1 Personal Leadership Knowing and understanding yourself is key to sharpening your leadership skills. A high level of self-awareness is essential to becoming a better leader because it leads to a better work ethic thus higher productivity, improved relationships with colleagues and followers, and lower stress levels. Effective leadership also helps an individual identify and manage their emotions. To enhance your leadership potential, you must evaluate your personal leadership style, identify the challenges that hinder you from becoming a better leader, and develop a personal leadership strategy that will improve your leadership effectiveness.
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2 Leadership Theories and Techniques Learned in Class In the modern fast-paced and ever-changing environment, all organization that are able to thrive and remain competitive have one thing in common; effective leadership. To become an outstanding leader, it is essential to be strategic about one’s leadership approach. I have learned about various leadership theories and techniques in this class. The most effective leadership theory for my leadership style is the transformational theory. It is also referred to as the relationship theory. The transformational / relationship leadership theory involves influencing people to make positive changes to their attitudes, values and beliefs, which is essential for behavior transformation. As a transformational leader, it is essential to analyze the image I portray to my followers. To influence them positively, it is imperative to demonstrate positive traits and to be their model for transformation. The transformational theory of leadership is an effective leadership strategy in modern day competitive organizations where constant innovation and change drives success, since it allows people the autonomy to be creative and to make decisions on behalf of the organization. The process of implementing transformational leadership involves assessing the areas that require change and design the techniques to effect the changes. Transformational leadership is one of the most effective approaches to leadership because it leads to lasting positive changes since the team unlearns their old habits, and learns new effective habits, and they practice it out of their own will. As a transformational leader, I will train my followers through four main techniques. Firstly, I will assign intellectually stimulating tasks and opportunities to help change their mindset. Secondly, I will be attentive to ensure that I develop a better relationship with them; it is essential to understand their strengths, weaknesses and motivators. This will help me determine the most appropriate roles to assign to each person
3 depending on their skills and aptitudes. Thirdly, I will ensure that I model the type of behavior that I would want them to emulate, and fourthly, I will inspire and motivate them. Essentially, the most effective leadership approach is one that helps the leader make the team feel connected to the overall objective of the project, and work with minimal supervision (Bush, 2017). Personal Evaluation of my Current Leadership As a leader, my ambition is to have a successful and rewarding career. During this class, I have learned that possessing the right leadership skills is an integral part of horning your potential. The class readings have given me a clearer picture of my current leadership style. I will use three methods to perform an accurate evaluation of my current leadership. Firstly, I will perform a SWOT analysis to help me determine my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, with regards to my personal leadership. Secondly, I will perform a self-observation for a week to track my habits and how they affect my leadership style positively or negatively. Thirdly, I will ask my colleagues at work and school to give me feedback on their experience of my leadership style. This is crucial because it will help me identify discrepancies between how I view myself, and how others perceive me. It will also help me take note of the areas in my leadership style that need the most improvement. SWOT Analysis A SWOT analysis helped me perform an audit of my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. My strengths are my ambitiousness, determination, articulacy, amiability and decisiveness. I have constantly demonstrated my ability to work in a team, and to resolve conflicts calmly. Additionally, I can deliver excellent results while working without supervision. I have several opportunities that if well utilized will work to my advantage. Given my good grades and demonstrated leadership skills, I have the opportunity to secure a good job. I also
4 have qualified mentors and colleagues that I can a lot from. In the course of my studies and career, I have built a robust network who I can rely on for coaching, and support. Having a strong network also guarantees me upward mobility in my career. However, despite my strengths and opportunities, I also have weaknesses and threats that have the potential to affect my leadership negatively. I have two main weaknesses. The first one is that I have a tendency to be very compassionate, which might be mistaken by some people lenience. The second weakness is that I am often too detail-oriented. This makes me seek perfection in everything I do. There are also threats that may affect my leadership negatively. The first threat is that there is intense competition in the market and fewer opportunities to compete for. The second threat to my leadership is that as a leader, I need to upgrade my skills constantly to be considered for good positions in the job market. This is a threat because it might not be possible to enroll for extra courses and trainings given my current heavy workload. Self-Observation To develop a better understanding of my leadership, I tracked my thoughts, speech and actions for a week to study my leadership behavior. By performing this self-assessment, I was able to recognize positive and negative patterns, thus helping me better understand my leadership approach (Ghasabeh, & Provitera, 2017).To perform this assessment, it was important for me to be honest with myself and also be consistent in tracking my behavior. Feedback from Colleagues and Followers It is important to receive feedback regularly from the people one works with closely to gauge what they perceive of your leadership ability. There are aspects of my personality and leadership style that might not be visible to me but would be clear to others. By allowing my
5 colleagues to appraise me, it gives me the opportunity to understand myself better and also improve my leadership skills where more effort is required. Current Personal Leadership Challenges My leadership experience over the years has taught me that there are constant challenges in the journey to becoming a good leader. These challenges, if well utilized, test one’s abilities and provide an opportunity to improve and rise to the next level. I have experienced three types of leadership challenges; those coming from within me, that is, my internal issues; secondly, those that arise from external forces, and thirdly, the leadership challenges arising from the job descriptions and responsibilities contained in the leadership role. External Challenges As much as I aim to be an effective leader, there are various external challenges in my day to day leadership activities that bar me from becoming effective in my role. Currently, there are three external challenges that have a negative impact on my work. The first challenge is that my colleagues and supervisors have excessively high expectations of me, therefore, sometimes I feel like I am under immense performance pressure. I want to be a transformational leader who delegates duties and allows my colleagues to work independently, but when I am faced with pressure to deliver excellent results, I end up having to micromanage some aspects of the work. Thus, my intended leadership approach is affecting by the nature of the work environment. The second external challenge that affects my leadership style is that the organization lacks sufficient funds to stay up-to-date with the constant changes in technology. Rapid advancements in technology may pose a threat to effective leadership because keeping up with modern trends means upgrading the devices, purchasing new software undergoing training, and
6 taking courses to adapt to the changing trends. For an organization that is not well-funded, this proves to be a costly venture and may affect the quality of leadership. My third external challenge as a leader has been the current culture at the organization where I work. When the organization has a poor culture, it complicates the leader’s work because he has to create the right working environment, design a good culture and motivate the team to change their behavior. In this case, there is a culture of fierce competition among workmates and this leads to constant communication issues, undermining each other’s work, gossiping and bullying. I have to teach the team that instead of being in competition with each other, they should work collaboratively because there is better performance and higher productivity when they are united. I also have to give each of the team members individual recognition to reduce the hyper-competitiveness. This will set the tone for the right behavior. Internal Environment Leadership presents challenges that expose one’s inner limitations (Liu, & Li, 2018). Some of my strengths have also doubled up as weaknesses in some cases. For instance, as mentioned, my keen attention to detail may sometimes appear to be perfectionism, which is a negative trait because it leaves team members when they are not able to achieve the leader’s high standards. I am also compassionate to the point where some people may take advantage of the situation to get away with wrong doing. Fear is a natural human instinct and is one of the emotions that leaders constantly experience since their actions determine the success of the team. As a leader, I am not immune to it. When presented with a major task, one of my reactions is fear, because I wonder whether I will be able to make the right decisions on behalf of the organization and the team, and deliver the expected results. I also experience fear when the situation requires me to take a risk.
7 However, I have learned to push through the fear, take risks, make decisions and trust my leadership instincts. The followers are only as confident as the leader is. My third international environment challenge as a leader has been designing a good work-life balance. I have had a tendency of working so hard that my personal life takes a back seat and I overexert myself in my role. This happens due to the fact that I am keen to detail and therefore work hard to ensure that the work delivered by the team is of the right standard. I have learned that it is important to delegate duties and allow the team to do the work as required. Otherwise, the leader risks getting burnt out and losing the motivation much-needed for the successful completion of the project. It is easy to try to be common for leaders to work long hours and take on extra duties, but it is also crucial to learn to step back and allow the team to take over. Nature of Work The nature of work also poses a significant challenge to my personal leadership. As the adage goes, with great power comes great responsibility and my role as a leader is no exception (Cashman, 2017). I am responsible for ensuring that the team works cohesively and removing the obstacles that may hinder their optimal performance. I am also responsible for ensuring that there are enough resources to perform the duties as required. As a leader, I have to take ownership of the fact that the team’s results are a direct result of my leadership ability. This may sometimes feel like a challenge because any failure reflects poorly on my leadership. There is high pressure to deliver top-quality work, and as a leader, the responsibility rests squarely on me. There is so much to do and never sufficient time to get it all done, and in the process there are also distractions and emergencies that I am supposed to handle.
8 In addition to this challenge, there are several projects that need to be completed within a short time frame. Therefore, unsurprisingly, one of the challenges I face as a leader is that it is sometimes challenging to execute all the plans, ideas and strategies to completion due to the demanding nature of the job. Secondly, as mentioned, there is a culture of hyper-competitiveness within the organization which makes it difficult to assign work to the team effectively since instead of working together, they work to outdo each other. This culture has created an environment of stress and anxiety. Personal Leadership Strategy for Continued Learning Leaders face complex obstacles in the course of their duties that need immediate solutions. To develop an effective personal leadership strategy, it is essential to take note of my current challenges and develop a plan to overcome them (Cashman, 2017). When designing a good leadership strategy, the first and most important priority is to work on the leader’s skills, knowledge, personality and attitude. The knowledge of this fact gives me the will to work towards correcting the weaknesses and eliminating the weaknesses I have identified. This leadership course equips me with the tools necessary to ensure that I excel in my duties. The following personal leadership strategies will facilitate my continued learning and subsequent growth as a leader. Accepting Criticism In the leadership position, it is easy for one to receive a lot of reward and recognition especially when the team’s efforts are successful. Being constantly praised may make the leader believe that they are above reproach such that they become sensitive to criticism. The leader who refuses to accept criticism loses the opportunity to learn and in future, their performance may regress. Thus, one of my personal leadership strategies for continued learning is to regularly
9 request for feedback from my team and other stakeholders to determine how effective I am in my role and if there are areas that I should work on improving. Accepting, and even going as far as expecting, criticism is a leadership strategy that goes a long way in helping the leader become better at their role. Making Decisions Confidently To grow as a leader, learning to make calculated decisions is critical. Leaders fail because they feel highly pressured to make the right decisions such that in the end, they become indecisive for fear of making a mistake. However, it is important to note that making decisions is an opportunity to learn and grow as a leader. If the decision leads to success, the leader’s confidence grows and they will have an opportunity to make even better decisions in future. When the decision leads to failure, this is still important because it provides an opportunity to learn. Therefore, decision making, whether it leads to success or failure, is important because it facilitates learning and growth. As a leader, I will prepare by gathering the relevant information to make the right decision and proceed with confidence. If I make a mistake, I will adjust quickly and make better choices next time. Create Structures and Mechanisms that Support Effective Leadership To become a more effective leader, my personal leadership strategy for continued learning is to design structures that allow team cohesion and the right team culture (Cashman, 2017). In this leadership position, I need to deal with the culture of cut-throat competitiveness because it has a negative impact on the work environment. I will do this by having a structure where each of the team members has a clearly designated role such that they will not need to compete amongst themselves. I will also hold occasional meetings with them to discuss the vision and objectives of the team. It is also essential to reward them fairly for their work. This
10 will create a positive culture, which in turn, will facilitate my ability to perform my leadership duties effectively.
Reference Bush, T. (2017). The enduring power of transformational leadership. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 45(4), 563-565. doi: 10.1177/1741143217701827 Cashman, K. (2017). Leadership from the Inside Out: Becoming a Leader for Life. BerrettKoehler Publishers Ghasabeh, M., & Provitera, M. (2017). Transformational Leadership: Building an Effective Culture to Manage Organisational Knowledge. The Journal Of Values-Based Leadership, 10(2). doi: 10.22543/0733.102.1187
11 Liu, H., & Li, G. (2018). Linking Transformational Leadership and Knowledge Sharing: The Mediating Roles of Perceived Team Goal Commitment and Perceived Team Identification. Frontiers In Psychology, 9. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01331