As leaders, we commit ourselves to lifelong learning at a personal, team, organization, community, and professional level. I discuss these levels in the book PUBLIC HEALTH LEADERSHIP: PUTTING PRINCIPLES INTO PRACTICE(2009). Each leadership level requires a portfolio of learning activities to enhance our leadership. In this posting, I will explore creating a personal leadership portfolio which helps the leader to better understand how they lead. A personal leadership portfolio contains all the results of various leadership instruments that a leader takes to learn more about his or her leadership strengths and skills. The portfolio also documents key leadership decisions made in different settings. Part of lifelong learning approaches is to continue learning as much about yourself as a person and as a leader as it is about determining the new skills you need as you move along in your career. I discussed some of these issues in the posting on ecological leadership. In order to develop your strengths and skills, there are some personal tools you can use. First, many leaders keep a leadership journal in which they record their personal experiences and reflections as a leader. They often record things they want to remember from conversations, talks, workshops, books and articles read, and so on. Second, write a legacy statement once a year about what you want people to remember about you. Third, many leaders develop yearly individualized leadership learning plans about things they will do over the next year to enhance their skills and abilities.
I recently put together a graduate level course on personal leadership development for public health professionals who want to create a personal leadership portfolio. The course involves each working professional completing a number of instruments related to personal leadership. Each session of the class involves an interactive session on each of the instruments and how to use the results of the instrument to enhance leadership work. I have chosen a number of instruments which I think will give each professional a well-rounded view of their leadership. This is not meant to imply that the instruments I chose could not be replaced with others that would not be useful to the leader. At the end of the course, each leader gets a personal coaching session for an hour to tie the pieces of their profile together.
I assume you might like to know the instruments that I chose. Since this is a course for public health leaders, one of the instruments is a public health leadership profile. This can be substituted with an instrument developed for educators, human services professionals, or business executives. I have included in the profile an instrument on leadership style and one on time spent in management in contrast to leadership activities. I also include the Emergenetics instrument which deals with thinking preferences and behaviors associated with thinking. Some leaders would include the Myers-Briggs instrument instead. However, I find that people like the color-oriented approach to Emergenetics than the letter approach of Myers-Briggs. I also include an instrument on Emotional Intelligence(Bradberry and Greaves). There are the two excellent instruments developed by the Gallup Organization(Strengths Finder 2.0 and Well Being Finder). Finally, I include two excellent leadership instruments from Discovery Learning—Public Health Leadership Profile(360 degree instrument) and Change Style Indicators. As you can see, these instruments provide a well- rounded view of the personal leadership skills of the public health professional. What are some of the leadership assessment tools that you would include?
Whatever set of instruments you choose, it is important to examine your leadership skills and how you employ these skills in the real world. Leaders need to be sensitive to the ways that they impact others.
Rowitz On Leadership 