Building Leadership Strategies - Term Paper Example

Building Leadership Strategies Introduction It is evident that we are going into the businesses where ethics, integrity and organizational values are a great concern in developing effective leaders. For any organization to be more competitive, the leaders must have a value statement that is implemented in a more meaningful way. This paper presents the leadership vision that is necessary for developing an effective organization. It also highlights the leadership goals and the strategies of attaining these goals. Finally, it discusses integrity and ethics as the greatest values in organizations. Part 1: Leadership Vision A vision is the conceptual projection of the future. It is an idea of how one wants his or her future to be like (Lawton, 2015). Leadership vision is important as it guides and creates a desire to develop and improve. It gives a sense of purpose and embodies the ideals and hopes of a leader. My vision is to be an empathetic, honest and influential leader who is recognized within my organization and internationally. I am dedicated to growing as a leader and serving my followers with great integrity. Part 2: My Leadership Goals and how they contribute to My Vision Statement Developing Rapport with the Employees My first goal as a leader is to develop a great rapport with the employees. I am willing to go beyond and above in my job duties. At the same time, I am willing to leave the cubicle and concentrate on my soft skills and developing a great relationship with the employees and the other staff in the lower rank of the organizational hierarchy. I believe that developing these relationships will help me in engaging everyone within the organization in the activities and the business operations. Articulating my Vision My second goal is to identify the core values of developing my vision plan. These values will align with the principles that apply to me the most (Lawton, 2015). This will be beneficial to the organization as my team will start to look at me and become motivated to meeting the objectives of the organization. Continue Learning and Developing my Skills By the time I will reach the senior most position in the organization, I will be inclined to meeting all the organizational objectives. Learning agility is imperative goals that will enable me maintaining a mindset that would help with the attainment of these goals (Hoch, 2018). I will try new approaches, not be afraid of making mistakes and request feedback from my employees. The end result of regular learning may not be positive all the times. But experience is always the best teacher as most people put it. Learning will rub off to all the other employees and everyone will ultimately have a mindset of continuously developing their skills. Motivating the Employees As a leader, I will focus on inspiring my workers to go their extra mile for the organization. In this light, I will pay them a fair salary to inspire them. I will also focus on building their self-esteem through rewards and recognition and by offering them a great opportunity to improve their investment in the organization. I will learn the types of motivators that would best work for my employees and apply them appropriately. This goal would apply to my vision statement as I would be able to influence the employees to work harder and help me achieve the organizational goals and objectives. Delegating Leaders who do not delegate work to the employees and other supervisors always struggle to get work accomplished (Demirtas, 2015). They always fear to delegate tasks for appearing to be weak or incompetent. However, delegating tasks is a sign of strength and democracy. Therefore, I will identify the skills of every employee as assign them their duties basing on their skills set. This will also allow me to focus on other important tasks. Ultimately, delegating my work will enable be achieving my vision for the organization by developing trust among the employees. Part 3: Action Plan for Leadership and How to Reach My Goals Development of Role Model Senior leaders should set the pace for the mid-level leaders to enable a culture of development. They should be great role models for developing their employees and focus on developing the skills and the capabilities of their employees. S Effective leaders perceive learning as an investment but not an expense. Learning is meant to return the dividends of a workforce. An effective leader should, therefore, continue learning to develop his or her skills as a role model to the other organizational leaders and the employees. Clearly Communicating the Expectations Effective leaders should clearly communicate their expectations to create enthusiasm and develop an organizational culture that is open exchange and support (Hewlin, 2017). They should be skilful at motivating the employees to see their pathways and set up the goals for the achievement of success. They also need to hold the employees accountable for the delivery of their work promises to their managers, bosses, team and stakeholders. Ensuring Training and Development of the Employees Most employees always seek to learn and develop their skills while working day and night. They always crave for an environment that enables them to learn and develop their skills (Hoch, 2018). It is the duty of their leader to ensure that these employees meet their learning, training and development expectations. Great leaders integrate learning as a crucial part of the responsibilities and develop a thin line between work and learning. They should establish an environment that enables the employees to be creative enough to find solutions to the organizational challenges. Strategies for Achieving the Leadership Goals Offering Appropriate and Relevant Training Organizational leaders must focus on training and development in order to build a strong skill set for their leadership (Northouse, 2017). Different training is appropriate for different levels of leadership. It is important to determine the type of leadership that is appropriate for different types of training to avoid time and money wastage. For instance, it is not necessary for a junior executive to be offered a high-level training and development program as the junior executive doesn’t have a report yet. Despite the mentoring program being so beneficial to the organizational leaders, the junior executive may not have the opportunity to apply the experience in the future. Commitment to Continuous Leadership Training It is imperative to invest in the leadership development program at different levels. This will be beneficial in filling up the future leaders who are well prepared to handle new experiments. The best way to achieve this is by developing a long-term strategy that would incorporate continuous training sessions that develops on the individual progress of the career development (Hewlin, 2017). This can also be achieved through the development of the strategies of meeting the short-term and long-term objectives of the organization. Developing a System that Evaluates the Training Results The organizational leaders need to determine whether the leadership development plans is creating the improvements that are highlighted in the organizational goals as one would do with any new initiative (Demirtas, 2015). The evaluation will integrate the post and the pre-training assessment of the employee survey. A successful organization needs an exceptional leader that would effectively develop the system and get the results of the training. How Changing the Leadership Traits may lead to Different Outcomes Changing one thing about the leadership can lead to a different outcome that may either be good or bad. Good managers could turn out to be bad leaders and vice versa. Strategies of Working on the Leadership Goals Creating a Strong Organization The organizational leader should have an excellent grasp of the strategies of meeting the organizational goals in the future (Northouse, 2017). This is essential as the leaders need to manage and understand the mission of the organization as well as the organizational structure and help the sub-leaders to achieve their goals. Motivating the Employees In order to meet the leadership goals, it is important to motivate the employees towards achieving the organizational goals and objectives (Ndalamba, 2018). Most leaders always depend on exercising the power of coercion to inspire the employees. Another way of inspiring the employees is through the exercise of authority by a leader who has a superior ability or commitment of skills. Part 4: Leadership Ethics and Integrity  characteristics of my Own Ethical Behaviors An ethical leader should talk about the significance of workplace integrity and doing the right thing at the right time (Hoch, 2018). They should not also blame other leaders and employees when anything goes wrong but determine the exact cause of the problem. Ethical leaders should also support the employees in their efforts to doing the right thing. They should also hold themselves and others responsible for violating the code of conduct set forward by the organization. They should also focus on giving positive feedback and keeping commitments and promises. The Two Most Significant Values of Ethics and Integrity Integrity is an essential value that is needed in an organization. The employee will not follow their leaders unless they have gained trust with them (Hewlin, 2017). Trust can only be achieved by doing things the right way even when no one is watching. There are unfortunately many cases of lack of integrity in our society today. A great example is the case of Lance Armstrong who was recently admitted to utilizing restricted materials in his sporting activities. Workplace ethics follow the same path as integrity. If the leadership of an organization has a written code of conduct, the leaders should not fail to meet these regulations. Leaders that show string ethical behaviours always influence the actions of other people. Maintaining a high standard of integrity as a Leader First, one needs to be a role model to the team. It is essential to be clear and consistent about the ethical standards that a leader needs to be followed on his or her organization (Demirtas, 2015). I will strive to provide facts and speak up and challenge any systems that promote unethical behavior or dishonesty. Secondly, I would be an example of ethical leadership. I will ensure that I am consistent, clear and open with my ethical expectations and standards. I will also encourage my employees to express their concerns regarding the questionable practices as well as review the ethical concerns that the team may openly provide. Finally, I would focus on living as per the values of my organization. I will achieve this by showing that I am a proud member of the organization. I will walk the talk and be a great example of what my employees should follow. References Demirtas, O., & Akdogan, A. A. (2015). The effect of ethical leadership behavior on ethical climate, turnover intention, and affective commitment. Journal of Business Ethics, 130(1), 59-67. Hewlin, P. F., Dumas, T. L., & Burnett, M. F. (2017). To thine own self be true? Facades of conformity, values incongruence, and the moderating impact of leader integrity. Academy of Management Journal, 60(1), 178-199. Hoch, J. E., Bommer, W. H., Dulebohn, J. H., & Wu, D. (2018). Do ethical, authentic, and servant leadership explain variance above and beyond transformational leadership? A meta-analysis. Journal of Management, 44(2), 501-529. Lawton, A., & Páez, I. (2015). Developing a framework for ethical leadership. Journal of Business Ethics, 130(3), 639-649. Ndalamba, K. K., Caldwell, C., & Anderson, V. (2018). Leadership vision as a moral duty. Journal of Management Development, 37(3), 309-319. Northouse, P. G. (2017). Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practice. Sage Publications. Read More