Characteristics of a good leader
The report aims at providing an insight into personalized strategic leadership plan. As the report primarily deals with my own development as the strategic leader, so it is both critical as well as reflective. The report commences with a discussion of the characteristics of a good leader. Good leaders defined as those who are not afraid of any kind of challenges. The confidence of good leaders acts as an inspiration whereas the compassion acts as strength. A good leader makes use of his compassion for understanding the needs of those who leads and accordingly decide on a course of the action that acts as a benefit to not only the individual but also the team. Some examples of good leaders include CEO of Apple Inc. Steve Jobs, Nelson Mandela, and CEO of Amazon.com Jeff Bezos. The report also puts forward the strengths and weakness of a leader. Often seen, successful leaders not only utilize the strength for influencing the others but also minimizes the weakness that poses a hindrance it the ability of leading. Effective leaders pose the quality of turning the weakness into essential positive characteristics through diligence. There report also discusses about a plan for developing leadership skills.
The characteristics of a good leader include (Latham, 2013):
- Possession of Empathy: An empathetic leader will have followers that will more likely express an interest in sharing the vision of leader instead of fostering negative feelings.
- Maintenance of Consistency: The aspect of consistency of a good leader helps him in earning respect and credibility from the team(Rajbhandari & Rajbhandari, 2015). Once a leader epitomizes as an example of credibility and fairness, the followers also pursue the same footsteps and act in a similar manner.
- Possession of Honesty: Leaders who remain honest about concerns will address concerns rather than avoid it. Honesty also leads to better growth and assessment.
- Strong Direction: Good leaders pursue a vision that helps them in breakingthe norm and aim for greater things. This is one of the essential characteristic of leadership (Katila & Eriksson, 2013). By managing the goals and observing how to achieve them, these leaders can lead to an impressive change.
- Effective Communication: This quality of a leader helps him /her in guiding the followers in having the right attitude. Proper communication regarding the issues, advice and expectations will help in making the people more reactive and work towards the goal.
- Possession of Flexibility: Good leaders are not only flexible but also open to newer ideas that increase the likelihood of finding the best possible solution.
- Strong Conviction: Good leaders have willingness and a strong vision and believe in working towards it. This not only portrays them as an inspiration but also as resource to the followers(Eisenbeiss, Van & Fahrbach, 2015).
Successful leaders help in utilizing their strengths in influencing others. They also make an effort of minimizing the weakness that interferes with the ability of leading (Daft, 2014). Effective leaders also make an effort in minimizing the weakness that interferes with the ability of leading. Good leaders are diligent enough in turning their weakness into the positive characteristics. In this context, I would like to analyze my leadership weakness and strengths.
Strengths
Good Communication Skills: As a leader, I possess good communication skills and have the ability of clearly explaining the goals of a specific task to the employees so that they can perform accordingly.
Good Social Skills: As the leader is someone who meets the strangers on a regular basis for discussing business and talk to the employees regarding the task and the work performance, so as a leader I possess the necessary social skills necessary for a particular situation (Batool, 2013).
Good Listening Skills: As a leader, I am a good listener. I always remain ready to listen to any kind of problem or suggestions of my employees (Kluger & Zaidel, 2013). I also possess the quality of speaking confidently about the business and the products.
Strengths
Ensuring Teamwork: I also posses the quality of leading a team towards the success so I necessarily possess the ability of not only organizing an effective team but can also work as a part of them. Thus, I play an active role in knowing the practical details of the business and play a role in thoroughly assessing the employees.
Enough Determination: As a leader, I also have enough determination in dealing with the setbacks of the business (Ahmad et al., 2014). I try do not let any setback act as a hindrance to the business and finally pushing the business in the pathways of success.
Possession of Confidence: Leaders should also possess enough confidence that can push through the drawbacks (Bolman & Deal, 2017). Being a leader, I also have enough confidence that I try to show off proudly so that the associates and the business partners can trust my judgment.
Weakness
Distancing and Standing Apart: As a leader, these qualities of mine leads to disengagement and sub optimization thereby shutting down the best people around. It also makes the employees under-delivering (Chin, 2013). Ideally, I should have been more authentic and candid as well as vulnerable.
Leading for Pleasing Others: As a leader, I sometimes focus on being liked and wanted by the employees. This makes me focus more on the people than the results. Instead, I should have focused more on the achievement of the results, leadership and personal accountability, having enough courage in terms of the performance issues, making harder choices and being decisive.
By Being Autocratic and Perfectionist: As a leader I am not only a perfectionist or hypercritical but also directive and autocratic. This has sometimes not only led to attrition and burnout but also resulted in diminishing returns over the time.
Lack of Timely Delivery of Good Results: As a leader, in certain cases I was unable to deliver good results within the expected budget and time.
Leading through Incongruity: I have failed as a leader due to incongruity in saying and doing things (Lavine, 2014). In other words, I have failed in the instances, where I should have been true to myself and showed the ways through doing rather than saying.
Tendency of Complacency and Over Investment in Status Quo: As a leader, this also acts as a weakness. As a leader, I should motivate people by finding newer ways of awakening and playing a different role.
Weaknesses
Possession of Over Optimism about Strategies, Tactics or People: As a leader, I often hang on the lower performing strategies as well as the people. This leads to lower productivity and people taking advantage of the trustworthiness.
Possession of Over Pessimism about Strategies, Tactics or People: I am also at times over pessimistic about the certain people and remain in greater denial of treating them with patience (Sanders, 2017). I have also not tried to unfold tactics in dealing with over pessimism. As a leader, it is necessary for honoring the necessity for making tougher choices and recognizing the impact of its potential.
Lack of Emotional Intelligence: I also have problems in accessing a range of own feelings and letting the feelings in providing necessary insight not only about others but also myself (Holt & Wood, 2017). It is therefore necessary for doing necessary introspection and emotional/mental healing work necessary for accessing the greater range that would also help in balancing my own feelings.
Lack of Clarity and Creation of Impact on Others: I also lack abilities of influencing, adapting to the culture and fitting in impersonally and organizationally. This might sometimes due to the lack of the emotional intelligence and attunement. As a leader, it is very important to observe the impact of one’s own feelings in every aspect of the work performed.
Twelve years from now, I view myself as being the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Woolworths Group located in Australia (woolworthsgroup.com.au, 2018). Woolworths Group refers to the compilation of chains, brands and divisions of Woolworths Limited Companies. It represents a key Australian company with the primary interest in New Zealand and Australia. Woolworths Limited Companies not only represents one of the largest Australian food retailer but also a liquor retailer, hotel operator and the largest poker gaming operator of Australia. Hence, the operations of Woolworths brand include liquor retailing, supermarkets, management of the hotels and the pubs under the umbrella of its leisure and hospitality group along with maintaining the low priced departmental stores.
In order to achieve this I need to develop myself over the years and possess certain qualities that are necessary have for the CEO. This includes:
Aptitude of Learning from Past: To become a CEO, I must develop the ability of learning and instilling the lessons for future (Schoemaker, Krupp & Howland, 2013). Mistakes are bound to happen but it is important to learn from them and prevent their further happening. I must also be able to develop an effective system of crisis management to deal with certain situations.
Future goals
Development of Strong Communication Skills: I must also develop strong communication skills that will help in providing moral boost. I should also develop skills to motivate the team but also encourage its completion within time. In addition, I should also be balanced and transparent in my communication. Further, I should also possess the ability of translating the business challenge, potential and the expectations for the action using direct, succinct and understandable language. In other words, I should devote more time in making necessary connections.
Ability of Building Relationships: To become a CEO, I must develop the ability of building relationship with not only the coworkers but also the clients. Relationship helps in the creation of loyalty and an image of the company’s CEO. The positivity in the relationships helps in spreading of the business through the word of mouth.
Development of Realistic Optimism: In the process of becoming a CEO, I must develop immense confidence about my skills to the employees (Day et al., 2015). I should also develop awareness and confront necessary challenges in the urge of reaching the audacious goals.
Be Understanding: I must understand about the matters taking place in the workplace. I should be able to understand the emergencies faced by an employee (Komives, 2016). Moreover, I should also realize the mistakes made in engaging an employee who has focus on the other things. I must also realize that there are certain things that happen out of anyone’s control. I must also develop the skill of accepting and understanding the situations and handling the things accordingly.
Development of Listening Skills: To become a CEO, I must also be a good listener and try to provide options and ideas to the others (Brownell, 2015). Listening attentively is one of the key criteria of a good CEO. This is because when a CEO is seeking and listening ideas of trusted individuals then the company and team becomes more successful.
Willingness of Taking Calculated Risks: I must develop the unforeseen opportunities of taking risks. This will help in portraying my confidence and help me in growing as business leader. It is to be remembered that risky decision takes someone into an important and new path. Embracing the risk also helps in overcoming fear of failure.
Adaptation to Management Style: I must possess the ability of reading people and adapting to the necessary management styles. To ensure the success of the employee and the company I should possess the ability in adapting to the management styles.
Effective Coaching of Employees: I should also be able to create a collaborative and healthy work environment and provide the employees with the necessary tools for attaining success. I must also provide training in a manner that helps in inspiring the staffs towards success.
Developing Out-of –Box Thinking Procedure: It is an obvious fact that the market changes with time therefore; I should develop the capability of thinking out of the box. This is because it will help in generating better ways for achieving the goals of the business (Eisenbei & Boerner, 2013). The out of the box thinking of the CEO makes the company in standing out to the prospect and the customers.
However, along the way I see myself working as a store manager of a departmental store Thomas Dux Grocer where my role would be to offer greater customer service in addition to monitoring the store’s financial performance. In this particular job role, I expect to hold the responsibilities of recruitment, training, supervising and appraising the staff thereby maintaining the financial and statistical records. Then I expect to be promoted to the role of a director, a person from the group of the managers who supervises and leads the specific area of the same company. The Board of Directors looks after the management aspect of the company’s business. I look forward to be a part of the Board of Directors who would make operational and strategic decisions for the company along with ensuring that the company meets statutory obligations. Gradually with time, I hold on to the expectation of becoming the Business Head or the Chief Executive Officer of a firm like Woolworths where I would be in charge of making the company exceed expectations while ensuring its profitability.
When I receive the greatest job, I will initially be ecstatic and try to leave behind a great reputation as a legacy. People will remember I will lead remember how I will lead the company with a clear vision. Being the CEO, I will not only try to motivate and inspire others but at the same time would be ethical and honest. My employees will remember me as a good communicator who not only cared about the company but also made it a great place to work. In addition, my employees would also remember me for having a global outlook, being decisive with a sole focus on the customers.
Conclusion:
The report ends by throwing a light strategic leadership plan. The report tries to provide an elaborate insight into the characteristics of a good leader. Here one can also find an analysis of personal strengths and weakness of leadership. The report also puts forward a plan for developing one’s own skills of leadership. This has helped me in understanding how a person can serve the purpose of helping the organization in performing a better job since the plan helps in focusing the resources, energy and the time in a specific direction. The planning helped me in providing with a vision for implementation of the actions. The report also provided me with vision of becoming more self-aware, reflect and undertaking planning. I will become more self aware through a sharp realization of my personality including my weakness and the strengths, my emotions, thoughts, beliefs and motivation. I will reflect through building of an emotional self-awareness thereby gaining a greater understanding of the strengths, emotions, driving factors and the emotions. I will however make a plan by keeping a record of every possible things and knowing what I want. I will also be realistic and specific in my planning by setting measurable milestones. I will also try in breaking larger tasks into more manageable chunks along with preparing a scheduled list. I will also try to put timelines and ensure creating a visual representation. In addition, I will ensure that the planning leads to positive results and helps in achieving challenging goals.
References:
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woolworthsgroup.com.au. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/
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