In the world where are more that 7 billion people, it is impossible to live or work alone. People communicate and cooperate every day. Our humanity faces many challenges which have to be accepted and solved for the good of the world. It goes without saying that in order to solve the problems efficiently, people have to work together, unite into groups and organizations which will work towards the same goal and result. However, when the people start working together there has to be some hierarchy and division between them. This is an obligatory and vital condition of successful cooperation. When a lot of people work on equal conditions without any differentiation it will lead to the huge chaos. Making decisions and asking for responsibility would be impossible in such groups. That is why the leadership and existence of a leader are one of the main conditions for successful unity and efficient task performing and problem-solving. A leader is a person who is not afraid to take the responsibility for everything within the group: for the people who are working for him, for the company or organization and for the final results, their successfulness or failure. The role of leader and leadership can be hardly exaggerated, as well as their influence has the most important and vital influence upon the whole process: from the very beggining of task setting to the last moment of this task performance and solving. In order to prevent the work of the whole group from conflicts and failure, it is necessary to choose the right person who will be able to control everything. A leader is a guiding force of each working process (Monroe, 2003). Leadership is a high risk: the final results may be positive and desired or they may be negative and a complete failure. The leader is the person who will take the glory in case of the success and some people may say that it is not fair. However, that person will also take all the criticism, reproaches and accusations in case of the losing. Leadership and leaders are the force which makes the whole process work and develop, that is why their meaning for the organizations and companies are vital (Chuang, 2013).
In order to make the whole point of leadership clear, it is necessary to provide full and academic definitions of the notions of leadership and leader.
According to International Journal of Leadership Studies, “A leader is one or more people who selects, equips, trains, and influences one or more follower(s) who have diverse gifts, abilities, and skills and focuses the follower(s) to the organization’s mission and objectives causing the follower(s) to willingly and enthusiastically expend spiritual, emotional, and physical energy in a concerted coordinated effort to achieve the organizational mission and objectives” (Winston, Patterson, 2006). Leadership may be defined as symbolic, charismatic, inspirational activity of a person who is called a leader which is oriented towards the execution of a certain plan or achieving the desired effect (Barach, Eckhardt, 1996). Through these explanations, we may achieve a better understanding of the role of a leader and the tasks s/he performs within the sphere of his/her activities. There exist other definitions and each of them has a truthful description and a truthful component which serves for a better identification of a leader and leadership qualities. All of them combined together may reflect a complete idea and understanding of these concepts.
Being a grown-up person, a student, having worked with my fellows and having personal experience I also have a certain understanding of leadership, its essence, and importance. First of all, I would like to dwell upon the experience I have gotten as a member of a large group. Being younger, I often went to summer camps in order to have some rest during the summer and meet new people. This kind of activity was very interesting for me, firstly, due to the fact that meeting and working with new people is always interesting and a huge experience. I have managed to develop my communication skills and skills of working within a united group towards the common goal. Each year during the camp-time, we were supposed to choose a person within the group who would be in charge. One year, I appeared to be the person chosen for this position. For me, that was my first leadership experience which gave me a lot of new knowledge and experience in the given field.
During the camp period, the groups of children were supposed to participate in different competitions and in different events, including talent-shows or sports games. The groups were supposed to follow their leaders and perform different tasks. During the period of my leadership, I felt huge responsibility and the desire to show and do my best in order to make my group successful and productive. I remember taking a great deal of the tasks for my personal performing, in order to achieve additional points. I knew that I had to show a positive example to my fellows and this way to stimulate and inspire them for acting towards the success.
I have to mention that at the end of each camp season there was a ceremony of choosing the best and most productive participant of the camp. This was a huge honor for each of the members and the winner, of course. It was a great surprise for me that among the leaders of the camp-groups (there were nearly 11 of them), I have appeared to become the winner and achieve the main prize. This experience was highly educative and instructing for me, as well as I have managed to learn a great deal of new information. The most rewarding and informative part of this process, was learning about the responsibility and its importance. However, looking back at that period of my life, I realize that I have also made some mistakes in my leadership activity. From the point of my current understanding, I may say that the main mistake I made was performing the bigger part of the tasks by myself. Today I know that one of the best qualities and professional abilities of a good leader is not performing all the work by own efforts, but the ability to unite and organize the members of the crew towards its performance. A good leader does not do all by him or herself, s/he makes this work done with the help of his or her crew. This is a very important lesson, as well as it is impossible to perform all the work with single efforts. In such a case, other people of the crew would seem helpless and their existence in the company would be meaningless. Also, a leader would never be able to perform all the work by oneself only, as well as human’s abilities are not limitless.
The experience of the large group leadership meant a lot to me as well as it formed me the personality I am now. I am thankful for that opportunity as well as it was my first leadership experience and, as the result, I managed to do my best in order to achieve the successful goals.
Another very important leadership experience was gotten at the high school, to be exact, during my final year. The high school life is full of new experience and of new expectations. Everyone felt encouraged to go to a college and start a new fascinating life of a student. However, before that was about to happen, there had to be a prom evening event. Each of the pupils was excited and the awe of expectation of the last ball filled up all the class-room conversation. In the course of one of the ball discussions, my fellow-pupils and I have decided that we wanted this evening to be perfect and special for us. It was our tribute to the school yeas and school life which would never be back. At that moment, we decided we would do all the organization of the ball and make it the way we wanted (and not the way school administration or our parents saw it). However, we understood its importance and the necessity of the person who would coordinate all these preparations. We had a hot discussion at the end of which we created a committee which was led by a leadership. Due to some reasons, my fellow-pupils decided that I would be a great candidate for the leader and the organizer of our prom eve. Firstly, I was pleased by such an honor and the trust my friends showed to my personality. However, after that, a feeling of panic and anxiety overwhelmed me. I began to realize that it was all to my responsibility to make a great last party for all of us and I was afraid, that is the case of failure, I would experience the criticism and all the negative words from those dissatisfied people. I knew that I had to pull myself together and do my best in order to save the holiday and the party for all of us. I understood that I can do my best in order to create the celebration that all of my friends would remember for years. Having remembered my camp experience of leadership, I reviewed all the things I had done well and the things I had been mistaken about. In the process of planning the prom eve celebration, I chose the people who would help me and who would be responsible for some spheres of the party preparation. One of the fellows was responsible for looking for a photographer (Due to the modern Internet accessibility it was not a difficult task to find a photographer who would satisfy me and my friends in the matters of the work, quality, and price). I found a person to supervise the choice of the drinks and food for a little reception. Another very important factor which could influence the whole celebration was the choice of music. We had to find a Dj who would satisfy the likes of all the fellows. During the process of preparations and leadership, I have decided to make all the decisions only after having discussed it with my fellow-pupils. This way I managed to learn about the expectations of my friends and have the main decisions discussed and made by the whole group. Having made this, I was sure that the responsibility was shared by all of us. Just to mention, the prom eve celebration appeared to be a real success. Of course, there were some minor mistakes, however, they did not influence the atmosphere and the final positive result.
My third leadership experience was connected with the institutional event. Being already a student and an independent person, I have decided to find a part-time job which would help me to earn my living and combine it with my studying. In the summer time, I had the opportunity to work at the full-time conditions and it perfectly fit my needs. One summer, in the company I worked for, a presentation was supposed to be planed and performed. As well as the company I was working for was connected with the sales, presentations were a usual and commonplace event for the department which was responsible for this activity. However, once, that department needed somebody to help them with the presentation, as well as that one was supposed to be the biggest one they had ever prepared. My chief asked me whether I could assist that department and I agreed, however, being scared a little bit but I could not reject such an offer from my chief and I was hoping to earn some additional positive points.
This time, I was quite lucky and felt relieved that I was not supposed to be the leader but a person responsible for a certain item and part of the presentation only. Even at this point, I remember all the aspects of the presentation that ware performed that time, as well as the chief of that department asked me to be his temporary assistant and I could address to him as to my consultant in the process of my activities. The things I was responsible for was making the appointments for my consultant and creating the lists of the perspective agencies which could help us with different aspects needed for presentation, such as the lodgment for the event, the technologies needed etc. The period of the presentation preparation appeared to be very interesting for me due to the following reasons: I have managed to meet a huge number of new and interesting people, improve my communication skills; secondly, I was both busy and responsible for a certain field of work, however, the main responsibility for the success of the event did not rely upon me solely; thirdly, I have managed to learn so much about the preparation process and the essence of leaderships. This time, I could see leadership not as a summer camp activity or prom ball preparations. I have managed to see the professionals working as leaders, commanding and giving orders. Just to mention, the presentation had a huge success and the company managed to attract new clients which, of course, was beneficial for the company in general and for me, in particular. My permanent chief attained the letter from the chief of the department I worked for during the presentation preparation, who wrote a very positive review of my skills and abilities. This contributed to the improvement of my reputation and even some material bonuses.
That summer I have managed to visit a seminar in leadership in my home city. During the conference, the speakers enlarged upon the notion of leadership, its importance, and principles of successful work. The most interesting and instructive moment of the seminar included practical psychological training which helped me to understand this process from a particularly new angle. Also, there were emotional and practical trainings which helped the members to learn the mechanisms of coping with stress and emotions in stressful situations connected with leadership.
The conference Taking an Inner Path to Outer Change was one of the most educative events I have ever attended. The ideas described in this conference were of high importance to me. I tend to believe that any event visited is supposed to give a person something to ponder upon and develop one’s mind and one’s experience. According to the Hayden and Molencamp, each of the conferences about the group relationships is supposed to teach and inform the audience about the leadership (2002). After visiting the conference I may definitely state that its main aim was to inform and educate. During this course, I have managed to enlarge my knowledge about the notion of leadership, its principles, and mechanisms, main laws of successful supervising. The sources used and studied in the given course, appeared to be very useful, as well as with their help I have managed to learn the theoretical basis I was not acknowledgeable about before. I had some practical experience in the leadership, however, I have never studied its theory. Reading the materials during this course has given me the understanding of the principles and theories which can not be learnt practically. It is important to understand what you are doing, in order to be a successful leader and this course has given me that knowledge.
I have managed to learn about the responsibility, the glory of success and the lessons of failures, which are also very important. The failures give the information which is invaluable for the experience, they are the factors which show that you are a good leader because you try and do something. They say “if you never try, you will never know”. This is the sooth for the leadership and now I know it.
References
Barach, J. A., & Eckhardt, D. R. (1996). “Leadership and the Job of the Executive”. Westport, CT: Quorum Books.
Chuang, S. (2013). “Essential Skills for Leadership Effectiveness in Diverse Workplace Development”. Online Journal for Workforce Education and Development, 6 (1), pp. 1-24. Retrieved from http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1133&context=ojwed
Hayden, C., Molencamp, R. (2002). “Tavistock Primer II”. The AK Rica Institute. Retrieved from http://akrice.org/wp-content/uploads/primerII.pdf
Monroe, T. (2003). “Key Concepts That Inform Group Relations Work”. Leadership Institute. University of San Diego. Retrieved from https://www.sandiego.edu/soles/documents/KeyConcepts-1.pdf
Winston, B., Patterson, K. “An Integrative Definition of Leadership”. International Journal of Leadership Studies, 1(2), pp. 6-66. Retrieved from http://regentuniversityonline.com/acad/global/publications/ijls/new/vol1iss2/winston_patterson.doc/winston_patterson.pdf
