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Running head: Professional Assessment

Professional Assessment and Growth Plan

Selena Frizzley
ECC 509: Preparation for Professional Growth
M.Ed in Leadership

I believe great leaders have the ability to build relationships by encouraging trust,
credibility and a connection to shared visions. Great leaders tend to have the capacity to interact
easily and naturally in a variety of situations with the shared community. They have the potential
to inspire others and possess emotional intelligence which are both contributing factors in
determining an ability to lead and to inspire greatness from others. Taking time for selfreflection on ones personality traits and leadership practices are the building blocks to help grow
and develop as a leader.
Examination of personality testing and self-reflection on the type of leader one aspires to
become is of great importance as it acts as a guide to developing and identifying your strengths
and weaknesses. When reflecting on leaders within my own school I am able to clearly identify
these characteristics and recognize that I too have begun building on these traits and hope to
build upon them in the future.
Our Principal is an example of an individual that these characteristics. She has built a
deep connections with our school community and truly fosters the value of Encourage the
Heart in all that she says and does. This is apparent in the way she greets all parents and
students each morning and finding something special to say to each individual. She takes time to
recognize publically and privately the accomplishments and contributions of all staff members
and in doing so, creates a warm and positive environment for the school community to work in
and feel accepted as part of the larger team.
Our Assistant Principal exemplifies a different leadership style; he focuses on the
personality trait of, Model the Way. He continually sets the standards for how efficiently
things can be done within the school. He is often the first to set up for a school event and the last
to stay and help clean up, an example of modeling the correct behaviour. His leadership and
dedication encourages other to follow his lead. He also consistently adheres to documentation
and legal information regarding the school or school act both a reference and source of
information. Adhering to the principles and standards that we have agreed upon, through our
commitment to education and teaching standards allows everyone to understand the expectations
and works to contribute to the efficient operation of the school.
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Our school councillor has a very difficult role dealing with the most vulnerable students
at the school. Her personality traits would be very strongly aligned with, Enable Others to Act.
She treats all students and staff with the utmost respect and dignity; this is apparent in her
communication style. She also provides individuals with choices when dealing with decisions
and freedom on how to deal with specific issues, thus engaging the individual in the process.
Prior to answering questions or concerns regarding a student, she spends the necessary time to
discover the true problem or issue in order to achieve the best possible outcome.
Looking at my own LPI: Leadership Practices Inventory and reflecting on my own
strengths and weaknesses, I can identify aspects of my personality will be a strength to me as a
leader and some that will require additional growth and development. Encourage the Heart is
a strong characteristic for me as I feel like this best represents who I am as a person and who I
want to be a leader. I frequently give praise verbally and provide positive messaging by
recognizing all accomplishments and contributions of my fellow staff member and students. I
am happy to publically recognize their accomplishments because I feel strongly that individuals
deserve recognition for success.
Enable Others to Act was also identified as a strength for me. This personality trait
also comes naturally to me without effort. I feel that I am an active listener and provide support
to others. Treating people with dignity and respect is extremely important to me something that I
portray in my actions and words. Developing cooperative relationships with others is something
that I can do easily for myself and can encourage in others as well.
I have identified an opportunity for growth as it relates to Model the Way. I always
follow through on my commitments and promises that I make to myself and others. I need work
on being open to receiving feedback on my own performance. Because I am also in the
development phase of my own leadership philosophy additional time will be required to grow in
this area as I am still formulating my philosophy.
Challenge the Process, is another area of growth for me as a leader. I have a tendency
to not seek out challenging opportunities as I am typically content working with what I am
familiar and there are opportunities for me to broaden this area so that I extend myself out of my
comfort zone more frequently. I would also like to evaluate opportunities outside the formal
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school boundaries and investigate innovative educational settings. By pushing myself in this area
I can achieve greater success with a better or different result. Leaders need to seek out
challenging opportunities for themselves and for others and this is a behaviour I will strengthen
for my professional development.
Looking further at my own personality traits I also completed the Humanmetrics Jung
Typology Test. I showed as an ESFJ, (Extravert, Sensing, Feeling, Judging) and this represents
individual's preferences in four dimensions characterising personality type (according to Jung's
and Briggs Myers' theories of personality type). I show very strongly as an extravert, a
preference for sensing over intuition. I also showed a distinct preference of feeling over thinking
and a slight preference for judging over perceiving. Again showing strengths in the feeling and
emotional aspect of personality.
When trying to inspire greatness from others, you must first always reflect on yourself
and your own personally. Although somethings come more easily to you, one has to be aware
that the same may not be true for others, based on our personalities. We all have our own gifts
and talents; the key is how to put these gifts, talents and personalities to the best use for the good
of the team. To inspire greatness from others, reflection on self must come first, only then can
the shared vision be achieved.
As I embark on this new journey I will work to develop my own leadership philosophy
by looking closely my own personality traits to determine what is of importance to me. I
will continue with my philosophy to always put the child first and develop a culture of leadership
in the school environment. My efforts will be focused on ensuring the school community is a
place where students can act as leaders and take on leadership roles. This path to leadership will
be a time of growth and change; I will continue to develop the necessary skills to try new things,
be more comfortable with change and to take the opportunity to learn from challenges.