C203 Task 1 Personal Leadership Profile Example

Fast, Fair and Not Always Listening: A Personal Leadership Profile Built From Multisource Feedback, Cultural Intelligence and Character Strengths Results, With a Development Plan

Student Name

School of Business, Western Governors University

C203: Becoming an Effective Leader, Task 1

Course Instructor

Month Day, Year

Fast, Fair and Not Always Listening: A Personal Leadership Profile Built From Multisource Feedback, Cultural Intelligence and Character Strengths Results, With a Development Plan

Introduction

I am the regional operations manager for a casual dining group, which I will call Harbor Table, overseeing six restaurants with about 280 employees. The general managers of each location report to me. I was promoted from general manager two years ago, and my region's sales and food cost results have been strong. This profile summarizes and interprets three assessments I completed for this course: a multisource, or 360-degree, feedback survey; a cultural intelligence assessment; and a character strengths survey. It then identifies my strengths and development areas and sets a plan.

Multisource Feedback Results

Eleven people rated me: my director, my six general managers and four peers who lead other regions. On a five-point scale, my highest ratings were for driving results (4.6), decisiveness (4.4) and fairness in applying policies (4.3). My lowest were for listening before deciding (2.9), developing others (3.1) and involving others in decisions (3.0). The gap between how I rated myself and how others rated me was largest on listening: I gave myself 4.0. Written comments repeated the pattern. One general manager wrote that I "solve the problem before you finish describing it."

Research gives reason to take this seriously but also to be realistic. A meta-analysis of studies on multisource feedback found that performance improvement after feedback is generally small, and that improvement is more likely when feedback shows change is needed, when recipients respond positively and believe change is possible, and when they set goals and take action (Smither et al., 2005). My results clearly show that change is needed; whether I improve depends on what I do next.

Cultural Intelligence Results

Cultural intelligence is the capability to function effectively in culturally diverse settings. It is commonly measured in four dimensions: metacognitive, awareness and planning during intercultural interactions; cognitive, knowledge of cultural norms and practices; motivational, interest and confidence in functioning across cultures; and behavioral, the ability to adapt verbal and nonverbal behavior (Ang et al., 2007). In validation studies, metacognitive and behavioral cultural intelligence predicted task performance, and motivational and behavioral cultural intelligence predicted cultural adaptation (Ang et al., 2007).

My scores were highest in cognitive (78th percentile) and motivational (71st) and lowest in behavioral (34th) and metacognitive (41st). In plain terms, I know a good deal about the cultures of my employees, many of whom are immigrants from Mexico, Central America and West Africa, and I want to connect with them, but I do not adjust how I communicate and I rarely plan for cultural differences before important conversations. This matters because the dimensions I score lowest on are the ones linked to performance.

Character Strengths Results

The character strengths survey is based on a classification of 24 strengths grouped under six virtues (Peterson & Seligman, 2004). My top five were fairness, perseverance, honesty, leadership and zest. My lowest included perspective, humility and social intelligence. The top strengths explain my ratings for fairness and results; perseverance and zest help me push through a busy season. The lower strengths are more revealing. Humility and social intelligence are close relatives of listening and adapting, and their low ranking is consistent with my feedback and cultural intelligence results.

What the Results Show Together

Read together, the three assessments tell a consistent story. My strengths are drive, fairness and decisiveness, which have delivered results. My development area is receiving: listening, noticing how others are reacting and adjusting to them. The multisource feedback shows it in how my managers experience me, the cultural intelligence results show it in how I handle cultural differences, and the character strengths show that it is not a skill gap alone but a pattern in what comes naturally to me. The same decisiveness that helped me as a general manager, when I had to solve problems myself, now keeps my general managers from growing, because I solve their problems for them.

The results also point to strengths worth protecting. Fairness and honesty give me credibility with employees who have seen favoritism in other restaurants, and perseverance matters in an industry where a single bad weekend can undo a month's progress. The goal is not to become a different leader but to add listening and adapting to a style that already delivers, so that my general managers gain room to decide and my employees feel heard in their own terms.

Development Plan

Goal one, listen before deciding. In every one-on-one with a general manager, I will ask at least two questions and summarize their view before offering mine, and I will ask them to propose a solution first. I will ask two general managers to tell me monthly whether I am doing this, and I will repeat the multisource survey in 12 months, aiming to raise my listening score from 2.9 to at least 3.6.

Goal two, develop others. Each general manager will own one regional project over the next six months, such as reducing server turnover or improving health inspection scores, with my role limited to coaching. Success is measured by projects completed and by my score on developing others.

Goal three, adapt across cultures. Before important conversations with employees whose first language is not English, I will plan how to adjust, such as using an interpreter, allowing more time or speaking less directly in group settings. I will complete a cultural intelligence workshop within three months and ask two kitchen managers from different backgrounds to give me feedback quarterly.

Support and accountability will come from my director, with whom I will review progress monthly, and from a peer mentor in another region whose feedback ratings for listening are high.

Conclusion

My profile shows a leader whose strengths in drive, fairness and decisiveness have produced results, and whose weakness in listening and adapting now limits both my managers' growth and my effectiveness with a diverse workforce. The assessments agree, which makes the pattern hard to dismiss. The plan focuses on specific, measured behaviors, because the research suggests that feedback leads to improvement only when it is followed by goals and action.

References

Ang, S., Van Dyne, L., Koh, C., Ng, K. Y., Templer, K. J., Tay, C., & Chandrasekar, N. A. (2007). Cultural intelligence: Its measurement and effects on cultural judgment and decision making, cultural adaptation and task performance. Management and Organization Review, 3(3), 335-371. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-8784.2007.00082.x

Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. American Psychological Association; Oxford University Press.

Smither, J. W., London, M., & Reilly, R. R. (2005). Does performance improve following multisource feedback? A theoretical model, meta-analysis, and review of empirical findings. Personnel Psychology, 58(1), 33-66. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2005.514_1.x