How Valuable Are Leadership Self-Assessments And Quizzes?
Valuable But Keep Perspective
The field of leadership has spawned many leadership models, and along with those models have emerged many leadership assessment instruments running the gamut from quick online quizzes, to more formal, detailed, and scientifically validated tests that are administered by testing professionals.
The absolutely key thing to keep in mind is that the best use of these instruments, simple to complex, is to provide an opportunity to reflect on yourself as a person, and your beliefs and values relating specifically to leadership. It is probably a mistake to take any interpretations of test scores as a full and accurate reflection of you as a person or a leader. So, first of all, keep them in perspective. They are best used to stimulate your thinking about yourself and leadership and not to categorize yourself or others
Here are some tips to keep in mind:
- Since many leadership assessments are tied to specific models or theories of leadership, it’s worth reading up on the particular leadership model tied to the quiz or assessment. The better you understand the model the assessment exemplifies, the more valuable the assessment becomes.
- If you take an online assessment, it’s probably worth printing out the results and saving it for future reference. The whole point of doing the exercise is to think and reflect, not just when you do the quiz, but afterwards.
- Leadership assessments and quizzes vary in terms of their precision, accuracy and relevance, going from a kind of fun parlor game experience to validated and scientifically developed level accuracy. Regardless, you need to decide how accurate the results are as applied to YOU.
- As a help in making the most of these assessments, consider sharing the results (and your thoughts) with other people who can supply different perspectives about you. You can enlist the perceptions of a mentor or your boss; peers at work, or even a trusted friends or a spouse. It’s important to choose people who you trust and respect, and to listen openly. You may be surprised at their insights which may not always match your perceptions about yourself. That’s the point!
