Assessing Leadership for Change Essay

Leadership is an imperceptible perception which primarily cannot be extensively defined in a dictionary. However, it is a concept which can be formed and discussed through a person's self-philosophies and experiences. Self-leadership can be based on personal learning and reflection. These two elements offer a foundation for the development of useful leadership skills. Self-leadership constitutes the knowledge of demonstrating an individual's character, communication skills, values, goals, planning and strategizing, motivation as well as leadership abilities (Lester, n.d). Therefore, this work will seek to illustrate my leadership development by way of completing an evaluation of my personal leadership skills and characters. This will be attained through the process of carrying out a series of validated self-valuation methodologies and tools as well as an assessment of my leadership strengths and weaknesses.

The first concept of being a great leader is becoming conscious of self through the act of understanding your strengths and weakness. In that, when an individual learns about his or her vulnerability, he or she will be able to be motivated to apply new skills and advance themselves through practice (Caulfield & Senger, 2017). By discovering one's own strengths, a person can understand ways in which those skills can be implemented to benefit the group or situation. Therefore, my participation in learning about leadership competencies for driving transformative change in an educational organization has provided me with an eye-opening experience. This implies that it has enhanced me to develop an extensive understanding of my actions, values and motives and learning about ways in which they play a crucial role in deriving successful outcomes or negative impacts.

Some of the insights that I learned from the leadership competencies lesson entails the need for the leader to have leadership abilities. In that, this skill will make the leader strategize thoroughly so that he or she can lead the group efficiently. In as much as careful planning is essential, a leader must remain flexible especially when faced with various challenges. It is also vital for the leader to stay humble since the moment a leader raises her/himself above the group, he or she will not get any respect since the leader will be seen as a dictator and not a leader (Chang, 2014). Therefore, there's also the need to develop adequate communication skills. To conduct the proceedings of the group, as a leader I will be expected to consult and get help from other members, and this will be achieved by having relevant discussions. This means that failure to negotiate or communicate with other stakeholders will make the group not to feel valued since there will be conflicts. A leader is expected to provide a leadership role or develop one.

The orientation toward change was useful since it helped me to realize my areas of weakness. It is evident that I can be resistant to change in some cases. However, I would like to believe that I am very flexible; thus I can readily embrace change. The fact that I am a low challenger enhances my resistance to change. Necessarily, when being faced with such resistance to change, it is essential to figure out where the resistance stems from so that the energy backing that resistance can be transformed into a productive force during the change process (Caulfield & Senger, 2017). I have also discovered that the stand against change is generally as a result of the fear of failing. Therefore, instead of embracing despair, I need to adapt to a new form of thinking and choose success over failure.

Nonetheless, leaders live in congruence with their ethics and values with the intent of ensuring that every member of the group has a shared vision and is provided with tools and resources that will ensure that the idea is achieved. Therefore, I grasped that, the values acts as a guide on the actions or decisions that need to be taken as well as playing a pivotal role to the development of commitment and passion towards a goal. When a leader designs dedication and passion, it becomes transmissible and can easily blowout to others.

Subsequently, when commitment, values, and passion are spread to other individuals, there will be an emergence of a shared vision. When persons develop a shared view, they are motivated to work in unison so that they can make those visions a reality. Notably, for a leader to establish a shared vision, they are required to understand the driving forces behind a group. This will be attained by authentically developing communications with others so that he or she can integrate their ideas. In so doing, a leader will be able to establish a cause of commitment within a group.

Nevertheless, brilliant leaders are prominent motivators who can inspire others through the use of their actions and words. A leader should be able to understand that their actions have impacts on the other people within a group. An exceptional leader will realize whether a group is intrinsically or extrinsically motivated so that they can inspire and lead based on those motives Lester, J. (n.d). As a leader, I am supposed to work to encourage critical inspirations to develop a foundation of loyalty and dedication to the group and its vision. Lack of motivation will cause a reduction in productivity while the vision of a group might not be accomplished hence making motivation a prime aspect of becoming a great leader.

Excellent leaders are planners, and they strive to make all the relevant information is available for the team. Leaders should develop a conducive learning environment, and they inspire other by sharing resources and knowledge. Great leaders are focused on setting plans that will strengthen the competence and confidence of the teams. When a leader is able to practice proper planning, he or she can identify the weakness and strengths of his team and be to address weaker skills and ensure that the strengths are being utilized positively.

It is necessary for an influential leader to be a change agent. I consider myself a change agent because of the positive influence that I have. I have the skills of spotting problems and opportunities as well as encouraging other members to come up with explications that will approach these problems. The first step of becoming a change agent entails being positive and claiming the personal consent that acknowledges oneself as a leader. This is very evident from my leadership characteristics as identified from my self-assessment. Therefore, the moment an individual is able to internalize and acknowledge his or her attributes, one is likelier to become motivated to be a change agent (Heiskanen, Thidell & Rodhe, 2016). The benefit of being a change agent is that one will be in a position to identify what is essential to oneself and discover ways of making those beliefs and values offer guidelines on how to achieve dreams.

In an effort to enhance my own personal leadership development, it will be essential for me to challenge myself regularly. Through the act of solving small challenges daily, I will keep on advancing up to a level where I can take on more significant difficulties in the future. For instance the challenge of trusting other persons since I have problems trusting peoples. Therefore, if I take the initiative of being the first person to trust others, I will maximize my chain of friends, and I will start developing confidence and trust in others. Moreover, I will consider engaging myself in community works since I have been less involved in activities to do with our community. Putting myself up to the task of stepping out of my comfort zone and take part in these activities, I will be getting ready for a leadership role in days to come.

Conclusion

To sum up, it is Evident that learning about leadership competencies and self-assessments has enhanced my future professional and personal life. I was able to discover that, leadership is a way of accomplishing the goal and motivating the individuals around you to their best. Leadership is considered as the foundation of inspiration, and it illustrates on what needs to be done based on behavior recommendations or changes. Nonetheless, self-assessment has provided me with an extensive discovery of what skills I have and also the skills that I need to improve so that I can become a great leader and a successful change agent. During the course of this class, I have discovered several things about myself that I did not know before. Therefore, I plan on taking my newly acquired knowledge and apply it to my leadership and life journeys.

References

Caulfield, J. L., & Senger, A. (2017). Perception is reality: change leadership and work engagement. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 38(7), 927. Doi: 10.1108/LODJ-07-2016-0166

Chang, S. H. (2014). Media Review: The Student Leadership Challenge: Five Practices of Becoming an Exemplary Leader. Journal of Student Affairs Research & Practice, 51(4), 472-474. Doi: 10.1515/jsarp-2014-0046

Heiskanen, E., Thidell, A. & Rodhe, H. (2016). Educating sustainability change agents: the importance of practical skills and experience. Journal of Cleaner Production, 123(Advancing Sustainable Solutions: An Interdisciplinary and Collaborative Research Agenda), 218-226. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.11.063

Lester, J. (n.d). Leadership for a Better World: Understanding the Social Change Model of Leadership Development. Journal of College Student Development, 51(4), 446-448.