of acting. As they do so, they assess the results, fine-tune their behaviors further, and develop goals and plans for their own learning, while moving toward performance improvement and career advancement. This is an ongoing cycle of continuous learning, continuous development of self-insight, and continu- ous performance improvement (London & Mone, 1999; Mone & London, 2010).

Figure 2.1: The Mone-London organization model applied to self-leadership The Mone-London organization model can be applied to self-leadership: The leader, at the top of the figure, continually works toward improving performance and advancing her or his career. Leaders remain aware of their personality and dispositional characteristics through ongoing assessment and use this information to influence their performance through key performance enablers. The resulting performance drives self-assessment, self-development, continuous learning and performance monitoring, which, in turn, influences the leader’s actions for performance improvement and career advancement. All of this takes place in the context of the environment.

This chapter contains many self-assessment questionnaires. Why the emphasis on question- naires? They are important to this leadership role because leaders can use them for self- assessment or for measuring gaps in the role of self-leadership. The self-assessments in this chapter focus on personality characteristics and dispositions and directions for changing and improving leadership behavior. As you complete these questionnaires, think about what you can do with the results. That is, use them to help you think more sharply about your own lead- ership characteristics—the type of leader you are or want to become—and what this means for development opportunities you should seek or the type of job and career you would like.

Also, use this chapter as an ongoing resource for self-assessment. Self-understanding is a continuous process, especially because we all change over time as we gain maturity, become more experienced, and therefore gain more wisdom. You might want to return to this chapter later as a resource to help you think through your leadership characteristics, and to help you understand how you react to different situations and how you might change your behavior and acquire new leadership skills.

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.1 Understanding Career Motivation 2.1 Understanding Career Motivation Self-leadership involves personal growth, personal devel- opment, and self-understanding. To grow and develop as a leader requires motivation. In this section, we discuss the topic of career motivation as a way to think about how you can better understand yourself as a leader and overcome bar- riers to career success. Career motivation literally refers to your desire and rationale for pursuing and engaging in a cer- tain career. One of the authors of this textbook, Manny London (1983, 2003), developed a theory of career motivation that outlined three domains of career motivation that drive every manager: insight, identity, and resilience. These three domains can be developed over time and are central to self-leadership.

Career Insight Career insight is the spark that jump-starts motivation. The spark might include the opportunities leaders find in their environments; extrinsic outcomes, such as money and pres - tige; or intrinsic outcomes, such as satisfaction and engage- ment. Career insight consists of two elements. The first ele- ment is self-knowledge—what leaders know about their strengths and weaknesses, including the extent to which their self-knowledge is comprehensive and accurate. The second element of career insight is knowledge of the environment—the opportunities and constraints leaders face or are likely to face and the demands of the environment, such as what it takes to get promoted to higher levels of responsibility. The story about Elon Musk (Spotlight: Elon Musk and Career Motiva- tion) shows the value of career insight as a motivator. Spotlight: Elon Musk and Career Motivation Elon Musk is the founder of PayPal, which has become one of the main alternatives for online money transfers and payments. After the company was sold, he went on to other challenges, including founding Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and investing in Tesla Motors. SpaceX is developing technologies to reduce the cost of space exploration, while Tesla Motors is known for its electric cars and car components.

Although Musk has said that he never wanted to run companies, Musk is the CEO and CTO of SpaceX and the CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors, as well as the chairman of other technology companies. He learned the hard way that startups need creativity and adaptability—something that “professional managers” do not necessarily have. In a 2011 Bloomberg Businessweek article, Musk compared business to “multidimensional probabilistic” chess—with himself as the agile chess master: “The same moves don’t (continued) Luciano Lozano/Ikon Images/SuperStock Building a career requires motivation and dedication.

What roles do insight, iden- tity, and resilience play in career motivation for you?

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.1 Understanding Career Motivation Spotlight: Elon Musk and Career Motivation (continued) always make you win,” he said. “My biggest differentiating skill is I can invent new pieces” (quoted in Brady, 2011, p. 76).

Because of the self-knowledge and self-insight that Musk gathered from his experience, he realized he was the right CEO to lead Tesla Motors and SpaceX to ensure their future success.

In many ways, he fits the model of the social entrepreneur discussed in Chapter 1.

Reflection Questions 1.

Do y ou have a clear sense of your strengths and weaknesses and the areas in which you want to improve?

Do y ou have a clear sense of the competencies you need to be successful in your current position or in your career, at least for the next 5 years?

Do y ou have a sense of the opportunities that are likely available to you and what you need to do to prepare for them? Transtock/SuperStock Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors. Self-knowledge is a function of several characteristics and cognitive processes, which we discuss from the perspective of being a leader:1.

Se lf-awareness refers to being cognizant of oneself as a leader. The extent to which leaders are aware of themselves may depend on the situation. For instance, in uncomfortable or new situations, leaders may be more aware of themselves than they are in routine, common experiences. Because self-awareness is situational, it may be more dependent on how leaders are feeling at the time (state of mind) than their permanent characteristics (traits).

Se lf-consciousness is dispositional; it is more like a fixed trait. One meaning of self- consciousness is feeling uncomfortable, for instance, the feeling one has when being observed. It also means being conscious of oneself as an individual. Self-conscious leaders, for example, don’t blame others for how they feel or behave. They are aware that their behaviors and feelings are part of themselves, originate with them, and can be controlled or changed.

Se lf-assessment is the process of leaders thinking about their characteristics and identifying their strengths and weaknesses in relation to what is required on the job and for their career.

Se lf-monitoring is the process of comparing one’s behavior to a standard and adjust- ing one’s behavior to meet that standard. The standard may be imposed externally (as when the board of directors establishes a high level of expectations for the CEO) or internally (as when leaders set goals and expectations for themselves). Self- monitoring is both a behavior and a personality characteristic, or natural tendency.

Leaders who are high in self-monitoring are sensitive to their environment and, in particular, to people and the impact they make on them. Self-monitors are better \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.1 Understanding Career Motivation able to regulate their behavior to meet the needs of the job. (We explain this more fully later.) 5.

Se lf-evaluation refers to the judgment leaders make of their capabilities and abilities.

Se lf-esteem refers to how leaders feel about themselves, based on their self-assess- ment and self-evaluation.

Self-assessment is the foundation for continuing to refine self-knowledge and knowledge of the environment. Leaders need to be in the habit of seeking information about themselves and thinking about their skills and knowledge and how their behavior affects others. Self- assessment recognizes that leaders can be their own source of feedback. Moreover, self- assessment enables leaders to set goals and regulate their behavior. This is especially impor- tant in varying organizational environments that impose different leadership expectations and change the relative importance of given leadership skills and knowledge. For example, as Elon Musk suggested, startup situations require more innovation and creativity than mature organizations do. Finally, leaders need to learn to determine what their supervisors and orga- nizations expect from them. Overall, self-assessment helps leaders reduce ambiguity in the environment, for instance, about performance expectations and leaders’ capability to meet those expectations (Ashford, 1989; London, 1997). Career Identity Career identity is the direction of your motivation, the goals you want to achieve, the activi- ties you want to participate in, and the ideas you want to develop. For the most achievement- oriented leaders, this might be becoming a senior executive—or even the CEO—and achieving the highest levels of responsibility and prestige in the organization or in a function, such as marketing or sales. For leaders lower in the organization, it could mean having a responsible position, making a secure livelihood, and having a well-balanced life with supportive family and friends. For others in the organization, career identity might mean their career takes a back seat to pursuing a hobby or interest, whether it is a sport, such as mountain climbing; a performing art, such as acting in community theater; or spirituality, such as prayer and religious involvement. Working becomes a means to achieving these goals. Career identity may be recognizing how much or how little one wants to achieve and being aware of that, accepting that as one’s career identity at least for the moment, and knowing that it can change if desired.

Career Resilience Career resilience comprises the set of personal characteristics that allow a leader to persist and overcome barriers. Possible career barriers might include personal characteristics, con- ditions, and events in the organization, such as the following, adapted from London (1998): • Lack of readiness, education, or expertise • Job dissatisfaction, stress, or burnout • Lack of certainty or direction (for example, when trying to find the right position after returning from a several-year assignment abroad) • Discrimination in the company based on characteristics other than job performance and ability \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.1 Understanding Career Motivation • Role conflict (for example, being responsible for increasing quantity of production while also leading a team that is trying to increase quality and reduce errors, which may mean slowing down production) • Others’ disapproval, rejection, unfavorable performance feedback, or public criticism • Lack of opportunity for career advancement • Demotion or being passed over for a promotion • Overall company or business unit failure • Change in ownership or reorganization of the business Most of us, including leaders, face career barriers at one time or another, and having strong career resilience enables us to overcome these career barriers. Career resilience consists of personality characteristics such as the following: • Self-esteem: Leaders’ confidence in themselves and their accomplishments; the beliefs and emotions that characterize their self-worth • Self-efficacy: Leaders’ belief that they can bring about positive outcomes for them- selves and others • Self-control: Leaders’ ability to influence their environments, the opportunities available to them, and what happens to them These three characteristics are similar in nature. Leaders who feel confident about them- selves believe they can control what happens to them and bring about positive outcomes.

And when the outcomes are not as positive as they hoped, they have to develop a thick skin.

They are able to determine what happened, recognize the mistakes they may have made or the conditions in the environment that brought about the outcome, and do better next time.

Leaders who are low on these characteristics, however, are likely to blame themselves, merely confirming their low self-image, and not try any harder next time. They are likely to withdraw in the face of a career barrier.

Consider your own self-esteem, and take Assessment 2.1. How would you rate yourself on the following items, which were developed to measure self-esteem?

Assessment 2.1: Do You Have High or Low Self-Esteem?

Visit your e-book to complete this assessment electronically.

Instructions: Answer yes or no to the following questions to evaluate your self-esteem.

I f eel that I am a person of worth, at least on an equal basis with others.

I belie ve that I have a number of good qualities.

I am able t o do things as well as most other people are.

I tak e a positive attitude toward myself.

On the w hole, I am satisfied with myself. (continued) \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.1 Understanding Career Motivation Assessment 2.1: Do You Have High or Low Self-Esteem?

(continued) 6. All in all, I am inclined t o feel that I am a failure.

7. I f eel I do not have much to be proud of.

8. I wish I could ha ve more respect for myself.

9. I certainl y feel useless at times.

10.

A t times, I think I am no good at all.

Scoring & Analysis: In general, leaders high in self-esteem respond positively to statements 1–5 and negatively to statements 6–10. How did you score? If you have low self-esteem, consider listing—or asking a close friend to list—some of your good qualities to start viewing yourself in a more positive light.

Source: Adapted from Fedor, Rensvold, & Adams, 1992; Rosenberg, 1965; London, 2003, p. 42 Leaders who are low in self-esteem tend to behave in ways that protect them against nega- tive feedback. What does this mean behaviorally? Table 2.1 lists examples of self-protection mechanisms—ways leaders maintain their self-image in the face of negative feedback—that leaders with low self-esteem are inclined to use.

Table 2.1: Self-protection mechanisms Denial Giving upSelf-promotionFear of failure • Reacts negatively to feedback • Blames others for failure • Never admits mistakes • Inhibits others’ performance • Does not accurately perceive one’s own performance; infrequently asks for feedback • Does not give credit where it is due • Does not accurately perceive the perfor- mance of others • Does not accurately describe events • Abandons difficult tasks • Avoids being com- pared with better leaders • Tunes out others who perform better • Reacts negatively to constructive feedback that can improve performance • Dislikes better- perf orming execu- tives and leaders • Does not try hard or difficult tasks • Does not stick to the task until success is achieved • Makes sure oth- ers know about successes • Seeks praise • Overly concerned about status symbols • Talks about own good performance • Makes others feel compelled to say good things about his or her performance • Points out own strengths when criticized • Gets upset by own poor performance • Tries to prevent oth- ers from doing well • Tries to convince others they are wrong • Tries to raise others’ opinions of self • Downplays own weaknesses • Is concerned about making the “right” career moves Source: Adapted from Wohlers & London, 1989; London, 1997, p. 124; London, 2003, p. 43 \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.1 Understanding Career Motivation Do you recognize these behaviors in leaders you know, or in yourself ? Most people, including leaders, show some elements of self-protection, sometimes referred to as defense mecha- nisms (Freud, 1966; Ket de Vries, 1993). Generally, we all try to enhance our egos and self- image. We want others to like us, and we want to think well of ourselves. Yet we all have self-doubts. And so do leaders! When leaders recognize these self-protection mechanisms in themselves, it helps them guard against behavior that has dysfunctional outcomes—that is, that hinders their own performance and the performance of their organizations—and behav - ior that may become a barrier to their own career opportunities.

In the leadership workshops we conduct and when coaching leaders one to one, we suggest they consider the following reflective questions for analyzing a significant career barrier. You may also want to consider these questions for yourself in response to a real barrier you have encountered or one that you can imagine arising in your future.

• How would you describe the career barrier?

• How did you react to it?

• Did you react in ways that were defensive and protected your self-esteem?

• Did you react in ways that allowed you to overcome the barrier?

• What personal characteristics do you think helped you at the time?

• What personal characteristics made the situation more difficult for you?

• What would you do differently next time if you faced a similar situation?

In addition to outlining the three domains of career motivation, Manny London also devel- oped ways to assess that motivation. Take the following survey to assess your overall career motivation. At the senior leadership levels, we recommend that the leader take this self- assessment and that the leader’s direct reports also complete the assessment about their leader to help the leader recognize potential blind spots. In essence, this assessment can be used as a multi-rater feedback tool. We discuss the use of multi-rater and 360-degree assess - ments later in this chapter. Please complete the assessment before reading further. Assessment 2.2: How Strong Is Your Career Motivation?

Visit your e-book to complete this assessment electronically.

Instructions: Assess your overall career motivation by indicating to what extent each statement is true for you.

1 = to a very little extent 2 = to some extent 3 = to a moderate extent 4 = to a considerable extent 5 = to a very great extent (continued) \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.1 Understanding Career Motivation Assessment 2.2: How Strong Is Your Career Motivation?

(continued) Insight 1. I ha ve clear career goals.

2. I ha ve realistic career goals.

3. I kno w my strengths (the things I do well).

4. I kno w my weaknesses (the things I am not good at).

5. I r ecognize what I can do well and cannot do well.

Identity 6. I define m yself by my work.

7. I w ork as hard as I can, even if it means frequently working long days and weekends.

8. I am in volved in my job.

9. I am pr oud to work for my company.

10. I belie ve that my success depends on the success of my company.

11. I am lo yal to my company.

12. I see m yself as a professional or technical expert.

Resilience 13. I am able t o adapt to changing circumstances.

14. I am willing t o take risks.

15. I w elcome job and organizational changes.

16. I can handle an y work problem.

17. I look f orward to working with new and different people.

Scoring & Analysis: Average the results for each domain of career motivation (insight, identity, resilience). The higher the average, the stronger the component of career motivation (4 and above is considered high, 3 is considered moderate, and less than 3 is considered low).

The following are some examples of how you might analyze your own pattern and determine its impact. Remember that your own pattern might not follow these examples, and you should consider how you might be able to strengthen insight, identity, and resilience if you are weak in those areas. • Averages for each set —insight, identity, and resilience— are all high (4 and above): – Str ong career motivation – Str ong foundation for resisting career barriers, maintaining a positive self- image and career direction, and remaining open to both favorable and unfa- vorable feedback • Averages for resilience and insight are high (4 and above); average for identity is low (less than 3): – Uncertain car eer direction – Str ong foundation for reestablishing career identity; failure is likely to be a learning experience and will likely help to get one back on track quickly • Average for resilience is weak (less than 3), insight is moderate (about 3), and identity is strong (4 and above): – Str ong career identity (continued) \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.1 Understanding Career Motivation Assessment 2.2: How Strong Is Your Career Motivation?

(continued) – Weak foundation for overcoming career barriers; this person may be open to learning from performance feedback but may be mired in self-doubt and may not have the underlying positive self-image to adjust behavior in relation to feedback, recalibrate her or his identity, and formulate potentially successful career goals Source: Copyright 2003 From Job feedback: Giving, seeking, and using feedback for performance improvement (2nd ed.) by M. London. Reproduced by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc. Strengthening Career Motivation A leader’s career insight and identity change over time as he or she is influenced by events and opportunities in the environment. For example, a leader’s insight may evolve when direct reports give the leader information about the leader’s performance or when the leader rec- ognizes the need to develop new skills based on changes in the company’s strategic direction.

A leader’s supervisor may also provide meaningful, constructive feedback about the leader’s performance—strengths and areas that need to improve—and ongoing discussions about performance make this feedback helpful. These are just some of the examples of ways that career insight can change and develop.

Identity also evolves based on the information gained from the leader’s environment. For example, if a leader’s supervisor is encouraging about advancement possibilities, gives positive feedback, and provides important and visible developmental assignments (work assignments that allow the leader to gain competencies that are not easy to obtain in the current position), the leader is likely to get the idea that he or she has considerable leadership potential. Or if the leader learns that the organization is growing and will be promoting others with similar skills and experience, the leader is likely to believe there is a clear path to move upward and to take on more responsibility and accountability. So the organization—the leader’s supervisor and colleagues, as well as the organizational policies, procedures, and information about changing demands—can influence the leader’s career insight and identity over time.

Career resilience, however, is more difficult to change. It is likely to be fairly well developed by the time one starts a career, and it changes very gradually as positive (or negative) outcomes are attained. Chances are one’s self-esteem, self-efficacy, and self-control stem from events and outcomes in childhood. As such, they are traits that are ingrained and not readily change- able. However, some elements of self-esteem, efficacy, and control may be state based and more subject to change over time based on exposure to new experiences—for instance, learn- ing a new skill and applying it in a particular situation. However, underlying traits are likely to influence the extent to which a leader can be successful and effective in any new learning situation. Ultimately, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and self-control will change only as the result of consistent feedback and evidence that one can control the situation and when there is posi - tive reinforcement for doing well. Consider the following strategies for increasing your career resilience, adapted from Newman (2005):

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.1 Understanding Career Motivation 1. Mak e connections. Close relationships with friends, relatives, civic groups, commu- nity groups, and other organizations can contribute to a sense of well-being.

A void seeing crises as insurmountable problems . Try to look beyond the problem, focus on the future, and gain strength from new opportunities that may present themselves.

A ccept that change is part of living . Certain goals may no longer be attainable. It is better to accept those circumstances and move on.

Mo ve toward your goal . Make a plan and take steps to work toward it every day.

T ake decisive action. Taking action will move you toward your goals and lift your spirits.

Look f or opportunities for self-discovery. Many people who experience work setbacks report that they grow during these challenging times and become stronger and more resourceful.

Nurtur e a positive view of yourself. The process of developing resilience also builds self-confidence.

K eep things in perspective. Keep a long-term perspective and try to keep from blow- ing the event out of proportion.

Maint ain a hopeful outlook. Focus your thoughts on the vision you want for your life and try to avoid nurturing your fears.

10.

T ake care of yourself. Eat well, exercise, and spend time with friends and family.

Although career resilience characteristics do not change easily, they can change, albeit slowly, as leaders develop self-monitoring and self-regulatory skills, which are called “metacogni - tive” skills. These skills are discussed in the upcoming section. The components of resilience influence these skills, but leaders can learn these skills and possibly build resilience. Steve Jobs was one leader who was able to develop over time and bring his company to extraordi - nary levels of success, as we discuss briefly in Spotlight: Steve Jobs and Strengthening Career Motivation.

Spotlight: Steve Jobs and Strengthening Career Motivation Steve Jobs, who died in 2011, was a charismatic, strong-willed design genius and entrepreneur and was well known as the cofounder of Apple and Pixar. His career path illustrates how career motivation can change over time.

Jobs founded Apple in 1976. Although clearly a visionary, Jobs was known for having an intense, combative, mercurial, domineering personality, and his lack of career insight during Apple’s early years eventually resulted in a power struggle over the direction of the company. Then-CEO John Sculley and the board—concerned about flagging sales and loss of market share to IBM—ousted Jobs in 1985.

(continued) \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.1 Understanding Career Motivation Spotlight: Steve Jobs and Strengthening Career Motivation (continued) Upon leaving Apple, Jobs then demonstrated his career re- silience by starting NeXT, Inc., an innovative computer and software company. His career identity remained intact: He still wanted to do what he loved. However, the struggle at Apple prompted him to reexamine himself as a businessman and as a leader. After Apple took a nosedive and bought NeXT in 1997 to refresh its product line, the company brought back Jobs in a consultant role, and, of course, he later became CEO. By this time, Jobs had further developed his career insight: Although he was still a challenging personality to deal with, he was described as being more mellow and open to ideas during his “second term” at Apple (Marcum & Smith, 2007). As we now know, he can claim to have resurrected Apple, which now has a larger capitalization than Microsoft and a loyal following for its groundbreaking, aesthetically pleasing, user-friendly products.

Jobs has been called many things, for instance, individualistic, manic, larger than life, forward thinking, aggressive, demanding, a task master, and self-centered (Deutschman, 2001; Simon & Young, 2005). In the end, his unique combination of personality characteristics—not to mention business savvy and design sense—gave him the resilience, insight, and identity he needed to overcome career barriers and maintain his significant presence as a major corporate leader.

Reflection Questions 1.

Gi ven what you know about Steve Jobs, which leadership characteristics would you emulate and why?

Which char acteristics of career motivation would you say were likely to be most important to Jobs’s success? Associated Press Steve Jobs (1955–2011) giving a presentation. Leadership in Review Reflect on your learning by answering the following questions:

1. Ho w do you describe the role of leading one’s self ?

What ar e the three domains of career motivation?

Wh y is self-assessment important?

What f actors support career insight and identity?

Ho w is resilience reinforced by rewards and outcomes?

What ar e self-protection mechanisms?

What ar e some ways a leader can increase resilience?

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.2 Recognizing Leadership Characteristics 2.2 Recognizing Leadership Characteristics Leadership characteristics are part of a person’s character, traits that are to some extent inborn, ingrained during our early years, and developed throughout our lives. Some examples of leadership characteristics include gender, intelligence, and personality. Some of these characteristics affect lead- ers’ career motivation, and leaders can learn to monitor and regulate how these characteristics affect their behavior. In this section, we address characteristics that are espe- cially important for the leader you are, the leader you want to be, and the leader you need to be to face the challenges of today and the future. Leaders can benefit from understanding how their characteristics, as well as their strengths and weaknesses (competencies), influence their overall behavior, affect how they relate to others, and ultimately determine their effectiveness.

Two characteristics in particular—the ability to self- monitor and to self-regulate—will be highlighted for their impact on overall leadership effectiveness. Inno- vative thinking will be discussed in depth, given its importance to leadership and organizational success in turbulent times.

Traits, Behaviors, and Effectiveness Leadership effectiveness is a function of leader characteristics and leader behaviors (for example, transformational, transactional, and full range leadership, as described in Chap- ter 1). Leader characteristics determine the behaviors leaders are likely to use, and these in turn influence the leader’s effectiveness. DeRue, Nahrgang, Wellman, and Humphrey (2011) conducted an important study to determine the characteristics and behaviors that were most important for leadership effectiveness. They reviewed a wide range of published studies in what is called a meta-analysis, in which researchers combine or average stud- ies’ results to arrive at results that are likely to be more conclusive than those from any one study alone.

DeRue et al. (2011) found that while 69% or less of the variation in leader effectiveness is due to factors beyond the leader’s control (environmental conditions, employees’ capabili - ties, and so on), traits and behaviors explain 31% of the reasons for a leader’s effectiveness.

DeRue et al. also found that, in contrast with leader behaviors, leader traits are more likely to be related to affective and relational criteria (how people work together, collaborate effec- tively, and treat each other with respect) than performance-related criteria. In the studies they surveyed, leader traits usually fell into three categories: demographics, task competence, and interpersonal attributes. Digital Vision/Thinkstock Self-monitoring leaders welcome feedback on their professional performance.

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.2 Recognizing Leadership Characteristics Demographics refers to traits including gender, age, ethnicity, height and weight, education, and social status. Task competence refers to traits including intelligence, conscientiousness, openness to experience, emotional stability, technical knowledge, and leadership self- efficacy .

In fact, conscientiousness—being painstaking, careful, and self-disciplined—was the trait that was most consistently related to leadership performance, indicating the importance of lead- ers paying attention to details and persisting in the face of barriers. DeRue et al. (2011) found that task competence traits were likely to predict task-oriented leader behaviors (e.g., initiat - ing structure and boundary spanning, or looking beyond one’s formal organization structure for insights about the market, competitors, etc.).

Interpersonal attributes refers to traits including extraversion, agreeableness, communi- cation skills, emotional intelligence (see Considering Emotional Intelligence), and political skills. The presence of these traits was more likely to predict relational-oriented behaviors, which have an effect on employees’ satisfaction with the leader. Notably, leaders who are high in extraversion and conscientiousness are likely to be viewed more positively, and lead- ers who are high in agreeableness (being personable and friendly) and conscientiousness are likely to improve the performance of their teams, compared with leaders who are low on these characteristics. Both competence and interpersonal attributes affected leaders’ change-oriented behaviors, such as communicating a vision and generating employees’ com- mitment to transformation.

What do these findings mean for leadership and organization development? Organizations and leaders can benefit from knowing the traits and behaviors that affect different outcomes.

Some leaders are likely to behave in ways that are task focused, and others in ways that are relationship focused. Leaders who recognize they are deficient in certain leader behaviors may then see how this influences how they spend their time. Leaders pay attention to behav - iors they need to learn and practice in order to have a balanced leadership style. DeRue et al.’s (2011) findings have implications for methods of assessing leaders’ strengths and weak - nesses and designing leadership development programs. In particular:

• Leaders should be encouraged to assert their leadership role actively because leadership affects performance. Leaders need to be proactive, not passively wait- ing until problems occur. Passive leaders need to work actively on overcoming laissez-faire tendencies. Recall that full range leadership theory states that laissez- faire and passive management are the two least effective forms of transactional leadership.

• Leadership assessment and development needs to focus on task competence, inter- personal attributes, and behaviors related to task structure, interpersonal relation- ships, and change. To be successful, leaders need to be task oriented (planning and scheduling work, for instance), relational oriented (supporting and helping employ- ees), and change oriented (encouraging and facilitating change).

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.2 Recognizing Leadership Characteristics Considering Emotional Intelligence Emotional intelligence, commonly abbreviated EQ, refers to having the capacity to understand and manage one’s own emotions, as well as the emotions of others.

Psychologist Daniel Goleman authored and coauthored a number of books on the topic of emotional intelligence; the first, Emotional Intelligence, was published in 1995 by Bantam Books. The book relied heavily on an article published in 1990 by Peter Salovey and John Mayer titled “Emotional Intelligence.” Most researchers would say that many claims made about the role and importance of EQ find little empirical support. However, research in the area of emotional intelligence continues.

Here are the four key components of emotional intelligence (Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, 2002). You will see that emotional intelligence relies on a leader’s self-insight and self- regulation and demands high levels of proficiency in relational-oriented behaviors.

Being se lf-aware: Reading and recognizing one’s own emotions, knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses, and having self-confidence 2.

Managing one’s emotions : K eeping disruptive impulses and emotions under control, acting with integrity, demonstrating adaptability, expressing openness and conscientiousness, taking initiative, and being optimistic 3.

Being aw are of others: Sensing others’ emotions and understanding their perspectives, reading and understanding organizational culture and politics, and being service oriented 4.

Managing r elationships: Inspiring followers through a compelling vision, being influential, developing others through feedback, driving change, resolving conflicts, and acting collaboratively Finally, note that, in addition to encompassing the traits and characteristics discussed in this chapter, many of the aspects of these four components are also key components of strategic leadership approaches discussed in Chapter 1: for example, inspiring followers (full range leadership) and being service oriented (servant leadership). Self-Monitoring and Self-Regulation In the discussion about leaders’ career motivation, you learned about the components of resil- ience, insight, and identity. Here, we look more closely at two personality characteristics that are closely associated with having insight and controlling your environment: self-monitoring and self-regulation. These can also be thought of as metacognitive skills that are important to having an accurate perception of one’s strengths and weaknesses as a leader. Monitoring your responses and regulating your behavior will increase awareness of the opportunities available, as well as job and environmental pressures.

As we discussed earlier in the chapter, self-monitoring is the process of comparing one’s behavior to an internal or external standard and adjusting one’s behavior to meet that stan- dard. It involves being sensitive to the world around you (London, 2003). Leaders who are high in self-monitoring seek and absorb feedback about themselves. They have learned to monitor \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.2 Recognizing Leadership Characteristics their environment in ways that give them objective information about themselves and about how they can change their behavior for the better. They want information about their strengths and weaknesses. They are able to accept negative feedback and make it constructive, helping them identify ways they can improve. Acting on this information increases their self- monit oring in the future and has the additional benefit of bolstering their self-esteem, making them feel better about themselves as well as more confident and competent in their leadership ability. Leaders who are high in self-monitoring are likely to engage in self-assessment often, if not continuously. It is part of the makeup of who they are. Through self-assessment, such as the questionnaires and reflection questions we present throughout this chapter, you can improve your self-monitoring skills and make this part of your behavioral repertoire.

How can we determine if we are monitoring our behavior? We suggest taking Assessment 2.3, which measures the extent to which leaders engage in self-monitoring. Assessment 2.3: Are You Engaging in Self-Monitoring?

Visit your e-book to complete this assessment electronically.

Instructions: Answer yes or no to the following questions to determine if you are engaging in self-monitoring.

I ha ve a sense of what other people think of me.

I can t ell when someone is not listening to me.

I closel y watch how others react when I am speaking.

I car e what people think of me.

I w ant to impress people.

I belie ve others see me in the way I see myself.

P eople understand me.

I r eact differently to different people.

I adjust m y behavior in relation to the situation.

10.

I w ant people to like me.

11.

I can t ell when people do not react well to something I have done.

12.

I can t ell when people are happy with something I have done.

Scoring & Analysis: In general, high self-monitoring leaders would respond positively to all the statements. Low self-monitoring leaders would respond negatively to these items.

How did you score?

Source: Adapted from Self Management in Organizations (pp. 6–8), by M. De Waele, J. Morval, and R. Sheitoyan, 1993, Boston, MA: Hogrefe & Huber Publishers. Copyright 1993 by Hogrefe & Huber Publishers. ConstantinosZ/iStock/Thinkstock Various internal and external factors contrib- ute to a leader’s effectiveness. As you read this section, think about what leader characteris- tics and behaviors you possess.

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.2 Recognizing Leadership Characteristics Self-regulation is another personality characteristic—one that is ingrained as one grows up but one that can be developed and changed with practice and reinforcement. It is the tendency to take action in response to events in one’s environment and to be proactive in self-learning (Carver & Scheier, 1998; Bandura, 1986, 1991). Leaders who are self-regulators take control.

They take action to evaluate progress toward their important goals and how close they are to achieving them. If they recognize that a goal is truly too difficult to achieve, they are able to disengage and set alternative goals (see a failure of this in Case Study: The Division Leader’s Stretch Goal). They organize their environments. They identify needed resources. They create plans and schedules for themselves. They monitor their behavior and its consequences and take action based on the information.

How can you evaluate your self-monitoring and self-regulation skills and tendencies that help you be a better leader? Take the following assessment to see what behaviors you already exhibit and those you can work to develop. Assessment 2.4: Are You Managing Your Attitudes and Behaviors?

Visit your e-book to complete this assessment electronically.

Instructions: Place a checkmark next to those statements in the checklist below that apply to you. I take care of myself physically.

I know where and when to set limits to guard my own well-being.

I understand ho w changes in my life have an effect on my development.

I show interest in developing my skills; I set development goals and plans for, and participate in, development activities.

I develop a realistic attitude in coping with life events, especially sudden, possibly stressful, changes. I actively cope with disappointments, deceptions, burnout, and depression.

I know when to say no and make sure I am prepared for the level of responsibility I take on.

I know that there are things in the environment that cannot be changed easily or at all, for instance, others’ attitudes.

I accept prior e xperiences, even if they are painful.

I balance the ener gy I expend on different aspects of life (body, emotion, money, love, work).

I understand that at times m y failure to self-manage may affect others negatively (e.g., mismanaging money may have repercussions for others).

In working with others, particularly direct reports, I am both directive and support- ive at the same time, rather than coercive or punitive.

(continued) \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.2 Recognizing Leadership Characteristics Assessment 2.4: Are You Managing Your Attitudes and Behaviors? (continued) I encourage others, particularly direct reports, to manage themselves rather than encourage submissiveness.

I understand not t o wait for the organization to provide opportunities for self- de velopment; I take charge of my own self-development. I prepare for the future through professional training or by learning new skills.

In interactions with others, especially supervisors, I exhibit responsiveness to the group and to authority while also expressing my autonomy.

I set my own standards for success and failure, with knowledge, but not blind accep-tance, of others’ expectations and standards.

I stay away from ideologies that do not support my own development.

I find it eas y to reduce my effort toward and stop thinking about a goal if it is truly too difficult to achieve; I can let it go.

I can set meaningful goals, as necessary .

If I must stop pursuing a goal, I tell myself that I have other new or meaningful goals to pursue.

Scoring & Analysis: If you have placed a checkmark next to a statement, then consider that a positive response and continue to engage in that behavior, as appropriate. For those statements that you left unchecked, determine what action you will take to develop that behavior. Source: Adapted from De Waele, Morval, & Sheitoyan, 1993; Wrosch, Scheier, Miller, Schulz, & Carver, 2003 Case Study: The Division Leader’s Stretch Goal Beth was hired to turn around the sales division of a high-tech company, and so she engaged the direct report team in creating a strategic plan. The goal of the plan was to increase sales revenue by 50% in 5 years to meet the demands of a variety of stakeholders, as well as to energize the division’s employees.

Unfortunately, not all of Beth’s team members were truly committed to the plan. They maintained their own sales-driven agendas, did not collaborate successfully, and did not drive the necessary changes in the division to meet this stretch goal. As a result, changes were not made to improve the division’s capability, infrastructure, or systems.

The team did not create new sales channels, establish common IT platforms worldwide, or implement rewards systems aligned with achieving the goal and driving expected behaviors.

(continued) \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.2 Recognizing Leadership Characteristics Case Study: The Division Leader’s Stretch Goal (continued) Within 2 years, Beth’s team stopped talking about the stretch goal and quietly put in place more reasonable growth targets. Over time, this led to hiring a new division leader and replacement of most of the team to put the division on an ambitious but realistic path to growth.

Many factors contributed to this situation, not the least of which was Beth’s inability to set and effectively monitor the division’s goals and to build a team of individuals who were truly committed to the division’s interests above their own.

Reflection Questions 1.

Do y ou think Beth was aware of what her team members thought about the stretch goals? What signs could she have looked for to indicate their support?

Could Beth ha ve done more to understand her team members’ reactions and incorporate their opinions in setting these goals, or adjusting them to be more realistic?

Should Beth ha ve taken action sooner, for example, by replacing team members?

Ho w would more careful self-monitoring and self-regulation have helped Beth be more successful from the start? Innovative Thinking Today’s rapid changes in technology, intense competition from inside and outside of one’s industry, and globalization make innovative thinking a key leadership capability. Leaders also need to know how to support and create a culture of innovation, a topic we fully address in Chapter 5. Innovation is so important to future leaders that Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business trains its students to lead innovation (Saloner, 2011). So, what does inno- vative thinking mean?

Innovative thinking is turning “aha” moments into innovative solutions. An “aha” moment is suddenly seeing an idea, path, or solution that, in retrospect, seems obvious but was not rec- ognized before. Innovative thinking is also called design thinking. Leading a process of design thinking requires that leaders garner the ideas, insights, and tools of professionals from dif - ferent disciplines, including engineering, design, business, the arts, and social sciences. As such, leaders need to be open to different perspectives and modes of operating. There are three elements to innovative thinking (Saloner, 2011):

• Being empathetic . Leaders need to immerse themselves in the viewpoints of the end users—the people who will use the product or service being developed, or those who will benefit from solving a problem. To do this, the leader needs to be open to new ideas and different ways of thinking. \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.2 Recognizing Leadership Characteristics • Being collaborative. Leaders should be harness- ing diverse perspectives, creating multidis- ciplinary teams, communicating clearly, and leveraging their strengths and those of team members to work toward a common goal. To do this, leaders need to rely on their relational skills. • Being willing to iterate. Leaders should engage in brainstorming to identify and distill ideas, develop prototypes and quickly evaluate them, solicit feedback, and then create new prototypes. In addition to developing the skill of innovative think - ing, Lyons (2011) has said that innovative leaders should possess these four characteristics:

T endency to question the status quo . Innovative leaders envision different possible realities, are willing to take reasonable risks, learn from fail- ure, and have the guts to express a point of view.

C onfidence without an off-putting attitude . Inno- vative leaders make decisions based on data and analyses and have the confidence to act without being arrogant; they lead by showing trust in team members and a willingness to collaborate.

C uriosity and desire to be a lifelong learner. Innovative leaders continuously seek personal growth and show others that they are learning from them.

A bility to recognize how they affect others. Innovative leaders consider the long-term effects of decisions and behaviors and put larger interests above their own.

To be innovative, the leader needs to have insight into opportunities, make decisions, and build organizational capability (Lyons, 2011). Recognizing opportunities requires framing problems, exploring the environment, and experimenting—elements of generative learning.

Decision making requires evaluating ideas and understanding their risks, which involves col- lecting and analyzing data. Finally, building organizational capability requires the ability to influence others without the use of formal power, to manage uncertainty and conflict, and to change leadership styles in response to changing conditions.

In Chapter 5, we will review a broad, organizational-level measure for diagnosing the extent to which an organization has a culture of innovation. For now, we provide a short self- assessment for leaders. Use this assessment to gauge your ability to be an innovative thinker. Monkeybusinessimages/iStock/Thinkstock Innovative thinking requires the ability to empathize, collaborate, and iterate. Why are these ele- ments so important to design thinking?

Visit your e-book to complete this assessment electronically.

Instructions: Evaluate whether you are an innovative thinker by indicating to what extent each statement is true for you. 1 = to a very little extent 2 = to some extent 3 = to a moderate extent 4 = to a considerable extent 5 = to a very great extent I can empathize with and put m yself in the place of others.

I eff ectively question the status quo.

I collabor ate well with colleagues.

I can r eadily change my thinking, design, or concept over time as I get feedback.

I r egularly demonstrate curiosity.

I r egularly explore the organization’s environment.

I collect inf ormation.

I fr equently experiment with new and different behaviors.

I am skilled in conducting anal yses.

I car efully assess risks.

I tak e action and am not passive.

I act confidentl y without arrogance.

I r ecognize how my decisions and actions affect others.

Scoring & Analysis: Add your scores together. The higher your total, the more you tend to be an innovative thinker. We encourage you to continue doing well with those actions you rated a 4 or 5. You should also consider how you can further develop and incorporate into your behavior those actions that you rated low and moderate.

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.3 Following Clues About Leadership Skills Leadership in Review Reflect on your learning by answering the following questions:1. What tr aits and other personal characteristics affect leadership behaviors?

Ho w do leadership behaviors affect leadership effectiveness? Draw on your knowledge of leadership theories from Chapter 1 and the discussion in this chapter.

Ho w would you describe the interpersonal attribute of emotional intelligence?

What is self-monit oring?

What is self-r egulation?

Ho w do self-monitoring and self-regulation affect how you review progress toward your goals and revise your goals?

In w hat ways can a leader show and support innovativeness and creativity? 2.3 Following Clues About Leadership Skills As we discussed in Section 2.2, your traits influence your behaviors, which in turn determine your effectiveness. So you need a good understanding of your strengths and weaknesses and the characteristics and behaviors that are important to being an effective leader. A challenge of leading yourself, however, is knowing what to learn. Career insight is not only knowing yourself, but also knowing the performance expectations and career opportunities in your organization. This section examines key sources for learning about those expectations, includ- ing organizational leadership competency models and business school curricula.

Leadership Competency Models Most organizations identify the leadership competencies nec- essary for success. Senior leaders discuss them with other leaders and managers in the organization so that they will have a good understanding of, and assess themselves against, these competencies. Sometimes these competencies are grounded in the organization’s current needs, sometimes they are more future focused, and sometimes these competency models reflect both current and future needs. Acquiring, enhancing, and developing competencies will take time and effort, so if you discover that the leadership competencies needed for the future vary considerably from the competencies needed today, you will have to focus on future needs. Once you identify the competencies you need for today and are likely to need in the future, you can assess the gap in your skills and determine what you need to learn.

Usually, human resource (HR) managers and training profes- sionals develop a leadership competency model by interviewing iStockphoto/Thinkstock Identifying your present and future leadership com- petencies will help prepare you for career advancement.

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.3 Following Clues About Leadership Skills company executives and experts inside and outside the company who are familiar with the industry as well as the company’s strategic direction. They may also interview and examine the performance results of highly successful leaders and managers and compare them to the results of those who are not. Again, the focus is often on the skills and knowledge needed to be successful today and those that are likely to be needed 5 or 10 years from now.

Once the competency model is developed and is agreed upon by the company’s executive leadership team, several important steps must be taken:

• The model should be communicated in the organization so that all leaders and managers are aware of the competencies important for success and the behaviors that will be expected and rewarded. This will help individual leaders and managers assess their own strengths and weaknesses relative to the model and formulate a development plan for themselves in line with the model.

• The model should be incorporated into the organization’s hiring and promotion process. That is, the competencies should be factors on which current leaders and managers are assessed for positions and advancement and which potential hires are evaluated against.

• The model should be used to evaluate the organization’s capability. The results pro- vide a gap analysis that can guide training and development efforts. When all manag- ers and leaders self-assess and are assessed by their supervisors against the compe- tencies in the model, gaps at each organization level can be identified and addressed appropriately.

• The model should drive the design and development of separate courses, work- shops, or online webinars and seminars focused on the different competencies. For instance, an online course may focus on the interpersonal competence of how to resolve conflicts. Additionally, an entire curriculum can be structured to focus on the full range of competencies.

• The model should drive revisions to the company’s performance appraisal. Part of the form should include evaluation of performance outcomes. Another part should be used to evaluate a leader’s or manager’s competencies and areas for develop- ment. Collectively, top executives can use this information for succession planning.

Colgate-Palmolive and “High-Tech”: Comparing Two Models Although we are emphasizing leadership competencies, the models may also include tech - nical business knowledge and social or interpersonal competencies. Here, we compare two examples of leadership competency models from two companies, Colgate-Palmolive (Conner & Smith, 1998) and a Fortune 500 company we worked with, which we will call High-Tech.

Colgate-Palmolive’s leadership competency model reads as follows:

• Leaders have business savvy . They show exhaustive knowledge of all aspects of the business.

• Leaders know how to use their personal influence. They have excellent communica- tion skills and leverage large networks.

• Leaders bring a global perspective. Their knowledge and view of the world is broad.

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.3 Following Clues About Leadership Skills • Leaders have strong character. They are clear about their vision and values and act with integrity.

• Leaders know how to manage people effectively. They provide the glue that holds a team together.

• Leaders act like entrepreneurs. They take risks, overcome obstacles, and act with a sense of urgency.

According to High-Tech’s competency model for executive and leader behaviors, a High-Tech leader • Operates from a global, macro view of the company and the industry.

• Understands how the company operates and can get things done through formal and informal channels.

• Demonstrates high levels of business and functional expertise.

• Transforms vision into sound and clear organization structure, strategy, goals, and objectives.

• Translates and communicates important corporate and division messages, making them relevant and meaningful for employees in the organization.

• Builds an organization that attracts, excites, sustains, and rewards the best talent, and considers that talent a corporate resource.

• Supports the performance, learning, and development of others by providing encouragement, coaching, feedback, and recognition.

• Supports and encourages others to communicate upward, make decisions, and take accountability and appropriate risks.

• Ensures employees have the resources necessary to achieve business success.

• Thoughtfully analyzes the most complex organization and business problems and develops creative solutions.

• Integrates and uses economic, financial, and industry data to make sound, timely decisions that lead to results.

• Demonstrates a positive attitude in the face of difficult situations and provides an optimistic, yet realistic, view of the future.

• Has the courage to make difficult, even unpopular, decisions and takes responsibility for their outcomes.

• Upholds and encourages others to follow the company’s values, policies, practices, and procedures.

• Acts as a catalyst, initiating and leading organization change.

These two leadership models, developed years apart, have some important similarities. For example, they both focus on having a broad view of the business, often referred to as “busi - ness savvy,” as well as knowing and clearly communicating vision and direction, which are important transformational leader behaviors.

Each of the competency models reflects the organization’s business strategy for today and the near-term future, at least as the company’s experts and executives can predict in relation to the corporate results they wish to attain. Colgate-Palmolive’s goal was to develop leaders to assume the highest levels in the business over time. For High-Tech, the goal was to clearly communicate performance and behavioral expectations for all leaders in the organization.

Interestingly, at Colgate-Palmolive, the most senior corporate executives were more commit- ted to the model because they had had a strong hand in developing it and because they easily \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.3 Following Clues About Leadership Skills saw a clear link to the company’s mission and objectives. At High-Tech, organizational experts developed the model without such close consultation.

Google: Building a Competency Model For many companies, their competency model serves as a guide or path for managers who want to assume greater degrees of accountability and responsibility within the organization.

Google provides a good example. Google wanted to determine the behaviors important to leadership success and use those as a basis for leadership development. In 2009, Google ini- tiated a plan code-named Project Oxygen to identify the habits of highly effective manag - ers in the company (Bryant, 2011b). Google conducted interviews, gathered survey data, and observed effective and less effective managers. The results, which can be viewed at the fol- lowing link, are not surprising: ht tp://w w w.google.com/intl/en/about/company/tenthings.

html . The competencies Google identified represent basic principles of good management and leadership. They apply to Google—a cutting-edge technology company—and to most any organization. Laszlo Bock, Google’s senior vice president for people operations (Google’s term for human resources), described leadership development this way:

You don’t actually need to change who the person is. . . . If I’m a manager and I want to get better, and I want more out of my people and I want them to be happier, two of the most important things I can do is just make sure that I have some time for them and to be consistent. (Bryant, 2011b, p. 7) Essentially, these are the basics of initiating structure and consideration for others, as cov - ered in Chapter 1.

Because leadership skills are harder to build than technical skills are, it is important to focus on and consider leadership skills and leadership development when promoting lower- to mid-level managers. Bock, at Google, provided a relevant example. At Google, a highly expert, technical professional was promoted to a management position and was frustrated because he was denied a further promotion. The manager’s employees despised him. He drove them hard; they found him bossy, arrogant, political, and secretive, and many of them wanted to quit his team. “He’s bril- liant, but he did everything wrong when it came to leading a team,” Bock recalled (Bryant, 2011b, p. 7). There are several reasons why a company may have leaders or managers who are weak in a given competency. Perhaps the leadership competencies were not used as a basis to hire or promote them. Particu- larly in high-tech organizations, leaders may be promoted earlier in their careers for their technical skills with the idea that they can develop their leadership skills along the way. However, continuing to ignore this learning gap could lead to a Richard Levine/age fotostock/SuperStock Google’s “Project Oxygen” was aimed at rec- ognizing the practices of the company’s most effective managers.

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.3 Following Clues About Leadership Skills generation of company leaders who are poor managers, unable to foster collaboration and high- performing teams.

So what did Google do to help? Google gave this professional one-to-one coaching from one of the company’s professional coaching staff. After 6 months, the manager’s team members reported in surveys that the manager had improved. “He’s still not great,” Bock said. “He’s nowhere near one of our best managers, but he’s not our worst anymore. And he got pro- moted” (Bryant, 2011b, p. 7). What were some of the helpful factors in this turnaround of performance? The manager was ready to work on improving. He was motivated. The carrot of a promotion opened him to the difficult-to-take feedback, and the coach helped him through the process of realizing and accepting his weaknesses, conceptualizing what he had to do to improve, and giving him a chance to try new behaviors. This was just the start of his learn- ing. The manager will probably need ongoing coaching and learning to continue to improve.

Applying the Japanese term kaizen—continuous improvement—to leadership development, there is no best leader, but rather, there is always room for improvement.

If a company has a robust selection and promotion strategy that identifies managers with strong leadership potential, the company is likely to have strong leadership throughout the organization. How does this work? Operationally, the company’s practice could be to select and promote individuals who already have strong leadership skills, give them experiences that help them become even better leaders, and provide them with training and job assignments that help them know the technical aspects of different parts of the business, for instance, rotating them through assignments in different technical areas. The assumption here is that a strong leader can always learn the technology, but leadership strengths are harder to come by.

Another important assumption is that some competencies are easier to develop than oth- ers. Although training, on-the-job experiences, and challenging assignments can help you develop leadership skills, technical skills are often easier to learn, particularly when you do not need in-depth technical knowledge. If you are weak in communication skills, you can learn to become a better writer or speaker. However, creativity and decision making are hard to master.

We introduced competency models in this chapter as a way for leaders to identify and self- assess against the skills and knowledge they need to better lead themselves and their organi- zations. You can also use the set of competencies an organization upholds to determine the fit between you and the organization. Do you have the competencies your current organization, or an organization of interest to you, says are important to be a successful leader?

Business School Curricula: Skills for Today and the Future Changing curricula in business schools help inform executives about future-oriented lead- ership skills. Business schools often run noncredit, short-term workshops on leadership and changing organizational demands. When Yash Gupta was the dean of the Carey Busi- ness School at Johns Hopkins University, he responded to the United States’ “Great Recession” of 2008 by conceptualizing the changing role of leaders and new leadership demands and incorporating those concepts into his business school’s curriculum. Gupta (2010) argued that the traditional science of business—accounting, marketing, finance, and operations—used \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.3 Following Clues About Leadership Skills to define skills for leadership. These “hard” skills and knowledge are still important. But the “soft” skills that define the art of leadership are needed for the 21st century. These include the following:

• Intellectual flexibility, the scholarly ability to juggle a variety of ideas and place them in a broad context • Cultural literacy, a solid knowledge of the customs and history of societies all over the world, in the places and among the populations that are becoming part of the global marketplace • A strong grounding in ethics, and understanding the ways that the most subtle ethi- cal conflicts, if not guarded against, can lead to an organization’s undoing • The ability to communicate ideas well • Optimism, creativity, a collaborative outlook, the willingness to lead (Gupta, 2010, p.

A29) Basic skills are still critical, as Gupta noted. Consider the following seven foundational skills that are important to leadership today for all business students: • Oral and written communications. Prepare and deliver a coherent and persuasive presentation.

• Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making. Analyze complex business issues and identify realistic solutions.

• Ethics and corporate social responsibility. Analyze an issue from legal, ethical, and socially responsible perspectives and recommend appropriate actions for a practical business situation.

• Leadership and team interaction. Create a vision and communicate that vision in a way that would generate commitment and structure teams for goal achievement.

• Innovative business practices. Know innovative business practices, processes, tech- nologies, and methods.

• Cross-cultural understanding . Work with people from different cultural backgrounds domestically and internationally and integrate knowledge of an international busi- ness environment.

• Business development and value creation. Produce business plans that show the cre- ation of value through the production and marketing of goods and services.

More generally, today’s leaders need to • Demonstrate the global awareness, multicultural understanding, ethical and cor- porate social responsibility, and technological innovation needed to respond to the challenges of today.

• Have the potential for continuous learning for future business and career success, demonstrate that they are open to new ideas, search for information and knowledge they need, and explore innovative ways to apply and implement new knowledge and ideas to solve unexpected problems.

Which of these areas is most important for leaders to develop first, given what they know about their current environment, what they anticipate for the future, and what they know about their strengths and weaknesses? In many organizations, the need for global leaders— those who have the capacity to lead and work effectively in cultures other than their own—is \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.3 Following Clues About Leadership Skills quite strong. Beechler and Baltzley (2009) provided a look at what is important for global leadership versus domestic leadership. They created three clusters of characteristics or skills, which you can see in Table 2.2. Many of the skills will be familiar, but an effective global leader needs these skills in greater depth to deal with the complexity of global leadership. In essence, global leaders must have a greater psychological and intellectual capacity and must deal with more complexity, and they require deeper and different knowledge and skills than domestic leaders do.

Table 2.2: Characteristics of global leaders Knowledge and skills IntellectualPsychological (personality/style) • Capacity (a breadth of new ideas and concepts on sys- tems, markets, and political and socioeconomic issues) • Complexity (a broad set of behaviors to call upon) • Capacity (intelligence) • Cognitive complexity (ability to differentiate a number of constructs and integrate con- cepts in different ways) • Expert intuition (common sense, or the integration of experience over time in a unique way, applied to a par- ticular challenge) • Open minded • Nonjudgmental • Inquisitive/learning orientation • Self-aware • Tolerance for ambiguity • Ability to establish trusting relationships with those dif- ferent from self As we discussed previously, leading one’s self requires self-assessment, self-monitoring, and self-regulation. Self-leadership means becoming a continuous learner. This means being aware of the need for, valuing, and being committed to acquiring, changing, and applying skills, knowledge, abilities, or perspectives (Mone, 2011). The next chapter examines learn- ing and development practice in detail. Within the context of leading one’s self, leaders must analyze and determine the extent to which their environments offer the right kinds of oppor - tunities for learning and development. Assessment 2.6 is a self-assessment that leaders can use for that purpose. This assessment contains questions that are more complex than those found in the other assessments in this chapter, so although it is possible to answer with a simple yes or no, consider reflecting on each answer. Assessment 2.6: Am I Being Offered Opportunities for Learning and Development?

Visit your e-book to download this assessment as a worksheet.

Instructions: Answer the following questions to analyze and determine the extent to which your environment offers the right kinds of opportunities for learning and development. Reflect on your answers. If you determine that you have a good learning environment, enjoy it, for that is not frequently the case. If you have some concerns, (continued) \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.3 Following Clues About Leadership Skills Assessment 2.6: Am I Being Offered Opportunities for Learning and Development? (continued) for example, you would like more performance feedback or development suggestions, consider having an open discussion with your supervisor to express your needs in a constructive manner and offer ways that he or she can help.

Do I r eceive feedback about my job performance? How often? Do I find this helpful or not? Why? Is this typical for leaders in my organization?

Does m y supervisor suggest ways I can develop? Does my supervisor provide opportunities for me to participate in developmental experiences?

Do learning and de velopment happen primarily in training or executive education programs off the job? Or am I continuously given new assignments and job experiences for the purposes of learning and development?

Am I e valuated on how much I’ve learned during the last year?

Ar e there consequences for my making a mistake, doing the wrong thing, or not meeting my performance goals? How severe are the consequences?

Does m y supervisor ensure that information is available to help me track my job performance and goal accomplishment?

In e valuating my performance, does my supervisor compare my results with preset goals or behavioral standards? Does my supervisor compare me to other leaders who have similar levels of accountability and responsibility? Does my supervisor compare my current performance to my past performance to identify areas of improvement, decline, or stability?

Does m y supervisor inspire me to do my best? Does my supervisor communicate a clear sense of mission for the organization and me?

Does m y supervisor convey a strong and clear set of values for how I should do my work? Does my supervisor have a code of proper conduct?

10.

Does m y supervisor discuss with me the goals of the organization and how the organization is changing?

11.

Does m y supervisor encourage me to get involved in setting work plans and departmental objectives?

12.

Does m y supervisor encourage my initiative and creativity?

Source: Copyright 2003 From Job feedback: Giving, seeking, and using feedback for performance improvement (2nd ed.) by M. London. Reproduced by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc.

Leadership in Review Reflect on your learning by answering the following questions:

1. Wh y should leaders pay attention to environmental clues, particularly those from within their organizations?

What is a compet ency model?

Wh y would an organization’s competency model be important to leaders at all hierarchical levels?

In y our own words, how would you differentiate global from domestic leaders?

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.4 Identifying Learning Styles and Drivers of Self-Development 2.4 Identifying Learning Styles and Drivers of S elf-Development Leaders need to be engaged in continuous learning, but it is also important to acknowledge that people have different styles or preferences when it comes to learning, and these should be considered when engaging in learning activities. As leaders assess their leadership capa - bilities and characteristics, they need to be thinking about ways they can improve. Today’s fast pace of change requires continuous learning, but the need for learning can also be driven by personal reflection, life events, and developmental transitions. Leaders need to learn to maintain high levels of performance, increase their chances for advancement, and, perhaps more importantly, hone their ability to adapt to changing conditions, regardless of their ori - gin. Leaders who understand their learning styles—that is, how they learn best—can better plan their learning and be more effective and continuous learners.

Learning Styles People learn in different ways. David Kolb (1984, 1985), a researcher at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, theo- rized that effective learning occurs when a learner passes through a cycle composed of four parts, or modes:

C oncrete experience: The set of feel- ings and attitudes we derive from active participation in an event or activity 2.

R eflective observation: What we learn from observing others and reflecting on our own behavior 3.

A bstract conceptualization: Sense making, the meaning (explanations, rationale, understanding) we derive from our experiences and observa- tions, our sense of why things happen, what behaviors have different effects, and what we can do to change our behavior and bring about different outcomes 4.

A ctive experimentation: The practice of trying out new behaviors and forming new habits Kolb called this the cycle of experiential learning. In short, our learning involves reacting to experiences, reflecting on what we are doing, or have done, and its consequences, concep- tualizing the meaning of what happened (that is, interpreting it and comparing it with our expectations and prior experiences, which form the way we view the world), and testing this conceptualization through new ways of working—and then the cycle begins all over again.

Consider how a marketing director might experience this cycle: Caia Images/Caia Images/SuperStock The cycle of experiential learning involves reflection, interpretation, and testing.

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.4 Identifying Learning Styles and Drivers of Self-Development 1. The dir ector derives a set of feelings and attitudes about how she communicated her department vision at a town hall meeting and how the East Coast marketing employ- ees reacted.

The dir ector reflects on the event, including the kinds of questions employees asked and the feedback later received from the managers in the audience.

The dir ector evaluates and tries to makes sense of the experience and the feedback, noting what might have worked well and what did not.

The dir ector then experiments by trying out a modified approach at her West Coast town hall meeting the following week.

Training, executive education, coaching, and feedback can be the stimulus for leaders to engage in the learning cycle. For example, a leadership development program may provide leaders with feedback ratings of their behavior from their direct reports and colleagues. The leaders react to the feedback, accepting it or rationalizing it in some way, perhaps denying negative feedback, perhaps attributing the feedback to disgruntled subordinates. The pro- gram may include videos or other demonstrations to show different forms of leadership. The program facilitator may moderate a discussion among the leaders/participants about trans- actional and transformational leadership behaviors. Then the leaders/participants might have a chance to role-play, practicing these behaviors. Ultimately, the leaders/participants return to their jobs and have a chance to apply what they learned, and the cycle begins anew.

A follow-up visit from a coach could prompt the leader to consider feelings, think about out- comes, reward success, and fine-tune changes in leadership behavior.

Leaders, like others, will vary in their preference for these different modes or parts of the learning cycle, with some preferring to learn from their feelings, others through their obser- vations or their conceptualizations (thinking things through). Others will prefer experiment- ing with different behaviors, or learning through trial and error. How do you think you learn best? Do you learn best from concrete experiences, reflecting on what you observe, abstract conceptualization, or active experimentation?

Some people prefer to learn through a combination of two modes of learning. When com- bined, two modes form a distinct learning style, as shown in Figure 2.2. Kolb (1984, 1985) outlined four different styles: 1.

C onvergers: People who solve problems through hypothetical-deductive reasoning (learning from thinking and doing—abstract conceptualization and active experi- mentation). Leaders who are convergers learn by developing their own theories about leadership effectiveness and trying them out. These leaders consider different alternatives, reasons for them, and the implications of alternative courses of action.

Div ergers: People who solve problems by seeking many viewpoints through brain- storming to generate a range of ideas (learning from feeling and watching—concrete experience and reflective observation). Leaders who are divergers analyze their own and others’ leadership experiences and change their own behavior as they observe and experience what works best in different situations. These leaders change their behavior based on what seems to be most comfortable for them and others.

Assimilat ors: People who solve problems by inductive reasoning through creating theoretical models of the way things work (learning from watching and thinking— reflective observation and abstract conceptualization). Leaders who are assimilators learn by making sense of their observations of what they and other leaders do. They \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.4 Identifying Learning Styles and Drivers of Self-Development form theories about leadership based on their observations of their own and others’ actions, essentially learning from facts.

A ccommodators: People who solve problems by implementing their plans and see- ing what happens as they adapt to current conditions (learning from feeling and doing—concrete experience and active experimentation). Leaders who are accom- modators learn by exploring alternatives, experimenting, and then applying what works best on the job. This is hands-on, trial-and-error learning. Figure 2.2: Kolb’s learning modes and styles Kolb’s four modes form a cycle of four stages of learning: concrete experience (feeling), reflective observation (watching), abstract conceptualization (thinking), and active experimentation (doing). Each of the learning styles is a combination of two learning stages. For example, the converging learning style describes those who learn from thinking and doing and is shown between stages three and four of the cycle, abstract conceptualization and active experimentation.

Think about the senior-level leaders you know. Where do you think they fit on Kolb’s model?

Or you might ask yourself where you fit on Kolb’s model. Are you a converger, a diverger, an assimilator, or an accommodator? Most people have a predominant style, using the other styles to varying degrees. Do you think you have a predominant learning style? If you tend to favor one style over another, consider those styles you are not using. Do you think you can enhance your own leadership skills by trying out different learning styles? What support \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.4 Identifying Learning Styles and Drivers of Self-Development would you need to help you? Perhaps you would benefit from asking your direct reports how they feel about your leadership, observing leaders who have been successful in your orga- nization (for example, executives who were promoted recently), holding a discussion about what forms of leadership work best, collecting and analyzing data about leadership, and try - ing and practicing new ways of leading.

Drivers of Self-Development Self-motivated, self-regulated leaders will seek learning opportunities continuously. They seek and use feedback, set development goals, engage in development activities, and track their progress. As suggested by Kolb’s theory of experiential learning, leaders will learn by watching others and from their own experiences. Learning from others and our experiences requires reflecting on what we learned, perhaps by keeping a learning diary, to capture the learning and recall it when needed.

Leaders also learn when faced with challenges and transitions. This might include being pro- moted to a higher level of responsibility, being given a critical assignment to perform, or fac- ing a difficult situation, such as a recalcitrant subordinate or harassing supervisor. These are the times when leaders’ prior experiences do not inform them of how to act appropriately and effectively. In these instances, leaders may not have tried-and-true behaviors or habits on which to rely. They will need a new repertoire of behaviors to fit the new situation. So leaders may examine what others have done, experiment with different courses of action (the trial- and-error, sink-or-swim approach), or seek guidance. Training programs and workshops are often created and designed to help leaders by simulating these new and challenging situa- tions and then giving leaders a chance to practice without facing the consequences of having made a bad on-the-job decision.

Learning that is prompted by significant challenges or disorienting dilemmas often results in transformational learning (Mezirow, 1991; Mezirow & Associates, 2000), or the life-changing transformation of perspectives. This may happen if a leader is relocated to a foreign country for the first time, or is demoted to a lesser role, or becomes a member of the company’s execu- tive team. These circumstances may result in the need for the leader to reevaluate world- views. In a leader’s personal life, getting married, getting divorced, or having a child could each result in the transformation of the leader’s perspectives.

Developing as an adult, in general, also gives rise to the need for continuous learning. Levin- son provided a practical theory that describes how the transitions between the various “sea- sons of life” prompt the need for assessment, self-reflection, and reassessment. This is a pro- cess of continuous learning. His theory of seasons of adulthood unfolds in two major works, The Seasons of a Man’s Life (1978) and The Seasons of a Woman’s Life (1996). Note, however, that the general ideas of the theory apply to both men and women (Bee & Bjorklund, 2004).

Levinson saw life as having an underlying pattern or structure, composed of broad eras and transition periods (see Table 2.3). Eras last 25 years or so and can also be called “seasons” or “times in life.” Transition periods are defined as developmental periods lasting about 5 years when basic changes in life occur; they are considered part of both related eras, serving to link those eras and provide continuity between them. In adulthood, each era consists of three stages: two stable stages—a life-building stage and a life-culminating stage—and a life \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.4 Identifying Learning Styles and Drivers of Self-Development transition stage that occurs between the two stable stages. A life-building stage is defined as the underlying pattern or design of a person’s life at a given time, involving one’s occupation, personal relationships (e.g., marriage and family), relationship to self, values, lifestyle, etc. A life transition phase is characterized as a time for questioning and reappraising where one is in life and making choices for how one will move forward. A life-culminating stage is charac- terized by reflection, feeling a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, and not ruminating on regrets.

Table 2.3: Levinson’s seasons of adulthood Era of pre-adulthood:

Ages 0–22 Era of early adulthood:

Ages 17–45 Era of middle adulthood:

Ages 40–65 Era of late adult- hood: Ages 60–?

Early adult transition period Ages 17–22 Age 30 life transition Midlife transition period Ages 40–45 Age 50 life transition Late adult transition period Ages 60–65 Life culmination transition Source: Adapted from Levinson, 1978 Consider the implications of Levinson’s theory for leadership by examining the challenges of each of Levinson’s developmental eras (adapted from Levinson, 1978):

During the early adulthood era, a leader should • Formulate career goals.

• Create a mentor relationship.

• Develop a realistic self-assessment of one’s skills and abilities, as well as self-confidence.

• Choose an area of competence.

• Deal with setbacks and disappointments.

During the middle adulthood era, a leader should • Become a mentor to others.

• Reassess one’s talent and abilities.

• Capitalize on and use one’s wis- dom and experience over technical knowledge.

• Focus on the larger organization and society over one’s self.

During the late adulthood era, a leader should • Ensure the selection and development of future leaders. Hero Images/Hero Images/SuperStock Most of the challenges we encounter in early adulthood deal with establishing ourselves in a career.

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.4 Identifying Learning Styles and Drivers of Self-Development Levinson’s model indicates that people are most receptive to learning during stages of tran- sition in their lives and careers; the transition stages of your career are the times when you are likely to be most receptive to self-assessment. Mezirow added that the learning might be transformational in how one views the world. This does not mean that a leader can neglect learning until a major career transition happens. You should not ignore self-assessment at other stages when things are going well or are at least stable. We believe that continuous learning is the hallmark of a good leader, and leaders who do not learn and improve continu- ously are unlikely to be ready to move upward in the organizational hierarchy. Instead, the transition may be unemployment, finding a new job, demotion, or a career change. Of course, these downward and lateral moves require learning as well and may be more significant tran- sitions because they are emotionally painful. Even these difficult transitions require a con- tinuous learning mentality. Leaders who are ready and eager learners at all times will be most successful in preparing for future uncertainties whether they are positive or not.

Take Assessment 2.7 to determine whether you are a continuous learner and where you might be able to improve. Assessment 2.7: Are You a Continuous Learner?

Visit your e-book to download this assessment as a worksheet.

Instructions: Answer the following questions, and reflect on your answers. Each question highlights an avenue for continuous learning. The more you respond favorably to each question, the more proactive you are about being a continuous learner. Continue with the behaviors you currently use and consider exploring some of the avenues that you use less frequently or don’t use at all.

When y ou receive feedback about your performance from your supervisor, do you listen for ways in which you can improve?

Do y ou tend to compare yourself to others who are performing well?

Ho w often do you think about how well you are doing on the job? Daily? Weekly?

Once in a while?

Ho w diligently do you look for information about how well you are doing? Do you go out of your way to seek it, or do you take it as it comes?

Ar e you likely to ask your supervisor or others to critique your performance? Are you inclined to ask your supervisor or others what you can do to improve?

Ar e you likely to ask your supervisor for information about the wider organization?

Do y ou set development goals for yourself, or do you wait for direction from your immediate supervisor?

Ar e you likely to volunteer for new projects and job assignments, or do you wait for them to come your way?

Do y ou monitor your career progress closely, checking it against your goals and time lines?

10.

When discont ent with your job or career progress, are you likely to take steps to change jobs or career directions, or are you likely to wait and see what happens?

Reproduced by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc.

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.5 Learning From New Experiences and Others’ Challenges Leadership in Review Reflect on your learning by answering the following questions:

1. Define con verger, diverger, assimilator, and accommodator. Do you prefer a certain way to learn? How does your preferred style of learning affect the development opportunities you select for yourself ?

What ar e the stages of career transition? Why are people more likely to learn during these stages?

What beha viors are indicative of someone who is a continuous learner? 2.5 Learning From New Experiences and Others’ Challenges In Section 2.4, we discussed the importance of learning styles, drivers of self-development, and continuous learning for leaders. In this section and sections 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, and 2.9, we dis- cuss opportunities for leadership development. As a leader, you have many opportunities to learn. This includes taking advantage of the knowledge you gain from self-assessment, such as through the questionnaires and reflection questions throughout this chapter, and feedback from others and using this information to acquire new skills and knowledge and improve your performance and career prospects.

The key is taking advantage of learning opportunities and recognizing when you have learned something about yourself and acquired new and useful skills. This is important because often learning happens in indirect ways—not like taking a course that gives you information about particular skills and gives you an opportunity to practice. For instance, you will learn from new experiences and from observing others. You will also learn from feedback. This may come from different sources, sometimes in formal ways, such as a performance review from your supervisor, and sometimes in informal ways, such as discussions with your supervisor or coworkers. Your organization may offer feedback processes, such as 360-degree surveys that ask your supervisor, coworkers, subordinates, and customers to evaluate your leader- ship behaviors and then give you a summary report. You may have a chance to attend an assessment center where you participate in leadership simulations and then receive feed - back. Other sources of feedback are role models, mentors, and coaches who may be your coworkers or other professionals. We also describe formal leadership training and develop- ment programs you may have a chance to attend. We review these different opportunities for leadership development in the next few sections.

Learning From New Experiences Recall that challenges and transitions—that is, new experiences—can act as drivers of self- development. Leaders cannot rely on prior experiences for information and must learn how to act appropriately and effectively. How does one go about learning from a new \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.5 Learning From New Experiences and Others’ Challenges experience? Consider Carolyn, a newly promoted leader. Carolyn is in her early thirties. She is employed at the same com- pany she has worked at since graduating from college, but during her tenure, she has been promoted twice, completed a master’s degree by going to school part time, and managed teams that made important contributions to the company’s product line. She has been an effective team leader and is recognized for her tech- nical prowess. Carolyn’s boss recom- mended that Carolyn be promoted to a regional management position, and now, without training or other preparation, she has relocated to a new office and has a new and larger team of professionals to direct. How should Carolyn approach this situation?

How would you approach this situation? If you were in Carolyn’s position, would you do any of the following? We have provided some additional considerations for each choice.

• Find a respected, more experienced leader who is willing to provide guidance and be a mentor. –But how would you find such a person, someone you could trust to listen to your frustr ations and uncertainties without perceiving you as incompetent?

• Ask your new supervisor for advice and feedback. – Y ou want an open, honest relationship with your new boss and hope that you can express your ideas and perceptions of your team members without being seen negatively.

• Find colleagues who have been in similar situations. – But w hat if you don’t know anyone whom you can trust and who is successful in the situation, because you don’t want advice from just anyone?

• Search for books or articles on these types of transitions. – These ar e readily available, but they take time to read and may not provide advice specific to your situation.

• Gain permission to enroll in an executive education program. – Ma ybe the company offers such opportunities or provides comparable in-house training. Large companies often have extensive managerial training courses avail- able. Are you sure your company would pay for you to attend an external pro- gram and give you the time off to do so?

If one or more of these options are available to you, you can choose the ones that best fit your learning style. If you are a self-motivated learner, you are probably used to seeking the sup- port you need to facilitate your learning. Even if the company does not provide the learning Hero Images Inc./SuperStock If you were in Carolyn’s situation, how would you approach your new team, environment, and boss?

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.5 Learning From New Experiences and Others’ Challenges resources, you may have actively sought them yourself to meet the challenges you know you will face now or in the near future. The danger is in succumbing to barriers to learning from developmental assignments. Table 2.4 outlines these barriers and how to overcome them.

Table 2.4: Developmental assignments: Blocks and aids to learning Blocks to learning Aids to learning Delaying or making quick decisions in response to uncertainty Develop tolerance for ambiguity; remain open; don’t jump to answers quickly Seeking only senior-level organization members for counsel and feedback Learn from the successes and failures of own efforts, and open up to all others for feedback Doing what you always do; repeating what worked in the past Reflect on what is new and different; develop new and appropriate strategies Having low self-awareness Develop awareness of strengths and weaknesses and how they link together Being unaware of impact, how others are seeing you Consider interpersonal impact, how day-to-day actions affect others Taking problems personally; becoming emotionally erratic Develop emotional intelligence; focus on recogniz- ing and managing one’s emotions Being political and future focused, maybe seeing the assignment as a stepping-stone Focus on solving problems, getting results, and working to engage with subordinates and colleagues Avoiding accountability, particularly regarding one’s own mistakes Grow comfortable admitting to and owning mis- takes; learn from them Source: Adapted from Preventing Derailment: What to Do Before It’s Too Late by M. M. Lombardo and R. W. Eichinger, 1989, Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership.

While it is beyond the scope of this text to cover every new experience you might face, relo- cating to another country is worth mentioning. In today’s increasingly global environment, international job assignments are very common. You may know the job well, but relocating to another country, especially one in which people speak a different language or possess very different cultural norms, will be a challenge. Can you imagine moving from Missouri to Bei- jing? A lesser challenge would be moving from New York to London. Relocating under any circumstance can be difficult. Moving to a strange environment adds to the pressure. This may be exacerbated if you are moving with your family and perhaps just as difficult if you are leaving your family behind and expecting to return home on short visits and communicate by computer and phone.

There are a variety of options for learning to prepare yourself for the challenge of accepting an assignment in a foreign country. Again, consider your learning style. For example, if you learn by concrete experience, then make short preparatory visits to the new location. If you learn best through reflection, then read books on the culture, talk to those from the country or to those who have relocated to it, or sign up for cultural assimilation workshops to help with the adjustment.

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.5 Learning From New Experiences and Others’ Challenges So now, imagine you are in a leadership role relocating to this new country. Not only are you doing your own work and coordinating with others who call the country home, but you will also be leading them. You might be head of operations, vice president of marketing in the region, or simply a new team leader. Your company might provide strong support and training to help you adjust, or you might be left to your own devices as a proven leader, someone who has shown great potential in your home country. You will need to make a deliberate assess - ment of the situation on a daily basis, find others on whom to rely for advice and guidance, and formulate a development plan to make this a successful experience. It will take very good self-monitoring and self-regulatory skills, and these skills will need to be honed along the way. It is important to develop strategies to handle new, unfamiliar situations in the future.

Learning From Others’ Challenges Your colleagues may be very willing to describe their experiences and are likely to tout their successes. But they may be less willing to share their failures or to describe their decisions or experiences as less than successful. People generally are inclined to be self-enhancing.

They want to think of themselves positively, and they want others to see them this way. So the way they portray their less-than-positive experiences may not be accurate. Your job as a keen observer is to collect a range of observations, dissect them, inquire of others who were exposed to the same situations, and draw conclusions that will be valuable to you. It is helpful when others can engage in this process with you through discussion about a given situation.

But when this is not the case, you need to go it alone.

Think about what you observed, perhaps describing it to others who are not in the situation, and test your conclusions. Then take what you learned and test it out. If you observed some- one who was successful and you think you know why, try the same behavior and see what happens. For instance, if a leader was especially successful driving a complex project and completing the project on time, to what do you attribute the leader’s success? Was it structur- ing the task? Giving team members free rein? Would this work for you? Try it with your team on a small task. See whether you are comfortable leading in the same way. See if your team members react positively. Ask them for feedback about how they felt about your actions. Then adjust your leadership strategies to see if you can improve the situation further. Or, if neces - sary, try a new strategy. Leadership in Review Reflect on your learning by answering the following questions:

1. What ar e at least three blocks to learning from developmental assignments?

What ar e at least three aids to learning from developmental assignments?

In w hat ways are observing others’ challenges a learning experience for us?

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.6 Learning From Feedback: Supervisors and 360 Degrees 2.6 Learning From Feedback: Supervisors and 360 Degrees Feedback helps leaders to better understand their strengths and weaknesses; however, peo- ple often shy away from feedback (London, 2001). This section and Section 2.7 examine three major sources of feedback that will help leaders to become more effective self-leaders by focusing on their development. These three major areas of feedback are supervisor feedback, 360-degree feedback, and assessment center feedback.

Feedback Overview The following are key points about feedback in general (Kluger & DeNisi, 1996):

• People generally do not like to give it or receive it, even if the feedback is positive.

• Feedback can have negative consequences, threatening the recipient’s self-esteem.

• Feedback that focuses on one’s personality or takes the form of general statements will not be helpful.

• Constructive feedback should focus on behaviors and be as specific as possible about these behaviors with some suggestions about what the individual could have done differently.

Good self-monitoring skills (Caldwell & O’Reilly, 1982) and high self-esteem will make one more receptive to feedback. Good self-monitors are very attuned to expectations, regularly compare themselves with others, and are likely to change their behaviors, while being resil- ient, self-confident, and demonstrating high levels of self-esteem (Mone & London, 2010).

However, many leaders consider it a risk to ask for feedback and avoid doing so. Take Assess - ment 2.8 to determine how comfortable you are with asking for and receiving feedback. Assessment 2.8: Are You Comfortable Requesting and Receiving Feedback?

Visit your e-book to complete this assessment electronically.

Instructions: Respond to the following statements with either yes or no.

My supervisor w ould think worse of me if I asked him or her for feedback.

I w ould be nervous about asking my supervisor how he or she evaluates my behavior.

It is not a good idea t o ask my colleagues for feedback; they might think I am incompetent.

It is embarr assing to ask my colleagues for their impression of how I am doing at work. (continued) \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.6 Learning From Feedback: Supervisors and 360 Degrees Assessment 2.8: Are You Comfortable Requesting and Receiving Feedback? (continued) 5. It w ould bother me to ask my supervisor for feedback.

It is not a good idea t o ask my supervisor for feedback; my supervisor might think I am incompetent.

It is embarr assing to ask my supervisor for feedback.

My colleagues w ould think worse of me if I asked them for feedback.

I w ould be nervous about asking my colleagues how they evaluate my behaviors.

10.

It is bett er to try to figure out how I am doing on my own rather than to ask my colleagues for feedback.

Scoring & Analysis: Add up the number of no answers and yes answers. More no answers than yes answers means you consider asking for feedback more a risk than not. Remember that feedback will often help you become your best self. Source: Copyright 2002 From Leadership development: Paths to self-insight and professional growth by M. London.

Reproduced by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc. A leader’s reaction to feedback is likely to be influenced by whether the leader is motivated to avoid failure, demonstrate the ability to be successful, or to learn, coupled with little concern for the consequences. When motivated to learn—meaning, having a learning goal orienta- tion—leaders are more likely to seek feedback (London, 2002). In fact, learning goal orienta- tion is an aspect of one’s personality or disposition and an important predictor of how leaders will react to feedback. VandeWalle (1997) developed a survey instrument to measure learn- ing goal orientation, which you can take in Assessment 2.9. Assessment 2.9: What Is Your Learning Goal Orientation?

Visit your e-book to complete this assessment electronically.

Instructions: Respond to the following statements with either yes or no.

I pr efer to work in situations that require a high level of ability and talent from which I can learn.

I oft en look for opportunities to develop new skills and knowledge.

I enjo y challenging and difficult tasks at work where I’ll learn new skills.

F or me, development of my ability is important enough to take risks.

I’m concerned with sho wing that I can perform better than my coworkers.

I try t o figure out what it takes to prove my ability to others at work.

I enjo y it when others at work are aware of how well I am doing.

I pr efer to work on projects where I can prove my ability to others. (continued) \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.6 Learning From Feedback: Supervisors and 360 Degrees Assessment 2.9: What Is Your Learning Goal Orientation?

(continued) 9. I w ould avoid taking on a new task if there were a chance that I would appear rather incompetent to others.

10.

A voiding a show of low ability is more important to me than learning a new skill.

11.

I’m concerned about taking on a task at w ork if my performance would reveal that I had low ability.

12.

I pr efer to avoid situations at work where I might perform poorly.

Scoring & Analysis: Add up the number of yes answers for each of the following sets of statements. Statements 1–4 Statements 5–8 Statements 9–12 The total number of yes responses per category is a measure of strength for that category.

If you answered yes to statements 1–4, your learning goal orientation is to learn to develop. This suggests that you will seek and benefit from opportunities to learn, perhaps through courses, workshops, books, or in other ways. As such, you will likely seek out these opportunities to develop your leadership abilities. If you answered yes to statements 5–8, your learning goal orientation is to demonstrate the ability to be successful. This suggests that you learn by doing. You are likely to benefit from seeking challenging leadership assignments. If you answered yes to statements 9–12, your learning goal orientation is to avoid failure. This suggests that you don’t take risks and as a result may not learn all you can and achieve your full leadership potential. If this is the case, you may want to think about how you can take smaller risks, perhaps through courses initially, and later through on-the-job challenges, for instance, volunteering to lead a short-term project. Source: Adapted from “Development and Validation of a Work Domain Goal Orientation Instrument,” by D. VandeWalle, 1997, Educational and Psychological Measurement, 57(6), 995–1015. Supervisor Feedback Feedback from a leader’s supervisor can be valuable. After all, hopefully the supervisor is engaged with his or her direct report to set performance and development goals and to clarify expectations. Having an open line of communication with direct reports positions the super- visor quite well in the role of feedback provider, as well as coach.

The effectiveness of a supervisor’s feedback will depend on the supervisor’s skill in and com- fort with giving feedback. It also depends on the extent to which the supervisor has a chance to observe performance, which, as a rule, means the higher the leadership position in the organization, the fewer the opportunities for frequent contact and observation of a direct report’s performance in action. This is also why input from other sources may be helpful to leaders in fine-tuning their effectiveness.

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.6 Learning From Feedback: Supervisors and 360 Degrees Leaders should not be passive about getting feedback from their supervisors. For example, if they don’t feel they are getting effective feedback in terms of quantity or quality, they are responsible for talking to their supervi- sors about it and asking how to make the feedback more appropriate. However, this does raise the question of the need for leaders to be comfortable with asking for feed- back. In fact, if managers and leaders agree with any of the statements in Assessment 2.8 (Are You Comfortable Requesting and Receiving Feedback?), they are likely mak - ing excuses—rationalizations—for not approaching their supervisors for feedback. To ensure that leaders do get effective feedback from their supervisors, consider the following guidelines, which have been modified from guidelines for supervi- sors giving feedback to their direct reports. To receive effective feedback from their supervisors, leaders should • Request feedback as soon as possible following the event.

• Be ready to discuss the event or situation in detail, but try not to do so when they are frus- trated, angry, or tired.

• Describe specifically the concern or question to be discussed and the feedback they want.

• Use factual information, but also present their points of view.

• Initially be descriptive rather than evaluative.

• Focus on behaviors, not personality.

• Be open and willing to listen to what the supervisor has to say.

• Respect the supervisor’s insights and opinions.

• Address both effective performance and areas needing improvement.

• Gain agreement to and support for implementing necessary action plans. (Based on Hillman, Schwandt, & Bartz, 1990; adapted by London, 1997, p. 90, and London, 2002, p. 122) These guidelines can also serve as a guide for evaluating the extent to which leaders are effec- tive at seeking and acting on their supervisor’s feedback.

360-Degree Feedback What is 360-degree (multi-rater) feedback? It is feedback about behavior and performance from those “circling” the leader—the leader’s supervisor, colleagues, direct reports, and per- haps customers and senior-level management, too (see Figure 2.3). Siri Stafford/DigitalVision/Thinkstock Leaders should not rational- ize their unwillingness to seek supervisor feedback. Why is it important for a leader to obtain effective feedback?

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.6 Learning From Feedback: Supervisors and 360 Degrees Figure 2.3: 360-degree feedback In 360-degree feedback, performance data are collected from various sources, providing more perspectives than supervisor-only feedback would.

Fundamentals of 360-Degree Feedback This type of feedback is typically collected via an automated survey, but the data can also be collected through one-to-one interviews. Respondents rate behaviors important to the business, usually the key leadership behaviors as reflected in the company’s leadership competency model. The behaviors included may also reflect the company’s core values.

Ratings are aggregated for groups of respondents; self and supervisor ratings are reported separately.

When 360-degree feedback is collected depends on its purpose. The results can be used as input for administrative decisions, such as performance, pay, or promotions, and thus con- ducted on an annual basis as part of the performance appraisal process. Or, 360-degree feed- back can be gathered on an ad hoc basis as part of a leadership development program or in conjunction with coaching and used solely as a source of feedback for development. In fact, this is when the 360-degree survey results are most useful.

Regardless, the results are confidential. When used for development, typically only the individual, the human resources department, and, if there is one, the individual’s coach see the results. If used for administrative purposes, the results will be shared with those making the decisions. Case Study: The Vice President’s 360-Degree Feedback describes an example of how a leader benefited and learned from a developmentally focused 360-degree feedback survey. \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.6 Learning From Feedback: Supervisors and 360 Degrees Case Study: The Vice President’s 360-Degree Feedback Kristin, a vice president in finance, was asked by her supervisor, Bill, along with his other direct reports, to participate in a 360-degree feedback process. Bill participated in the process himself and found it quite helpful. One of the authors of this book was the coach working with Bill and his team.

Kristin’s feedback, on the whole, was good, at least average when compared to norms for other leaders. However, she learned a very valuable lesson:

her supervisor, colleagues, and direct reports each saw her strengths and weaknesses somewhat differently—and differently from how Kristin saw herself. She was bothered by this, believing that her behavior was more consistent.

One of the assignments she was given between sessions with her coach was to pick an area where there were greater differences in ratings and to ask her supervisor, as well as one or two colleagues and direct reports, about the ratings.

What Kristin learned was that the differences were valid. In particular, her direct reports found her “stressed and controlling.” Kristin was relatively new to her role, and upon reflection with her coach, she eventually realized that given the pressure of the new role, the expectation for high levels of performance, and the ongoing restructuring of the finance organization, she resorted to more transactional rather than transformational behaviors. She was no longer self-monitoring, and, in fact, the pressure and organizational changes were affecting her self-esteem. To be successful, she unconsciously began micromanaging her team, in essence counting on herself more and creating greater degrees of stress for herself, diminishing her team’s ability to act with empowerment and autonomy, which further worsened the team’s performance.

(continued) Figure 2.4: Kristin’s 360-degree feedback Photo credits: -Robbie-/iStock/Thinkstock; BananaStock/Thinkstock; stockyimages/iStock/Thinkstock; gzorgz/iStock/Thinkstock \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.6 Learning From Feedback: Supervisors and 360 Degrees Case Study: The Vice President’s 360-Degree Feedback (continued) Once Kristin understood this dynamic, she worked with her coach and supervisor to develop new strategies, including setting clearer goals and expectations for her team members and then holding each accountable for his or her own performance. She also realized that she needed to better monitor her own performance and behavior and that she should ask for feedback on a more regular basis to ensure she is being effective.

Reflection Questions 1.

Ho w aware do you think Kristin was of her behavior toward her team? Do you think she demonstrated a high degree of self-consciousness?

F rom the perspective of continuous learning, what avenues would you suggest Kristin incorporate into her development approach? Learning from 360-degree feedback requires leaders to be open to others’ perspectives and points of view. Many leaders are initially surprised at their results, particularly as they focus on their low-scoring areas. If these same leaders are conscientious, they take their results quite seriously, even if they are surprised, if not disappointed, by the lower ratings. In effect, this sets up their motivation to learn. One executive in a recent leadership program said the following to the facilitator of the program, Edward Mone (one of the authors), after reviewing his 360-degree feedback results: I was surprised—almost hurt—to see that my team rated me low on empow - erment. But I realize now based on the comments in the report and the ratings in general that I did not trust them to deliver the expected results, and as a consequence, I was micromanaging them like crazy. The more I micromanaged them, the more they expected me to chase after them, and the less account - able they felt for their deliverables and meeting deadlines. I must share these results with my team, and figure out how we can rebuild our mutual trust, making them more empowered and letting me then focus on the more strate- gic aspects of my job.

What is the most effective way to learn from 360-degree feedback? Of course, seeing results from the various rater groups gives leaders insight into whether they are behaving consis - tently, which in some ways is similar to acting with integrity. Leaders may learn more when their behavior is seen quite differently by each rater group. Leaders also learn from compar- ing the ratings for each behavior, helping them to determine their strengths as well as areas for development. In addition, a significant way to capitalize on the feedback and to generate learning is to discuss the results with those in the different rater groups. When doing so, select areas where those raters may have rated you lower than other stakeholders, or even lower than your self-ratings, and where you have questions about particular ratings or comments in general, regardless of the rating. You may be surprised by a rating that is much higher than your self-rating, and it would be helpful to understand why.

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.6 Learning From Feedback: Supervisors and 360 Degrees Ideally, leaders will react to 360-degree feedback with an open mind and a strong desire to evaluate themselves by learning about how others view them. Conversely, leaders who are defensive are likely to be closed to and dismissive of others’ perspec- tives (Taylor & Bright, 2011). For instance, leaders are likely to rate themselves highly, and so they may be in for a shock when they see that others’ ratings of them are not as positive. As a result, they will be defensive.

However, one approach to reduce defen- siveness is to ask the leaders to predict how others will rate them. This can be done on the survey instead of, or in addition to, self- ratings. Alternatively, the feedback report explanation, perhaps delivered by a coach, can ask the leader to predict others’ ratings before they see the results. This will encourage leaders to think about how others see them before they receive the results. In making their predictions, leaders are likely to be harder on them- selves than others are, or at least leaders may admit up front that others have less-than- f avorable views on some elements of their behavior. Predicting ratings and comparing them to the actual ratings received from others may increase leaders’ open-mindedness and lessen their defensiveness, and as a result generate more learning (Taylor & Bright, 2011). What can you do if you want 360-degree feedback now? You do not have to wait for a 360-degree survey to be administered by your organization. Develop a list of behaviors that you believe are important to your being an effective leader. If you are working, draw on the competencies that your organization may use in its annual performance appraisal form or that are the topics for leadership training in your corporate education center. Indicate how you would evaluate yourself on these behaviors and predict how you think others would rate you. Are there differences in your self-ratings and your predicted ratings? If so, why? This will help you think about development needs without even receiving feedback.

Alternatively, you can ask others how they see you. Make this an informal discussion, one to one with people whose opinions you trust. Ask them what they think your strengths and weaknesses are and what areas you should concentrate on to do better. This situation may make you feel vulnerable, and you do not want to give the impression that you are seeking only positive feedback. Instead, you want to convey that you are indeed open to constructive infor - mation. Ask for both positive information—what you do well—and ways you can improve.

Then put this information to use by formulating a leadership development plan for yourself for the next 6 months. You might discuss this with the individual(s) who gave you informal feedback. Go back to them 6 months later to repeat the discussion and see if they have noticed a difference. In addition to determining if you are actually doing better, this will have the side benefit of showing others that you are open and willing to learn to be a better leader.

Leaders who are high self-regulators but low self-monitors will probably be surprised to learn that others’ ratings will be more similar, on average, to their self-ratings. Certain characteris - tics tend to result in greater similarity between self and other ratings. These characteristics include the following (Atwater & Yammarino, 1997): Hero Images Inc./Hero Images/SuperStock As a leader, what steps might you take to prepare yourself for coworkers’ evaluations of you?

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.6 Learning From Feedback: Supervisors and 360 Degrees • Intelligence • High self-efficacy • High internal locus of control • High and stable self-esteem • Self-awareness • High private self-awareness (in touch with their inner thoughts and feelings) • High interpersonal sensitivity and feelings • Tendency to demand a lot of themselves Leaders who are open to new experiences and high in conscientiousness will also be more accepting of the feedback—less resistant—and more willing to take action on the results so that they can be as successful as possible. Analysis of Sample 360-Degree Feedback In a 360-degree feedback survey, a leader’s direct reports will complete what is known as the “upward” section of the survey. You can read through a sample upward survey at the end of this section. The direct reports’ ratings are then averaged before being shown to the leader.

Read the sample report in Table 2.5 as if it shows results for you and your direct report team.

What do you notice? For example, do you see that your direct reports rated you equal to or better than the organization norm? What does that tell you? If this were your report, you would also notice that you rated yourself slightly higher than your direct reports did, par- ticularly when it comes to setting goals and providing the support to their jobs. What else do you see?

Table 2.5: Abbreviated sample feedback report Behavior Mean ratingsRangeNumber of directs responding *Norm Self Dir ect report Low High Number Jointly sets performance goals with you 5 3 1 4 7 3 Supports you in developing your career plans 4 4 2 4 8 4 Motivates you to do a good job 6 5 3 6 84 Gives you authority to do your job 5 4 3 5 8 3 Provides the support necessary to help you do your job 6 4 2 5 7 4 *Norm: The average of all leaders in the organization \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.6 Learning From Feedback: Supervisors and 360 Degrees Usually, the results report includes a guide for interpretation. Here are some basics related to this abbreviated report that would most likely be included in the guide:

• Look at the number of responding direct reports. The more who respond, the greater the degree to which the results represent the work group.

• Compare your self-ratings to the average direct report ratings. What does that tell you?

• Look at the norm ratings to understand how your results compare with how other leaders in the organization were rated by their direct reports. Are you rated higher, lower, or about the same? What does that tell you?

Most guides include information about available training and developmental experiences that would be useful for developing competency in each category represented on the survey.

Finally, to make the most of the 360-degree feedback and to capitalize on learning from the experience, leaders can take the following actions (London, 2002): • Initiate a discussion with your superior about your development needs and career plans.

• Prepare a written plan concerning your developmental goals and activities.

• Set specific goals for development.

• Target a specific skill for improvement.

• Initiate a discussion with your peers and direct reports about your development needs and plans.

• Make a verbal commitment to your supervisor, peers, and direct reports to make improvements in your skills or performance. Considering the Upward Survey The following is an example of the upward section of a 360-degree feedback survey, which a leader’s direct reports would complete. Consider downloading a copy from your e-book and filling it out for your supervisor (or predicting how your direct reports would respond).

Instructions: An important aspect of leadership is people management. This survey focuses on your satisfaction with the relationship you have with your supervisor. Use the scale below to rate your supervisor. Indicate the number that best describes your rating.

Use “N” to indicate you have had insufficient opportunity to accurately gauge your degree of satisfaction. Your responses will be averaged with those from other colleagues who also report to your supervisor.

Scale:

1 = Very dissatisfied 5 = Satisfied 2 = Dissatisfied 6 = V ery satisfied 3 = Somewhat dissatisfied N = No opportunity t o observe 4 = Somewhat satisfied (continued) \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.6 Learning From Feedback: Supervisors and 360 Degrees Considering the Upward Survey (continued) 1. Jointly sets performance objectives with you.

2. Supports you in developing your career plans.

3. Motivates you to do a good job.

4. Gives you the authority to do your job.

5. Provides the support necessary to help you do your job.

6. Understands the work to be done within your work group.

7. Is available to you when needed.

8. Encourages innovation and creativity.

9. Holds employees accountable for meeting performance objectives.

10. Keeps commitments.

11. Allows adequate training time for you.

12. Provides ongoing performance feedback.

13. Provided a useful performance appraisal within the past year.

14. Conducts productive staff meetings.

15. Demonstrates trust and confidence in you.

16. Treats you with dignity and respect.

17. Informs you about issues affecting you.

18. Balances the work load fairly.

19. Communicates the reasons for any actions.

20. Supports and backs you up.

21. Has the subject matter knowledge to do the job.

22. Fairly evaluates your job performance.

23. Represents the group effectively to others.

24. Ensures that you get credit/recognition for your work.

25. Encourages open, two-way communication.

26. Modifies his/her position based on feedback from you.

27. Provides opportunities for you to develop new skills.

28. Strives for quality in spite of time pressure. Source: Wohlers & London, 1989; London, 1997, pp. 48–49; London, 2002, pp. 137\ –138; London, 2003, pp. 94–95.

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.7 Learning From Feedback: Assessment Centers Leadership in Review Reflect on your learning by answering the following questions:

1. What personal char acteristics make a leader more likely to seek and use feedback?

Wh y is having feedback from different sources (supervisor, peers, subordinates) valuable? Isn’t feedback from your supervisor all that matters?

What ar e at least three guidelines for giving feedback?

Ho w does 360-degree feedback fit into a performance management process? 2.7 Learning From Feedback: Assessment Centers In addition to the supervisor feedback and the 360-degree feedback discussed in Section 2.6, a third type of feedback comes from assessment centers. Assessment centers were pioneered by the U.S. government to select spies during World War II and later used by AT&T in the 1950s to identify managers who had leadership potential (Moses, 1977). The method has been used by companies ever since to assess managers’ and leaders’ potential for advance- ment to higher levels of responsibility and leadership. The method can also be used to make hiring and selection decisions for targeted roles. You may have a chance to participate in an assessment center in the future as part of a hiring process or as a developmental experience.

If so, this can be a major source of feedback and information about the situations and behav - iors that are important to leadership. You can learn a great deal about yourself in the process of participating and receiving feedback about your performance in the assessment center.

Fundamentals of Assessment Centers Assessment centers can be defined as a group- and individual-based method of assessment used for the selection, identification, or development of individual contributors, managers, or leaders, that simulates the challenges of working in a target role. Assessment centers are largely used for the identification of high-potential leaders and to provide developmental feedback to improve performance. Results are strongly considered for development and pro- motion decisions. Centers can also be used for selection purposes, with the results strongly considered in making hiring decisions. Because the method is expensive, when used for iden - tification and development purposes it is primarily focused on mid- to senior-level leaders, who by other measures or experience are demonstrating high levels of potential. From the selection perspective, final candidates for important leadership roles may participate in the assessment process; sometimes candidates for functional roles, such as that of sales consul- tant, participate in the process.

The concept of the assessment center stems from the grand rounds medical model of physi - cians evaluating a patient from different perspectives. In an assessment center, six to 12 man- agers or leaders are invited to spend 1 to 4 days going through a series of exercises, each focused on varying dimensions of performance, and completing a variety of evaluation instru- ments, including intelligence tests and personality profiles. The complexity of the exercises \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.7 Learning From Feedback: Assessment Centers and the expected level of effectiveness in the behaviors assessed increase relative to the target audience; that is, the exercises will be more challenging and difficult at the senior levels than at the middle levels of leadership. As the leaders progress through the experi- ence, they are constantly being evaluated by one or more assessors. Typically, the cen- ter assesses leadership skills as defined in the organization’s leadership competency model. So the center might assess, for exam- ple, planning, decision-making, and negoti- ation skills. If used for selection, such as for the role of sales consultant, the focus would be on key functional skills, such as identifying customer needs or closing the sale. The asses - sors note the individuals’ behavior and write reports about how each individual performed in each exercise. An overall report about each individual is also written by an assessor, who is chosen on the basis of which exercises he or she observed. Feedback at the end of the experi- ence is typically delivered by a group of assessors to each participant, one at a time, to ensure the feedback is clearly understood and an action plan can be established. Particularly when used for identification and development, the results are considered confidential. Typically, only the individual and human resources see the results; if used in succession planning, then the results will be shared with senior leaders involved in the process and the individual’s supervisor. If used for selection purposes, the results will be shared with those making the decisions.

We will review how the key exercises operate next, and then provide a case study that describes what a real-life leader learned from the assessment experience.

Key Assessment Center Exercises The key and typical assessment center exercises include the following:

• In-basket • Presentation • Leaderless group discussion • Business game or simulation When faced with the in-basket exercise, a participant assumes the role of a leader. During the exercise, the participant is asked to review correspondence sent to the leader through a vari- ety of modes of communication, including email, telephone messages, memos, and reports.

The challenge for the participant is to prioritize the items, write responses, and indicate the actions he or she would take. Following the exercise, an assessor interviews the participant about the reasons for his or her decisions and then rates the participant on performance dimensions such as decision making, organization skills, and written communication. In this exercise, leaders gain insight into how they work alone under pressure (the exercise is timed), Caia Images/Caia Images/SuperStock Assessment centers are designed to evaluate leaders for various purposes, including profes- sional development and potential promotion.

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.7 Learning From Feedback: Assessment Centers deal with new challenges, and decide to take action without any consultation. For example, those high in conscientiousness will tend to try to read all the items in the in-basket in detail and prepare in-depth responses. The time limit may frustrate them. Participants who are more extroverted, for example, will tend to prepare less-detailed responses and find it harder to work alone than those who are less extroverted will. Participants will clearly see and learn how their leadership characteristics and behaviors affect them when working alone.

Typically, the presentation and leaderless group discussion are linked. For example, four to six participants would be placed in a group. Each participant would be given a role and then asked to review information about the role and prepare and deliver a presentation to the group. How does this work? Imagine the scenario the center uses is a school board charged with allocating $100,000 of additional funds recently made available by the state. Each group participant—a member of the school board—would be given a role representing a differ - ent vested interest, such as athletics, recreation, theater, or new technology. Each person argues why his or her area deserves the additional funds. Assessors observe the presentation and rate the participant on delivery, organization, and clarity. In this part of the exercise, a leader would learn about, among other things, his or her comfort level with presenting to an unknown audience and ability to be persuasive. This part of the exercise, of course, would be easier for those who are extroverted and have higher degrees of emotional intelligence. The presentation is followed by the group discussion exercise, in which the participants discuss the issue—in this example, the allocation of additional funds—and agree on a solution. Assessors observe and rate each participant on collaboration, interpersonal influence, and leadership.

Here, leaders have the opportunity to learn about their negotiation and conflict management skills. From a personality perspective, those who are more open to experience and agreeable might find themselves willing to yield their positions and support others’ requests for the additional funds.

The business game or simulation usually involves a group of four to six participants. The chal- lenge in the simulation is for the participants to organize themselves, for example, to produce a product, such as a toy plane from plastic parts. The difference between this kind of simula - tion and the group discussion is that no specific roles are assigned. Assessors observe each participant’s collaborative skills and emergent leadership. Leaders who are low in agreeable - ness may find this exercise more challenging if their ideas are not readily accepted. Leaders high in conscientiousness may try to impose structure early on in the exercise to help them cope with ambiguity. Read Case Study: The Mid-Level Leader’s Assessment Center Experience to find out how one leader, Carlos, learned about his leadership style by reflecting on and analyz - ing his behavior in two different group experiences.

Overall, the assessment center is meant to be a microcosm of typical business situations.

When used for identification or development, the tasks are structured to represent a higher level of leadership than that of the participants. For example, in the 1980s and 1990s AT&T used an assessment center designed to evaluate third-level district managers for potential to assume fifth-level director roles. The goal of this approach was to determine the extent to which the participants would be intentionally groomed for those senior leadership roles. At AT&T, this meant that someone seen as high potential would likely become a participant in a multiweek executive education program or be given an assignment in a different function to help develop general management skills. On the other hand, when an assessment center is used for hiring and selection, the tasks are built around those behavioral dimensions impor - tant to the functional roles in question. If the participant is an outside applicant, the outcome \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.7 Learning From Feedback: Assessment Centers is either being hired or not. If the participant is an internal employee focused on moving to another role, the outcome is normally movement to that role when a position becomes avail - able if the assessment results are acceptable. If you are directed to an assessment center as part of your career development or as part of a job interview, consider watching the videos available in the Web Resources section at the end of the chapter, which provide tips on how to succeed. Case Study: The Mid-Level Leader’s Assessment Center Experience Carlos was a mid-level leader and was selected to participate in a development-oriented assessment center experience for high-potential leaders. After completing the prework, which included a competency self-assessment and several personality questionnaires, Carlos spent 4 days engaging in a variety of exercises and feedback sessions, as well as spending time in reflection at various points in the program. The exercises included an in-basket, a business game, a leaderless group discussion, and a one-to-one coaching discussion.

Carlos was a continuous learner and quite open to the whole experience. After each activity he would carefully reflect on what he did—and, if the assessors provided feedback at that point, examine what they said very closely. Carlos felt like he was learning a good deal over the 4 days and, in fact, told the assessors that; they responded that they could already see some changes.

Carlos’s results, overall, were positive—scoring better than most leaders but not as well as those deemed to have the highest potential. When one of the authors debriefed Carlos at the end of the session, Carlos was struck by two points, resulting in significant learning for him.

First, on the dimension related to negotiation, the assessors rated Carlos low, but Carlos rated himself high. After all, Carlos had taught conflict management and negotiation earlier in his career and was skilled in the area. What did Carlos learn? In this center, the definition of negotiation included the willingness to make trades. Carlos felt uncomfortable making trades, particularly with his direct reports. A trade, for example, could be as simple as “Fran, if you take on this new project, I will see what I can do about getting more budget for your other projects.” Carlos was not sure why, but for some reason, he thought making trades with his direct reports “was bad to do.” The assessors helped Carlos work through his perspective, and eventually Carlos grew more comfortable making trades with his direct reports. (continued) Hero Images/Hero Images/SuperStock Through his two group experiences at the assessment center, Carlos learned that he needed to demonstrate more behavioral consistency as a leader.

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.7 Learning From Feedback: Assessment Centers Case Study: The Mid-Level Leader’s Assessment Center Experience (continued) Second, Carlos’s behavior was somewhat different in the two group experiences, affecting his evaluation on the dimension of team leadership. In the first experience, Carlos demonstrated more leadership: He suggested a good plan, helped others decide on roles, and reinforced good behavior. In the second experience, the assessors noted that Carlos stepped back some out of the leadership role, and, as a result, leadership was well demonstrated by someone else—John. At times, Carlos and John appeared to battle for control.

What did Carlos learn? When discussing this with the assessors, Carlos said that, in essence, when no one appears to be taking the leadership role, he will. This is what happened in the first group experience. However, when someone else appears to take on the role, he is comfortable being more of a team member. Carlos is assertive but not aggressive and is more of an introvert than an extrovert. John, however, was clearly more extroverted and, at times, demonstrated aggressiveness over assertiveness. In the second experience, Carlos was willing to let John take the lead. What became clear was that Carlos did not always agree with John, and when he did not, the two clashed. At these points, neither Carlos nor John displayed high levels of emotional intelligence.

Carlos learned that he needed to demonstrate more behavioral consistency as a leader; his team and supervisor would expect that. Carlos also learned about how an extroverted, assertive, and possibly aggressive team leader affected him and that he needed to find ways to deal with that situation more effectively. It was pointed out to Carlos that something about John triggered an inappropriate emotional response and that he needed to explore that dynamic. After all, because Carlos was skilled in negotiation and conflict resolution, the assessors and Carlos agreed that he could certainly be more effective in handling situations like this back on the job. Carlos would now need to monitor his performance better and regulate his behavior when interacting with someone like John.

Reflection Questions 1.

Ha ve you ever participated in simulations or exercises that gave you information about your leadership abilities? If so, what did you learn?

What situations ha ve you experienced that you would describe as learning opportunities? Maybe you didn’t think of them as such at the time. Now that you think about it, what did you learn about your leadership abilities? Leadership in Review Reflect on your learning by answering the following questions:

1. Ho w does an assessment center measure key elements of leadership?

Wh y is an assessment center especially valuable for measuring leadership potential?

Is f eedback from an assessment center useful for suggesting directions for career development?

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.8 Learning From Training and Development Programs 2.8 Learning From Training and Development Programs Formal leadership training and development programs include programs that a company offers itself as well as those offered by outside institutions. Before we begin, it is important to note that the distinction between training and development is useful. Although these terms are often used interchangeably, training focuses on learning a specific set of skills or a body of knowledge. Development refers to incremental learning over time, the result of accumu - lated learning experiences. Development programs , therefore, are less about classroom or online training and more about learning from experience, although they often have a formal learning component.

Internal Programs Many large organizations, such as GE and IBM, create compan y-specific internal training and development pro- grams to foster, if not to accelerate, leadership develop- ment efforts for middle- and senior-level leaders to pre- pare them to meet current and future organization needs.

These internal training programs can vary in length, from 1 day to several days over a number of years, and will vary in learning methodologies to accommodate different learning needs. Your authors recently worked with a For- tune 500 company to design and implement an extensive, 18-day program conducted over 2 years. In this program, VP-level leaders have the opportunity to develop their self-leadership skills, along with skills necessary for the other leadership roles. The program includes 360-degree feedback, psychological assessments, readings, lectures, case studies, role-plays, and the like, and is facilitated by a combination of professional trainers, the company’s senior-level executives, and outside experts. Table 2.6 shows the basic 2-year schedule for the program. Each ses - sion is 3 days in length, and the sessions are interspersed with related assignments, webcasts, readings, on-the-job experiences, coaching, and mentoring to ensure participants remain engaged in a continu- ous learning effort. Notice that the program will be conducted in key cities around the world as one practical way to build cultural sensitivity and awareness, important to being a global leader. In programs that are extensive, leaders will learn about themselves as they get feed - back from the program facilitators and their colleagues and experience the different learning exercises and approaches. In addition, they will have the opportunity to develop their skills as they practice them in a safe, learning environment. After each session, when they return to their jobs, they can further practice and develop their skills, learning as they go. Peter Probst/age fotostock/SuperStock According to Business Insider , participants in General Elec- tric’s (GE) internal training program spend up to 120 hours a week working on their assignments, with only 2% of participants landing executive- level positions by the end of the program.

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.8 Learning From Training and Development Programs Table 2.6: Fortune 500 leadership development program schedule Session Session 1 Session 2 Session 3 Session 4 Session 5 Session 6 Dates January June October January June October Location New York New York Buenos AiresLondon Hong Kong New York Topic(s) Personal leadershipTeam leadership, leading change, and driving innovationStrategic planning process, leading organiza- tions, and post- merger/ acquisitionOrganiza- tion learn- ing and execution General manage- ment The leader’s role and strategic integra- tion and application External Programs Sometimes, companies cannot afford to develop and implement their own customized leader- ship training programs, so they turn to leadership training available from a variety of insti- tutes and universities. Often, companies will select only high-potential managers to attend these workshops. Here’s a typical schedule for one such weeklong workshop. Imagine you are a participant.

• The program begins with launching your 360-degree feedback, a process, of course, that will start several weeks before the beginning of the program.

• Once you arrive at the workshop, the first session is an overview of leadership competencies. You then have the chance to digest your 360-degree feedback results and use them to fine-tune your thinking about your strengths and weaknesses and areas for development—the areas you will want to work on most during and after the workshop.

• You meet with a coach one on one to review your 360-degree results and discuss their meaning (so you cannot easily ignore key findings) with a focus on areas where you are rated low and how these ratings from others compared to your self- per ceptions. You agree on the areas you need to work on most.

• During the remaining days, you participate in a variety of exercises, such as those in a typical assessment center—business simulations, group discussions, in-basket exercises, and interviews. You meet with your fellow trainees to discuss what leader- ship means to you, the leadership challenges you have faced, and ways to overcome them. You review and discuss cases from other companies. You study leaders who were successful and those who failed.

• On the last day, you work with a coach to review your experiences and outline a development plan for the next 6 months to a year that will help you further focus on areas in which you need to improve. The coaches at the workshop follow up monthly with the participants to see the progress they are making in taking actions to imple- ment their development plan.

Two of the more typical development programs organizations implement include the following:

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.8 Learning From Training and Development Programs • New college hire development programs: Generally designed to give new college grad- uates short-term, on-the-job experiences in different functions over a 1- to 3-year period. For example, participants may be rotated through different jobs, say moving from finance to marketing to sales, or other departments, every 3 to 6 months. This will give them exposure to different management and leadership styles and a variety of colleagues and areas of expertise, helping them to learn the business before being assigned to their first longer-term position. From a leadership perspective, partici- pants gain insight into their skills and abilities, helping them to decide on their inter- est in being organization leaders.

• Middle management development programs : These are similar in nature and design to the college hire programs, except the target audience is middle management, the assignments are usually at least 1 to 2 years in length, and the participants, if suc- cessful in meeting the strategic and global leadership challenges they will encounter, will likely go on to assume roles with greater leadership accountability and respon- sibility and may even become a succession planning candidate.

There are other development programs less focused on job movement. One such program is designed to bring leaders together to focus on real business problems. Pioneered by Gen- eral Electric, the method, called Work Out, challenges leaders to develop creative solutions (Ulrich, Kerr, & Ashkenas, 2002). Executives present the issue, and the group gets to work.

Leaders gain the experience of working together face to face with different colleagues as they study and debate different facets of the problem to settle on a solution. Along the way, they collaborate and make decisions. Several weeks later, they meet with the executive who gave them the assignment to review their solution. As part of the process, leaders are usually asked to reflect on and self-assess their problem-solving, collaborative, and decision-making com- petencies as well as their leadership during different phases of their work. Other potential learning outcomes for leaders include the following: • Gaining insight into their own emergent leadership • Understanding what it takes to collaborate effectively, a strong function of their openness and agreeableness • Testing their lateral thinking and brainstorming skills • Sharpening their systems approach to problem solving The Center for Creative Leadership is one example of an external organization that offers development programs. You can see the wide variety of leadership programs available at ht tp://w w w.ccl.org/leadership/programs/summaries.aspx .

Leadership in Review Reflect on your learning by answering the following questions:

1. Ho w does an organization determine what training courses to offer?

What is the diff erence between training courses and a leadership development program?

Ho w are 360-degree feedback surveys and assessment centers incorporated into leadership development programs?

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.9 Learning From Others: Role Models, Mentors, and Coaches 2.9 Learning From Others: Role Models, Mentors, and Coaches In this section, we examine three relationship-oriented learning opportunities, focusing on what a leader can learn from the relationship to foster self-leadership effectiveness. The next chapter explores these learning opportunities from the perspective of leader-as-supervisor.

Role Models Role models are people leaders can emulate. In organizations, role models are typically higher-level leaders, or they just may be individuals with outstanding and admirable traits.

For example, in a coaching session, one business unit head, Adam, told us that the CFO was his overall role model, but that he highly admired the person on his team who managed his organization’s budget—because she presented the implications of budget challenges in clear and practical business terms. Leaders learn from role models by observing them, identifying what makes them successful, and then practicing the admired behaviors and traits.

We are sure you can recognize role models, but if you are looking to learn something specific, you may want to ask your HR business partner or supervisor for advice on who best demon - strates the skill or behavior you would like to develop.

Once you have identified your senior-level role model or models, observe their skills and then try them out—practice what it is like to be in positions such as theirs. This is called “anticipa - tory socialization,” a concept originated by Robert Merton and Alice Kitt in 1950 (Dawson & Chatman, 2001; Merton & Kitt, 1950).This helps prepare you for promotion or another posi - tion, and as you prepare, you demonstrate to others that you are capable of being promoted or appointed to that position.

Mentors Mentors are individuals who take a personal interest in your career, provide guidance and advice, and act as a sounding board for your ideas. In one leadership program for a Fortune 500 company we worked with, the mentoring relationship was defined like this: “Mentoring is a relationship in which a seasoned employee shares knowledge and wisdom with another employee, providing the support, advice, and counsel necessary for career development and advancement.” This same program defined how mentoring advances leadership development. Mentoring accomplishes the following:

• Provides a vehicle for open and honest communication about issues that mentees may be unwilling to discuss with their managers • Encourages self-reflection and personal discovery • Enables mentees to receive targeted and candid feedback \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.9 Learning From Others: Role Models, Mentors, and Coaches Mentors are usually someone older, more experienced, and likely to be at a higher level in the organization than the leader/mentee. This idea is supported by Levinson’s life stage theory discussed earlier, when we pointed out that people tend to look for mentors in early adult - hood but tend to become mentors during the midlife stage. Returning to our leader Adam, who is in the era of early adulthood: Although his role model was the CFO, in fact, he was spe- cifically being mentored by the CEO, who is in the transition stage to late adulthood.

Chapter 3 continues the discussion of mentors, but briefly, mentors can create opportunities for leaders or recommend them for choice assignments to foster their development. The role of a mentor is mainly that of a guide and a coach, someone who is available to show you how things are done, point out effective actions and decisions, and inform you about opinions and politics in your organization—who has influence, who is highly regarded by whom, and who the key decision makers are. Of course, there are expectations for the mentee role, too. Here is how we defined those for the leaders in the Fortune 500 program discussed previously:

• Communicate openly and honestly with your mentors, indicating the areas in which you need assistance and development.

• Share successes as well as failures with your mentors.

• Approach the mentoring relationship with an open mind and a willingness to explore and challenge your own beliefs, assumptions, and behaviors.

• Be open to feedback and be willing to try new approaches.

• Engage in self-reflection.

• Understand that you will receive guidance, not answers, from your mentors.

• Be proactive in contacting your mentors to schedule meetings.

How does one find a mentor in organizations? This can happen in several ways. For example, one Fortune 500 company we worked with has organized a mentorship program with a pool of senior leaders as mentors, and the mentees (the program participants) take the lead in forming a mentoring relationship with someone from the pool. This is the guidance the men- tees were given: • You are not required to participate in mentoring; it is a voluntary program.

• If you choose to participate, you are responsible for initiating contact with a poten- tial senior vice president or executive vice president mentor.

• The mentors may decline due to other commitments but are strongly encouraged to work with at least one mentee.

• Mentors and mentees determine together the goals of the relationship, how often they will meet, specific expectations, etc.

Other organizations have programs that assign mentors to mentees. In accordance with the practices we discussed, managers early in their careers are assigned mentors who are more experienced managers and have volunteered to participate in the program. Once established, the relationship tends to work the same way. The assigned mentor is expected to have peri - odic informal meetings with the mentee, perhaps over lunch or dinner, to talk about the orga- nization and give the mentee advice. Because the mentor does not have a supervisory rela- tionship with the mentee and may not even be in the mentee’s department, the mentee can feel confident when being open about any concerns, and the mentor can be constructive in offering advice to the mentee. These programs work best when the mentor and mentee have one or more characteristics or experiences in common. For instance, they may be in the same \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.9 Learning From Others: Role Models, Mentors, and Coaches field, graduates of the same university, or a member of the same minority group. Even so, this formally assigned mentor-mentee relationship may not have much value unless the two like each other and the affinity deepens over time. These programs can be companywide, solely department focused, or focused on a specific population, such as women or minorities.

Finally, companies may still encourage mentoring even if there is no formal mentoring pro- gram in place. In this instance, the mentor-mentee relationship probably forms by chance and is often the result of the younger leader being introduced to a more experienced leader who has the time and interest to begin acting as a mentor.

Leaders should understand the immense value of mentoring and seek people with whom they can build a mentoring relationship. Having a mentor is not the key to success, but it is very helpful. Many successful people acknowledge the contributions of their mentors, to whom they owe a debt of gratitude for helping them in their careers. Even Steve Jobs benefited from a mentor (he considered Warren Buffett his mentor). So if you have such a relationship, con- sider the positive difference mentorship can make, and take the time to develop it.

If you are not involved in a mentoring relationship, consider people who might be a mentor or mentee. Invite the person for coffee or lunch. See if you can foster such a relationship to create value for both of you.

Coaches Coaching, according to Harris (1999), is “an ongoing, one-to-one learning process enabling people to enhance their job performance” (p. 38). Coaching can be an intense process, although it is not as personal a relation - ship as mentoring. It is intense because a coach focuses the leader on improving specific job behaviors, analyzing difficult and complex relationships with others, and con- sidering ways to become more effective. Coaches chal- lenge leaders to reflect on their worldviews and perspec - tives. Coaching’s main focus, therefore, is about personal change.

A leader’s supervisor can act as a coach, but often, par- ticularly at the more senior levels, coaches are outside experts, generically categorized as “executive coaches.” Organizations may also have HR or organization devel- opment practitioners who are trained in and serve as internal coaches. Here are some specific ways in which coaching can help to enhance self-leadership:

• Increase the leader’s motivation to learn • Help the leader to improve self-monitoring and self-regulation skills • Recognize the leader’s successes and accomplishments, helping to build career resil- ience and identity IMAGEZOO/IMAGEZOO/SuperStock Try to think of a time when you were a part of a coaching relation- ship and what you learned either as the coach or as the one being coached. What was that experi- ence like?

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.10 Career Development Planning and Diagnosing and Measuring Self-Leadership Gaps • Establish effective learning goals based on feedback, including 360-degree feedback • Work through life stage and life stage transition issues • Increase emotional intelligence • Foster the ability to capitalize on and learn from experience • Create an objective, honest atmosphere for high-level executives to discuss their concerns, weaknesses, and other issues Although a coach, or even a mentor, can be quite active in their roles, leaders should not expect the coach or mentor to do the work for them. Leaders may tend to procrastinate or put less independent energy into a goal or task if they think that someone could help them at some point. The expectation or anticipation that self-regulation can be “outsourced” is likely to prevent people from taking action on their own (Fitzsimons & Finkel, 2011).

Leadership in Review Reflect on your learning by answering the following questions: 1. What ar e the similarities and differences among role models, mentors, and coaches?

What is one w ay to choose a role model?

Ho w do you find a mentor, or do you have to wait for a mentor to find you?

When can an e xecutive coach be most helpful?

What is the diff erence between coaching and leading?

2.10 Career Development Planning and Diagnosing and Measuring Self-Leadership Gaps As this chapter comes to a close, we discuss how leaders can go about career development planning to foster their ability to be successful in the role of leading one’s self, as well as in other leadership roles. At the end of this section, we look at how you can diagnose gaps in your self-leadership by measuring the extent to which you demonstrate role behaviors and job-related competencies and the extent to which enabling practices that support self- leadership ar e in place in your organization.

Career Development Planning Development planning is the process of creating an action plan for ensuring one has the knowledge, skills, and abilities to achieve certain goals. Development planning can focus on short-term development planning, long-term development planning, or both. One Fortune 500 company differentiated between these two types of planning by noting that short-term development planning is focused on current performance goals, whereas long-term develop- ment planning is focused on the leader’s future success, given the company’s strategic plan and direction. Long-term development planning can be thought of as career planning and development. \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.10 Career Development Planning and Diagnosing and Measuring Self-Leadership Gaps Simply put, leaders then need to ensure that they are planning to acquire or develop the skills neces - sary for immediate success in their current assign- ments, and that they have a plan for continuous learning that will help them to acquire or develop the skills necessary to contribute to the long-term success of the business. The following are the key questions leaders should address when develop- ment planning: 1.

What ar e my top strengths? a. Do I eff ectively demonstrate the leader- ship skills necessary for success in my current job? b. Do I eff ectively demonstrate the leader- ship skills necessary for success in the future?

What ar e my top areas for development? a. What aspects of m y leadership do I most need to improve? b. What w ould my supervisor or colleagues say? What would my mentor say?

What actions will I tak e to improve in each leadership area? a. What tr aining programs can I attend? b. What job assignments can I plan f or?

What is m y time frame for development? a. What do I plan t o do during the next 6 months and the following 6 months? b. When will I assess m y progress?

What barriers t o my development might I face? a. Ho w will I overcome them?

What ar e my career goals 1 year from now and 5 years from now? a. What jobs and positions w ould I like to hold? How do these relate to my goals for leadership development? b. Ho w will my development plan help me prepare to achieve these goals?

When answering these questions, leaders need to recognize that development is not just a matter of considering one’s strengths and weaknesses. Leaders also need to take into account the needs of the business and recognize that these needs are changing—and that they may be unpredictable. Other changes that appear to be on the horizon, such as technological changes, competition, and globalization, can be predicted or at least anticipated and prepared for. Rec- ognizing these changes, leaders may want to advance their education (e.g., take courses in finance or marketing), study a foreign language, or attend industry conferences. Certainly, keeping up with advances in one’s field and industry is likely to be important. As such, leaders need to be continuous learners, always on the lookout for the latest trends, data, and informa- tion that will help them be competitive and continue to add value to the organization.

Diagnosing and Measuring Gaps: Leading One’s Self Chapter 1 introduced the Mone-London organization model as a framework for diagnosing gaps in leadership across the four leadership roles. Early in this chapter, we presented a varia- tion of this model, one that applies to self-leadership. NLshop/iStock/Thinkstock Leaders should take it upon them- selves to map out their own short- and long-term self- de velopment plans.

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Section 2.10 Career Development Planning and Diagnosing and Measuring Self-Leadership Gaps As discussed here and in Chapter 1, the per- formance component for self-leadership emphasizes the extent to which leaders demonstrate the expected behaviors and job-related competencies to achieve or exceed their performance goals. So the gap we are concerned with measuring is the extent to which leaders are demonstrating those skills and capitalizing on the enabling practices from the perspective of ensuring successful self-leadership. Throughout this chapter, we offered a num- ber of specific assessments that can be used by leaders for self-assessment and devel- opment planning. The assessments could be used, more or less, as conversation tools by supervisors or, for example, coaches, when working one on one with leaders. In addition, the questions in those assessments could be incorporated, probably with some modification, into surveys that would collectively assess the gaps in leadership for this role. Here is a high-level set of questions that can be used for gap assessment for this role:

• Does the organization’s human resource development policy promote and support self-development and learning from experience? – Ar e self-development efforts recognized and rewarded? – Do the CEO and the e xecutive team visibly support leadership development ef- forts? Are leadership development efforts closely aligned with the company’s strategic plan?

• Are the important leadership competencies identified? – Is ther e an organizational leadership competency model? –Ar e the behaviors related to the company’s core values clearly identified? – Does the str ategic plan identify relevant functional competencies important to leadership development?

• What development resources, if any, does the company provide to promote develop- ment of self-leadership? – 360-degr ee feedback? – Coaching?

– Ment oring? – Online assessments, including, f or example, skill, personality, and learning style assessments? – Assessment cent er participation? – Ex ecutive education? – Leadership tr aining and development programs?

• Do leaders, in general, display high levels of career motivation? – Ar e leaders, overall, engaging in self-development and continuous learning? Mario Ragma/Hemera/Thinkstock Assessments allow leaders to diagnose opportunities for improving their skills and practices.

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Summary and Resources –Are leaders aware of how their environment and their own life stages can influ- ence their outlook, development, and performance?

• Are leaders developing the metacognitive and functional skills necessary to success- fully lead the organization?

• Are leaders, overall, displaying critical skills that contribute to effective self- leadership, such as the ability t o engage in self-reflection, self-monitoring, self- r egulation, and emotional intelligence? Leadership in Review Reflect on your learning by answering the following questions: 1. What is the purpose of a de velopment plan?

What is short-t erm development planning? What is long-term development planning?

What ar e other development plans that are not oriented toward being promoted? Summary and Resources Chapter Summary This chapter showed how leaders take responsibility for their own development. Doing this effectively entails recognizing the interplay among individual characteristics (traits, tal - ents, personality), role requirements of different leadership positions, and outcomes that include job performance and career advancement. The relationships among these elements are supported by ongoing assessment, opportunities that enable development, and plan - ning. These processes unfolded throughout the chapter as we described motivational forces, self- r egulatory mechanisms, leadership traits and behaviors, and environmental cues about which leadership competencies are important for career success in the organization. For leaders to be effective learners, they need to understand how they learn best and then take advantage of the leadership opportunities available to them. Learning stems from new expe- riences, observing others, and seeking and receiving performance feedback. Feedback is key to calibrating what you need to do to achieve your goals and how close you are to accomplish- ing these goals. We described factors that affect leaders’ receptiveness to feedback; sources of feedback such as the leader’s supervisor, 360-degree survey results, and assessment centers; and ways to use feedback for performance improvement. We described training and devel- opment programs and learning from role models, mentors, and coaches. We concluded with ways leaders can plan their development.

Leadership Exercise Instructions: In Chapter 1’s concluding exercise, we asked you to select a leader whom you would like to study—someone whom you admire or who has faced a variety of leadership \251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Summary and Resources challenges. We asked you to begin a case description of the leader, including the individual’s background, challenges, and accomplishments. Here, we want you to consider the leader’s characteristics as you know them or as they appear to be, given what you know about the leader’s decisions, actions, and experiences and how others describe him or her (or as he or she described him- or herself, if you have that information). Describe these characteristics using the concepts we covered in this chapter.1.

What is (w as) the leader’s career motivation? Reflect on evidence about the leader’s self-insight, identity (goals, ambitions, and persona), and resilience in the face of barriers.

What ar e (were) the leader’s key or defining characteristics in your opinion— strength of character, ego (self-esteem), self-control (self-regulation), continuous learning, collaborative relationships with others, vision, and the like?

Did the leader’s car eer change direction at any point? What led to this?

What challenges did the leader f ace, and how did the leader respond?

Did the leader ha ve an accurate view of how others perceived him or her? Was he or she someone who cared about and monitored what others thought of him or her?

Do you know if the leader asked others for feedback? Do you know how the leader responded to criticism?

Ho w would you compare yourself to the leader?

What char acteristics of this leader would you like to emulate? What characteristics would you want to avoid?

Ov erall, what have you learned about leadership from having studied this leader so far?

Web Resources • Watch the following video for tips on how to succeed at an assessment center (reprinted with permission of Ruairi Kavanagh at gradireland.com):

ht tp://w w w.youtube.com/watch?v=k A7g-Q8hyus&feature=related Key Terms to Remember 360-degree (multi-rater) feedback A method for providing leaders and manag- ers with multiple perspectives and assess- ments of their behavior and performance.

assessment centers A group- and indi vidual-based method of evaluation used for the selection, identification, or develop- ment of individual contributors, managers, or leaders that simulates the challenges of and working in a target role.

career identity The direction of one’s motivation, focusing on the goals one wants to achieve. career insight The degree of knowledge one has about one’s strengths and weak- nesses, including the extent to which one’s self-knowledge is comprehensive and accu- rate, as well as knowledge of the opportuni- ties, constraints, and demands one faces in the environment.

career motivation A person’s desire and rationale for pursuing and engaging in a certain career; it consists of career insight, identity, and resilience.

career resilience Comprises the set of characteristics that allows a leader to persist and overcome barriers.

\251 2016 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Summary and Resources coaching An ongoing, one-to-one learning process enabling people to enhance their job performance.

cycle of experiential learning An approach to learning that involves having a learning experience, reflecting on it, making sense of it, and then experimenting or trying out what was learned.

development A form of learning that is incremental over time, the result of accumu- lated experiences.

development planning The process of creating an action plan for ensuring one has or acquires the knowledge, skills, and abili- ties to meet current or future jobs’ needs, respectively; can be short term or long term.

emotional intelligence Having the capac- ity to understand and manage one’s own emotions as well as the emotions of others.

leadership characteristics Traits that are both inborn and acquired over time that make up a leader’s character.

learning style Preference for how one learns.

mentor An individual who takes a personal interest in another’s career, provides guid- ance and advice, and acts as a sounding board for that person’s ideas. meta-analysis The combination or average of the results of a wide range of studies that address a set of related research hypotheses, the goal of which is to generate results that are more conclusive than those from any one study alone.

self-control The ability of leaders to influ- ence their environments, the opportunities available to them, and what happens to them.

self-efficacy The belief that one can bring about positive outcomes for oneself and others.

self-esteem The beliefs and emotions that characterize one’s evaluation of self-worth.

self-monitoring The process of compar- ing one’s behavior to an internal or external standard and adjusting one’s behavior to meet that standard.

self-protection mechanisms Ways in which leaders maintain their self-image in the face of negative feedback.

self-regulation The tendency to take action in response to events in one’s environment and to be proactive in self-learning.

training A form of learning focusing on acquiring a specific set of skills or a body of knowledge.