Running Head: PROFESSIONAL ASSESSMENT AND GROWTH PLAN 1

Professional Assessment and Growth Plan

Shelly T. R. Treleaven

ECC 509: Preparation for Professional Growth

City University of Seattle in Canada

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I believe that truly great leaders are those that know how to build relationships and

connect with the people they are working with while motivating, encouraging, and holding them

accountable for the commitments that they make. As a leader they additionally understand the

importance of culture and teamwork, along with the power of group and self reflection.

My current principal is new to our school and has been a great example of the attributes

demonstrated by great leaders. Lencioni outlined ways to avoid dysfunction as a team and stated

“the most important action a leader must take to encourage the building of trust on a team is to

demonstrate vulnerability first” (Lencioni, 2002). This was demonstrated at our first staff

meeting of the year where our new principal told a number of stories about himself. Even

though there were people in the room who have known him for many years, a number of staff

knew virtually nothing about him, but by the end of the meeting we all felt a personal connection

to him. He has also faced the challenge presented by replacing a much loved leader with

compassion while taking time to learn about the culture that is already evident.

Our vice-principal was new to her role last year but had been a key cultural advocate in

our school for a number of years. She exemplifies the leadership style of leading by example. If

the staff are being asked to do, think, or act in a new way she is the first to take on the challenge

of change. Always willing to adapt she models the ongoing commitment to learning and

continues to reflect on ways to support those around her.

My previous principal was a dynamic person who continuously challenged those around

her to be the best they could be. Her expectations of each person were different and while this

did not always feel fair, every person knew her support was unwavering. You were always

expected to be growing in your personal understanding of the group’s objectives and where

honesty, conflict and risk-taking were expected.

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As an aspiring leader, I see in these three examples the style of leader I hope to be. They

all foster relationships, challenge, and inspire, but to better understand the knowledge, skills, and

attributes I need to develop requires that I explore my own strengths and areas for growth and

reflect on how their leadership styles can inspire my personal growth and development.

To better understand myself I started with a colour personality test. This test was found

online and provided a simplified personality description. I am a blue personality type which is

defined as an analyser/organiser. It indicates that I prefer to work in a group and collaborate but

that I am reluctant to engage in conflict. It also highlighted that I have high emotional

intelligence and that I am a good listener and a creative problem solver. It also states that I can

get very mired in details and can be reluctant to change. These statements required some

significant reflection as I agree and am proud to be a collaborative team member who listens and

thinks outside the box, but I have thought of myself as extremely flexible and have felt that

attention to detail was a positive quality and this makes me stop to evaluate this feedback from a

new perspective.

I then took the Humanmetrics personality test online using the Jung typology test. It

came out that I am an ENFJ personality type which means that I am extroverted, intuitive,

feeling and judging. The most significant finding of this test indicated that having introverted

intuition I am continuously looking for newer and better solutions to benefit the people around

me (Humanmetrics, 2017).

In order to see if this test was accurate I then took the Myers and Briggs type test at the

16 Personalities website and the result of ENFJ was the same. The 16 Personalities website

identifies this personality type as a ‘Protagonist’ and the information is in-depth and offered

compelling connections to areas of strength and growth (16 Personalities, 2017).

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My strengths as indicated by this test are that I am tolerant, reliable, charismatic,

altruistic and a natural leader. Tolerant means that I am a team player and will listen to opposing

perspectives and will admit when I don’t know or understand. The others indicate my profound

connection and commitment to people. When reading about these identified strengths I was

pleased that I was able to relate them to myself as they are qualities I feel are important in

leadership.

The areas identified for growth according to this test are that I am overly idealistic, too

selfless, too sensitive, have fluctuating self-esteem, and that I struggle to make tough decisions.

I was not surprised by the areas for growth that were identified, but I found that I needed to read

and re-read the descriptions to better understand how to use this information as a guide for

personal growth. Of the five growth areas listed, I plan to focus on two of them for now; too

sensitive and fluctuating self-esteem.

16 Personalities describes being too sensitive as taking things too much to heart and

feeling like I need to fix problems that are not mine. It also includes trying to repair things that

are not fixable and being concerned that I am not doing enough. I recognise that I am sensitive

and emotional but this in itself in not an area of concern as I feel that this also shows my ability

to empathise and shows vulnerability which is one of the foundations of building a team. I do

however, need to be able to recognize when I am doing enough and when something is out of my

control. In order to do this I will need to remind myself during personal reflection to ask these

questions; have I done what I can with the time available and do I have any control over this? As

a leader finding this balance will be important and if I do not develop these skills, I will burn out

emotionally and be of little use to anyone both professionally and personally.

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The second area that I would like to develop is that of fluctuating self-esteem. According

to the results this means that I ask for feedback due to insecurity and concern that I could have

done better. It also stated that I judge myself harshly based on my ability or inability to assist

others or by my perceived achievement of goals. These two areas for growth indicate that I will

need to focus on achievable goals and realistic expectations of myself along with being aware of

the reason I am requesting feedback.

Based on the results of the various tests I believe that I have the personality to be a good

leader, but in order to be a great one, like those I work with, I will need to develop my leadership

skills through becoming purposeful in my reflections while having a conscience focus on

achievable goals.
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References

16 personalities. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test

Humanmetrics inc. (2017) Retrieved from http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp

Lencioni, P. (2002). The five dysfunctions of a team: A leadership fable. San Francisco:

Jossey-Bass.