[48]

Provide Development Through Assessment

USE OF ASSESSMENT TOOLS is another way to develop those on your team. Of course, one can debate the effectiveness of one tool versus another and, at times, your team members will complain of their frustrations with them—“I hate these things” or “They never capture me” or “I don’t know how to answer … It depends on the situation.” However, assessment tools can be a great way of helping people become more aware of their work styles, personalities, temperaments, and ways of communicating.

Assessments help people become more self-aware. Often, an individual in an organization or in the community at large will be trained in a number of these tools. A few to consider include:

Emotional-Social Competency Inventory (ESCI)

Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ)

The Yale Assessment of Thinking

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

The Thomas-Kilman Conflict Mode Instrument

Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory (LSI)

StrengthsFinder

Keirsey Temperament Sorter

Note that some of these tools require a certified administrator. However, one option is to use trained facilitators for the assessment piece and initial facilitation. Then, you can do the follow-up by scheduling regular meetings when you and the team review progress and application on the job. Be sure to have people coach one another—you do not have to do all the coaching. Remember, you want to develop the leadership capacity of your team.

As with all these tips, get involved and approach the learning in a positive manner—learning does not have to be an activity conducted in dark rooms with PowerPoint slides.