My Leadership Traits and Competencies
Leadership and its related concepts are an area that has attracted the interest of several; researchers on the verge to develop an understanding of what makes good and bad leadership in an organization. Several believe and philosophies have been advanced to explain leadership. Besides, individual personality is also believed to have a great bearing to and a person’s leadership style (Drinon, 2012). Every person, good or bad, has his/her strengths and weakness. To become a better leader, one needs to focus on maintaining the strengths as he/she endeavors to improve on the weaknesses. This paper addresses on self-evaluation in which my leadership traits and competencies, leadership in my organization together with my leadership philosophy are addressed.
Secondly, strategic thinking and ideas has remarkably contributed to my leadership strengths. I usually base every decision after carefully understanding the needs of the organization as well as understanding the trends and how they relate to my responsibilities. I carefully scan every issue that arises in its complexity.
Besides, the secret of engaging everyone in the organizational leadership and decision has been a secret weapon I have in emerging as a competent leadership(Scoultz, 2014). I have managed this aspect through timely communication and ensuring that information is distributed in time so as to enable every person concerned to take up his/her position in the decision making process.
Conversely, there are a few grey areas in my leadership profile. Time management has been an area that I have found myself struggling with. Sometimes map a plan but realize that the plan needs an overlap of time. It has challenged my delivery even though I am trying my best. As it is argued, time is an important scarce resource that must be treated with cautions. Any second that goes unaccounted for may result in failure to achieve the set goals.
Another area of concern is my temperament. Sometimes I have found myself me situations that call for humility of the highest degree(Mumford, 2007). Emotions make me feel totally different. More so, the fear for failure makes me get mad with people who are likely to cause incapacitation in the system in order to cause deliberate failure.
Relationship building is another important aspect in leadership that I have given my attention. Teamwork and co-operation with others has enabled me to achieve much in leadership. My communication skills have enhanced my capability of building interpersonal relationships. I try to make my message reach effectively to the target audience; I make use of both effective verbal and emotional communication. For instance, the level of seriousness is always read by my listeners on the way I carry out myself while delivering the message. I ensure that for any information passed, there is a follow up activity and feedback obtained from the concerned parties.
Through my programs of empowering and developing others, I have been able to establish good relationships with others at the place of work. Colleagues have always seen me as a visionary leader who cares about the welfare of others. Some of the programs for empowering others have been through motivational talks my colleagues both at personal levels and the organizational level. I have ventured in certain talks that inspire others and make them see possibilities out of impossibilities. For example, when my colleagues feel like they are failures, I have usually made them see the light in their midnight situations.
Conflict resolution is another area that I give utmost significance. In any place of work, there are cases that arise at different levels. Some of the levels of conflict in the organization include employee-employee, employee-leader, leader-leader among others(Garonik, 2006). In my understanding, I have realized that most of the conflicts are based on differences in ideologies and opinions. Failure to recognize the individuality within the organization has been a major cause of conflict among individuals. For example, differences arise between individuals because they were on opposite sides during a meeting aimed at arriving at decision.
In conflict resolution, I have always believed in negotiation talks between the conflicting persons. I usually encourage the warring persons to approach their differences with a high degree of sobriety. Anger must not part of the conflict resolution. Each person must be sober and be ready to involve in a round table discussion to arrive at an amicable agreement.
Leadership in My Organization
Organizational leadership is a very essential determinant of the success level and growth of the organization. Every leader has a leadership style that he/she believes to work best for him/her. Whichever the case, the mission vision of the organization must be considered. Leaders should not be driven by selfish ambitions but rather keep the interest of the organization above anything else. In my organization, I have experienced and encountered both good and bad leadership. However, it must be understood that the rationale for gauging the level of goodness or badness’s should not on the account of what you involve in the leader with at personal levels.
Moreover, establishing of proper channels of communication within the organization was another impressive about the leadership in the organization. The management of the organization ensured that every decision reached or idea that is hatched is circulated and pipelined to all the departments to make the implementation process smooth. The leaders did not face a lot of opposition from the workers. As such, the level of awareness among the workers was high. The employees always felt as an integral part in the management process and would always perceive every decision as their brain-child. This effective communication made it easier to have everything done as the management would desire.
However, there are certain elements of bad leadership that were noticeable in the organization. First, failure to recognize the efforts of the employees by offering external rewards was a failure. The management was insensitive to the need of motivation among the employees. The belief on self-consciousness as advocated for by the management did not work well to rekindle external drive among the workers. Employees need to be offered external rewards that together with their own internal motive would fuel their desire to perform to the organizational standards.
Besides, the management placed abnormally high expectations on the employees. It is important to press on the employees with objectives and expectations that are plausible. Sometimes, the workers felt overwhelmed with the expectations that were placed upon them.These unrealistic goals and expectations on the side of the employees discouraged them and made them feel unable to deliver to meet the standard performance of the organization.
I have understood that charisma is not only attributed to distant leaders. Even the close leaders can build charismatic relationship in their organizations. The leaders whose personality does not compromise their philosophy usually command a certain degree of attention from their followers. Once a leader a leaders understands his/her followers, their expectations and needs, they can act in ways that invoke charisma in them.
My Leadership Philosophy
Philosophy is a belief that a person develops towards something and in most cases dictates the way he/she perceives things, does things and carries out himself/herself around. Philosophies usually controlpeople’s ways of life and even affect the way they relate with people.
Philosophy of leadership is founded on the pillar: Success is a desire that comes through positive relationships. This philosophy has been driven by the understanding of teamwork and cooperation in an organization. It enables me to at all times remember that my strength doubles when involve others in my passion for success.
I always that when I work a lone I get weary so fast. I have learnt to appreciate the contribution of everyone in my journey to success. On the way, I meet some obstacles that become too easy to handle when I recognize there are those who have the same goal as mine to achieve anytime I work with them, success becomes a reality, not a dream. This philosophy has been founded on the beliefs: communication is power, displaying character, maintaining commitment, increasing the consciousness and ensuring continuity.
The understanding of character display has enabled me to win the interest of the like-minded who work together with me to achieve what I desire. My integrity, credibility and trust have been the pillar for character display. I believe in standing out to defend what I believe in. I believe that everyone is a leader only that all people cannot lead at the same time. Therefore, in every capacity I serve, there are people who can as well serve in that position and can provide good counsel to be able to stand the test of time.
Maintaining commitment and focus has been a virtue that I use to conquer various dynamics of leadership. Every decision that I make, I stand for it and become ready to defend its effectiveness and admit its failures. Accepting correction is a virtue I usually embrace. Before making any commitment, I must evaluate the prevailing situation and the aftermath of my decision especially how it affects other people’s perception of me. My willingness to carry the promise to the finishing line is always my secret.
In my philosophy, I endeavor to increase consciousness to other people’s needs and expectations. Every person has an idea that can fuel my ambition for success. I usually try to increase my consciousness to other people’s desires and needs. Once the expectations of my people are recognized, they feel free to enable me realize my goals of success.
In the past, I could ignore calls for leadership. I could avoid taking up responsibilities that demanded my attention. This was because I felt that leadership was a responsibility of the selected few and that I was not capable of standing the position of leadership. However, I developed positive attitudes towards leadership through motivational talks influenced my perception of leadership. After realizing that leaders can be born or made, I started becoming aggressive to clinch leadership positions whenever opportunity would arise.
My whole story about leadership changed after discovering my strengths and potentials. I realized that every position was entrusted with, I achieved significant success. The positive comments and the recommendations I received made me see a difference about leadership. Leadership is a culture that is nurtured and cultivated in the environment of a mind of willingness and positivity towards change.
The contributions of my experiences have been significant on development of good leadership qualities. The chance to be in an organization where democracy is embraced has made me develop positively in becoming a better leader. For instance, having the chance to be part of decision making team has enabled me to understand what it takes to become a charismatic leader. Besides, building positive relationships with others has also helped to gain confidence and attributes that make me a better leader.
Of the styles of leadership identified above, democratic and participatory leadership style is more effective compared to authoritarian/autocratic style. Democratic and participative leadership provides a chance for the leader and the followers to interact freely and co-own the decision arrived at. It recognizes that rights for every individual and their participation advantage to the success of the organization. In an autocratic style, the leaders clearly define what should be done and the way it needs to be done without recognizing the rights and the views of the followers.The system seems dictatorial and too tight for the employees to cope up with. It makes the working environment to be frightening and tense (Caligiui, 2011). Democratic leadership provides a warm working environment that enhances the dexterity of the workers.
In conclusion, it is worth mentioning that leadership is an area that the world at large has given much attention today. Every leader needs to understand the concepts of good leadership in order to develop a system that promotes competence and delivery (Brownwell, 2006). The world needs competent leaders who have the potential to address the worrying trends in the global economy.
References
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Caligiui, P. (2011). Developing global leaders. . Human Resource Management Review, 16, 219-228.
Ciulla, J. B. (2004). Ethics: the Heart of Leadership. . Westport, CT: : Praege.
Drinon, R. (2012, July 3). Refining Your Leadership Philosophy & Style. Retrieved April 12, 2014, from http://www.kscpa.org/writable/files/DrinonsLeadershipExpress/02..dle-_article_.pdf
Garonik, R. N. (2006). Navigating through the new leadership landscape. , . Leader to Leade, 30-39.
Mumford, T. C. (2007). The leadership skills strataplex: Leadership skill requirements across organizational levels. The Leadership Quarterly, , 18, 154-166.
Scoultz, M. (2014, April 3). The 10 Must-Have Leadership Competencies of the Modern Businessman. Retrieved April 12, 2014, from Digital Spark Marketing: http://www.digitalsparkmarketing.com/employees/leader/leadership-competencies/
