Assessment Of My Leadership Styles - Coursework Example

Assessment of Leadership Styles Assessment of My Leadership Styles Leadership is a very important concept in human life. With leadership mandate, one assumes power to dominate over others and be in a position of directly and authoritatively influence their behaviors, decisions and actions in compliance with the set standards. For every organization to prosper, it is necessary for the top management to put in place a strong leadership. It is such a leader who can be made to be responsible for the establishment of the organization’s vision and coordinates, controls, supervises and directs its policies for the benefit of individual stakeholders and the organization in entirety (Martindale, 2011). However, even if leaders are born, there are certain traits that can only be developed and nurtured. This heavily depends on the leadership style preferences of each individual. Having completed several leadership inventories, I discovered much about my leadership styles and corresponding qualities. These, as I found out, have been shaped by my values, beliefs, preferences and the organizational culture in which I do operate. The first leadership style I discovered in myself is democracy. This is a type of leadership style in which the leader as an overall authority, adopts the principles of social equality and directly involves everyone in the decision making exercises within the organization in which they work. For sure, it is my pleasure to report that I have been a very democratic leader. In my capacity as a leader, I have taken it upon myself to ensure that I safeguard the interests of my juniors as well. So, even if I have been exclusively aiming at accomplishing organization’s goals, a lot of focus has been put on my juniors. Despite their lower position, I have been recognizing them as important part of the entire system whose contributions should not only be supported, but also appreciated. I was not surprised at all when I found out that this is one of the leadership styles I have been applying in my organization. As a democratic leader, I have been directly involving my juniors in major decision making processes within the organization. Indeed, this kind of approach has enabled me to establish a good rapport with most of the employees (Van, Hogan, R. & Kaiser, R., 2008). By enjoying my support as their leader, these workers have been so motivated. In their point of view, democracy is a rightful thing which granted to them at all times. This explains why their productivity has been improving over the years especially since I became their leader. The other leadership style that I have been applying is laissez-faire. This is a type of leadership in which the leader fully delegates major tasks such as decision making to their followers. Such an action renders the leader lesser authoritative as they strip themselves off more powers which they might have relied upon to exercise authority. According to the leadership inventories filled, I qualify to be such a leader because I found out that I have been empowering my followers. Even if they are under me, I have not been exercising full control over them. Instead, I have been trying to do all that I can to empower them (Foster, 2002). Actually, I was not surprised to discover that I possess such a leadership style. All along, I have been sharing powers with my juniors. As a laissez-faire leader, I strongly believe in the delegation of duties. As far as I am concerned, the sharing powers, duties and responsibilities with my juniors do not make me to be a bad leader. It makes me to be an employee-oriented leader who is always ready to consider the diverse growth, interests, feelings and welfare of my juniors (Schultz & Schultz, 2010). This is one of the ways through which I can motivate and empower them to be more productive than they could otherwise be. Lastly, I discovered that I have been a transactional leader. Transactional leadership refers to the leadership style that involves the use of incentives to appropriately reward or punish the employees based on their level of performance in line with standard regulations, expectations and the organization’s goals and objectives. In order to promote quality production, there is need to use rewards (Van, Hogan & Kaiser, 2008). However, this should only be given to those who have demonstrated that they can perform better than expected. On the other hand, other employees should be punished if they underperform or misbehave. With such a leadership style in mind, it is obvious that all the employees can be put in the right direction. Even before filling the inventory, I knew that I am a transactional leader. Since I assumed power, I have been keen on the performance of my juniors. Anyone who demonstrates exemplary performance has been offered contingent rewards, promotions, salary increments and recognition. This has been providing with psychological and moral motivation to put more efforts on whatever activity they undertake. On the other hand, I have been punishing those who do not execute their duties as expected. Of course, such policies have enabled me to be a good leader who has been putting his juniors to task at all times (Van, Hogan & Kaiser, 2008). As an organization, we expect all our employees to be responsibly industrious for the sake of the accomplishment of the organization’s short and long-term goals. Evidently, I am a worthwhile leader who has been helping my organization to grow. Such leadership styles have been attainable mainly because of my admirable leadership qualities such as confidence, cooperation, commitment, tolerance, creativity, accountability and honesty. These are traits which if nurtured, can make me to be a great leader in future. However, for me to achieve much, I need to undertake a lot of training on communication and critical thinking skills. These can be of great importance because they can enable me to develop effective interpersonal communication skills which are necessary for creating healthier interpersonal relations with everyone around me (Martindale, 2011). Besides, it would make me to be a model leader whose traits should be emulated. In conclusion, I would like to agree with the assertion that leadership is innate. However, everyone should go ahead to learn good leadership strategies and nurture them. Having known exactly what I want, I have become a conscious leader who is very concerned about the welfare and prosperity of my workers. With democratic, laissez-faire and transactional leadership styles, I have a long way to. However, I need to acquire the necessary trainings that can help me to have a self-awareness, identify my weaknesses and make the necessary improvements. References Foster, D.E. (2002). "A Method of Comparing Follower Satisfaction with the Authoritarian, Democratic, and Laissez-faire Styles of Leadership.” Communication Teacher 16 (2): 4–6. Martindale, N (2011). "Leadership Styles: How to handle the different personas". Strategic Communication Management 15 (8): 32–35. Schultz, M. & Schultz, D. (2010). Psychology and work today. New York: Prentice Hall. Van V.M., Hogan, R., & Kaiser, R. (2008). "Leadership, followership, and evolution": Some lessons from the past. American Psychologist, 63, 182–196. Read More