Self-Reflection On Leadership

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Introduction.

One definition of leadership is the position of authority a person holds within an

organization that allows them to exert interpersonal influence over other members to mobilize
and focus their efforts on specific objectives. My understanding of leadership includes the
capacity to empower, motivate and respect others, and promote a visionary idea while leading by
example. Leaders must be sincere with themselves regarding their strengths and weaknesses, and
the knowledge and skills they possess. As a leader one ought to be able to appeal to their
followers and persuade them that one deserves their loyalty to be a great leader. The capacity to
lead should result from self-confidence, as it might inspire your followers' faith in you. Strong
leaders are made, not born, in my opinion, possessing the will and resolve to succeed will helps
one to become a leader.

Two major leadership models have assisted leaders throughout history in achieving their
goals and finding success. These two types of leadership have drawn a lot of attention focus. The
first kind of leadership is referred to as transformational leadership, in which the leader
empowers employees to produce unanticipated or spectacular work outcomes by giving them
autonomy over their requests and the power to make decisions. This leadership guarantees the
team members' well-being by inspiring and praising them for their finest efforts. Establishing
appropriate goals provided an example of morality and justice (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013). An
atmosphere that inspires people offers them support and recognition, stirs their emotions, helps
them see beyond their interests, and motivates them to push themselves beyond their comfort
zones. This leadership must establish trustworthiness and support the creation of solid ties.

An autocratic leadership style is the second, additionally known as authoritarian

leadership, this is. With relatively little input from the team or other employees, this style of
leadership is characterized by the leader's complete individual control over all choices (De
Hoogh et al., 2015). These leaders prefer not to accept input from their followers and instead
base their decisions most effectively on their judgments and ideas. The groups of people who
work for them are subject to their totalitarian rule. Other characteristics include the fact that the
boss determines how everything is done, that group members are rarely trusted or allowed the
freedom to make their own decisions, and that work is still extremely structured and inflexible
(Rast, Hogg & Gessner, 2013). Innovative thinking and creativity are discouraged. There are
certain advantages as well, though. They work well when decisions must be made quickly and in
a critical scenario. Additionally, it keeps the economy from stagnating and workers from missing
deadlines. They aid in performance development when a team consistently produces low-quality
work.

When I was in High school, I was elected as president of the Junior Achievers club which
took part in a global social innovation relay. The club had fifty members in total and I was in
charge of mobilizing all members to come up with innovative ideas that promoted positive social
impact. The club was organized into different divisions and I had to assign individual roles and
responsibilities to each member to create cohesiveness and make all members feel like part of a
productive process.

Why was this a Challenging Leadership Role?

This leadership role was not easy as I had to constantly strive to assess each member’s
strengths, weaknesses, and talents to optimize their abilities. Studying my followers posed one of
the greatest challenges during my leadership experience as people tend to have diverse
personalities.

In my opinion, I tend to believe that communication is the most crucial element in

fostering a productive work atmosphere. This might happen between two people, a group of
people, or management and their employees. My one-sided communication style at the beginning
of my leadership resulted in misunderstandings. This was largely because one-way
communication ignored the worries and questions of others in the club, which prevented me
from forming deep bonds with my team members. Team unity was also negatively impacted due
to low morale, which caused my team members to act in an unprofessional manner as the general
inability to voice one's own opinions prevented team members from being emotionally attached
to the club which impacted the working environment. As a result, my autocratic management
style caused a drop in members' productivity and the likelihood of opposition to change also rose
simultaneously. Team cohesion was severely impacted by this and it prevented me from working
on projects of my choosing, such as those with stringent deadlines or those tasks that appealed to
me, hence it was quite difficult for me to properly complete my desired work without the
assistance of my teammates.

What Should Success have Looked Like for this

Challenge?
In an attempt to overcome these challenges, I had to review my overall leadership style to
establish an open line of communication among all club members. This is because a team's
performance depends on how well its members coordinate and cooperate as well as with the
team leader. To achieve the goal, each team member's unique abilities and competencies had to
be used to the fullest extent possible. The lack of such coordination and cooperation is what
initially made it difficult to improve team performance and finish projects on time. Once I
switched to transformational leadership, I witnessed significant growth in the participation and
productivity of members as they felt understood by their leader and this gave them work
fulfillment while enforcing team discipline. This increase in team productivity gave me room for
experimentation, with new innovative ideas which were crucial in winning the challenge while
reducing the likelihood of job completion delays.

How effective were you in this Leadership Role?

I came to realize that I had set very high standards for myself and I never felt completely
satisfied with everything I did because I kept thinking there was always more room for
development. Working with people who had better competencies and skills was quite
challenging for me at first because it made me feel less competitive, and consequently less
motivated. I initially preferred to start and finish organizational tasks quickly and accurately
while encouraging others to do the same. However, in my transformational leadership, I quickly
adopted techniques such as conducting a S.W.O.T analysis which is an abbreviated model that
stands for, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (Schaefer, 2015). This combined
with key performance indicators when assigning the team roles to my followers enabled me to
assess the potential of each team member and to be able to categorize them by their capabilities. I
realized that one of the most important characteristics of a manager is the capacity to mobilize
followers effectively according to their niche to achieve a unity of purpose.

I was quite effective at team mobilization and I was able to use W.B.S (Work Breakdown
Structure) methodology to organize group tasks into small segments this helped me achieve
iterative development, value-based prioritization as well as self-organization during the whole
project. This created a dedicated workforce that could work as one unit and I felt that my
leadership was instrumental in that achievement.

How Might this Challenge help you in a Future Leadership

Role?
Based on my experience in the leadership role of the club I came to understand that being
a leader is all about acquired skills that are honed and nurtured in a practical perspective rather
than an inherent skill one is born with. Being a leader helped me to attain interpersonal skills
such as empathy and situational awareness. I also acknowledged the fact that communication is
paramount to establishing a clear system of leadership. I believe these skills will go a long way
in my future leadership roles as I will be able to avoid pitfalls that tend to hinder managerial
efficiency and I will be able to empower my followers and groom them by passing what I
learned from leadership experience so that they too may also become future leaders.
What are the Essential Strengths and Values that Defined
you as a Leader for this Challenge?

In leadership, values are fundamental beliefs that guide the leader in making the best fit

decisions and serve as a compass for what choices should be made at any given time. The values

I learned in this challenge helped me stand out as an instrumental leader and shaped my

leadership personality. One of the strengths that defined me is integrity which is defined as

absolute sincerity and adherence to unwavering moral standards. The moral rectitude and general

dependability of leaders serve as indicators of their integrity. As a leader, I learned that keeping

promises and being just and equal are some of the features that I had to meet to demonstrate

integrity.

Another strength I exhibited during this challenge is wisdom. Wisdom is a trait that is

gained via education, experience, and sound judgment. Over the course of this challenge, I

gained wisdom and a thorough knowledge of interpersonal dynamics and how people collaborate

to unite my followers in the team. I had to exercise wisdom when picking between options and

also when weighing the interests of several parties when making judgments.

What are the Specific Leadership Concepts/Theories that

could have Advanced your Leadership Skills?
One of the concepts that I strongly feel would have played a crucial role in the promotion
of my skills as a leader is an adaptive leadership. This is a theory that is defined as the ability to
alter one's behavior in reaction to situational changes when things do not go as planned, it entails
being dynamic, remaining resilient, and recovering from failure by viewing it as an opportunity
to grow. I believe that the concept of being an adaptive leader would have to draw on their prior
knowledge and expertise to tackle a challenge, they are honest and enabled me to easily
acknowledge when I had made wrong decisions and rectify them quickly. After learning this
concept, I feel bold enough to admit that what has worked in the past might not be the best
strategy going forward in my leadership career.

What are the Key Areas for Development to Improve your

Leadership Practice?
Despite all the strengths that I exhibited as a leader during this challenge, I have
identified some key areas to improve my leadership. One of these key areas is active listening
during communication. Successful leaders tend to listen actively as opposed to constantly issuing
instructions. As a good leader, I need to be able to encourage open communication among my
future team members and pay attention to what they have to say. In every dialogue, I should start
with the goal of hearing my team's opinions, whether they are favorable or unfavorable.

Another key area for growth is empowerment. As a leader, I need to be able to

acknowledge the value of team members and make them feel more appreciated and also learn
from them and help other team members do the same. I need to be able to learn new information
from someone who is an expert in a certain field without necessarily feeling insecure as a leader.

I want to encourage innovative ideas among members of my team and nurture their
progress as part of their biggest supporters while helping them to attain the confidence to move
outside of their areas of comfort and take on new challenges. I want to recognize when a
follower is exercising the same level of initiative that I did when I first started as a leader,
developing my skill set, and acquiring my leadership skills.
What Suitable Coaching/ Mentoring Would you Require to
Reach Future Leadership Goals?
A major area that I would require coaching on is conflict resolution. I believe that to be a
successful leader I need to improve my skills in handling conflicts among my followers and
being a role model in terms of promoting harmony and unity. Conflict in leadership is when
people team members disagree about the team's objectives, procedures, or needs. The presence of
conflicting personalities can also result in disagreements. These disagreements could at first
appear to be trivial, but if they aren't resolved, they could negatively affect morale and output.

When disagreements occur among team members, it is the role of a leader to inspire all
team members to work together harmoniously and effectively by helping the to discuss their
differences and reach a common ground of understanding. Every team needs a leader with
conflict-resolution skills to be successful. Unresolved conflicts within the team can have a
dreadful impact on team morale and productivity, making the workplace unpleasant and hostile
for everyone. Teams can trust one another and collaborate more effectively to accomplish goals
when disagreements that occur in the workplace when the leader has strong conflict resolution
skills to help when such matters arise.

References
Schaefer, B., 2015. On Becoming a Leader: Building Relationships and Creating Communities.
[online] educause.edu. Available at: http://er.educause.edu/articles/2015/10/on-becoming-a-
leader-building-relationships-and-creating-communities
(2013), "Introduction to, and Overview of, Transformational and Charismatic
Leadership", Avolio, B.J. and Yammarino, F.J. (Ed.) Transformational and Charismatic
Leadership: The Road Ahead 10th Anniversary Edition (Monographs in Leadership and
Management, Vol. 5), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. xxvii-
xxxiii. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-357120130000005005

Rast, D. E. III, Hogg, M. A., & Giessner, S. R. (2013). Self-uncertainty and support for
autocratic leadership. Self and Identity, 12(6), 635–
649. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2012.718864