Leadership Overview
Discuss about the Leadership Parameters And Skill.
In a societal or organizational setup, we have people with diverse characteristics each having separate individual goals. It can be said that, leadership is what drives the behavior or the focus of these people to head in a particular direction; consolidating the individual goals, to have a unified goal, for the common good. The whole concept of leadership has evolved, with its understanding being redefined over the decades. In fact many are still trying to come up with new ways of describing what leadership entails (Walter and Scheibe 2013). This essay will therefore try to shed light on the various leadership parameters, including; the identified skills needed for one to be a leader, the various types of leadership portrayed during my learning period, and other key elements that form that which is known as leadership. Who is a true leader, and how can you spot one in a group of people having diverse characteristics. These are some of the questions the essay will try to elaborate based on the whole learning experience.
The interest to leadership as research topic has been in existence for a long time with scientific analysis dating as far back as the 19th century. Throughout this period, the forms and definition of leadership has been changing. From several recent literatures written, leadership can simply be termed as, the act of organizing, directing and motivating people to realize a common objective (Dalglish and Miller 2010). The whole concept of leadership revolves around the traits that an individual has for them to be able to influence their followers. For a long time, leadership has been construed to mean management and vice versa, while in real sense that might not be the case according to Tripathi and Reddy (2012). In my workplace, I noticed that are observable distinctions between management and leadership. From a theoretical perspective, management can be considered as an art and a science, involving; directing, planning, organizing and leading people to meet organizational goal. Leadership on the other hand is actually the art of communicating and inspiring followers to meet a common goal. I noticed that management is mostly practiced in an official or formal setting while leadership can be practiced in both a formal and informal setting. From the two distinctions, I can say that management should be considered to be broader in scope and encompasses leadership just as elaborated by Williams (2013).
Discussion of the Questionnaires
Digging deeper into what leadership is, I discovered that there are various leadership theories coined throughout the years, with the first know theory being established in the 1840s. Most of these theories have revolved on the simple question of whether leaders are born or made (Marques 2010). The first known leadership theory, the ‘great man’ theory, indicates that leaders are born. This notion is cemented by the traits theory which highlight that natural leaders have several traits that allow them to lead efficiently (Mahajan 2011). With time, the development of contemporary theories started indicating that, leadership is not necessarily an innate skill and can as well be taught depending on the need at hand. Examples of such theories include the behavioral and the contingency leadership theory. In my workplace I discovered there are individuals who elicited natural leadership skills, while some were situational, only portraying leadership when asked to or when put in charge.
From the leadership quiz I took, I discovered some of my leadership traits which indicated the type of leader I am;
From the quiz, I noticed that I am a leader who likes to adhere to my set specifications and would like my team members to do the same. By having a set of objectives, I find it easier to keep track of progress and to maintain a certain level of quality. By allowing the employees to complete tasks the way they want to might bring varied results which may not necessarily be positive results.
In my workplace, I like having a friendly relationship with the people on my team. I consider this to be crucial in the overall success of the team. I find that having positive and cohesive team interrelationship is what acts as glue that binds the whole team together. This is a sentiment shared by Yoon & Cho (2014), who elaborates the importance of good interpersonal relationships on fostering cohesion in teams. I also considered team chemistry very vital to organizational performance and must be protected, and in my experience, to foster team chemistry, a leader has to invest a substantial amount of time and money, with team building activities as a good tool to boost chemistry (Honts, Prewett, Rahael & Grossenbacher 2012).
From the questions, I also indicated that I like to personally check in with my fellow teammates and often to see where they are at on projects and offer guidance if need be. In the few instances have been put as a leader at my workplace, I took a habit of constantly following up on the workmates I was in charge of. I thought it important to keep track of the progress to ensure that the tasks at hand are completed as planned. I also found it important to see whether the employees were having any difficulties and need assistance. One of the major expectations of a leader is to offer guidance and help solve problems which the other members of a group cannot (Stevanovic 2015).
In as much as I valued the aspect of competition as a tool for enhancing performance, I consider cooperation and collaboration as being better conduits satisfactory performance. Cooperation and collaboration increases the motivation amongst team members by providing a collective sense of satisfaction for completing a common task (Davidson 2013), For example in my workplace, I noticed that teams have different types of individuals each having their own strengths and weaknesses. By putting these members together, and having them contribute towards a common goal, they can use their collective strong points, with all of them sharing the satisfaction of accomplishing a task.
I like to use a softer approach when criticizing employees. I would normally make constructive criticism rather than bash them with the candid truth when they perform below par. I think it is important to consider the approach of criticizing performance, in order to maintain high employee morale. Being a harsh critic, doesn’t necessarily guarantee better performance from the employees. Also focusing more on the strength rather than the weakness of the employee is something I found to be helpful in improving employee growth.
Bureaucratic leadership is a form of leadership that advocates for strict compliance of rules (Mahajan 2011). I consider myself to be “conditional bureaucratic” in the sense that, in as far as I advocate to following laid out rules and procedures, there are situations where as a leader one has to be fluid in compliance to those rules. I consider myself to be a transformational leader, when I see a need to make change in my department, many at times, laid out rules become a major impediment. As Manurung (2012) puts it, for a planned organizational change to occur smoothly, the rules have to be dynamic to accommodate the positive change.
From my working experience, I have noticed that many at times, the overall performance of employees is be directly related to their interest in a particular task. I consider a change o workload should be done with regards to the personal condition of the employees rather than a change in organizational parameters. This is in line with the human relations theory of management. (Williams 2013)
There were several class activities which I undertook that helped me clearly understand what it means to be a true leader. These skills were really helpful since I could use them to improve my leadership skills at work.
Round tables: the class members were put in teams, each given a similar but complex task. The teams were given timelines and the one that finished first was declared the winner. The purpose of this activity was to portray the qualities of the team leader, and his ability to delegate tasks. From the task, I discovered that it is the role of the leader to identify and make use of the talents of each team member to realize the set goals. It is only by identifying those talents that the leader can be able to delegate in a manner that will prove to be efficient in carrying out the various tasks. It was also learnt that during the process of delegation of tasks, there can be resistance from the team members and a good leader has to quell that resistance in an amicable manner for the team to function properly. I also acknowledged the importance of communication in this task
Minefield: one of the members from the team was blindfolded and told to navigate the class room which had obstacles placed at different locations. The other members were then asked to navigate the blind folded member by using pre-specified instructions; right, left, leading the member to a specified destination. This activity helped to elaborate the trust that should exist amongst team member and communication which is vital in leadership. The activity in and by itself helped me realize that in leadership, the obstacles are always present. To navigate the obstacles, you will need the trust from your subordinates likewise the subordinates need to trust their leader to help them reach their objective. The activity also helped to emphasize on the important role of communication in leadership. Communication on how to carry out tasks has to be clearly understood in order to realize the set goals swiftly. Failure to clearly define the instructions to give the right guidance will lead to bumping into more and more obstacles and may cause frustration amongst team members (Wright 2017).
Class discussion: the whole class was asked to discuss the topic of leadership and what members thought about leadership and the qualities a good leader should portray. From the class discussion, various characteristics of leadership were established as being important. It was noted that a good leader is supposed to be charismatic and inspirational to the team. Charisma as quoted by Chiu (2010), is an important quality aimed at motivating the team members to accomplish the set goals. Communication skills were also highlighted as being important coupled with trust. From the discussion, a conclusion was also reached that, the type of leadership portrayed in any setup, will determine how efficient tasks are implemented.
Throughout the learning process, I have identified some areas where I can further develop to be a good leader;
Communication:
From the class activities, I noticed that communication was given a great deal of importance to succeed in leading. According to Moua (2011), learning how to communicate with a team which has a diverse composition is important in bringing them to focus on the same goal, and work with the desired teamwork. I will try and be keener when it comes to listening, both to my superiors and my teammates. i will also increase the frequency of communicating with my subordinates.
Learning:
Leadership is a skill that needs to be honed constantly with even the most renowned leaders still having something to learn on leadership. It is important to always seek an improvement in personal leadership qualities in order to become an even better leader (Solansky 2010). There is still a lot I need to learn as a leader. Due to this, I am going to seek mentors who I deem better leaders than me for guidance on leadership. I am also going to continue taking leadership training and activities to hone my leadership skills. I am also going to volunteer more leadership roles; by practicing leadership, I think I am going to become a better leader
Accountability:
I learnt in class that to be a good leader, one has to lead by example. I will be try and be accountable for the performance of the team. By doing so, I will be inclined to continue empowering the team members to perform better.
Conclusion
From the leadership quiz, I am termed as a diplomatic leader who considers interpersonal harmony as important. I treasure employee bonds, and I am more inclined to keep a group together through my ability to solve conflicts peacefully, preferably avoiding conflicts in the first place.
From the personality test, I can consider myself to be a steady leader. The test revealed that I am tenacious and determined to follow a particular course of action in order to achieve a set of objectives. I am also a clear thinker, analytical, with an inner need to be objective. I prefer responding to logic rather than emotion and I am normally enthusiastic to handle challenging assignments.
References
Chiu, E. (2010). Essential qualities and tasks of leadership. Asia-Pacific Psychiatry, 2(4), pp.176-176.
Dalglish, C. and Miller, P. (2010). Leadership. Prahran, Vic.: Tilde University Press.
Davidson, A. (2013). A concise guide for innovation leaders. Strategy & Leadership, 41(6).
Honts, C., Prewett, M., Rahael, J., & Grossenbacher, M. (2012). The importance of team processes for different team types. Team Performance Management: An International Journal, 18(5/6), 312-327. doi: 10.1108/13527591211251104
Mahajan, S. (2011). Study on Leadership Styles and Theories. Indian Journal of Applied Research, 4(3), pp.281-282.
Manurung, H. (2012). The Best Leadership Model for Organizational Change Management: Transformational Leadership. SSRN Electronic Journal.
Marques, J. (2010). Awakened leaders: born or made?. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 31(4), pp.307-323.
Moua, M. (2011). Culturally Intelligent Leadership. New York: Business Expert Press.
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Stevanovic, A. (2015). The influence of transformational leadership on organizational creative problem solving capacity. Skola biznisa, (2), pp.65-79.
Stulgiene, A., & Ciutiene, R. (2014). Collaboration In The Project Team. Economics And Management, 19(2). doi: 10.5755/j01.em.19.2.5719
Tripathi, P. and Reddy, P. (2012). Principles of management. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill.
Walter, F. and Scheibe, S. (2013). A literature review and emotion-based model of age and leadership: New directions for the trait approach. The Leadership Quarterly, 24(6), pp.882-901.
Williams, C. (2013). Management. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Wright, J. (2017). Authentic Dialogue: The Communication of Collaborative Leadership. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 4(2).
Yoon, I., & Cho, E. (2014). The Relationships among the Team Atmosphere, Team Cohesion, and Team Outcomes of College Players. Journal Of Korean Association Of Physical Education And Sport For Girls And Women, 28(4), 193. doi: 10.16915/jkapesgw.2014.12.28.4.193
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