Personal Change and Development
Personal Change and Development
Part I: What is authentic leadership for you personally? A list of your personal leadership principles for the rest of your life.
Personally, in simple terms, one understands the concept of authentic leadership as it embodies characteristics and traits that reveal the real skills, knowledge, and competences of a leader in the most transparent and truthful manner. As learned, there are distinct characteristics of an authentic leader, such as: self-awareness; internalized moral perspective; balanced processing; and relational transparency . From these characteristics, it could therefore be deduced that an authentic leader has a comprehensive understanding of his personal and professional core competencies, as a leader; and is able to utilize and apply these proficiencies and skills towards the goals identified in the organization within which the leader serves.
Upon learning the theoretical frameworks of authentic leadership, the following is therefore a list of the personal leadership principles one developed and plans to apply for the rest of one’s life:
- Principles of adhering to ethical, moral, and legal standards;
- Principles of honesty and integrity in all undertakings and endeavors;
- Principles of non-discrimination and conformity to according equal employment opportunities to subordinates and colleagues;
- Principles of aiming to achieve the interests and goals of those being governed (both the subordinates and the organization; without compromising personal and professional goals);
- Principles of assuming a professional stance in dealing with various stakeholders;
- Principles of sharing what one learned towards the growth and development of others.
Part II: What personal growth and insights have you developed for yourself by attending this class? How are they meaningful?
- Right from the start of the first session, one appreciated learning the three components of the brain which are collaborately instrumental in apparently gaining authenticity as a leader. The quote that stroke me as most memorable was "Visionary is learn". The cognitive ability to envision is synonymous with a muscle that needs to be worked out. Big vision and big influence have been emphasized to lead to a better execution.
- Authenticity of a leader was also learned to be developed; since people are not naturally born with it. This is significantly meaningful since it emphasized the fact that people with innate leadership skills could work on developing authenticity through awareness of the characteristics of an authentic leader; assessing one’s personal and professional leadership traits and skills; as well as undertaking leadership training and development programs that cater to focusing on managing authenticity .
- The Walk and Talk exercise is contributory to recognizing that when walking in the same direction with a partner, the efforts exerted were much less; and it was easier to communicate. There was evident acknowledgement of the principles of honesty, open-mindedness, fairness, respect, equality. This exercise assisted in enhancing skills to become an authentic leader. One learned the importance of not interrupting the person during communication and the value of attentive listening.
- The activity which required identification of an authentic leader was likewise illuminating. It provided the opportunity for students to determine, from among the characteristics and traits that are exhibited, who among contemporary leaders could be considered authentic. One identified Oprah Winfrey as a truly authentic leader and her accomplishments, accolades, the people that she has instrumentally assisted through personal and professional growth attests the true nature of her authenticity as a leader. This is a meaningful experience because by learning the traits and characteristics of an authentic leader, students are inspired to emulate; and hopefully aspire to become one in the near future.
- The Journey Line process activity was likewise illuminating since it provided one with the opportunity to reflect on the challenges and endeavors that has transpired in the past. The ups and downs were instrumental in developing resiliency to overcome adversities in life and enable one to develop strengths and courage to face future challenges and discern the most appropriate strategies to address them.
- The shifting perceptual positions was another learning point which contributed to personal and professional growth through seeing scenarios from diverse perspectives. It enabled one to appreciate gather information from different points of views. As such, this proved to be a remarkable exercise that develops authenticity skills for a leader. Through seeing things from the shoes of other people, leaders are able to determine crucial factors that led to these people’s decision making processes; and therefore assists in rationalizing behaviors in specifically identified situations.
- Finally, the logical lines exercise was initially perceived as intimidating and extremely challenging. However, one gained the opportunity of learning self-meditation; and the benefits this perceptive and reflective thinking accords to an authentic leader. Eventually, using this line of thinking could actually assist in strengthening one’s competencies; in conjunction with attaining a state of excellence, as a truly authentic leader.
Part III: Experience as a Leader
The experience that one could clearly related to was the time when one had to assume the parental role for my sister; as both our parents were busy with their respective jobs which required a lot of travelling.
1. What changes did you initiate in yourself and what was the effect of your leadership on the outcome? The changes that were initiated on oneself included assuming a more mature and responsible stance by going out of one traditional role in the family: from a sibling to assuming the parental role. As such, even without being truly aware of the concepts of shifting perceptual positions, one had truly taken the points of views of one’s parents to enable accomplishments of expected tasks.
Likewise, other leadership experiences include working in group projects were one was assigned the role of the group leader. In this situation, one had to initiate changes in terms of recognizing and applying the concepts of delegation of tasks, strategies in motivating members to achieve the group’s goals, learning performance monitoring and evaluation, as well as applying attentive listening which was actually formally learned in the ‘walk the talk’ exercise.
2. How did you impact the team (positively and negatively)?
Through assuming the appropriate leadership style which matched the personalities of the group members (and even one’s sibling, in the first example), one was able to be successful and influential in achieving identified goals. The effect was therefore positive in terms of assisting in the personal and professional growth of the members; as well as being able to exude the needed leadership characteristics, traits, and skills which are needed during the given situation.
3. What were the goals of your leadership efforts?
In assuming the parental role, one’s goal was to lead my sister through the right path and advise her when needed. Likewise, there is also the goal of providing holistic support, in the absence of one’s parents. The outcome was that she grew up to be a well-mannered and independent young lady.
On the other hand, as the group’s leader, the goal was to achieve the compliance of the group project according to the instructions stipulated by the professor, in the most efficient and effective manner. This considers addressing any conflicts or miscommunications that could possibly occur. In the end, the outcome was to be presented in the form that was clearly stipulated by the professor.
4. What did you learn about yourself as a leader?
One learned that actions could play a drastic effect while raising my sibling. I was her role model and I had to watch out for my actions since she would possibly imitate them as she looked up to me. Likewise, in the group project, one learned that I could indeed be an effective and successful leader through the application of crucial leadership theories that empowered members to contribute their respective tasks and likewise be instrumental in the achievement of the defined goal.
5. What did you do well?
One recognized that there were evident strengths in terms of being able to see things from other people’s perspectives. As such, one was able to design strategies which are implementable and fair. Likewise, the concepts on motivation were important to assist those under my governance to follow what has been directed. The application of the appropriate rewards (and sanctions system) initially required an accurate assessment of the subordinates, to enable one to put into effective practice the appropriate strategies which would influence these people to work towards the identified goal.
6. What could you have done better?
One is convinced that despite the successful outcome in both situations; leaders should always have time for further growth and improvement. One could have been better if the theories on authentic leadership were learned previously. One could have applied principles of walking the talk; as well as shifting perceptual positions more effectively. For example, one could be more attentive to the sentiments and needs of my sister and group mates by according more time for them to communicate and relay their inner feelings and comments on identified endeavors. Aside from being so focused on achieving the goals, the leadership experience could have been more fun and memorable.
7. How does all the above relate to the readings and what you learned in class?
All the experiences relate to what one has learned on authentic leadership by realizing and recognizing that to become an authentic leader, one has to go through the process of experiencing various challenges. Only then could one be more adept at applying different leadership theories, depending on the situation and the subordinates that one would lead.
Part IV: Personal Leadership Development Plan
How are you going to keep growing as a leader? What can you do to continue developing yourself as a leader in the future?
The strengths which have been innate and recognized as a leader including being responsible, dependable, reliable, and persistent to achieve identified goals. Likewise, the strengths in attentive listening; as well as in communication assisted in one’s personal and professional growth as a leader.
What are your challenges and how will you continue to develop those areas?
The challenges that one continues to address include the need to develop interpersonal skills; as well as skill in cultural competencies. One is convinced that to assist in becoming an authentic leader, one must be adept at understanding diversity in people to enable addressing varied needs and demands. Likewise, there is also a need to develop emotional intelligence, which is a facet that is considered important to become a successful leader in contemporary times. One could continue to develop these areas through continuous learning, reading, updating, and participating in leadership development training programs, as initially mentioned. Finally, one honestly believes that the commitment and determination to become a truly authentic leader should come from one’s genuine interest to exude and imbibe all the characteristics that would truly make one.
References
American University. (2011, May 10). Authentic Leadership: Do I Have It? Do I Want It? And If I Want It How Might I Get It? Retrieved from american.edu: http://www.american.edu/spa/key/upload/Tobias-Presentation-Authenic-Leadership.pdf
Goffee, R., & Jones, G. (2005; 2013). Managing Authenticity. Harvard Business Review, 1-9.
