“Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”
—Vince Lombardi, Head Coach, NFL Green Bay Packers 1958-1968
We are often asked if leadership can be developed. The answer is yes! Some people are born with innate ability to inspire and motivate others while driving performance, and others have to work diligently to develop their leadership style and skills. Most people are put into leadership roles because they are strong individual contributors. The challenge is that it takes a very different set of skills to be a successful leader. How do we reconcile that? We work with leaders to assess their strengths and development opportunities and put together detailed development plans to help them develop into the leaders they want and need to be.
There are many assessment tools to assist in this effort. In our practice, we use a variety of tools dependent upon the reasons the individual is pursuing feedback and insight. One of our most used tools is DiSC. This self-assessment looks at an individual’s outward or natural style and how and they go about getting work done based on whether their style is D (Dominance), i (Influence), S (Steadiness) or C (Conscientiousness) click here. The participant receives feedback in the form of a report that shows how the individual communicates, is motivated, works with differing styles and could leverage more or be careful not to overuse.
In addition to DiSC, we also use a suite of multi-rater (360) assessment tools. These assessments seek the input of various individuals with whom a leader works (boss, direct reports, peers, etc.) and asks them to provide feedback on their experience working with the leader. The leader receives a detailed report that shows self-perspective relative to the feedback of the other raters and how the individual compares to people in similar positions and at the same level of experience. This helps the leader to understand strengths and development opportunities. We partner with the leader to review the results and create a development plan to guide their coaching.
Reach out to suzanne@bluebirchconsulting.com to learn more about our assessment tools and how we use them to support our consulting and coaching.
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