Leadership Skills and Self-Confidence - Essay Example

Self-assessment: Leadership Skills Self-assessment: Leadership Skills According to Cohen (2000), leadership is a process through which an individual tries to manage, direct and control a group of people towards a goal. It is impossible for an organization to develop properly without a visionary leadership. The success and failure of a modern organization rest in the hands of its leadership. Hall et al. (2013), pointed out that the role of a manager in the workplace is leadership. In other words, all the managers in an organization are leaders in one or other respects. Therefore, it is necessary for everyone seeking better employment opportunities in the organizational world to develop leadership skills as much as possible. This paper is written as a reflective paper to analyze my own leadership skills based on different perspectives of leadership. Self confidence Self-confidence or self-esteem is the opinion of a person about his own abilities and skills. Ultimately, a person knows his strengths and weaknesses better than others. It is not necessary that others may have right ideas about a person’s innate abilities and skills. According to Perera (2007), self-confidence of a person can be evaluated based on the answers given by him to the questions such as; Is your job worthwhile? Do others respect what you do? Do you believe you are successful?; How do you see yourself; How do you feel about your strengths and weaknesses?; Are you comparing yourself to others and ignoring the unique value that you have?; What do you think of your social status?; How do you relate to others? and Can you make your own decisions?. It is unimportant for me to think deeply about the nature of the jobs I am undertaking. But it is important for me to do the jobs perfectly irrespective of the nature of the job I am working on. Therefore, the first question; Is your job worthwhile, is irrelevant to me. I am not much interested in doing something to catch the attention of others. However, I have noticed that many of my colleagues watch my activities with curiosity in the workplace. In other words, the way in which I approach my work, has been catch the attention of others. I do believe that I am successful in my works up to certain extent. However, I can still improve my performances. In other words, I do believe that the organizations I worked for, failed to extract my true potentials. My major strength is my ability to communicate fluently with my fellow employees and superiors. I have the habit of speaking freely with my colleagues and superiors. Even though this habit has caused me some troubles at times, I do believe that proper communication is necessary for a successful leader or manager. It is not necessary that a leader communicate his ideas only verbally. In fact, I have the skills to communicate more things to my colleagues and superiors with the help of nonverbal means such as body language, facial expression, eye contacts, gestures etc. My major drawback as a leader is my inability to take quick decisions. In the modern business world, quick and sound decision making ability is necessary for a successful leader. However, I have the habit of taking long time for the analysis of all the dimensions of a problem before taking a decision about it. Delays in taking decisions in time have caused me many problems in the past and I wanted to improve this skill further to become a successful leader. I never tried to compare myself with others. I know very well that no two individuals are alike either in physical appearances or in mental abilities. Everyone has his own personality and it is necessary for every leader to improve his personality as much as possible and to make it attractive to the followers. The charisma, power, authority and personality of a leader can definitely build trust in the minds of the followers. In short, I have enough self-confidence to become a successful leader. I have to work on certain aspects such as quick decision making, in order to improve my leadership skills further. In order to boost my quick decision making abilities, I am planning to improve my emotional quotient (EQ) as much as possible. My major problem with decision making is the involvement of emotions in decision making. I should keep aside my feelings and emotions while taking quick decisions. Leadership traits The traits suitable to become a successful leader are often labelled as leadership traits. It is often said that some people are born leaders whereas as some others are developed leaders. In other words, both heredity and environment play important roles in the making of a successful leader. Even the son/daughter of Steve Jobs or Obama may not become successful leaders, unless they get proper environment for the development. Mukesh Ambani is the CEO of India’s biggest company; Reliance. However, his daughter is currently working in an American company to learn leadership skills. In short, experience changes a person from an ordinary leader to an outstanding leader. I have many skills to become a successful leader. Many of these skills such as the communication skills and interpersonal skills are inherited. However, I should learn other things such as quick decision making and problem solving to become a successful leader. At present, I have the habit of reacting based on emotions. It is necessary for a successful leader to control his emotions as much as possible while dealing with issues and problems. Modern leadership theories say that emotional quotient or EQ is more important than IQ, for a leader. Leaders with poor EQ may not be successful in taking wise decisions. Currently I am practicing medication and Yoga as a measure to improve my patience and temperament to become a more effective leader. Approaches to leadership based on situational, Path-Goal, and Leader Member Exchange theories Situational, Path-Goal, and Leader Member Exchange theories are very much popular in the organizational world. The core of situational theory is to take decisions based on the situations. In other words, situational theory rejects the idea of standardization in decision making. It allows leaders to take different leadership approaches on different occasions. For example, it is difficult for a leader to be democratic always in decision making. It is necessary for a leader to become autocratic at times, if the situation demands it. Path goal theory on the other hand believes that a leader should always work for the satisfaction of his subordinates. In other words, this theory argues that a leader should always try to improve the motivation and performances of the subordinates. Leader-member exchange (LMX) theory argues that the success and failure of a leader depends on his ability to make sound relations with the subordinates. At present, I am too much democratic in my approach. I am reluctant in using power when it is necessary. In other words, I respect and value the relationships with my subordinates too much and I have the habit of staying silent even when the employees underperform. It is necessary for me to use my power and authority as a leader whenever, I see the underperformance of my subordinates. If I fail to take any action, underperforming employees may consider it as my weakness. In short, I have to learn the art of using power judiciously, in order to become a successful leader. Approaches to leadership based on Team Leadership, Collaborative Leadership, Participatory Leadership and Transformational Leadership theories Team work is necessary for the success of an organization. As a leader, I have no problems in encouraging team work in my organizations. Moreover, I am not much bothered in taking the leadership role while working as part of a team. However, my collaborative leadership skills need further improvement. Even though I have no problems in dealing with the internal matters of my organization, I have some problems in dealing with its external matters. I have the habit of concentrating more on the organizational goals and neglecting the needs of the community while working in an organization. It is necessary for me to deal properly with the communities in which my organization operates. Moreover, I have to give more importance to corporate social responsibility and sustainable development while working as a leader in an organisation. I have to work hard to reduce the waste production in my organization. Moreover, I should make sure that all the organizational activities under my control are performed in harmony with the environment. Type of my leadership After taking the gender leader implicit association test, I got some unexpected results. I got positive scores all the time which indicates that there are some hidden associations between Female and Supportive and between Male and Leadership (The Gender–Leader Implicit Association Test, n. d., p.373) in my mind. In other words, my inherited perception about leadership is that it is suitable only for the males and females are incapable of becoming successful leaders. Another important thing I realised from this test is that many of my inherited beliefs are not suitable to become a successful leader. I should make drastic changes in my thinking and perceptions to become a successful leader. I should recognize that feminine qualities are as important as male qualities in becoming a successful leader. I should realise that some of the major international companies such as PepsiCo has successful women CEO’s at present. They are successful not because of their male characteristics, but because of their ability to adjust with the necessities of leadership. Culture and leadership Couture plays an important role in shaping leadership. It is difficult for an Indian or Chinese to become a successful leader in America, if he/she fails to take culture into the account. Management styles and leadership styles in different countries are different. Moreover, organizational culture is different for different organizations. It is not necessary that Apple Inc. and Samsung have same culture even if these companies are operating in the same industry. If a leader or manager joins Samsung Company after resigning his job from Apple Inc., he should make drastic changes in his approaches because of the cultural differences between Apple and Samsung. Apple Company encourages individual work more whereas Samsung encourages teamwork more. In other words, individualism is prominent in Apple Company whereas collectivism is characteristics of individualism and collectivism to become successful, while working in different companies. Role of integrity and trust on leadership Leader’s integrity plays an important role in enhancing the trust between the leader and the subordinates. If a leader behaves unethically, subordinates may not trust him. Therefore, it is necessary for a leader to keep morality and ethics in all his actions to capture the trust and confidence of the employees. Ultimately a leader execute his missions trough the subordinates. Subordinated can make or break a leader. Therefore, it is necessary for the leader to keep sound relationships with the subordinates all the time. Majority of the modern organisations have diverse workforce. It is necessary for me to manage the diverse workforce properly to capture the trust of the employees. Under no circumstances, I should behave differently to employees of different religions, culture, age or gender. I should keep integrity in my approaches while dealing with diverse workforce. My current leadership style My current leadership abilities are no so bad. However, I can definitely improve on many aspects. As a leader, I should make sure that I will not take any decisions motivated by emotions, feelings and prejudices. I should improve my decision making and problem solving skills further. The ability to develop new ideas is one of the plus points of great leaders. I should work on this aspect more to become a successful leader. I should improve my personality and charisma further to become an efficient leader. My fellow workers and subordinates consider me as a good leader now. I want to become an excellent leader in future. For that, I should work hard to develop leadership qualities and skills further. References Cohen W.A. (2000). The New Art Of The Leader Revised, Publisher: Prentice Hall Press (October 3, 2000) Hall, J. Johnson, S. Wysocki, S and Kepner, K. (2013). Transformational Leadership: The Transformation of Managers and Associates Retrieved from http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hr020 Perera, K. (2007). What is Self Esteem?. Retrieved from http://www.more-selfesteem.com/whatisselfesteem.htm The Gender–Leader Implicit Association Test, (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.sagepub.com/northouse6e/study/materials/Questionnaires/03409_14lq.pdf Read More