Personal Leadership Paper

To create a transformational environment where every individual sees his/her values within the workplace, an effective leadership style establishes and maintains several vital components. As stated by Lance Secretan, "Leadership is not so much about technique and methods, as it is about opening the heart. Leadership is about the inspiration of oneself and of others. Great leadership is about human experiences, not processes. Leadership is not a formula or a program; it is a human activity that comes from the heart and considers the hearts of others. It is an attitude, not a routine." With several engagements since high schools where I have been given specific roles to lead, I have realized that great leadership is a significant purpose of management which assists firms to maximize efficiency and attain organizational goals. In particular, real leadership initiates actions, motivates others, provides guidance, creates confidence, builds morals, and constructs a good working environment. I believe leadership is about building relationships and maintaining communication which is centered around and on a shared vision, values, and goals.

I believe that through proper leadership, every organization can reach its goals and missions. This is because good leaders will draw the map towards achieving the managerial goals and make workers or followers believe and follow that goal. Personally, my leadership style is rational and personal. Notably, my dad was a basketball coach, and I was grown up in a family of eight. In this setup, teamwork has never been an option; it was mandatory. From this context, I was brought up with one crucial leadership asset- socially resourcefully. I can communicate efficiently and very comfortable with one-on-one conversation as well as with a large group. In a family of eight, disagreements were frequent; however, at no point in my life did I hold any grudge with any of my siblings since I knew how to solve incongruities through effective communication. It is for this reason that my dad nicknamed me "the champion." On the same note, I believe that learning from other people' experience is an incredible resource for any in individual who wants to be a great leader.

In addition to my skills, I have always competed with myself, to be a more significant person today than I was yesterday as well be a more excellent individual tomorrow than I am today. I continuously strive to learn more about individual issues, achieve more, and create new goals that have to be met by a set deadline. As states by Daft (2014), right leadership does not allow procrastination as one of its facets hence meeting deadlines is number one factor that I consider the new set goals. In a team capacity, I am always obliged to ensure that my involvement is meaningful and authentic to the team's goals. Also, I exalt people around me by valuing and acknowledging their undertakings. In my roles as a leader, I believe that the most solid teams view success as a collective experience.

I am a good administrator who can focus on both people and tasks simultaneously. My experiences include business and higher education leadership roles. As a leader, I appreciate the significance of cultural understandings, and I am often successful in shaping the view that everybody can be a leader irrespective of their cultural background and origin. My educational background and experience have trained me to work with different people who possess diverse opinions on the same thing. In several incidences where I have acted or given a chance to lead, I am remembered as a person who is knowledgeable and cares about his operations, and someone who always does his best. As one of my leadership traits, I do not condone the status quo when I know it can be improved. To create growth and progress professionally and personally, I have always changed the systems and frameworks to produce better results. By altering one's frame of mind, it is probable to think resourcefully and lead others to do the same hence, in the end, people can achieve better goals, both individuals as well as an organization.

The aptitude to move a team from getting the job done to achieve the goals of the firm with flying colors needs the knowledge and understanding of the differences between managing and leading a group of people. Dissimilar leadership approaches are effective in ensuring that the goals of an organization are achieved despite the challenges the firm experiences. As an individual who knows the importance of good leadership, there are specific management approaches that I believe are very imperative for both the career of a person involved and the success of the firm.

My first and essential approach to leadership is democratic or participative leadership. This method uses a more balanced tactic to complete tasks. Mainly, it involves team members in the decision-making process and allows them to participate without any intimidation. Although everybody's contribution to this approach is very vital, the final decision lies with the front-runner but is highly dependent on the inputs of members. I believe in this approach because of its benefits. Mainly, team members incline to have job satisfaction under this method since their ideas and opinions are valued. The study conducted by Northouse (2017) reveals that the decision-making process using this approach is slow and may jeopardize firm's decision during a crisis where solutions are needed immediately. However, the results are always excellent since nobody in the organization feels shortchanged.

Another important leadership approach that I have always employed is charismatic headship. It involves the ability of the leaders to be part of the team during the task completion process. Their work is to inspire, motivate, and energize members. According to Lussier and Achua, (2015), the ability to create enthusiasm and excitement among members is observably a massive advantage of the leaders and the ability for the task to be complete not only in time but also with high quality. In the events that I had been given a chance to lead, I have always formed part of the team and even performed some of the duties they are doing. It is a sign of commitment that shows members that every individual's mission within the company is to overcome challenges and ensure the organization succeeds. In this approach, leaders mainly focus on the development and growth of members by fundamentally inspiring them, handling them like essential individuals, being an inspirational role model, and creating a vision.

My last preferred leadership approach is the empowering leadership. This is one of the most recent methods used by several companies to create a pool of many leaders. According to Feser, Mayol, and Srinivasan (2015), in this competitive business environment, most workers move from one firm to the other in search of green pastures. In that event, a company is not sure of retaining its best employees. It is in this context that firms should create several leaders such that when one leaves there are remaining ones which the company can depend on. In this approach, the emphasis is on participatory decision-making, boosting self-leadership and effective teamwork. Leaders in this style make themselves minor and allow their members to grow as much as they can. In the end, it prepares several individuals to take the role of leadership in case their leader is absent. It also provides an opportunity for all members of the firm to develop professionally.

Conclusion

In conclusion, good leadership is one of the components of ensuring that the goals of a company are achieved as well as individual career goals. I believe leadership is about building relationships and maintaining communication which is centered around and on a shared vision, values, and goals. Some of my vision for leadership include effective communication skills, ability to interact with several individuals from the dissimilar background and the fact that I compete with myself compels me to a be a great leader. To become an outstanding frontrunner, I have preferred approaches to leadership. They include democratic or participative leadership, charismatic headship, and empowering leadership.

References

Daft, R. L. (2014). The leadership experience. Cengage Learning.

Feser, C., Mayol, F., & Srinivasan, R. (2015). Decoding leadership: What really matters. McKinsey Quarterly, 25(4).

Lussier, R. N., & Achua, C. F. (2015). Leadership: Theory, application, & skill development. Nelson Education.

Northouse, P. G. (2017). Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practice. Sage Publications.