Professional Growth and Leadership Skill Training - Essay Example

Name: Institution: Course Name: Lecturer: Date of Submission: Professional growth and Leadership skill training Introduction Leadership refers to a decisive ability whose basic tenets can be put to practice in production, administration, management and other vital sectors of the community in order to achieve a better outcome. Good leadership usually takes into account the aspect of responsibility, thus ensuring that everyone is answerable for the tasks that they have been assigned to in a well ordered community and that they are compensated for it. On the other hand, professional growth refers to the proficiency achievement for individual and career development. Professional growth often encompasses a range of educational activities so as to enhance both the individual and career development. This paper will analyse professional growth and leadership skill training. Change of ideas of leadership Initially, my conception of leadership was that a leader had to always lead from the top through the delegation of duties and tasks to the subordinates. After undertaking this course, this notion was completely transformed into the belief that a leader is a servant, whose leadership strategies should enable those under them to carry out their duties, not out of apprehension or intimidation, but through self will and the desire of attaining the best in that which they are doing. I used to believe that leaders should compel those under them to achieve whatever it is that an organisation wishes to attain, but after this course, my view changed into believing that the subordinates should be allowed a considerable degree of freedom so as to have the possession of their accomplishment in order to feel part of the organisation. This makes them feel that their individual efforts are adding to the organisation’s continued prosperity (Centre for Creative Leadership 2012, p 7). Moreover, in the dispensation of their individual tasks and duties, a good leader should ensure that the subordinates are given the necessary support so as to accomplish them on time and in the best shape possible. In addition, I learnt that, as a leader, ensuring that they are provided with information regarding how their tasks should be implemented is not doing their job but ensuring that the organisation gets the best out of them. With this in view, a leader should ensure that the necessary resources are placed within their reach so that the projected result is attained hence driving everything towards the attainment of the set goals (Centre for Creative Leadership 2012, pp 7-8). My trajectory as a leader in the beauty industry In the beauty industry, communication is an essential aspect in ensuring that the customers are well informed of the products on offer for them. As a leader in this industry, my main aim will be to not only make my clients the addressees of the marketing messages, but to have a say in them. This strategy will ensure that they do not feel that they are seen as the objects of the products but the sole determiners of what they want produced for their requirements. Helping the clients understand that the beauty industry is meant to assist them in comprehending their flawlessly deficient self will be vital in my leadership strategy because beauty is authentic and cannot be superseded by anything else (Fashion Institute of Technology 2010, p4). Since the beauty industry clients are fast becoming choosy and demanding, my role as a leader in the industry will be to ensure that we are ready for them when they come to be tended to. This can be achieved by ensuring that the industry is miles ahead of their preferences and in the process beating them at their own game. Moreover, ensuring that the industry offers tailor made services is another way of ensuring that the clients feel that they are in control of their beauty needs. Moreover, the goal of any industry is ensuring that new markets are created and in this regard, my leadership trajectory will ensure that I do not veer off from this objective. My main aim will be to ensure that the leadership resides closer to the clients aspirations so as to be at their calling (Rotary International 2008, p 2). My leadership profile In any flourishing organisation, leaders can be found in any department within the organisation; be it in the production, finance, procurement, sales and marketing or mailroom. Although this is impossible in other organisations, it is usually possible in those that practice team originated systems in the place of the traditional hierarchical leadership that sets limits on who can lead thus cutting out other would be leaders. Organisations that practice team leadership often gives everyone a chance of proving their worth and in so doing cultivates in them the sense of self-awareness and enthusiasm hence the determination to perform better (Goleman 2006, pg 1). In determining my leadership profile, the qualities that I love in myself as a leader usually take a forefront analysis. I usually prefer team leadership to any other approach because it ensures that the coordination of activities hence an all inclusive decision making thus making everyone part of the team. By effectively carrying out my tasks in the team structure, I get an insight into how I can better myself as a leader. Moreover, I usually admire my integrity because it usually makes me answerable for the tasks that I have been given hence promoting the spirit of team building whereby each one does their part in pooling together towards the attainment of group objectives. Deciding on the leaders that I wish to follow plays a major part in the creation of my leadership profile because it helps me in fine tuning that which I wish to subscribe to thus improving on my general qualities of leadership. On the same, this gives me an overview into the leadership strategy that I would like to be part of. Following inspirational leaders usually encourages me to pursue my group’s goals and objectives in the same line thus revitalizing the entire team. Seeing them following their mission with an undying fervour often stimulates me into following the options that my team has set down towards the attainment of team objectives. My profile of leadership is usually to a greater extent determined by the distinctive challenges that my individual group often faces. Borrowing from what other leaders have done when in the same predicament, I have always been able to manoeuvre around the issue hence coming out with an applicable solution. Professional development skills In any career, professional development is usually essential in ensuring that individuals better themselves both personally and professionally thus improving their chances of work related promotions and pay rises. Moreover, these skills usually make the individuals more knowledgeable in what they are doing thus making them gurus in their fields of specialisation. Becoming a sage in an individual’s own field usually motivates them to perform better because they are always sure of what they are doing, a feature that makes them self reliant and hence more productive towards the team building. These skills usually make one ready to take up new and demanding responsibility because it is usually assumed that when one gains additional knowledge, then they are ready for a more challenging task and environment. Communication is one of the skills that I came with into the course with and it has been enhanced while attending the course. Being an essential part of all the activities that man undertakes, communication forges all the activities that man is involved in. In a working environment, communication is usually essential in forging new relationships that see an organisation rise to new levels. During the course, I was able to learn the importance of communication in advancing organisational objectives and goals. Through organisational communication, information is disseminated to the essential organs of the organisation thus enabling it to attain its set objectives. Moreover, through the study, I was able to identify the areas of an organisational structure that are linked to communication, for instance, leadership and communication structures (The World Bank 2009, p 2). Another skill that the course aided me enhance is self reliance and how it gives power to the general organisation. The course enabled me discern that refusing to give in to the pressure to conform to how everyone does whatever they do often results in organisational redundancy thus leading to the death of creativity. Carrying out organisational tasks in a self reliant way usually allows individuals to induce creativity within an organisation. Moreover, self reliance allows individuals to be self motivated because it reduces the day to day monitoring that usually exist in the work place. In an organisational setting, self reliance usually gives an individual some sense of autonomy thus allowing the departments to make some decisions that affect their specific operations. In the course of my study, I was able to learn the importance of volunteer work to professional development. Through volunteer opportunities, one is able to practically have a working experience which is usually essential when it comes to operations in an organisational setting. Moreover, the volunteer opportunities usually offer one the chance of enhancing their curriculum vitae and in so doing upping their likelihood of organisational employment. Through volunteer services, one is able to work their self-confidence and through that, they are usually ready to take up the tasks and duties that come with organisational expectations. Another skill that I learnt is the interviewing skill because it is usually essential in professional development in that it readies one in the job searching field. By studying the interviewing skills, I can now comfortably identifying my potency and weak spots and in so doing I can comfortably enumerate my interests. With this self knowledge, one is very comfortable in drafting curriculum vitae that will get them the job that they have applied for. Another skill that I learnt is industry expectation, a skill that enables one be able to identify the requirements and prospects of the organisation that they intend to work with. Different organizations and industries have diverse expectations and hence, by attaining this skill I will be able to analyse the different industries expectations and in so doing, I will have an overview of where to start if hired. Knowing the industry expectations is usually essential in career growth and development. During my two years study, what I used to think as being very essential in professional development was not as important as I thought it would be. Before the commencement of the course, I think to think that there was no need for academic pursuance once an individual had a job. How wrong I was. With the emergence of globalisation and the rise of new technologies with the dawn of each day, career growth and advancement is essential in ensuring that the organisational stuff keeps up with the changing trends. As technology changes, organisations should be ready to take it up within their departments, and this can only come to pass if the organisation’s workers have been adequately prepared to take up the new technology. Before the study, I used to think that investment and wealth creation was a common sense skill that warranted no further learning because I thought that everyone knew all the basic tenets with regard to its application. In the course of the study, I learnt that whatever I knew was not as useful as I thought it was. Although it was one of the skills that were offered in the course, there was more to it than it met the eye. I was able to add to the little that I knew and at the end of the course, I was well aware of what this skill entailed. Most of the beliefs that I harboured with regard to this skill were wrong and it was only after encountering it in the study that my notions completely changed. Post graduation skills In professional growth and leadership skill learning, there is usually so much that can be covered within the stipulated time of the course, thus much is usually attained while in the field either on industrial attachment or which carrying out volunteer activities. There are several other skills that I will be able to encounter in the course of my interaction with the diverse organisational players. Marketing is one of the skills that we were not able to encounter during the study although it is a major skill in most organisations that deal with the production of goods and services for sale. In such organisations, being endowed with the marketing and sales skills is usually an added advantage because the marketing department is usually a vital part of the organisational structure. On the same, discovering how far self-motivation can take an individual is another skill that was not covered. Although it was not covered, it is usually essential for organisational workers to be self motivated in order to be able to attain the goals that they have set for themselves and those that the organisation has set for them. Conclusion Professional development and leadership training skills is an essential course for every individual who values self and professional advancement. In any organisational setting, an individual’s performance is usually measured by what they do for the organisation and not vies-versa, hence professional advancement often gives them the power to attain that cut that the institution is out for. Coupled with leadership skills, professional growth usually ensures that an individual is self reliant and self motivated, hence ready to take up the responsibilities that accompany self growth. Leadership skills are essential because they give one the chance of looking at things from a different perspective while at the same time enabling them accommodate other people’s contributions towards the attainment of organisational or team goals. Through professional development, leadership skills are usually attained because there is usually no one perspective of looking at things, and therefore, the more training one attains, the more they become readied to take up more and tougher duties. References Fashion Institute of Technology, 2010, Leadership in Action: News from the Beauty Industry’s Think Tank. Volume 2, Issue 2. Retrieved 24/12/12 at http://www.fitnyc.edu/files/pdfs/CFMM_LeadershipInAction_Vol_2_Iss_2.pdf Centre for Creative Leadership, 2012, Executive Reader: Ideas into Action Guidebooks. Retrieved 24/12/12 at http://www.ccl.org/leadership/pdf/publications/readers/GuidebookReader.pdf Rotary International, 2008, Leadership Development: Your Guide to Starting a Program. Retrieved 24/12/12 at http://www.rotary.org/RIdocuments/en_pdf/250.pdf Goleman, D., 2006, Leadership that Gets Results. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved 24/12/12 at http://academy.clevelandclinic.org/portals/40/hbrleadershipgetsresults.pdf The World Bank, 2009, Communication for Governance and Accountability Program: Organisational Communication. Retrieved 24/12/12 at http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTGOVACC/Resources/OrganizationalCommweb.p df Read More