For this first Case Assignment, your task is to apply some of the leadership development tools that you read about in the background materials to your own personal development. As a warning, this assignment as well as several other assignments will involve taking a lot of surveys. Of course surveys are not the only tools used in leadership development, but they are one of the most popular tools and many leadership coaching companies charge a lot of money for the surveys that they’ve developed. Fortunately some of the surveys discussed in the background readings are available for free. The purpose of taking the quizzes are both for use in your leadership development, and also to get a taste of what various leadership coaches out there are doing and charging their clients for.
Make sure to thoroughly review the background readings before writing your paper. The main tasks in this assignment are A) read the background materials, B) take some self-assessment quizzes, and C) write up a self-development plan based on what you’ve read about in this module and your score on the quizzes. More specifically, write a four to five page paper addressing the following questions:
1. Take the Values in Action (VIA) Inventory of Strengths that was discussed in the background materials. This instrument is available for free but you need to register:
If you can find a free variation of the Strengthsfinder survey online you take this one instead, but the “official” Strengthsfinder survey from Gallup is not free. Report and discuss your results. Were your results surprising or what you expected to find? [One half to one page in length]
2. Now take the Emotional Intelligence Self-Assessment in Chapter 3 of Sterret (2006) as well as the Leadership Assessment in this chapter. Discuss how you scored on each of the different elements of Emotional Intelligence as well as your Leadership Assessment. Report and discuss your results. Were your results surprising or what you expected to find? [One half to one page in length]
3. Now we get to the main heart of the assignment. Based on what you have learned in this module and the quizzes you took above, give some specific examples of how you will improve your leadership skills. Your examples should be based on both your results on the two quizzes, and from the required readings. Make sure to cite at least two of the required readings in your answers, and support your answers with specific results from the quizzes that you took. [One and a half to two pages]
4. Finally, discuss the main limitations of the quizzes you took and the concepts you read about for this module. What information is missing from the quizzes you took? What additional important aspects of leadership development are not covered in this material or quizzes? What else do you think you need to know about yourself in order to improve your leadership skills? [One page]
Assignment Expectations
Case Assignments are to be prepared in Microsoft Word 12-pt font, be at least 4 pages in length (excluding title and references pages) and include 3 scholarly sources from the required or optional readings list.
The paper should include the following:
· Title Page formatted per APA.
· An Introduction, Body of Work, and Conclusion.
· Report content should include a brief introduction to the assignment, background information about the organization being studied, and your discussion of organizational structure in terms of the concepts or theories being applied in the assignment. Use subtitles, bullets, and tables to improve presentation values.
· References page (double-spaced, 12-pt. type, Times New Roman font) should be formatted par APA Style- See APAstyle.org.
· Attention is to be given to citing sources of information in-text as well as in the reference list at the end of reports.
Required Material
First, start out by reading the following resources that will introduce you to two popular tools used for self-awareness in leadership that you will read about for this module:
Reynolds, M. (2011). Understanding emotional intelligence. [Books24x7 version]. Available in the Trident Online Library.
Peterson, C. (2011). The five attributes of emotional intelligence. [Books24x7 version]. Available in the Trident Online Library.
The resources above will give you a good general overview of emotional intelligence and the VIA Inventory of Strengths. For more detail about the VIA Inventory of Strengths, read the following book chapter:
Kaufman, C., Silberman, J., & Sharpley, D. (2012). Chapter 17: Coaching for strengths using VIA. In Passmore, J. (Ed.). |
Now read Chapters 1 and 3 from the following book for a more detailed overview of emotional intelligence:
Sterrett, E. A. (2000). |