Development of Leadership Style - Essay Example

Leadership skills approach considers the knowledge and abilities a leader has. Basically, one can discover certain expertise and transform into an outstanding leader. Although dissimilar in focus, both skills approach and the traits approach concentrate their interest on the leader as a major purpose. Researchers have examined leadership skills and abilities for several years. Nevertheless, there are two significant models. The primary one is a model developed by Robert Katz in 1955 (Achua & Lussier, 2009). The subsequent approach is suggested by Michael Mumford and associates in the year 2000. These approaches can be seen as supporting each other because they offer dissimilar opinions on leadership from the perspective of skills. In the approach suggested by Katz in the 1955 Harvard Business Review, in the article titled “Skills of an Effective Administrator”, he acknowledges three diverse abilities that a leader ought to have. They include human skills, technical skills, and conceptual skills. Katz stated that these skills are rather dissimilar from traits of leaders. Skills are what leaders can achieve, while traits are who leaders are (Northouse, 2009). A technical skill is understanding about and capability and aptitude in a precise work or activity. For instance, to use definite computer software packages (like MS Excel) is a superior technical skill. A human skill is one that allows one to collaborate with people. It is dissimilar from technical skills, which have to do with things. These skills help us to cope with people and to correspond and work within teams. A conceptual skill refers to abilities to work with initiatives and concepts. These skills facilitate our understanding and put leaders in a position to better choose the actions and measures that have to be adopted in a specific field of work. Based on his deductions, Katz affirmed that the level of significance of each assortment of skills (conceptual, human and technical) was openly correlated with the degree that the individual has in the firm. The aim of this paper is to describe my leadership style using the skills approach. My leadership style is best described by the skills approach, which illuminates my basis as a leader along with my inclinations to the function of leadership. The skills approach further underscores the inherent skills and abilities that denote my leadership style. The skills approach best describes me as a leader in the sense that it underscores my abilities and skills to perform the function of leadership and provides a platform upon which my leadership potential and style can be evaluated. In essence, through the three skills described in the skills approach, I realize my inclination to be a leader, and this enables me to sharpen my leadership potential through an established process of learning the relevant skills necessary for effective leadership. Technical skills, for instance, describe my ability to perform practical tasks like running a computer program. Therefore, through the concept, it is possible for me to gauge my practical skills quotient and realize where I need to improve in order to be more successful. Additionally, the human skill aspect best describes my ability to work with populace, which includes collaboration, communication, and interpersonal skills. Therefore, it becomes possible to check my human skills and seek methods of improving my ability as a leader. The conceptual skill paradigm, which underscores my ability to work with ideas, has a lot of relevance to the decision-making function of a leader and provides an opportunity for self evaluation and learning schemes to boost my conceptual ability. Through the skills approach to leadership, I not only understand my style and approach to leadership but also obtain the necessary knowledge on how to improve my potential as a leader through the learning process. As a leader, I have a variety of leadership qualities that underscore my overall leadership personality. Essentially, I am an all-round leader with a balanced quotient of leadership traits that enable me to execute various tasks of a leader without any inconveniences. However, it is obvious that I have my strong points and weak points in leadership and that certain traits are most pronounced than others. I have the following particular leadership qualities: I am passionate, enthusiastic, proactive, charismatic, democratic, visionary, communicative, ready for teamwork, and I excel in interpersonal skills. I am a passionate leader with a lot of energy and zeal in my duties and I often exude confidence even in times of crisis, thus inspiring my followers. Similarly, I tend to be visionary in the sense that my decisions and actions are guided by a long term vision that guarantees organizational success. My inclination as a leader is the setting of long-term goals and working towards their accomplishment. Communication is my strength as a leader; I tend to insist on the perfect flow of communication between the leader and the followers because it ensures that I communicate my vision to the followers and motivate them to adopt it and work towards its achievement. I am a charismatic and proactive leader who readily inspires and motivates followers towards the accomplishment of the objectives and goals of the organization. I rely on these traits to ensure that the zeal towards organizational success is inculcated into the followers. Additionally, as a leader I am well-versed with interpersonal skills that enable me to collaborate and work with teams. I value teamwork because it is the only way to pool resources and work towards a success in every aspect. The leadership approach that I prefer is based on skills because it underscores the application of the leadership function as founded upon the skills and abilities of the leader. This works well with followers because a leader is bound to conduct his or her activities in a professional manner that also guarantees the welfare of the followers. Under normal circumstances, the skill approach insists on the application of the relevant skills and abilities in the practice of the leadership function, making it necessary for followers to be treated in an acceptable manner. For instance, the prevalence of human skills mostly benefits the followers who derive proper benefit from the welfare and ethical perspectives, which constitute part of the human skill quotient. I also prefer the skills approach because of the broad purview of implications on the vast leadership function that definitely makes it good for the followers. The skills leadership model best describes how I influence others in the sense that the strength of my leadership style is underscored through the relevant skills and abilities that I possess (DuBrin, 2012). In essence, I am a visionary, charismatic and inspirational leader, and these skills enable me to influence others. The duty of a leader is to offer direction and guidance to the followers, and this is only possible through the aspect of influence where the leader inspires other people to adopt and follow his direction. The skills model approaches leadership from the purview of abilities and skills rather than traits, thereby describing the aspect of influence as subject to learning. Therefore, throughout my leadership career I intend to developed and nurture my ability to influence others through organized seminars and practical experience. Therefore, influencing others is a skill that can be developed, and this is well exemplified by the skills approach to leadership. Based on my self-assessments, my current leadership and motivational skills along with the knowledge obtained from the course material, I will set goals and a plan of actions to improve my leadership and motivation. The course of actions to improve my leadership will be developed along the goals and objectives to be achieved. These goals include: learning more skills and abilities to cultivate my leadership skills, providing an awareness of the skill quotient as an approach to leadership, and demarcating the necessary skills set from other general skills. The course of actions will be centered on the developed goals that will be accomplished throughout the course. With regard to motivation, the goals of the development plan will involve the nurturing of my skill to persuade and motivate others. All these programs will be based on the skills theory of leadership, which underscores the leadership function along the lanes of the relevant skills and abilities of leader. The self-improvement goals will be accomplished within a developed period of time, which will be based on the successful achievement of the objectives. The leadership self-assessment goals will take a lengthy time because of the depth of the course. Therefore, the leadership self-assessment program will take three and a half weeks through which a thorough evaluation of my leadership style will be done along with the mechanism of improving my leadership quotient. The motivation self-assessment program, on the other hand, will take a period of two weeks. The two courses will be integral in affirming my leadership potential and will have the function of fashioning me for better prospects in leadership. I look forward to these self-assessment courses that will be of great importance in shaping my overall leadership endeavor. References Achua, C., & Lussier, R. (2009). Leadership: Theory, Application, & Skill Development. Washington: Cengage Learning. DuBrin, A. (2012). Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills. Washington: Cengage Learning. Northouse, P. (2009). Leadership: Theory and Practice. London: Sage. Read More