Zenger Folkman launches New Leadership Self-assessment on Harvard Business Review

SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- How can you determine if you are a good leader, or perhaps even great? What are your strengths, and do any rise to the very highest levels? In 2011, Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman wrote the article, Making Yourself Indispensable for Harvard Business Review that answered these questions about strengths-based leadership.  Due to popular response and desire from people to identify their strengths, Zenger Folkman has created a brief self-assessment aimed to start people on the road to becoming more effective leaders.

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As leadership specialists in the training and development industry Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman have put a great deal of focus on the difference between good leaders and those who are great.

"Our research shows that great leaders do a few things very well," said Folkman. "It is not the absence of weaknesses that makes leaders great; rather, it is the presence of a few profound strengths."

Furthermore, Folkman noted, the company's research shows that leaders with no strengths were rated at the 34^th percentile in terms of their overall leadership effectiveness; however, leaders with just one strength on average were rated at the 64^th percentile. Leaders with three strengths were rated at the 81^st percentile.

After learning the influence that strengths can have on a leader's effectiveness, the Zenger Folkman team worked on developing a tool that could identify and measure leadership strengths. First they sorted through 2,000 assessment items and compared the best and the worst leaders. Out of this analysis they discovered the differentiating items that they have clustered into 16 unique competencies. The self-assessment tool they've created asks participants a few questions on each of the sixteen items, together with questions to determine the participant's level of employee engagement, commitment and satisfaction in their current job.

"Clearly a brief self-assessment is not as valid as a more extensive assessment that includes feedback from 10 or more of your colleagues," said Jack Zenger, "However, as a first step that is accessible to anyone we've developed the abbreviated self-assessment you can read about about on Harvard Business Review's blog and can access here.

Zenger Folkman will offer additional webinars and resources about its leadership development strategies and tactics that readers can learn about at ww.zfco.com.

About Zenger Folkman:

Zenger Folkman is the authority in strengths-based leadership development. Their award-winning programs employ research-based methods that improve organizations and turn good managers into extraordinary leaders.

SOURCE Zenger Folkman