Leadership & Management

1. Leadership & Management Reading for Lesson 11: Personality and Reflection as a Leadership Tool

2. Lesson 11Reading Objectives 1. The student will comprehend and distinguish personality traits and psychological types. 2. The student will know his/her psychological type and describe the implications for his/her relationships and leadership performance. 3. The student will comprehend why introspection and reflection are valuable tools for a leader.

3. Lesson 11Reading Objectives 4. The student will comprehend the Paul Principle and how to avoid it.   5. The student will apply reflection and introspection to better understand their strengths and weaknesses as a leader.

4. Lesson 11Discussion Objectives 1. The student will know their psychological type and describe the implications for their relationships and leadership performance. 2.The student will apply reflection and introspection to better understand their strengths and weaknesses as a leader.

5. Personality Traits • Five personality traits impact interpersonal relations and job performance: • Extroversion • Agreeableness: • Conscientiousness • Emotional Stability (Neuroticism) • Openness to Experience • Additionally, self-monitoring of behavior

6. Personality Traits • Extroversion • Social, gregarious, assertive, talkative, active • Outgoing person, as opposed to shy, introverted person • Emotional stability • Anxious, depressed, angry, embarrassed, emotional, worried • Person with low emotional stability is often referred to as neurotic or emotionally unstable

7. Personality Traits • Agreeableness • Courteous, flexible, trusting, good-natured, cooperative, forgiving, softhearted and tolerant • Agreeable person is friendly and cooperative • Conscientiousness • Careful, thorough, responsible, organized, purposeful, hardworking, achievement-oriented, and persevering • Generally, the trait implies a dependable person

8. Personality Traits • Openness to experience • Imaginative, cultured, curious, original, broad-minded, intelligent and artistically sensitive • Persons of well-developed intellects • Self-monitoring of behavior • Refers to process of observing and controlling how we are perceived by others • High self-monitors are pragmatic, and even chameleon-like actors—often say what others’ want to hear • Low self-monitors avoid situations requiring them to adopt different outer images—can lead to inflexibility

9. Psychological Types • Psychological types help define cognitive styles, i.e., mental processes used to perceive and make judgments from information • Knowledge of these cognitive styles can help you relate better to people because you better appreciate how they make decisions • According to Psychiatrist Carl Jung, how people gather and evaluate information determines their cognitive style

10. Sensation type Individuals Prefer routine and order Search for precise details Prefer to work with established facts Intuitive type Individuals Prefer overall perspective – “big picture” Enjoy solving problems Dislike routine Prefer to look for possibilities Psychological Types Gathering Information

11. Feeling type individuals Need to conform Adapt to others’ wishes Avoid problems that may cause disagreement Thinking type Individuals Rely on reason and intellect Downplay emotion in problem solving and decision making Psychological Types Evaluating Information

12. Psychological Types • Cognitive Styles—two dimensions of information gathering and evaluation are combined to produce a four-way classification of cognitive styles: • Sensation/Thinking • Intuitive/Thinking • Sensation/Feeling • Intuitive/Feeling

13. Figure 11-2 goes here

14. Introspection and Reflection • Introspection • Enables leader to realize gaps between who they are, who they think they are, and who they are perceived to be • The introspection process should be accomplished systematically, and should be done regularly with the help of an executive assistant, trusted friend or spouse

15. Introspection and Reflection • Systematic introspection process—questions to ask and examine about yourself: • Establishing your schedule—how do you spend your time? • Establishing your priorities—what are they? • Examining your reliability—do you honor commitments? • Who tells you the news—good and bad? • How long are your meetings—are they short, brisk and to the point?

16. Introspection and Reflection • How well do you listen? Only by listening do you learn what’s going on • Are you feared, distrusted, like, respected or loved? • What is your body language like—are you approachable? • Are you a communicator—do you help your people learn, understand and develop? Do you speak and write well? • Are you a disciplinarian—are you fair and do you follow your own standards?

17. Introspection and Reflection • Do you enjoy your job? • Are you an innovator? • Are you flexible? • Do you maintain physical and intellectual fitness? • Do you deflect or magnify pressure? • Are you tuned in or out of touch? • Are you an innovator?

18. Introspection and Reflection • Are you a delegator? • Are you a non-drinker, drinker or alcoholic? • Are you an optimist or pessimist? • Are you religious? What are your ethics and values? • Are you a writer? • Are you ambitious? • Are you secure or insecure?

19. Introspection and Reflection • Are you a philanderer? • What is your integrity level? • Are you intense or relaxed? • Are you decisive or a “decision ducker”? • How conceptual are you—can you put mission, goals, requirements and responsibilities in a conceptual framework?

20. Introspection and Reflection • The Paul Principle • Gradual obsolescence of leaders as they lose touch with the organization they lead • Become too conservative • Resist innovation and change • Fail to take advantage of technological breakthroughs • Antidote—systematic reading program, attending management training symposia and workshops, interacting with long-range planners, and brainstorming activities with staff can all help defeat the Paul Principle