College Essay on Leadership
People with professional careers or individuals who are specialists within their field or organization stand to benefit a great lot from taking up leadership training. Leadership training is particularly helpful to individuals who intend to move into positions of leadership or management in the nearest future. By taking up leadership training, you are developing your skills and strategically positioning yourselves to take up leadership roles when the opportunity arises. In the same way, leadership training is also helpful for people who may not be interested in leadership positions but occasionally find themselves needing to take up managerial responsibilities.
The role of a first-time manager can be very tricky, particularly for those who are who get into the role without being provided with support in coaching or training. Taking myself as an example, I have not been opportune to take up a lot of leadership roles. I have however found myself in positions where I had to take up some informal managerial roles. In my previous company, I worked as a program officer in a local non-profit organization. I was in charge of the programs department, which was a small department of five staff. Being a start-up company, I was given very little to no professional training prior to my starting the role. However, to carry out my duties I needed to learn some ‘on the job’ leadership skills as there was a lot to execute in the role.
Due to the lack of proper leadership training, I did not have a lot of leadership skills. For instance, I did not understand that as a leader I needed to learn to delegate tasks. I also lacked developed skills in giving direction and feedback on exactly what I wanted. This made the role difficult for me and it made my work very tasking, one which demanded a lot of time and effort from me. Given the circumstances, I had to learn on the job which was quite difficult at the time.
Another example of the mistakes I made in my early role of leadership was becoming too focused on performance and getting results that I spent little time investing in having human relationships with my team members. I saw management to be about controlling, administering, and planning activities. I did not understand that leadership involves more of inspiring, encouraging, and bringing out the very best in people. It is also about building a sense of trust by challenging your subordinates to take positive risks. To be a leader and not just a manager, you need to focus, therefore, on people.
Going forward in my career, the personal experience I got from being a program manager at my previous organization became helpful. It however does not take the place of formal leadership training. Formal Learning is an integral part of achieving results. When you prioritize learning, you become a great leader who can spot and develop talent in people who might be unaware of it. By participating in this course I have understood the need for a solid leadership training. The course has helped me in expanding and shaping my personal knowledge of leadership.
I have learned that being a manager is a complex role and it is all about finding the balance. As a manager, it is difficult to do everything yourself and that is why you need the people you lead to achieve the objectives you have set out. Therefore, the effectiveness of how a manager manages the people they lead is key. To be able to manage people, especially in a professional organization a lot of skill is required because human beings have minds of their own. People hate it when they are treated like cogs in a machine. When we talk about the traits of a good manager we would mention delegation, time management, and organizational skills. But what this course has taught me is that most of the challenges faced in becoming a good manager are solved through a manager’s ability to empower their team. Those things won’t be a problem if you’ve set your team up in the right way. The more the team is empowered to execute things themselves, with the coaching of their manager, the more effective that manager is going to be.
According to Mintzberg, a manager takes up three major roles which are the interpersonal, informational, and decision-making roles. These are key managerial skills that can mostly be gotten through leadership training. According to Katz’s skills approach, there are 3 skills that are very key to effective leadership. These skills are; Technical skills which focus on competence, and application of specific knowledge, methods, and skills required in the day-to-day production of goods and services. Another skill is the human skill which places emphasis on relationships. It is required in Interpersonal relationships necessary for teamwork, direction, and leadership. The last skill is the Conceptual skill, this skill is necessary to understand the ‘big picture’ and make appropriate decisions.
Two notable quotes from Steve Jobs and James Mcgregor Burns on leadership go thus;
Management is about persuading people to do things they do not want to do, leadership is about inspiring people to do things they never thought they could.’ Steve Jobs.
Before a leader can appeal to people’s higher-order needs, they must identify and understand the beliefs, dreams, and ambitions of their people. Only then can they package or mold their message to appeal to their target audience or followers.’ James McGregor Burns (1978).
I agree a leader should be one who nurtures others to their fullest potential. A leader should Inspire, engage, and build trust amongst his subordinates. Trust is needed to build up a more intimate and personal relationship with the people you lead. To get to a place where I have the trust of my team members I have to be open and build up my ability to give and receive feedback
Another mistake I made in my early role of leadership was assuming my leadership style worked for everyone on my team as I thought my leadership style was the best. Being that I saw my leadership style as creative, open, and encouraging and my most vital skills were empathy, creativity, openness, and adaptability. I felt that was enough to make me popular amongst my team. This obviously couldn’t have been further from the truth as I know now.
Now having gotten a better understanding of the various kinds of leadership approaches, I believe I will do best in my leadership role by operating the transformational style of leadership. I now always aim to guide my team and help them become better versions of themselves as this works better in creating a deeper connection, steeper growth, and long-lasting loyalty.
Going forward, having now discovered the style of leadership that works best for me, in my future leadership roles I aim to follow Bennis and Nanus’ outlined strategies on transformational leadership. This is contained in their 2007 book ‘Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge’. They are as follows;
- Develop a clear and understandable vision for the organization
- Act as social architects for the organization by changing the organization’s culture
- Create trust throughout the organization by making explicit their values and views
- Identify their own strengths and weaknesses and encourage followers to do the same.
I very well believe that to develop my leadership skills as far as I can, I need to take advantage of as many of the leadership tools and approaches as possible. Taking this course he helped me identify and understand my areas of strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats. (SWOT). I have learned that you become a good leader by learning, listening, and doing things that make you uncomfortable. Prof Peter G. Northouse in his book, Leadership, Theory, and Practice summarises the following characteristic of an ideal leader as ‘Intelligence but not too high, self-confidence, determination, integrity and sociability.’
Also, In order to be an effective leader I have learned to set directions, coach, deliver feedback and build robust trusting relationships. I understand that providing direction for ongoing activities helps a leader maintain a sense of connection with the subordinates by signaling that they are willing to be available. The five main aspects I would focus on in order to boost my leadership development are my intrapersonal attributes, such as self-awareness. My Interpersonal qualities in order to obtain the trust, respect, and commitment of others. My cognitive abilities are my thinking skills, decision-making, and problem-solving skills, and lastly my communication skills.
In his book, The New, Daniel Goleman states that emotional intelligence is critical to the success of a leader. Emotional intelligence involves being smart about emotions and using empathy effectively to empower and engage employees. Leadership training that encompasses emotional intelligence can make you a better leader. Emotional intelligence is one of the main personality traits that make for a great leader. Understanding how emotions affect others ensures that people lead efficiently and considerately.
Another aspect of my leadership style that has been broadened by this course is how to influence the people I lead. A major part of leadership training is teaching you the power to influence those around you. How to motivate your team and how to discriminate between good and bad sources of power, and between strong and weak methods of influence. I have gained insights on how to pick a good team, how to build a team capable of delivering the vision of the organization, and how to give orders without coming off as either too weak or too overbearing. Also, I am learning to communicate better with my team. When leaders are taught to realize that different people hear, respond, accept, and act very differently in a single situation, they become more skilled in the way they communicate. To be an effective manager, communication should be at the heart of everything that you do. The key thing here is that your communication style has to be adaptable, depending on the situation and the message you’re trying to land. Is it feedback about how someone develops? Is it positive reinforcement? You need to be able to shift styles in order to communicate those effectively. The only way you can develop this is through practice and gaining feedback.
One of the greatest mistakes you can make as a leader is underestimating the importance of sharing critical yet constructive feedback. As a leader, it is important to create and maintain an environment where people are free to give and receive valuable feedback on their work. This is essential since it helps everyone perform their roles effectively, including yourself. People achieve high performance only if they know the truth about their effectiveness. Leaders often ignore this need and thereby rob people of the key to their future. Subordinates are confused about what to do or how to do their work. it is often important that a leader Makes clear assignments. A leader should also set specific goals and always provide feedback about performance.
Lastly being a leader comes with several responsibilities, including handling workplace issues and conflicts. In the past, I often saw conflicts among my team members as a show of my poor leadership skills. However, this course has broadened my knowledge of conflicts in the workplace. I now understand that not all conflicts in the workplace are bad. Conflicts help in certain areas such as; Opening discussions, Releasing tension, Improving communication, Generating innovative ideas, Solving problems, Clarifying individual views, Stimulating interest, and Testing the capacities of staff members. These are the so many ways conflicts can be helpful. This does not however take away the fact that conflicts if not managed properly can become detrimental to the growth of the organisation. If there are too many conflicts, it takes a lot of time and resources to resolve them.
Finally, in this course, I have learned that the various leadership styles or approaches can be effective or ineffective depending on the situation. No one theory fits all. The aim of this course is to help present leaders and aspiring leaders understand the various leadership styles and to determine which leadership style works best for the team they lead as this is overall important in achieving the company’s objectives.