Now that I have at least 5 raters contributing to my report, I can seek feedback. I am keen to see how this information is presented and what I can take from the information. I am hoping that the data will be fairly consistent, although I am expecting a slightly lower rater score as some of the colleague I asked to rate me, have proven to be quiet challenging. Overall, the ratings are all slight lower, but all within 0.5 on a six point scale with the exception of leading ‘innovation and change,’ which is about 0.9. Overall a 0.54 difference.The second page is hard to follow as components are rank ordered. Generally I was looking for two aspects. Significant mismatched component scores and second, the overall average. This was not given by the report. The strengths highlighted by the diagnostic were ‘Drive and Determination,’ and ‘Focus and Commitment,’ and to a lesser degree ‘Managing Resources and Performance.’ One weaknesses highlighted was ‘Flexibility and Openness to Change’ noted as the lowest score by both the raters and myself. My greatest disappointed was the difference in my perceived ‘Motivation and Team Awareness,’ and that of the raters, a 1.64 difference. This is something I wish to address and yes, I know I need to get to know my team better rather than racing off to yet another meeting somewhere else…. I need to give my team greater priority.
The written feedback stated,
‘responses to this section suggest that you are reasonably confident, with a degree of understanding of what you do well and what areas could be developed further. Perhaps there are some relationships at work that you find more difficult than others.’
Given I targeted some on the more challenging relationships, I feel this is a fair summary.
The area I was most disappointed with, does not seem that disappointing in a formal written format.
Your score in this area suggests that you are able to take change in your stride. There may be times, though, when you find it frustrating to have to re-prioritise, resulting in disruption to your workload. Reasonably confident in anticipating the impact of change on resources, you are able to prepare others for the adjustments needed. You could, however, seek to clarify that they understand clearly what is required of them, giving reasons and explaining the potential benefits of change. Your usual preference will be to apply procedures flexibly, although there may be times when you do not do so and thus some colleagues may see you as rigid in your approach. Perhaps you find it difficult to adjust your operating style to suit some of your colleagues.
Certainly this final paragraph has summarised my experience at Hamble College. I have worked very hard over the past 3 months to improve my ‘damaged’ working relationships with the IT services team in particular. I am confident that I have benefited from the experience of working with non-teaching staff at this point in my career. Leadership here has required a different management approach, one not yet fully honed. With teaching staff, the transition has been much smoother and the improvement in the results would suggest that.
Overall, a very powerful learning leadership tool. I would recommend any middle or aspiring middle leader take this diagnostic.