Self-Assessment of Leadership Skills
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Self-Assessment of Leadership Skills
Introduction
It is a fact that knowing oneself is vital to becoming an effective leader. This is because establishing self-awareness and comprehending one’s aptness and inspirational drivers can help individuals unlock possibilities in themselves, and the team one is working with (Gavin, 2019). In this aspect, self-awareness entails growing the capacity to discern strengths and weaknesses and measure an individual’s emotions. The two primary approaches to Self-Assessment of Leadership Skills include completing a self-assessment test, which in the nursing field entails using the American Organization of Nurse Executives competencies for nurse managers, and observing oneself critically. On this basis, this paper entails a self-assessment of my leadership skills as an ICU nurse.
Using the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) competencies for nurse managers to analyze my leadership skills (AONL, 2020), various aspects were considered. These competencies were essential in recording my skills, knowledge, and aptness that govern my practice as a nursing leader. This being the case, the self-assessment entails three fundamental areas where a nurse leader must have expertise. The first area that required intensive self-assessment was the science area. In this domain, the main objective was assessing whether I had the necessary skills to manage the business. Thus, this entailed scrutiny on aspects like financial, human resource, strategic management skills, foundational thinking prowess, and knowledge of the clinical practice. The second area was assessing the Leader within. This primarily entailed developing the Leader in myself. Therefore, this instance’s main aspects included accountability, both personal and professional, hand in hand with career planning. The final area was the Art. This area involved skills used in leading the people. The aspects of this area entailed human resource leadership skills, diversity (AONL, 2020).
Based on the self-assessment, various strengths and opportunities for improvement were identified. On the strengths, the areas included the Leader within and the Art. On the Leader within area, I displayed strengths in two aspects, accountability and career planning. On the accountability element, both personal and professional, educational advancements were considered part of personal growth and progress. Still, on the same aspect, ethical behavior was one of my strengths as it entailed actions that reinforce nursing standards and extents of practice. I understood the nurse manager’s job description and planned a career path on the aspect of career planning. In the second area of the Art, my strengths were in human resource leadership skills and diversity. In the first aspect, I was familiar with staff retention and performance management, which included staff assessments and staff satisfaction. On the second aspect of diversity, I was aware of cultural competence related to the nursing workforce and firmly supported social justice. In contrast, the improvement opportunities entailed the science area, where I was not quite conversant with financial and strategic management (AONL, 2020).
The action plan to address the self-assessment maximizing strengths and tackling improvement opportunities is as follows: The first step is the initiation phase (Church & Rotolo, 2015). This step involves aligning my strengths and weaknesses and determining how to improve on my weaknesses and maximize strengths. This action entails a lot of consultations and self-reflection. The second step is evaluation and feedback. This phase involves carrying out research and gathering data on the most effective ways of gaining leadership skills as a nurse manager. On the feedback aspect, opinions from other nurses will be valued about whether my leadership skills are effective or not (Moodie, 2016). The third step is planning for change through placing the leadership skill levels in order, with 1 representing poor and in need of notable development while 5 represents excellent advanced skills (Moodie, 2016). The fourth step entails taking action and putting in efforts to maximize my leadership strengths and address improvement (Church & Rotolo, 2015). Thereafter, the final step is evaluating the change, which entails estimating my progress against the set development plan.
In conclusion, this paper entails a self-assessment of my leadership skills as an ICU nurse. My strengths included personal and professional accountability, career planning, human resource leadership skills, and diversity from the self-assessment. In contrast, the opportunities for improvement entailed financial and strategic management, which I was not quite conversant with.
References
AONL. (, 2020). Nurse Leader Competency Assessment Tool: Self-Assessment | AONL. American Organization of Nursing Leadership. https://www.aonl.org/resources/self-assessment
Church, A. H., & Rotolo, C. T. (2015). The Role of the Individual in Self-Assessment for Leadership Development. Self-Management and Leadership Development, 1. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781849805551.00008
Gavin, M. (2019, November 21). Leadership Self-Assessment: How Effective Are You? | HBS Online. Business Insights – Blog. https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/leadership-self-assessment
Moodie, R. (2016). Learning about self: leadership skills for public health. Journal of Public Health Research, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.4081/jphr.2016.679