Communication, creativity and delegation are the three leadership areas I have selected for analysis. Training the new employees and ensuring a productive work environment highly depends on effective communication skills (Prive, 2012). Secondly, leaders are also required to take creative decisions to lead the team during challenging times. Finally, I believe delegating helps leaders to capitalize on the strengths of their team members towards grooming them as future leaders.
The practice of modeling the way is about clarifying one’s values and setting an example, which requires effective communication skills. Opening up one’s heart and sharing his mind with the employees through clear communication strategies is the key to model one’s way and pass down a shared vision to the team (Kouzes and Posner, 2011). Promoting an organizational value and a culture of open discussion with fellow team members would help me to enable my team members share the value of the organization they are part of. Clarifying the strategies and policy changes from time to time through utilizing appropriate media would improve my communication skills.
Creativity is a most important area that drives leaders of this modern era toward achieving organizational excellence (Slocum, 2015). The leadership practice of modeling the way would guide me to think creatively and make decisions that improve the workplace environment and organizational efficiency. Modeling the way after all is about being a pioneer in introducing new trends and product features. Thus, it would help me to sharpen my creative thinking skills. Similarly, towards inspiring a shared vision, I would be responsible for helping my employees envision the future of my organization by reminding them on my plans for the organization for the future, which would enrich my creative thinking ability.
I rely on delegating duties to appropriate persons when my organization grows, which requires me to trust my team members. Mutual trust being the driving force for effective work delegation, I would practice and sharpen my integrity while I strive to model the way for others to follow. My regular follow up on the promises I make to employees who successfully complete the work and honoring the same would make me en efficient delegator. My shared vision would always support me in effectively delegating the works since it makes my employees who buy into my values willingly complete the delegated tasks.
I reviewed the Behavioral Theory of Leadership that focuses on how leaders behave under various circumstances even as their apparent actions and reactions influence their followers (Northhouse, 2013). The basic assumption of Behavioral Theory is that leaders are made rather than born. This gives me much hope to become a leader by continuously sharpening my communication, creative thinking and delegation skills. I have several traits that are inborn, some of which are positive whereas some negative. The premise that Behavioral Theorists evaluate a leader based on what he does at the workplace motivates me to learn and acquire new skills that would help me to plan my future career as a business leader.
Work related characteristics like drive to achieve, desire to excel in whatever one does, tenacity and persistence against impediments tend to inspire effective leaders (Yukl, 2012). According to behavioral theory it is possible for anyone to develop these traits through determination and committed efforts. At the same time, developing certain characteristics that encourage negative behaviors would lead to failure by impinging on the morale of employees. This motivates me to go forward carefully by embracing certain positive values and mastering the skills of communication, creative thinking and delegation toward becoming an effective business leader in the future.
References
Kouzes, J. M., and Posner, B. Z. (2011). Five practices of exemplary leadership. San Francisco: The leadership challenge.
Northhouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership theory and practice. California: Sage Publications Inc.
Prive, T. (2012). Top 10 qualities that make a great leader. Forbes. Retrieved from http:// www.forbes.com/sites/tanyaprive/2012/12/19/top-10-qualities-that-make-a-great-leader/#1bcd30123564
Slocum, D. (2015). The Rise Of Creativity As A Key Quality In Modern Leadership. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/berlinschoolofcreativeleadership /2015/01/27/the-rise-of-creativity-is-a-key-quality-in-modern-leadership/#782c78c13173
Yukl, Gary. (2012). Leadership in organizations. New York: Prentice Hall.
