My Leadership Strengths and Weaknesses

My Leadership Strengths and Weaknesses

Lindsey Hornbuckle
EDAS: Leadership for School Improvement
University of Tennessee Chattanooga
October 21, 2013
Instructor: Dr. Vickie Petzko

Lombardi, Jr. (2001), Leadership is not just one quality, but rather a blend of many
qualities. And while no one individual possesses all of the talents that are needed for leadership,
each man can develop a combination that can make him a leader (p. 37). Since I became a
classroom teacher, I have had a desire to become an administrator. With my previous school and
current school, I have developed close working relationships with my administrators to learn
from their strengths and weaknesses as successful administrators- daily. Each administrator I
have worked with, I have all seen their unique combination of skills and talents that have made
him/her effective leaders. What I believe aided them in their successes as effective administrators

My Leadership Strengths and Weaknesses

was their recognition that they had to find and balance their strengths and weaknesses. I realize
that not one administrator is perfect, as I will not be; however, I utilized several leadership
surveys and tests to determine my leadership traits, strengths and weaknesses, and by realizing
my strengths and weaknesses as a leader, I will be able to continue working to expand and grow
as an effective administrative leader.
How Good are Your Leadership Skills (2013) scored my characteristics in the category
saying I am on my way to becoming a good leader, but I want to be a great one. Based on this
test, my strength categories were both a nine out of ten with self-confidence and positive attitude
and outlook. I agree with those traits because I do pride myself on trying to portray them
regardless of the situation. Self-confidence can be a weakness to some if not handled properly. I
do not view myself as a self-confident person because I have or know all of the answers;
however, I am confident that I will research, do what is right and in the best interest of students
every time.
In my paper Characteristics of an Effective Leader, I chose confidence as one of my top
personal priorities because I believe it is an important characteristic to be an effective leader.
Joyce Meyer (2001), a prominent evangelist in the Christian faith, proclaimed, I have
discovered that staying confident at all times is vital to successful ministry. I have found that
even while I am busy ministering, even while I am up in front of an audience teaching, the devil
will try to introduce thoughts into my head to make me lose confidence (p. 141). Regardless of
someones faith, there is still a common denominator that can be applied to all leadership
positions, and that is confidence; however, as a leader, if I doubt my ability to lead, confidence is
lacking. I would not want a doubtful leader who is always second-guessing the decisions he/she
made; therefore, I must be confident as an administrative leader.
How Good are Your Leadership Skills (2013) stated, Being positive is much more than
presenting a happy face to the world: you need to develop a strong sense of balance, and

My Leadership Strengths and Weaknesses

recognize that setbacks and problems happen it's how you deal with those problems that makes
the difference. This area of strength is also one I agree with because I know that problems and
setbacks will occur as an administrative leader. I understand that it is not if something goes
wrong but when it goes wrong, people will be looking to me to help guide and lead them
through whatever situation we are facing as a school and faculty. I try to be a positive person, not
always successful but for the most part, because what does negativity do for a situation but make
it worse?
This survey also revealed areas of weakness that I need to work on. In the category of
Emotional Intelligence, I need to work on becoming a better empathetic listener. I found this
result a little shocking for me because I have always believed myself to be empathetic to others
situations and needs; however, I do agree I need to work on the listening part. My mom always
told me, God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason- listen more and talk less. I can
admit that I am a talker. I love for my viewpoints and opinions to be heard; however, I see how
this is a weakness I must work on in order to be an effective administrative leader. Just as I want
to be heard now, there will be more of me when I am an administrator who want me to hear
their opinions and viewpoints. Marzano, Waters, and McNulty (2005) stated, Communication
refers to the extent to which the school leader establishes strong lines of communication with and
between teachers and students. This responsibility seems self-evident- good communication is a
critical feature of any endeavor in which people work in close proximity for a common purpose
(p. 46). Effective communication is not just being able to speak clearly and be heard, but the
greater side to communication is listening. I must be an effective communicator as an
administrative leader to ensure my school is an effective school to its students, faculty, parents
and community.

My Leadership Strengths and Weaknesses

Another leadership style survey I participated in was Keirsey Temperament Sorter (2009),
and the overall results of this survey stated I was an Idealist. One of the greatest strengths I
possess and am proud to say I possess it is integrity. Keirsey Temperament Sorter (2009) stated,
Highly ethical in their actions, Idealists hold themselves to a strict standard of personal
integrity. They must be true to themselves and to others, and they can be quite hard on
themselves when they are dishonest, or when they are false or insincere. In order to be an
effective leader, I must have the trust and respect from those with whom I lead, and if I do not
because I am a hypocrite, I will be completely ineffective where that will affect my school and
students.
Maxwell (1993) said, When I have integrity, my words and my deeds match up. I am
who I am, no matter where I am or who I am with (p. 35). I believe that this quality is what it
takes for me as a leader to be able to look myself in the eyes at the end of each day. As a leader, I
will be faced with decisions, choices, and options that will either support my integrity or hinder
it, and I want to always choose those that support my integrity. How can I expect teachers and
students to respect my position as a leader if I do not have integrity?
This assessment did not really list weaknesses; however, reading through the results, I
noticed a weakness that I have, and I am almost disappointed to say I have it- selfishness. The
results stated, As a temperament, [Idealists] are passionately concerned with personal growth
and development. Idealists strive to discover who they are and how they can become their best
possible self -- always this quest for self-knowledge and self-improvement drives their
imagination. Upon first read, this seems like a positive statement; however, I read it as a selfish
one because it was all about self in the response. As an effective leader, the needs of students
and faculty must come before my own. I have witnessed our administration get behind in
duties because a student, parent, or teacher needed to speak with one of them. The comment

My Leadership Strengths and Weaknesses

about discovering who I am is the what jumped out to me as a weakness because to be an

effective leader, I must know who I am and where I want to lead my school for them to trust me
and work with me to get there.
The third survey I participated in was Humanmetrics Jung Typology Test (2013), and I
noticed its results were very similar to several of the surveys I participated in throughout this
process. The strengths that resulted from this survey are ones I am grateful to have, yet I still
want to continue to work on them as well. It stated, [People with these leadership traits] are
global learners. They see the big picture. The focus is expansive. Some can juggle an amazing
number of responsibilities or projects simultaneously. Many have tremendous entrepreneurial
ability. As an administrative leader, I must be able to handle, successfully, many responsibilities
at any given time and not allow them to overwhelm me.
Another strength resulting from this survey is that I will stop what I am doing to help
others. If someone needs to see me for a quick second or needs my help for a minute, I will stop
whatever I am doing to assist him/her. This strength is one that I have learned to mirror from my
administrator over the academy I teach in. He always has an open door policy to his office and
has always had time for me to share any thoughts, questions, or concerns I have about any topic.
This same strength is also something I view as a potential weakness because I could
easily allow things to take precedence over priority situations when I should not. The survey
stated that my leadership style, generally believes in their dreams, and see themselves as
helpers and enablers, which they usually are. The potential danger in that weakness is that I
have trouble delegating responsibilities to others when I am assigned a task because I want to
ensure it is accomplished effectively. This causes more stress and responsibility on my shoulders,
and as a leader it also sends the wrong message. The message it could possibly send is one
saying that I do not trust or value the work and/or effort the people I am leading can contribute,
and this is not a message I want to send. I honestly can admit that this is by far my greatest

My Leadership Strengths and Weaknesses

weakness because it is hypocritical of me to handle situations in this manner. I want and expect
people and colleagues to trust me with helping in situations; therefore, I need to be able to
delegate and trust those who work with me in order to be an effective leader.
Through these surveys and studies a mirror of who will you be as an administrator?
has been placed in front of my face. The areas of strengths I already have I realize I need to
constantly improve on in my daily life. However, I did not realize, until I read it, that some of my
strengths can possibly be my weaknesses as an administrator as well. I want and need to be an
effective leader on a daily basis. I am not an administrator now, but I am a teacher leader and
have several opportunities daily to strengthen both my strengths and weaknesses.
Five years from now, regardless if I am an administrator or not, I will be a more effective
leader by working on the areas of weakness that have been identified. I will continue to strive to
improve upon my strengths by doing what comes naturally, but I will also be aware that some of
those strengths can be my weaknesses if I am not careful. I really want to work on being more of
a listener in situations than a speaker; however, I am not saying I will be silenced, but I just need
to be more aware of others viewpoints and truly take them into consideration more before
making the leader decision. This is the first area I will make strides to work on improvinglistening more. I know and realize that helping others is not necessarily a negative characteristic,
but by letting it take priority over some duties and responsibilities as a leader, it can be. I will
work on prioritizing situations when someone needs my help. I will always help others; however,
I will begin to evaluate the importance of the situation first over time. Lastly, I will work on my
selfish tendencies. I know that I have areas where I put myself first when I should not, and out of
all of my weakness, this one is more of a habit that will take time to change- not break. I have
set very high standards and expectations for myself as a future administrative leader, and now

My Leadership Strengths and Weaknesses

that some of my strengths and weaknesses have been identified, my standards to be an effective
administrative leader have risen once again.

References
Gorton, R. A., & Alston, J. A. (2012). School leadership and administration: Important
concepts, case studies & simulations (9th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
How good are your leadership skills (2013). Retrieved from
http://www.mindtools.com.
Humanmetrics jung typology test (2013). Retrieved from http://www.humanmetrics.com.
Keirsey temperament sorter. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.keirsey.com.
Lombardi, V. (2001). What it takes to be #1: Vince Lombardi on leadership. New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill.
Marzano, R. J., Waters, T., & McNulty, B. A. (2005). School leadership that works: From
research to results. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development.
Maxwell, J. C. (1993). Developing the leader within you. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Meyer, J. (2001). A leader in the making: Essentials to being a leader after Gods own heart.
Tulsa, OK: Harrison House.

My Leadership Strengths and Weaknesses