Leadership is an ever-evolving, and dynamic concept with different approaches to effective leadership have been proposed time-to-time by scholars. In my personal and professional tenure, I have different experiences as a leader as well as a follower. I remember an instance when I was working with a senior HR manager, Mr. Jame. He was an outgoing person with a charismatic personality. Working with him made me realize the significance of emotional intelligence at work. The way he was able t regulate the emotions of his team according to the work requirements made him one of the most popular leaders in the organization. Fitting him into the theoretical perspectives of traits, skills, and styles, I can well summarize that he was a born leader who exhibited outstanding leadership traits( compassion, openness, transparency, emotional intelligence). While Mr. Jamy showed excellent people skills, he somehow lacked technical and conceptual skills for which he would always rely on his technical supporters. This approach, perhaps, made him adopt relational behavior at the workplace. That is, he focused more on maintaining care and trust of the team members than actually getting the work done. All in all, Mr. Jame exhibited relational orientation that, at times, delayed the achievement of goals.
My research reveals that leadership is situational and different practices must be optimized as per different scenarios. For example, while it is imperative for a leader to be relational in those tasks that require creativity and employees' autonomy, imparting direction is necessary when followers have a low ability and willingness to perform.
My personal experience as an informal leader also testifies this perception. I remember an occasion when I was given the task of handling a team for a school project. As the team showed little encouragement towards group goals, I had to motivate them by showing the urgency of the task and set specific deadlines. The time was very less, and I did not have the scope to be emotional or relational. I exhibited strict task-orientation coupled with problem-solving and decision-making, and my style proved effective as we were able to get the task done in time. Delving deeper into my personal experience made me clear that I had resorted to different styles if I would have experienced diverse situations. For example, I would have adopted a more lenient or soft attitude while dealing with family. Likewise, the situation of a crisis could have turned me a leader with autocratic traits and extreme task-orientation.
As I have now developed an understanding of leadership in different scenarios, few aspects look alluring to me. As far as traits are concerned, I agree with the scholars that traits are ever-changing. Still, would like to strengthen my emotional intelligence as it has become a must-have trait in a changed business paradigm. Secondly, I wish to hone my problem-solving skills and out-of-the-box thinking. These are the aspects that make a leader a cut above the rest.
References
Blanchard, K., & Hersey, P. (2011). The situational leadership model. Retrieved Jan 20, 2017, from greeks.cofc.edu: http://greeks.cofc.edu/documents/The%20Situational%20Leadership%20Model.pdf
CRU. (2014). Role of a leader. Retrieved Jan 14, 2017, from cru.org: https://www.cru.org/content/dam/cru/legacy/2012/01/rolesofaleader.pdf
Liverpool Management School. (2014). Key concept: role of a leader. Laureate Education.
