Running Head: LEADERSHIP ASSESSMENT PAPER: MARY LESTER

Leadership Assessment
Mary Lester
Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

LEADERSHIP ASSESSMENT: MARY LESTER

This leadership assessment assignment is designed to assess students perceived

leadership behaviors and their actual observed behaviors. After evaluating myself and having
three peers evaluate my leadership behaviors, they were broken down into five leadership
practices. The self-observation score was fairly close for each category; however the score was
slightly higher in the Model the Way practice. This does not surprise me at all; I strive to hold
myself to the same standards that I hold others. How could I expect others to act with integrity,
respect, compassion, if I do not act in those same ways? I consistently set an example of how I
feel a good employee, student, friend, leader should act. I am absolutely comfortable with this
practice representing my leadership style. The peer observation scores were almost identical.
The two practices that were slightly higher than the others were Model the Way and Encourage
the Heart. As said previously, I try to live the principles of Model the Way every day. However,
having peers identify my leadership behaviors with Encourage the Heart truly warms my heart.
The my peers have been in clinicals with me and also at work and it is inspiring when my
leadership behaviors are associated with attributes which recognize contributions of others and
which celebrate the values of others, it means that I uplift and celebrate my peers and can
encourage them.
The leadership practice that means the most to me would be Model the Way. Model the
Way is the foundation of leadership. I was raised to do unto others as I would want done to
me and I feel that Modeling the Way is a clear portrayal of that. I act as I would want others to
act. Conducting yourself in an honorable manner, be true to what you say, and respecting others
is modeling the way. The literature says this modeling the way is the example you provide for
you peers by how you behave. (Kouzes, 2013. p. 24) Modeling the way was more frequent and
Enable others to Act was the least frequent. I feel confident about this assessment of my

LEADERSHIP ASSESSMENT: MARY LESTER

leadership ability because I lead by example, and enabling others to act comes with experience as
a leader and growth in a leadership role.
My leadership action plan will be to continue to lead by example and provide a good
example for my peers in my actions, as well as working on my ability to inspire others by my
words and leadership abilities. Ive modeled the way by setting an example for appropriate
behavior in my clinical practice by consistently following hospital policy, using patient safety
measures and conducting myself in an appropriate manner. I also model the way by following
through with what I say Im going to do, keeping my word. One of the practices I would like to
use more frequently would be inspiring a shared vision. I am passionate about Bon Secours
because we share Christian values, however I am not fully involved enough in nursing council to
be able to inspire peers about the future of Bon Secours, individual departments and various
teams. I believe for me to feel more comfortable inspiring a shared vision, I would have to
become more involved in the shared governance councils in the hospital, so I would know what I
am leading and inspiring my peers about and I can bring questions, comments and concerns to
the nursing council from my peers as well. My next steps would be to gain more information
about nursing councils and shared governance and join a committee with my current position, as
I gain full time employment after graduation I wish to become more involved in committees and
leadership throughout the hospital. I will know I have improved in this leadership skill when my
peers feel comfortable coming to with shared goals, visions and ideas to brainstorms and or share
with committees within the hospital.

LEADERSHIP ASSESSMENT: MARY LESTER

References
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2013). The Student Leadership Practices Inventory (2nd ed.).
Self- Instrument (2 Page Insert). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass