The Essentials of Leadership and Communications - Essay Example

utivе Lеаdеrshiр and Соmmuniсаtiоn Skills Executive Summary My leadership vision is to continually clear any obstacles to work, protect, motivate, and inspire employees and lead them to excellence, be a cooperative business partner, and a good role model of work ethic, attitude, integrity and honesty. My source of power is referent power. Self-confidence, a positive attitude and emotional intelligence make me a successful leader. My greatest strengths are having a vision, good at dealing with conflicts and a good communicator. My greatest weakness is my inability to trust those I lead with major tasks and the need to be liked by them. I am under the team management on the leadership grid as I have high concern for both the people and the production of the company. My personal vision is to cherish every moment in my life and living a trustworthy, honest, competency and loyalty life. Our marketing department vision is to transfer created marketing knowledge and skills to meet the organization’s stakeholders’ needs. Among the tasks of an effective leader I would concentrate on establishing and sustaining commitment in the organisation. My Vision as a Leader My vision as a leader is to continually strive to clear obstacles to work that needs to be done, protect my employees from demands that are not reasonable, motivate and inspire my team to achieve excellence, be a cooperative business partner in which I serve, and be good role model of work ethic, attitude, integrity and honesty. Evaluation of a Leader in Me Power is the ability to use a variety of tactics to prompt or push action to influence other people’s behaviour with or without resistance. My source of power is referent power which is the ability to attract other people and gain their trust, admiration and respect. I want people to respect me and trust me for how I handle situations. Self-confidence, a positive attitude and emotional intelligence makes me a successful leader. I am self-confident and I build this by mastering important situations and skills, and being aware that I can add real value by whatever it is that I do. I don’t doubt my ability to succeed and I have what it takes to become successful, therefore being highly motivated. I also have a positive attitude and outlook about myself and the world as a whole. I am able to recognize that problems and setbacks happen but what makes the difference is how you deal with those problems. In addition, I have a strong sense of balance. I approach circumstances realistically having prepared to overcome a particular problem by the necessary changes I have to make. I don’t give into pressure of the situation or stress because this can lead to anger, distress, worry and failure. I overcome negative feelings and thoughts by relaxing, taking encourage sleep and rest and doing physical exercise. I don’t get worried and upset easily about things happening around me. I also have strong emotional intelligence. I can be able to recognize my feelings as well of others, and manage the emotions to build strong relationships. I don’t react quickly when someone tries to upset me, but instead I try to understand how she or he is feeling. I also don’t get threatened when I am criticized, because I believe I am not perfect and I can’t please everyone. A leadership style is an approach or a method through which a leader provides direction, implements plans and motivates people. My type of leadership style is transformational leadership, as I like to create a vision that is inspiring, motivate those following me to achieve it, successfully manage implementation, and develop team members to be more effective in the future. I have the ability to create a compelling and vigorous vision for the future, and present it in a manner that will make my followers to be inspired. I enjoy planning for the future, and when there is change in circumstances I don’t struggle to know what to do. I also have the ability to motivate people to deliver the vision. I can set objectives and convince my followers to accept them. I emphasize on teamwork because I realize that great things can be achieved when people work together. I also believe in being a good role model to my followers. A leader is one who is willing to serve and not to be served. A good leader should lead by example as this shows his or her integrity and trustworthy. I like to get involved in work whenever I am needed and I stay updated with what is happening in the organisation. I do not believe in sitting and giving orders, but whatever I expect the team to achieve, I demonstrate it by my actions. My leadership style is transformational leadership As a leader my greatest strengths are having a vision, good at dealing with conflict and a good communicator. I know where I am headed and I try to build the picture in my head, and I am able to communicate that vision to my followers effectively. The same vision helps me to motivate my followers and also acts as a guide to my actions. I share the vision with my followers to ensure that each of them gets a similar picture and be able to communicate it. I recognize the importance of dealing with conflict in order to work effectively with people. It is normal for conflict to take place because people have different opinions on how things should be done. Expecting that has enabled me to resolve conflict successful and bring together the best ideas from my followers. I believe communication is lifeblood of every relationship and one that is important in leadership. Good communication is portrayed in how results are reported, initiatives are launched among others. I also recognize that communication is not a one-way street but a two-way one. I should not be the only one speaking while my followers listen, but I should also let my followers speak as I listen keenly. One of my major weaknesses is failure to trust followers. A team is guided to accomplish goals of an organisation by an effective leader. However, I can easily micromanage team members, or end up working on their tasks. I struggle to delegate tasks to others, for fear that they will not do a good job as per my expectation. It almost seems like unless I put my hands on it then it will not be perfect. This mentality often makes team members feel underutilized in the project and slows the whole progress. Another weakness I have is the need to be liked by those I lead. I don’t want my followers to hate me. However, the need to have everyone favour me sometimes jeopardizes with project or business judgement at hand. I can end up making decisions that are not necessarily best for the project or business, but just to please everyone. Turning Weaknesses into Strengths To deal with the issue of not trusting other team members I need to select people I can truly trust and enable them to individually succeed. I will need to learn to delegate tasks but let those I am leading understand the importance of the project at hand and that my entrusting them with the whole project success. A more productive and efficient team environment will be achieved through this feeling of trust. I will seek to be respected and understood by those I lead instead of trying to be liked by them. I will learn to frequently and openly communicate with my followers and always update them about any decisions I make whether they favour them or not. I believe I earn their respect as long as I make right business decisions and take time to explain to them. How I see myself on the leadership grid Jane Mouton and Robert Blake developed a leadership grid model which is a style of leadership model. The model identifies different leadership styles based on concern for production and concern for people. Impoverished management is where the concern for people and production is low. Authority- compliance is where the concern for people is low while the concern for production is high. Country club management is where there is a high concern for people and low concern for production. A middle of the road management is where some concerns are given to the people and some concerns given to the production. Team management is where both the concern for people and production is very high. I have high concern for people as well as high concern for production (tasks); therefore, my leadership style on the grid is the team management. I aspire to maintain this position by continuously encouraging commitment and teamwork among employees, and making them feel that they are a great asset of the organisation. They will continue being productive as they yield high results for the organisation. My Personal and Department Vision My personal vision is to celebrate each second, moment and breath, and live a loyalty, competence, honesty and trustworthy life. To always be peaceful within me through prayers, meditation and actions according to my values. To also inspire anyone I come across and relieving other people’s burdens even for a moment through giving them resources, advice or just listening. The vision for our department of marketing is to be a spur for the creation and transfer of marketing knowledge and skills in full spectrum to meet the diverse needs of the market and other stakeholders. It is also to enhance our academic education by specialized and academic research through vibrant, innovative and dynamic teamwork. In the next five years we will offer marketing graduates with programmes focused vocation, doctorate programmes, and formal programmes accompanying short courses. We will strengthen our programmes’ practical components to enhance our programme offerings through integrated practical interventions and learning initiatives. We will have established marketing research culture that is vibrant enough to strengthen our focus and output. We are also looking towards strengthening our relationship with international academics and university, and excel in research and teaching. Effective leader and tasks of an effective leader I believe I am an effective leader because I possess qualities of an effective team leader. I am proactive, adaptable, a good communicator, respectful, self-confident, open-minded, enthuastic, resourceful, rewarding, open to change, organized, evaluative, consistent, and initiative. The task of an effective leader I would concentrate most on is establishing and sustaining commitment in the organisation. When people commit fully to an organization a greater momentum is generated to get the tasks done. Commitment in the organisations shows that everyone is focused on achieving the same overall goals; they all feel involved in the delivery of results, and are willing to go beyond what they do in order to deliver. Building commitment addresses questions such as how can cooperation be improved? As a group how can we work better and stay together? If there are more people committed in the organisation, many others will effectively be influenced. Many will really pay attention if a whole team acts with commitment and determination. Committed people are not discouraged easily, and neither do they give up. Those who lack experience and confidence to go through challenges time follow their example, in order to reach out to the rewards of their success. A shared commitment leads to a higher level of cooperation amongst the people. Commitment enhances caring, trust, and friendship, which a team needs to keep going on. Commitment provides a time period for people to effective learn what they need to know, because time is needed to try out things, make mistakes and come up with a solution that works. Conclusion There are times in the journey of leadership that individuals need to work on weaknesses that get in their ways. However, to make a difference in any organisation people’s strengths will have to lead the way. Appendices Appendix A – Leadership Assessment Tool 18 Statements to Answer Not at All Rarely Sometimes Often Very Often 1When assigning tasks, I consider people’s skills and interests. 2I doubt myself and my ability to succeed. 3I expect nothing less than top-notch results from people. 4I expect my people to work harder than I do. 5When someone is upset, I try to understand how he or she is feeling. 6When circumstances change, I can struggle to know what to do. 7I think that personal feelings shouldn't be allowed to get in the way of performance and productivity. 8I am highly motivated because I know I have what it takes to be successful. 9Time spent worrying about team morale is time that’s wasted. 10I get upset and worried quite often in the workplace. 11My actions show people what I want from them. 12When working with a team, I encourage everyone to work toward the same overall objectives. 13I make exceptions to my rules and expectations – it’s easier than being the enforcer all the time! 14I enjoy planning for the future. 15I feel threatened when someone criticizes me. 16I make time to learn what people need from me, so that they can be successful. 17I’m optimistic about life, and I can see beyond temporary setbacks and problems. 18I think that teams perform best when individuals keep doing the same tasks and perfecting them, instead of learning new skills and challenging themselves. Total = 74 Score Interpretation Score Comment 18-34 You need to work hard on your leadership skills. The good news is that if you use more of these skills at work, at home, and in the community, you'll be a real asset to the people around you. You can do it – and now is a great time to start! (Read below to start.) 35-52 You're doing OK as a leader, but you have the potential to do much better. While you've built the foundation of effective leadership, this is your opportunity to improve your skills, and become the best you can be. Examine the areas where you lost points, and determine what you can do to develop skills in these areas. (Read below to start.) 53-90 Excellent! You're well on your way to becoming a good leader. However, you can never be too good at leadership or too experienced – so look at the areas where you didn't score maximum points, and figure out what you can do to improve your performance. (Read below to start.) There are many leadership skills and competencies that, when combined and  Appendix B The Blake Mouton Managerial Grid Concern for People High Country Club management   Team management Medium   Middle of the road management   Low Impoverished management   Authority-compliance   Low Medium High Concern for Production (Task)   Read More