Leadership Practices Inventory

The idea of being yourself plays a large role in the Leadership Practices Inventory and how you act as a leader. The LPI asks a series of questions relating to behaviors and what you actually DO, rather than focusing on qualities or traits. I took the LPI assessment and in addition, I had my HTM mentee from last semester rate me. I developed a strong bond with my mentee and I felt as though she really got to know me and my leadership practices from our time that we spent together during the mentor/mentee process. Overall I found that our ratings were pretty similar (within 1 or 2 numbers of one another), but one stand out point to me was that I almost always scored myself lower than she did. I feel as though this is a present factor in my every day life because often times I think people see me in a different way than they actually do, and it was great to get my mentee's perspective on my leadership behaviors. I was pleased to see the areas where she ranked me highest and it was also extremely helpful for me to realize the areas where I might be lacking.... take a peek.

Strong Areas

"Treats people with dignity and respect" Mentee Rating: 10 My Rating:10

"Develops cooperative relationships" Mentee Rating: 10 My Rating: 9

"Appeals to others to share dream of the future" Mentee Rating: 10 My Rating: 8

"Expresses confidence in people's abilities" Mentee Rating: 10 My Rating: 9

"Follows through on promises and commitments" Mentee Rating:10 My Rating: 10

Room For Improvement

"Speaks with conviction about meaning of work" Mentee Rating: 6 My Rating: 5

"Seeks challenging opportunities to test skills" Mentee Rating: 7 My Rating: 6

"Experiments and takes risks" Mentee Rating: 6 My Rating: 6

"Talks about future trends influencing our work" Mentee Rating: 7 My Rating: 7

"Asks, what can we learn?" Mentee Rating: 6 My Rating: 5

I found this instrument to be a great self-developing tool because I was able to discover the areas where I am doing well versus the areas where my mentee sees I could use some improvement in relation to my leadership. It came as no surprise to me that the areas where I scored highest were all along the lines of relationships and valuing people on my team. In contrast, the areas where I was not ranked so well related to the idea of change and more work/task oriented behaviors. I believe that if I focus on keeping my relationships strong with those I lead, I can then move on to perfecting opportunities to improve our work, etc. Now, I know this won't happen immediately but by being proactive and understanding where I should improve my leadership practices, I can only grow as a leader...