How Do You Measure Your Leadership Skills?

The CEO track at MSP University’s San Antonio meeting kicked off with a discussion on leadership development with Lee Ellis, founder and president of Leadership Freedom. The retired U.S. Air Force Colonel (pilot and a Vietnam P.O.W) shared lessons he learned from years of management and consulting, as well as solid advice for the IT executives in attendanced at the breakout session at CompTIA Breakaway.

Leaders must assess their individual abilities to direct and inspire others, understanding both their strengths and weaknesses before taking any steps to change them. Each CEO has to gauge his own level of emotional awareness using a bell-curve technique. Using a bell curve example, Ellis demonstrated how to measure personal traits such as patience, trust, risk, creativity and pioneering. For example, a CEO measuring high on the emotional scale will likely want to work on restraint skills, while a leader on the opposite end of that bell curve may wish to become more responsive.

Businesses typically require a variety of DISC (personality) types to be successful. The marketing team is likely more creative than the accounting team, which is typically more focused and process oriented. Finding the right mix of leadership skills isn’t as easy, but executives who complement each other’s emotional and personality traits can help your organization be very successful. In order to do so, the CEO or company leader needs to understand the traits of his team and, in many cases, moderate his own in order to lead. Don’t assume because you see something one way, your employees do too. But with the proper understanding of personality types and response needs, a leader can be more effective and improve their overall value to the organization.