Leadership Interview Paper Example

Since time immemorial, scholars and individuals alike have sought to develop a unique definition of the concept of leadership, specifically effective leadership. However, finding a clear-cut definition of this concept has remained elusive with different scholars offering a range of traits or personalities that distinguish certain individuals as effective or successful leaders and other individuals as unsuccessful. What is certain though is the fact that leadership is a complex approach that can be understood from a variety of perspectives (Sudha, Shahnawaz, & Farhat, 2016). As an individual, I believe leadership is a continually transforming process that is open to improvements. Development of leadership skills is necessary for enhancing personal character as well as equipping individuals with the required tools to succeed in one's career and professional pursuits. This report is a reflection on an interview with a licensed professional counselor, identifying the lessons learned from their experiences and how they translate into my own leadership development process.

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The interview with Dr. Jacqueline K. Deuling conducted in Chicago, IL, was extremely informative on a range of lessons and traits that any individual must understand if they are to exhibit effective leadership. From the beginning, I sought to understand what Dr. Deuling valued as the nature, function and the unique traits that are inherent in effective leadership and how to develop a personal leadership approach that acts as an extension of one's personality. She emphasized that an effective leader must develop critical leadership abilities ranging from perceptiveness, visioning, interpersonal skills, and responsiveness for colleagues and subordinates. Besides one should have the capacity to influence goal-oriented tasks and to productively motivate subordinates in terms of organizational objectives. According to Dr. Deuling:

"These abilities are recognized as the most vital for any leader to have, in the contemporary highly-dynamic corporate environment. The capability to generate a distinctive vision of the prospected opportunities is necessary to ensure leaders can enthuse and champion change within the workplace. Perceptiveness is similarly vital especially among industrial psychologists because it enables the leader to antedate future follower performance and consequently mold advanced future-oriented leadership strategies. Further, leaders should possess the ability to successfully champion the efforts of their followers and subordinate as well as other resources to support the organization's market position and secure an outcome-focused agenda." (Dr. Deuling, personal communication, July 30, 2018).

This is extremely insightful regarding what I need to do as an individual in order to become an effective leader. This clear description of the concept of leadership will be influential in my efforts to progressively develop the requisite skills and personality traits for effective leadership.

Dr. Deuling's resume indicates her expertise lies in the role of personality and situational context on work-family conflict, the leader-follower relationship, and effective functioning of groups and teams. Consequently, I sought to understand the intersection between personality and leadership from during interview. Dr. Deuling states that personality and leadership correlate significantly and that in many cases, individuals do not recognize this fact. According to Dr. Deuling, the personality of an individual affects the relationship they will establish with their followers, the productivity of those employees and overall organizational outcomes. Dr. Deuling says that:

"Because of the high emphasis on interpersonal relationships required in this profession (ranging from deciphering meaning from information from others, offering consultation and advice to others and providing technical information), some of the personality dimensions that are essential for any industrial psychologist include extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and openness to experience." (Dr. Deuling, personal communication, July 30, 2018)

This is consistent with current literature which states that personality and leadership styles have the most significant impact on the fit between the leader and his charges. For example, an effective leader must demonstrate positive personality traits such as agreeableness with their subordinates' ideas and openness (Kouzes & Posner, 2017). I have learned that the ability of those in positions of leadership to provide guidance is in their ability to combine their personality traits and unique leadership approaches effectively.

From the experience, I learned that mindfulness is also an indispensable trait for a leader in this field. She explained that mindfulness is the awareness of a person's mental processes and the thoughtfulness of how their mind functions. This quality helps leaders to be effusively present, awareness about themselves and their influence on others, as well as the sensitivity of their responses to challenging situations (Sudha, Shahnawaz, & Farhat, 2016). Borrowing from this idea I believe that to effectively become a mindful leader, I have to improve my mindfulness but always being aware of myself and my surrounding. This means that prevailing situations and other people around me determine how I react at any given time. However, they should not always influence my decision-making strategy since some situations require decisions that are tough and which may not favor everybody. Through self-development initiative like meditation and a thoughtful determination to comprehend the mind working process, I will likely have a greater awareness of my actions, my influence on others and my purpose as a leader.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the interview has opened my mind to a number of vital truths about myself, in addition to gaining knowledge and skills regarding effective leadership. To develop effective leadership skills I will rely on a number of critical success factors. First, I will rely on a system of personal values including integrity, responsibility, and professionalism. Honesty and integrity are crucial to the industrial psychology professional world which would guarantee the quality of services provided. Responsibility is necessary for leaders in the 21st century since the entire organization and clients rely on them for decisions that may mean the difference between profits and loss in some cases (Northouse, 2016). Professionalism is at the very core of my journey towards effective leadership. Secondly, I will rely on my academic work to develop and acquire the necessary knowledge vital for the position I aspire to be in the future. I will also seek mentorship opportunities whereby I will interact with some effective leader in my chosen industry and other professions which will enable me to acquire the leadership skills I seek. Finally, I plan to become efficient and proactive in teamwork dynamics particularly conflict resolution. I intend to achieve this goal by ensuring that I participate in more team assignments or projects. I will serve as the group facilitator or mediator when I work with groups that exhibit signs of conflict.

References

Kouzes, J. M, & Posner, B. Z. (2017). The leadership challenge (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley

Northouse, P. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage.

Sudha, K., Shahnawaz, M., & Farhat, A. (2016). Leadership Styles, Leaders Effectiveness and Well-being: Exploring Collective Efficacy as a Mediator. Vision: The Journal of Business Perspective, 20(2), 111-120. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0972262916637260

Appendix A

Interview with Jacqueline Darling, Ph.D.

The interview took place in person on Monday, July 30, 2018, at 5:00 pm in Chicago, Illinois.

How did you enter your career field?

I entered the field based on a personal conviction that industrial/organizational psychology was a superb combination of my personal interest in group dynamics and psychology in the corporate domain. This field harbors numerous opportunities and prospects for psychologists to help managers effectively motivate employees into excellence and higher productivity. In reality, I wasn't drawn to the clinical side of psychology as it is not my forte, plus I believe that I/O harbors a place for both facets of what we do.

What is your educational background?

In my undergraduate, I majored in psychology and then progressively advanced my career through graduate studies. I was lucky that the graduate program gave us opportunities to work with actual companies which allowed me to develop the requisite skills that I would apply in my professional engagements. In addition, I did some clinical attachment that helped me develop skills like listening, drawing information out of clients and helping them towards solutions.

What steps/advice do you recommend for those entering the field?

My advice to those intending to join the field is that being cognizant of tactical realities is an indispensable ability. Everything in this field is not purely theoretical. Students in this field have a unique potential to meaningfully impact real people in a variety of ways. However, it is important to realize that even though the empirical evidence says something is a certain way, it is not always so and that the professional must always understand or conceptualize things from an external viewpoint. Finally, students should develop their business acumen to understand where the critical points lie I order to support their practice.

Original Questions

What in your opinion is effective leadership, its importance, and how can individuals develop leadership abilities?

Effective leadership has become synonymous with success, profitability, and competitiveness in the 21st-century marketplace. Any effective leader must develop critical leadership abilities ranging from perceptiveness, visioning, interpersonal skills, responsiveness for colleagues and subordinates, the capacity to influence goal-oriented tasks, to the capacity to productively motivate subordinates in terms of organizational objectives. I believe that a huge component of the leadership development process entails learning how to deal with the paradoxes that arise from two ostensibly contradictory or incompatible notions that are, in actual sense, true. In other words, an individual seeking to become an effective leader must focus on their internal traits and capabilities (internal focus), while simultaneously recognizing the external factors that influence or impact those capabilities. It is possible to encounter tensions between being flexible as a leader and asserting control over one's followers.

You specialize in personality and leadership in this field. Tell me about the intersection between leadership and personality? How can individuals develop these abilities?

Personality and leadership correlate significantly and in many cases, individuals do not recognize this fact. The personality of an individual affects the relationship they will establish with their followers, the productivity of those employees and overall organizational outcomes. Given the professional demands of I/O psychologists, it is important that students are knowledgeable about how they can link the task, abilities and work requirements to potentially-useful personality traits. This will enable students to develop and inculcate theory-based hypotheses regarding the expected work outcomes.

Can you tell me some of the crucial leadership traits that can increase the effectiveness of industrial psychologists?

Mindfulness is one area I have found to be extremely useful in this profession. This quality helps leaders to be effusively present, awareness about themselves and their influence on oth...