Value of Subject in developing Leadership
Write a Reflective Essay on Management and Leadership.
I am a student of James Cook University, studying in the Singapore campus. The essay here will focus on my learning from the module Leadership and Management. The essay will focus on how the module helped me in gaining tremendous knowledge through detailed exposure to the topic. Leadership and management do not have usage only in the organizational point of view, but it has application also in the personal life for an individual. The coherent study of the subject along with the able guidance of my professor I have understood the topic in great depth, so much so that I am waiting to get into the real world and practically apply my learned knowledge.
Leadership is a research area and practical skill encompassing the ability of the individual or the organization to lead and guide other teams or individual (Bolman & Deal, 2014). This definition helped me in absorbing how my Teacher (Leader) handhold us through the entire module, handing our doubts and objections on the said topic and cleared our doubts with the prefect knowledge and understanding. Leadership and management learning at the university helped me in understanding the rationale the leaders used to tackle the challenging problems they faced in everyday life. It also made me understand the importance of an effective leader, in a class full of student, with varied diversity and background, it was my Teacher (Leader) who never gave up, ensured discipline in the classroom and cleared our doubts, and no matter how many times we raised our hands. I myself envisioned the kind of learning atmosphere and the skill set deployed my by Teacher (Leader) to maintain decorum in the class. Entire students were in admiration for the Teacher and in praise for his expertise in the topic, his calmness in solving our doubts and his undying strength and the ability to push us to learn the core concepts of the subjects.
My biggest fear while entering the university and especially the class of Leadership and management was the amount of communication I would have to have compulsorily with my fellow students. It is my biggest apprehension as I have an introvert personality; moreover I lack the tacit and art of communication. I always was of the opinion that I can sail through the class by staying alone in my solitude doing my work. However, I realized that learning and development of a skill set and a person happens when he opens up with people, he gets to know lacunae in his personality which is holding him back to climb the ladder of success. I learnt the art of speaking confidently through the push of my teacher, who wanted me to grow and develop in my class room activities. He took off my fear and filled me with tremendous confidence to take over the world and speak confidently. The role played by the group in leadership is extremely important, and it takes a great leader to overcome the resistance of the group members by using the art of persuasive influence and leadership skills in order to enhance trust and relationship between the group members (Bolden, 2016).
Experience changing my views on my leadership Capacity
The reason why I think that it is important to open up with the group members is to overcome any challenges or resistance in the path of overall development of the person. In my personal conduct, I myself faced certain troubles in delivering a group presentation as couple of my team mates were not fully prepared, and I was too shy to request them to study the subject in detail. This led me to scoring very less marks in the presentation, it suddenly made me realize that the underlying purpose of the group is not just to stick together, but the bigger picture here is to develop positive synergies by working in the group to achieve the desired objectives. Thus, I learnt the importance of group cohesion and communication to tackle the obstacle in the path of one’s own and group development. Leadership is thus very helpful in making us understand the importance of ensuring good communication to reach the desired objectives; it also helps in alienating the resistance of the group members (Balon, 2014).
The underlying purpose of learning is to translate the learning into future endeavours. I have aspiration to work with the biggest e-commerce company in the world, Amazon and lead the digital marketing department of innovation at the organization. I am certain that I would meet hundreds of people with the same set of aspiration and probably even more qualified than me. But, I am determined to use my learning from leadership and management at James Cook and apply in my future business organization. I am filled with great confidence that I have the ability to communicate with any person in the organization, irrespective of their role and seniority. I have the clarity in my thoughts, and developed my communication skills to present any idea to my future group with great confidence. This would have not been possible without the influence and confidence which my Teacher (Leader) showed in me; it is due to his leadership that I can now dream of a better and a sustained success in the future. However, there are certainly a couple of other skills which I have to develop to be able to succeed in my future endeavours.
There are no two doubts that learning the module of leadership and management has helped me to widen my horizon and has given me the courage to pursue my career goals and objectives. I have set a target for myself where I would like to be promoted as a team leader in three years. In order to do so, I have to master the art of communication, handling objections, art of negotiation, flexibility and adaptability and working with people for the objective of the organization. I have decided that I will be extremely approachable in my business conduct and practice openness in communication; this will help me in building trust with my peers and would also put a good picture in front of my line managers. As a part of my learning I have decided to enrol myself in the leadership program at Amazon and learn the new skills which are required in the present day from the industry Stalwarts. It is often said that only 30-40% of the members in the team work to achieve the objectives of the team. I will ensure that I take this figure to at least 70% by pushing my team members and motivating them with the right set of techniques to fulfil the group objectives (Certo, 2018). I also want to enhance my learn at active listening, I want to be so efficient that I can pick up the key words of what some person is talking and help him out, while multitasking. I would read books on the lives of Jack Welch and Steve Jobs to see how they honoured the art of leadership and used it to take their organization to the pinnacle of success.
In the present day, it is highly advised that leader should be flexible and dynamic. He has to make it a point to not be rigid and ensure that he changes his leadership style according to the changing situation. Thus, my leadership style will be highly adaptive. It has been said that there is no single leadership style which one can pick and work upon, however, transformational style of leadership is what present day leaders have been practicing these days. Transformational style of leadership is working with the people, influencing them to work on their goals, help them in setting their goals and influence and motivate them to excel in their career. I want to do the same, work with people and grow with them. I want to create an environment of learning and development to ensure better productivity from the employees. All this would require great effort and time, but I am determined that my focus, motivation and my learning of the subject will help me in delivering the impossible.
Conclusion
James Cook is a great learning ground for students like me who have low self-esteem and confidence. James Cook has a great set of teachers who help one in overcoming in fears and make him ready to stay atop in the competition presented by the outside world. My Teacher (Leader) taught me the essence of leadership and management and helped me in overcoming my challenge in communication, confidence, negotiation, objection handling and how to master the art of leadership. My learning was filled with plethora of activities, relevant assignment to apply my learning and an environment filled with positivity and the hunger to learn. I am forever in debt to my Teacher (Leader), who helped me in widening my horizon and presented me with the relevant skills to succeed in every aspect of personal and professional life.
References
Balon, R. (2014). Leadership versus management. Academic Psychiatry, 38(6), 720-722.
Bolden, R. (2016). Leadership, management and organisational development. In Gower handbook of leadership and management development (pp. 143-158). Routledge.
Bolman, L., & Deal, T. (2014). Leadership and management. Christian Youth Work in Theory and Practice: A Handbook, 245.
Certo, S. C. (2018). Supervision: Concepts and skill-building. McGraw-Hill Education
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