Leadership Personal Leadership Audit I) Thesis

Look for positives instead of negatives

3. Develop a social support system

II. Gaining objectivity

Examine my own inherent bias

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Try to understand the source of the bias

Develop behaviors to counter bias

Accept that I will never be completely objective, but endeavor to try to minimize the role of my bias in my leadership decisions.

Part Two: Reflective Learning Summary

This reflection helped me become aware that my greatest weaknesses can be found in the very traits that I have always considered my greatest strengths. I have always prided myself on my perfectionist tendencies, and have even felt like people who complained about me being a perfectionist were simply lazy and unable to work up to the standards that I set. Because I always set higher standards for myself than I set for others, I did not believe that my standards were unreasonable. Even while writing this, I have a difficult time describing my perfectionist standards as unreasonable, because it seems so logical that if something needs to be done, it should be done to the best of one's ability.

However, I do know that my perfectionism has caused me problems in the past. For example, because I am a perfectionist, I have a very hard time beginning any type of project unless I have a very high likelihood of success. Therefore, I have avoided trying to learn about new things, restricting myself to the areas where I know I am competent. The fear of making a mistake has also occasionally kept me from completing unavoidable difficult assignments, because it was preferable for me to fail because I did not make an attempt than to make an effort and still fail.

This assignment also helped me understand how my perfectionism impacted my perception of other people. Like anybody else in the world, I have my preferences for people, and those preferences are frequently based on personality and likeability, rather than competence.However, because I am such a perfectionist, I have a very difficult time acknowledging that someone I like may be wrong. In fact, while discussing this assignment, a friend of mine said, "you are so loyal to me that you're more invested in me being right than I am. You will continue to argue that I am right about something long after I have conceded that I was wrong and moved on." Her statement really made me think about how such blind loyalty was not really a strength. Yes, it is a strength to be willing to go to bat for one's subordinates and defend their positions, when they are right. In addition, it is a strength to stand up for someone who has been wrong and point out times that they have done the right thing. However, it is a tremendous liability to allow personal feelings to determine how one judge's an action, especially in a leadership position. I realized that, while it is important to be a friendly leader, it is equally important to separate friendships from leadership responsibilities. For a leader, camaraderie is only a successful tool if that leader can use it in an impartial manner. I do not know if I can do so.

References

Benson, E., 2003, 'The many faces of perfectionism', Monitor on psychology, [Online] Available at http://www.apa.org/monitor/nov03/manyfaces.html

Davis, J., 1990, 'News: beyond the myth of objectivity', Media and values, [Online] Available at http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article48.html

Hanson, R., 2007, Enhancing our truth orientation, [Online] Available at http://hanson.gmu.edu/moretrue.pdf

Messina, J. And C. Messina, 2007, 'Tools for personal growth: overcoming perfectionism',

Coping.org, [Online] Available at http://www.coping.org/growth/perfect.htm

Perfectionism, 2007, Suny Potsdam Counseling Center, [Online] Available at http://www.potsdam.edu/content.php?contentID=

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