Leading Self

All leadership begins with leading self and leading self begins with a positive attitude and an eagerness to learn. Leaders in this role seek to better understand their strengths and weaknesses, and align their initiatives with company objectives. It’s important to work with your managers to develop dynamic personal goals aimed at self-improvement and supporting EBSCO’s broader strategic objectives. Additionally, you will be expected to proactively seek feedback in an effort to identify opportunities for growth. You must be action-oriented and take initiative, working collaboratively with your team to develop ideas and solutions that continuously improve the company and customer experience.

Self-Assessment tool: Click this link to access the “Leading Self” tool designed to help you identify your current strengths and growth opportunities.

Areas of Focus	Competencies	LEADING SELF
PERSONAL	Positive Attitude	Positive Realism: Demonstrates an optimistic, confident, and energetic approach to accomplishing objectives.
		Solution-Focused: Brings forth solutions and ideas when identifying and discussing problems.
		Composure: Stays focused and calm through times of change and challenge.
	Trust and Respect	Ethics and Values: Holds self to high standards of ethical behavior and upholds the EBSCO Way.
		Trust: Deals with others in an open, honest manner and follows through on commitments; extends trust to others.
		Respect: Conveys respect for and appreciation of others’ ideas, differences, and contributions.
	Drive	Determination and Resilience: Sets an example of hard work; is willing to put in extra effort to complete tasks; bounces back from setbacks.
		High Expectations: Takes on and works toward clear and challenging personal performance goals.
		Urgency: Picks up the pace to complete key time-sensitive work.
PEOPLE	Collaboration	Partnering: Builds collaborative relationships with team members and other colleagues to create more value for EBSCO and its customers.
		Interpersonal Effectiveness: Interacts and works well with others; demonstrates self-awareness, professional poise, tact, and maturity.
		Conflict Management: Directly addresses and respectfully works through disagreements.
	Open Communication	Direction: Sees how her or his work links to broader team, functional, and business goals.
		Influence: Gains agreement and commitment around work issues and actions; values input, is eager to understand, and can be influenced by others.
		Empowerment: Makes decisions and takes action independently when appropriate; contributes ideas to improve the team’s value.
	Talent Development	Personal Development: Proactively seeks feedback and opportunities for growth and development.
		Talent Development: Contributes to team development by willingly sharing knowledge, skills, and experience.
		Diversity: Shows appreciation for differences in perspective and upholds practices that respect and leverage diversity.
THOUGHT	Critical Thinking	Analysis: Is able to gather information and draw logical conclusions that inform decision-making.
		Complexity: Recognizes and considers the relevant factors at play before making decisions and taking action.
		Sound Judgment: Demonstrates ability to investigate underlying issues when solving problems, considers relevant factors, and makes good, timely decisions.
	Strategic Thinking	Business Acumen: Understands our business and the key factors that drive our financial success; uses performance data to measure progress toward goals.
		Big-Picture Thinking: Considers the broader, and longer-term impact of her or his own decisions and actions.
		Global Mind-set: Demonstrates skill, professionalism, and sensitivity when interacting virtually with various individuals and cultures.
	Customer- Focused	Customer Insight: Uses market, customer, and/or competitor research to enhance customer focus and performance.
		Customer Value: Takes initiative to gain a deeper understanding of what creates unique value for our customers.
		Responsiveness: Develops trust and confidence with customers while responding to their needs.
RESULTS	Change Leadership	Vision: Is able to communicate the case for change, the benefits to be gained, and the path to follow.
		Engagement: Sees opportunities, supports changes, and is ready to adapt to new work situations, processes, technologies, and requirements.
		Alignment: Works to align her or his goals and actions with the requirements of the change.
	Continuous Improvement	Challenge: Challenges the status quo and offers new solutions to problems.
		Improvement: Continually seeks to improve own work efficiency and effectiveness in order to deliver the greatest value to our customers.
		Innovation: Offers creative and practical ideas for growth and improvement; tests new approaches to find best practices; learns from mistakes.
	Execution	Prioritizing and Planning: Prioritizes and plans own work to stay focused and productive.
		Accountability: Holds self-accountable for performance goals and delivers quality work.
		Follow-Through: Does what it takes to deliver on commitments; monitors own progress and elevates issues early to ensure work is accomplished on time.