Leadership Self-Assessment - 1

Leadership Self-Assessment
Toni Taylor
University of New England

Sanford Prince
EDU 701Educational Leadership
November 10, 2013

Leadership Self-Assessment - 2
Leadership Mission Statement
As an educational leader, I will use my strengths and talents to help develop an
educational community with a passion for learning that embodies a culture of respect,
responsibility, integrity, and compassion; that is dedicated to educational excellence for
all; and prepares students to become contributing citizens.

I will challenge every

member of this community to have high expectations of themselves and those around
them.
Leadership Strengths/Traits
I exhibit strong leadership traits characteristic of both Dynamic Supportive and
Adaptive Assertive individuals. I am independent, intuitive, and good at bringing
people together (Glanz, 2002, p. 39), kind, encouraging, willing to help, confident and a
good communicator; while also being able to tend to the practical side of leadership due
to my ability to organize, my work ethic and my preference for order and stability
(Glanz, 2002, p.56). According to Glanz (2002) neither of these qualities has a strong
desire to be the center of attention. Adaptive Assertive individuals are not power
hungry, nor do they crave attention (Glanz, 2002, p. 168) and Dynamic Supportives are
content with themselves and have nothing to prove to anyone (Glanz, 2002, p. 166).
This combination implies that I am a great facilitator who is able to bring different views
together to build consensus and also apply the structure needed in order for the task to be
completed. However, it isnt necessary for me to receive credit for it, I am happy to be
part of the groups efforts. I am confident in my beliefs, comfortable speaking on behalf
of a belief or cause and am not intimidated by those who display dynamic aggressive or
assertive traits (Glanz, 2002). I nurture my dominant traits by leading with an inclusive

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style and looking for opportunities that allow me to work with smaller groups of people
where I can organize and facilitate.
Others view me as dependable, knowledgeable, approachable, willing to help, and
ethical. They also realize that if I commit to a task or group, I will see the initiative
through to the end. However, this leads to problems when I overcommit myself. Last
year I was approached to represent our school in multiple capacities including acting as a
mentor for a brand new teacher, being an association representative, the lead teacher for
Geometry, and a member of the K-12 Math vertical alignment team. Involvement in all
seemed doable when I agreed to them, but I had no idea how time consuming and
difficult it was going to be to balance them all. There were two significant reasons why.
First, I got very involved with supporting my new-to-teaching mentee as she dealt with
the realities and responsibilities of her first year in the classroom. It turned out that she
was very needy and required support in almost every aspect including instructional
planning, parent communication, working effectively in a PLC and, rather ironically,
balancing work and home. Second, I also volunteered to be one of two liaisons between
the administration and the union. When the other liaison didnt fulfill his obligation, I
took it upon myself to handle every meeting, communicate with our representative team
and executive board and run general interference. Glanz (2002) indicates that adaptive
assertive people tend to think you can do it all (p. 60). It became clear it was too much
and my stress level began to impact my performance in every other areaeven my desire
to stay organized was impacted as evidenced by the state of my curriculum binders at the
end of the year. When I am aware of my own limitations and set priorities and

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boundaries then I tend not to function in the lower spectrum of the continuum, and avoid
the self-neglect and compulsive behaviors that Glanz (2002) describes as potential issues.
Yet my approach to leadership is also very successful in many ways. My
colleagues affectionately refer to me as Mama Bear. I am the one that they turn to
when there are issues and I am the one that is relied upon to act as the bridge between our
department and our Dean (whom I believe to have both creative assertive and adaptive
aggressive traits). Most recently an issue arose where the Dean wanted to change the use
of one of our weekly common planning times and turn it into a department meeting time.
Given our teaching loads, number of preps and PLC needs, and the fact that we already
have department meetings after school once a month, every member of our department
was against this. As the designated spokesperson for the department, I met with the Dean
about the concerns, listened to her reasons and then with the help of my colleagues
generated an alternative proposal whereby we have designated one day per quarter to
address topics/issues that we feel are pertinent. Essentially we have the say in what
happens on that day. There is a shared Google document so that everyone has input.
Beginning to learn to recognize my personal leadership strengths and weaknesses
has been helpful in terms of clarifying my own role in the continued success of my school
and district as well as my personal career goals. Moving forward, I will try to remember
to prioritize commitments, tolerate chaos, and acknowledge the importance of change
(Glanz, 2002).

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References
Glanz, J. (2002). Finding your leadership style. Alexandria, VA: ASCD