Concept of an Ideal Leader - Essay Example

Me as a Leader An ideal leader is one who works behind the scenes to ensure that a strong foundation is established within a team so that it can be more productive in its work. Such a leader must have a good understanding his own strengths and weaknesses so that he can more effectively lead his team and ensure that its productivity remains high. A leader has to make his team feel comfortable in their work environment because it allows it to perform better than if it were not comfortable. When a leader fosters a comfortable environment, it becomes ideal for the development of innovative ideas within the team that might be of great benefit to the organization. A leader has to have a diverse set of skills in order to ensure that he is able to be effective in the tasks that he has to accomplish. Personally, my greatest skills and strengths are communication, resourcefulness and obedience and I have utilized these skills in order to ensure that I make myself as effective as possible when it comes to the different tasks that I have at hand within the organization. I believe that communication is an essential skill and one of my strengths as a leader because it allows me to pass on information to his subordinates in such a manner that the latter are able to not only understand its implications, but also develop methods which can ensures that the information is useful in their work. I have found that effective communication creates an opportunity because it makes my work as a leader much easier because it ensures that my team is given the necessary instructions to make the projects that it is handling not only more understandable, but also making it possible for the project to be handled in such a way that the team is able to secure its set objectives. I believe that a lack of communication is a weakness as well as a threat because it would be much difficult for me to lead my team effectively because the different interests within the team would not be addressed; resulting in a conflict that might bring about a situation where all work within the team comes to a standstill. Another skill and strength that I possess and have been able to use effectively as a leader is being resourceful because it allows me to think outside the box whenever there are situations which cannot be handled directly. Resourcefulness is a strength because it means that the team can handle almost anything because they always find other means to accomplish set goals without necessarily having to follow strict guidelines that might make take too long to bring about results. Resourcefulness is an attribute that brings about a situation where the team comes to respect the leader and this is essential in making sure that the leader is able to head a cohesive unit when it comes to undertaking assigned tasks. When there is a lack of resourcefulness, it creates a weakness within the team where a leader ends up not being able to garner the respect of members of the team, thus making him ineffective. Thus, my resourcefulness is therefore an opportunity that has allowed me to accomplish many tasks with my team because it provides me with the necessary support I need to ensure that I am able to take on the responsibility of leading it effectively. There are conditions where I have found it necessary to be obedient because it allows me to accept that there are situations where some of my colleagues and even juniors might have better ideas than I do, which might be helpful for the team. Obedience is a characteristic that many leaders do not value because they believe that it erodes their authority and they do not take into consideration the fact that in order to lead, one must learn to follow. This character makes it possible for a leader to listen to the opinions of team members who are more knowledgeable about different situations and through this come to learn more about how to handle them. I have found this skill to be extremely useful because it has allowed me to find out the situations which need my immediate attention and after identifying these situations, I have been able to lead my team to develop the best solutions for them as possible. By combining effective communication, resourcefulness and obedience, I have been able to lead my team on numerous occasions in accomplishing a significant number of goals in the task that have been assigned. I have come to find that it is essential to improve my planning skills in both time management and planning the next step for the team because this is the only way through which I can be able to effectively lead my team in accomplishing diverse objectives. As a leader, it is a requirement that I make good decisions when it comes to making a choice of an activity as well as its execution within by the team. I believe that this is a basic component if proper planning can be established and maintained within an organization. Planning in the context of time management and planning the team’s next step is a characteristic that must be effectively practiced by a leader to ensure that there is proper management of the team. I have found that planning is a strength that enables a team to thrive in many different situations and this guarantees that its leader has the confidence of all the members of the team so that it can more effectively accomplish its objectives. The desire to improve my planning abilities are effective and all-encompassing in different situations is vital because this is the only way through which I will be able to lead my team effectively. Planning is essential in determining my relationships with members of my team and this is is instrumental in helping the effective working of the team through leading by example. Failure to plan the teams next step means that I might end up making the wrong and hasty decisions, which might jeopardize an entire project or the efforts of a team. One of the benefits of planning is that it enables a leader to learn before hand sufficient knowledge of the tasks that have been assigned to the team which makes sure that his decisions are highly effective. In order to acquire the knowledge necessary for planning, it is essential that a leader takes time to conduct investigations concerning the task that the team has to accomplish. Through this knowledge of task, it is possible for a leader to plan ahead in such a manner that he is able to deal with different uncertainities and situations as they arise rather than being caught by surprise in case of crises. In order to better my planning and time management skills, I intend to make it paramount when planning, to develop a timeline for the different tasks that need to be accomplished because this will guarantee proper time management and proper planning to ensure all tasks are done on schedule. In addition, in the immediate and short term in order to alleviate resistance from my team members I hope to create gnatt charts and task schedule for the current projects with the assigned personnels for each task and its time allocation. Before, implementing this change I will have to inform and advise my team members on the benefits of time management and effective planning so that they can own up my desire to improve on these two shortfalls. Furthermore, I will also inform them about the tools we will be employing towards our objective such as gnat charts, time schedules, weekly and monthly briefings and recognition system to be employed. In addition, I aim to be informing all team members of their current tasks and expected completion dates, and have them report on a weekly basis their progress and any challenges they are encountering to ensure appropriate alternatives are taken to ensure timely completion of tasks. In addition, in order to alleviate time wastage and ensure timely completion of projects without compromise on the quality standards set, I will create an employee recognition system that attaches recognition to quality work and timely completion of assigned tasks. In the long term, I will be planning and making time allocations for projects envisaged to be completed within 4 months duration of time. Timely completion of projects whilst ensuring and upholding quality will be the measure I will employ to determine my progress in improving my planning and time management skills. In regard to team members understanding their next step this will be evaluated and clarified on our weekly and monthly briefings where Iwill be informing them ahead of progress what is expected of them in the coming week or month. This goal I believe is ethical considering that it seeks to better not only my planning and time management skills, but still those of my colleagues and team members. In addition, it does seek to benefit the organizations interests most rather than my self interests as a leader. Read More