The notion of leadership is often explained and treated differently, remaining one of the most complex and profound concepts in the modern world. Nonetheless, that doesn’t diminish its great significance and outstanding relevance. With a great number of global issues which keep appearing and penetrating our lives and affecting them adversely, leadership is frequently viewed as a key to the world's problems, its ultimate cure and solution to the emerging challenges. Thereby leadership as a human feature and competency is considered a skill that the world critically needs nowadays, and the future generation of leaders is what the high hopes of modern society are put into. This essay aims to reflect on the notion of leadership and analyze its inherent components by personal example, defining my own leadership philosophy.
Understanding the concept of leadership is highly personal and thereby ambiguous. It took me a lot of time until I approached my own perception of leadership. As a person who used to be shy and introverted, I could never consider myself being a leader before. Moreover, I lived probably a decade with a wrong idea of the concept of leadership without even realizing it. The image of a leader was associated by me either with an arrogant politician in a tight suit or snobbish top businessman. The recent insight that leadership actually comes not with a high status and authority, but rather with a deep self-awareness and active citizenship, has turned my life upside down, creating an urgent necessity to reestablish a personal concept of leadership and to reassess myself as a potentially great, successful leader. Therefore, with a strong belief that leadership is not merely a position, but the way of living itself, I thereby commit to develop my own philosophy of leadership.
So long as a study of leadership is highly intensive nowadays, there are a great number of leadership theories. They are commonly differentiated into the following theories: a trait theory, behavioral, contingency, transactional and transformational leadership theories. (Leadership-Central Editorial Team, 2010).
I believe in the theory of transformational leadership as the one implying that the leaders “transform the followers through their inspirational nature and charismatic personalities” (Leadership-Central Editorial Team, 2010). Thereby my position of leadership is that it should inspire others to action and foster the development of other leaders. Such approach to leadership inspires leadership empowerment, potentially resulting in world-changing movement. This theory of leadership is the one I am greatly committed to and inspired to have my actions, attitudes and behaviors being aligned with its philosophy.
As a follower, I would prefer to have a transactional leader as I believe that it could be a great platform to learn order and structure from leadership and in the long run to develop my own leadership style and approach. Transactional leadership, as it is claimed, “values a positive and mutually beneficial relationship” (Leadership-Central Editorial Team, 2010), based on the principles of reward and punishment accordingly to the assigned tasks. It is also believed that transactional leaders are the most effective “when they develop a mutual reinforcing environment, for which the individual and the organizational goals are in sync” (Leadership-Central Editorial Team, 2010).
Even though such leadership style is quite subordinate and not really inspiring, the outcomes gained from the experience of working with such leader may include a greater comprehension of a style of the transformational leadership as the one contrasting to it. In my point of view, experiencing the diversity in leadership approaches can be highly effective and beneficial, while understanding different leadership styles of different people will help to build better relations to diverse people and connect to them more effectively. The approaches which any kind of leadership may be viewed from are widely diverse: for instance, leadership may be defined on the basis of the inherent skills or traits, the leader's behaviors or the ways of reacting to certain situations, as well as due to the awareness of one’s own personality.
A set of certain acquired skills is perhaps one of the most determinative elements in the philosophy of leadership. While leadership skills are necessarily required in most of jobs, there is often no clear idea of what such term implies. In accordance with the theory of transformational leadership, leadership skills involve the following aspects: high level of self-management and inner motivation, decision-making, risk-taking attitude, the ability to envision the goal and inspire others to it, organizational consciousness, adaptability and, last but not the least, the lack of egocentrism (Hogg, 2015). Some of these skills are still the central in my plans for self-development, while others are already quite advanced. Due to my voluntary work in the non-governmental sector, I had a chance to experience a number of the mentioned skills, especially self-management, adaptability, decision-making and organizational consciousness, thereby I believe that the image of transformational leader greatly corresponds with me on the basis of a skill set.
Situational approach is another position which the leadership may be viewed by. According to it, leadership style may be altered depending on the occurring situation, being highly variable in its nature. Situational approach also suggests considering the elements which influence the way in which leadership is approached in the particular situations. Judging from this approach, transformational leadership, as it is claimed, is ruled by the four following factors: individual consideration, characterized by “giving personal attention to members who seem neglected” (Bass, 1990), intellectual stimulation which fosters the followers to enhance their creativity and think outside the box, inspirational motivation, which implies “communicating high performance expectations” (Bass, 1990), and idealized influence, revealed in “modeling behavior through exemplary personal achievements, character and behavior” (Bass, 1990).
These core factors serve as a compass for the transformational leader, helping him to keep the right direction. These are the factors which I am led by, as well: before making any kind of important decision or take a certain action, a check myself by the following questions: does it ensure equality and appreciation of diversity? Is it relevant and “fresh” enough? Does it speak for a greater goal, is it aligned to it? Can this action be exemplary to others? Thus by relying on the following questions I feel myself much more confident into taking a step towards certain decision or strategy, not depending whether is concerns a personal or professional dimension.
A well-known statement that actions speak louder than words intensifies the importance and value of the behavioral approach to leadership. Meanwhile, certain leadership theories implicate certain approaches, thus creating a peculiar matrix of the leadership style and behavior. Piedmont Resources Group identifies the following behaviors common to transformational leaders: they clearly and confidently communicate their vision and goals, they provide intellectual stimulation to their followers and, the most importantly, they build relationships by listening to others, collaborating and empowering them (Piedmont Resource Group, 2013).
The management professor Bret L. Simons claims that “behaviors are the most important predictor of leadership effectiveness” (Simons, 2011). Having studied different leadership behaviors, he concluded that transformational leadership was “the most consistent predictor across a variety of effectiveness criteria” (Simons, 2011), meaning that this leadership theory proves to be the most effective one for the final results and outcomes. Thereby, by taking any activity or action, I pay a great attention to the people who surround me, trying to charge them with my energy and ideas, as well as being comprehensive to them.
Psychodynamic approach is another way to consider a leadership theory and, in my point of view, transformational leadership is greatly aligned and closely connected to it – so long as both of them emphasize on the importance of self-awareness and understanding of one's own personality. Personality types, though, are considered by the psychodynamic approach as fixed, being something which a person is born with, which is not quite accordant with transformational leadership theory, which claims that leaders are created, not born.
Any leadership style or theory is correlated with particular traits which the leaders are endowed with. Thereby personality traits appear to be a clear indicator of a certain leadership style, making it easy to distinguish a type of leadership. Meanwhile, since the study of traits is highly complex and yet not fully covered, a set of such traits are often disputable and variable, as many researchers define some key characteristics of leadership while omitting others. For instance, an executive coach Henna Inam distinguishes the following traits of the transformational leader: purpose-driven, people-oriented, innovating, and inspiring (Inam, 2011). Georgetown University Editorial Team emphasizes on such transformational leadership traits as self-awareness, authenticity, humility, understanding of interdependence, and the ability to collaborate (Georgetown University Editorial Team, n.d.). Meanwhile, Russell Reynolds Associates provides another set of leadership traits peculiar to the transformational leaders: according to its statements, they are innovative, disruptive, determined, bold, and socially adept (Russell Reynolds Associates, n.d.). Such a bright mixture of different traits altogether helps to identify a general image of the transformational leader.
Considering oneself a certain type of a leader implies possessing a number of particular traits. Thereby I believe that my most distinguishing leadership traits are enthusiasm and inspiration, devotion and commitment to whatever I start doing, empathy and the ability to collaborate with others, the courage to take risks or challenge the status quo, and the curiosity towards my inner self resulting in a need to constantly enhance my self-awareness through self-reflections and self-analysis. That is why I consider myself extremely close to the idea of transformational leadership. However, even though my traits are what always accompany me in any actions and everyday situations, I am still well-aware of the fact that there is a long way to go so that to become a true transformational leader whom I want to be.
In order to become a greater version of me and to meet the requirements which would enhance my ability to be a transformational leader, I need to follow an elaborated scheme of self-development. As I mentioned above, I pay a great attention to the issue of my self-awareness, regularly reflecting on my strengths and weaknesses, as well as considering the paths towards the improvements. Hereby I provide some insights into my own personal development plan, introducing the goals and action steps which I set in order to improve my leadership skills and enhance my motivation.
What concerns my motivation, I can surely claim that I do not feel lacking it: because of my positive attitude, I cherish and nurture the feelings of enthusiasm or inspiration which eventually accompany me throughout my daily life. Being a purpose-driven, as all the transformational leaders, I consider it being quite hard to discourage me. I commonly draw my motivation from the vision of the final result, the idea of goal which is set to be achieved, and a belief that it is worth it. The goal which I set to me long time ago to stay motivated is to have my list of gratitude, enumerating what I am grateful and proud of on the daily basis. This easy-to-keep goal helps to vastly increase an optimistic attitude and thereby undoubtedly welcomes motivation.
Meanwhile, improving leadership skills is a far more complicated task. In order to become closer to the image of myself as a transformational leader, I consider it necessary to develop the following skills and traits: risk-taking attitude, innovativeness and charisma, as well as to become more vision-oriented. Those are the aspects which I feel lacking to be a true transformational leader, but at the same time staying positive with the hopes that I could develop them.
One of my goals is to develop my risk-taking attitude. So long as it implies embracing the fact that not everything can be precisely planned in advance and being ready to unexpected situations, I believe that the experience of travelling is what could increase this skill the most. Therefore by taking 2 months to backpack and cross the US with no specific route of destinations and an extreme low budget will develop my ability to take risks. Since this action step is a little time-consuming, I plan to realize it on my summer holidays. Meanwhile, some smaller action steps is experiencing some extreme activities like rock-climbing or bungee-jumping, which would also strengthen my courage.
In order to improve innovativeness, I resolve to take 10 minutes every day to brainstorm some ideas and reflect on the key learning points which I have gained that day. By this simple and regular exercise I believe to train my mind to be more resourceful and agile.
Finally, I feel it important to question the stimulus of my actions and keep struggling to find out what is it that I would like to contribute the most into. Since I believe that becoming vision-oriented and charismatic implies finding my own passion, I must admit that I am still searching for the sphere or this which I would like to devote my life to.
References
Bass, B.M. (1990). Bass & Stogdill's Handbook of Leadership. New York: Free Press.
Georgetown University (n.d.). Five Qualities of Transformational Leaders. Georgetown
http://scs.georgetown.edu/departments/5/center-for-continuing-and-professional-education/news/5358/five-qualities-transformational-leader
Hogg, B. (2015). 10 Characteristics of Transformational Leaders. Bill Hogg & Associates.
Retrieved from http://www.billhogg.ca/2015/11/10-characteristics-of-transformational-leaders/
Inam, H. (2011). Are you a Transformational Leader? Transformational Leadership:
Coaching & Leadership Development. Retrieved from
http://www.transformleaders.tv/are-you-a-transformational-leader/
Leadership-Central Editorial Team (2010). Leadership Theories. Leadershp-Central.com.
Retrieved from http://www.leadership-central.com/leadership-theories.html#axzz4WCu3PVoz
Piedmont Resources Group (2013). 5 Skills Every Transformational Leader Should Exercise.
Piedmont Resources Group. Retrieved from
http://www.resourcesthatwork.com/2011/03/23/5-skills-every-transformational-leader-should-exercise/
Russell Reynolds Associates (n.d.). Productive Disruptors: Five Characteristics That
Differentiate Transformational Leaders. Russel Reynolds Associates. Retrieved from
http://www.russellreynolds.com/insights/thought-leadership/productive-disruptors-five-characteristics-that-differentiate-transformational-leaders
Simons, L. B. (2011). Leadership Traits And Behaviors: Four Evidence-Based Suggestions. Brett L.
Simons: Positive Organizational Behavior. Retrieved from
http://www.bretlsimmons.com/2011-04/leadership-traits-and-behaviors-four-evidence-based-suggestions/
