Student LPI Online Overview

• Introduction
• Roles on Student LPI Online
• Administrators
• Add Organizations
• Add Groups
• Add Leaders
• Generate Report
• Leaders
• Take Student LPI-Self
• Add Observers
• Observers
• Take Student LPI-Observer
• Sample LPI Report
• Sample Leader Email Notification
• Sample Observer Email Notification

Student LPI Online is a Web-based application for administering the Student Leadership Practices Inventory, or Student LPI.

The Student LPI is a 360-degree leadership assessment tool created by leadership researchers and consultants James Kouzes and Barry Posner, authors of the bestselling book The Leadership Challenge.

The tool itself consists of two inventories, the Student LPI-Self (taken by the Leader) and the Student LPI-Observer (taken by others who have observed the Leader). Each inventory contains 30 statements evaluating leadership behavior. Student LPI Online was designed to help with many of the administrative tasks associated with giving, taking, and otherwise administering the Student LPI.

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You can have one of three roles on the Student LPI Online system:

• Administrator
• Leader
• Observer

What you can do in the Student LPI Online system depends upon the role you are logged into.

Administrators establish and manage their Student LPI account. They use Student LPI Online to add, organize, and communicate with the Leaders who will be assessed. They also use the system to generate Feedback Reports for their Leaders.

Leaders are added into the system by Administrators. Leaders use the Student LPI Online system to take their inventory (the Student LPI-Self) and to add Observers who will be evaluating the Leader s leadership behaviors.

Observers offer their feedback on a Leader by taking an inventory (the Student LPIObserver). The only task Observers have access to on Student LPI Online is taking the Student LPI-Observer.

With this basic understanding of the three roles, we can now describe how the Student LPI Online system is designed to help each role accomplish their respective tasks.

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Administrators can perform a variety of tasks on Student LPI Online; however, the most important are contained in the following list:

1. Add Organizations
2. Add Groups
3. Add Leaders
4. Generate Report

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Organizations are used to reflect the multiple associations with which you may be working. For example, you may be administering the Student LPI Online to a number of universities, campuses, or programs within a campus. All Leaders you add must belong to an Organization. Furthermore, once a Leader has been assigned to an Organization, that Leader cannot be reassigned to another Organization.

When Administrators log onto the Student LPI Online system for the first time, they are asked if they want to work with a single Organization or multiple Organizations:

• Use a single Organization if you work with one university, campus, or student organization
• Use multiple Organizations if you work with many universities, campuses, or student organizations

Consider your decision carefully and remember: Once a Leader is assigned to an Organization, his organizational pedigree cannot be changed.

After you have created an Organization, you may want to further organize your Leaders into Groups (see the section below on Groups).

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Groups are used by Administrators to further categorize Leaders within an Organization, such as by course, section, or workshop within a larger program. Group membership is NOT required for Leaders. They may belong to many Groups or no Group. In fact, you can skip the Add Groups step and go directly to Add Leaders. Leaders can always be assigned to Groups you create later. After creating an Organization and deciding on Groups, you are now ready to add a Leader.

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NOTE: Before you add a Leader, remember that all Leaders MUST belong to an Organization. If you are working with multiple Organizations, you need to be sure the Organization you are working from is the Organization that you want the Leader assigned to.

Adding a Leader requires several steps that involve inputting profile information and the like. Once you have completed the process, an email will be sent to the Leader on a date you select. That email will provide the Leader with instructions and access to the Student LPI Online system. This will start the Leader on the way to performing his or her necessary tasks (see the section below on Leaders).

Renewing a Leader is almost identical to adding a new Leader and will simply expend a second token. When renewing a Leader, if their previous contact email address has changed, a new Leader record must be created. Email addresses are unique to a Leader s record and cannot be modified.

Once the Leader and his or her Observers have completed their tasks, you can then generate the Leader s Feedback Report.

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A primary goal of the Student LPI Online system is to provide a Web-based method for administering and recording the responses to the leadership assessment inventories, the Student LPI-Self and Student LPI-Observer.

Once the desired inventories are completed, the responses can be consolidated and presented in a meaningful way that preserves the participants anonymity. That step is accomplished by the Administrator generating the Leader s Feedback Report.

Be sure all the inventories you want included in the report are completed before generating a Leader's report. Note: The Leader must complete his or her survey before a report can be run. It is recommended that reports contain the feedback from a minimum of three Observers. Feedback Reports contain all of the data from all Observers who have answered the Leader's invitation requests. A specific Observer's data cannot be excluded from the report.

The resulting Feedback Report anonymously summarizes the inventory responses and becomes the focal point for establishing a leadership improvement plan. Analyzing the report and creating the plan is a step that cannot be performed on Student LPI Online. Instead, the Administrator usually sets up a one-on-one or group meeting where the Leader's Feedback Report is reviewed and an improvement strategy created.

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Leaders are the individuals being assessed in the Student LPI. In Student LPI Online, they are added into the system by Administrators, but Leaders carry out certain tasks of their own on the system. Of those tasks, the most important are:

1. Take Student LPI-Self
2. Add Observers

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After Administrators add Leaders to the system, Student LPI Online sends the Leaders an email. Within that email are instructions for using Student LPI Online, along with a URL to a login page. Using the login username and password supplied in the email, the Leader can enter the Student LPI Online system.

Upon entering the system, the first thing a Leader should do is take the Student LPI-Self.

The Student LPI-Self is a version of the leadership assessment inventory that allows the Leader to evaluate his or her own leadership behaviors. This inventory must be completed before the Leader's Feedback Report can be run (see Generate Report in the Administrator section).

The inventory consists of 30 statements separated into three pages of 10 statements each. After the Leader has responded to all 30 statements, the Leader submits the inventory. Once that has been done, the Leader can proceed to the next step of adding Observers.

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With the Student LPI-Self completed, the Leader now begins adding Observers.

Observers are individuals who have had the opportunity to observe the Leader in a leadership role. They can be peers in a club, team, chapter, group, class, program, or project; Observers may also be people outside of their organizations&8212;alumni, university officials, or faculty. The more diverse the collection of Observers, the better the feedback. All Observers will be completing the Student LPI-Observer.

The Student LPI-Observer is a version of the leadership assessment inventory that allows the people who have observed the Leader (Observers) to evaluate the Leader's leadership behaviors.

Adding Observers into the Student LPI Online system is a simple process involving a few steps. Once those steps are completed, the Student LPI Online system sends the Observers an email containing instructions and a URL. By connecting to the URL, the Observer is taken directly to the Student LPI Online page that starts the Student LPIObserver.

Once the Student LPI-Self and all the Student LPI-Observers are completed, the Leader's responsibilities on Student LPI Online are finished. The Leader should then be contacted by the Administrator about going over a Feedback Report generated from the inventory responses. That process is performed offline.

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Observers are individuals who have had the opportunity to observe the Leader in a leadership role. They are selected and input into the Student LPI Online system by the Leader.

Observers can perform only one task:

1. Take Student LPI-Observer

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Once the Leader has completed adding the Observer to the system, the Observer is sent an email. That email contains instructions and a URL that takes the Observer to the start of the Student LPI-Observer.

The Student LPI-Observer is a version of the leadership assessment inventory that allows the people who have observed the Leader (Observers) to evaluate the Leader's leadership behaviors.

The inventory consists of 30 statements separated into three pages of 10 statements each. Responses for the 30 statements are mandatory. After the Observer has responded to all 30 statements, the Observer submits the inventory. Once that has been done, the Observer's responsibilities are complete.

Please note that the Student LPI Online system takes every precaution to maintain the anonymity of Observers. The Observers name will not be associated with responses.

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