Leadership the Barrack Obama Way - Essay Example

Obama’s Leadership Name: Institution: Professor: Course: Date due: Obama’s Leadership Executive summary This paper is about leadership. It also shows how organisations are using various programs to encourage and build leadership traits. President Barrack Obama is a good example of a leader with good leadership qualities such as good communication, vision, perseverance among others. The programs include mentoring programs, one-week employee training program and developing people and capabilities. There is also on job employee training, learning from theory to practice, motivation measures and organisation succession planning programs. The above-mentioned programs help in identifying and growing of these good leadership traits. The programs also help in nurturing leadership qualities to help the organisation. Table of contents Introduction………………………………………………………….............. 4 Mentoring…………………………………………………………................ 6 One week Employee Training Program…………………………….............. 7 Developing People and capabilities………………………………............... 7 On job Employee training………………………………………….............. 8 Learning from theory to practice……………………………………............ 9 Motivation measures………………………………………………............. 9 Organisation succession planning program…………………………........... 9 Conclusion…………………………………………………………............ 10 References…………………………………………………………............. 11 Introduction Born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Barrack Obama is one of the renowned American Presidents not only in America, but also in the whole world. He goes down in the books of history as the first black president to rule the United States of America. Obama is not only a president but also a writer. He has quite a number of books to his name including, Dreams of my Father (Dinesh, 2011). Obama worked as a community organiser in Chicago as the director of the Developing Community Project (DCP). In the three years as director, the staff number grew by 12, that is, from one to thirteen. The budget also grew by a good amount. This shows that he was a hardworking man and determined to bring out the best in everything he did (Dinesh, 2011). He was also able to aid in the putting up of a job-training program and a college tutoring program. Because of the passion he had to help people, he also helped the tenants in having an organization called the tenants’ rights organisation. This helped them fighting for their rights and know their rights through the organisation. Wherever he worked or the people he was associated with, they all refer to him as a very intelligent man with a clear focus of what he wants. He also has a passion for helping people as he did in putting up an organisation as mentioned earlier. His efforts are inspiring. He came from a humble background but worked hard through school until he was able to be a senator and later the first black president of the United States of America (Dinesh, 2011). Some of his leadership traits are: a) Good communication- By communication, one means someone who does both listening and speaking. A good leader is one who not only speaks but also listens to what the people say (Ingo, 2010). Through speaking, the leader should be in a position to convince the nation on whatever stand he takes and why he chose that one. President Obama has been able to prove that he is a good listener by listening to his cabinet and a good a relatively good speaker. b) Vision- A vision is one of the most important things or elements in leadership. A leader without a vision is like someone who does not know what they want in life. A vision guides people to where they want to go. President Obama has a vision. A vision to make America better than it is. Through his campaign, he had a slogan ‘yes we can’. This can also be a vision for America that through whatever they can make it and make America a better place. The slogan helped him a lot in winning the presidential elections (Ingo, 2010). c) Perseverance- This is where one holds on to what they believe despite criticism from different people. This is also, where one is patient. As a President, Barrack Obama has faced a lot of criticism to his way of governance but he still sticks to what he believes is right and what will benefit America in the long run. Obama says this about perseverance,” Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it is not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way (Eric, 2009). The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won’t. It is whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere.” d) Calmness- Calmness is an important leadership trait that leaders should have. President Obama has portrayed a lot of calmness, through the tough times the country has faced. A good example is during the recession. Calmness helps one to make sound decision and get respect from the people. e) Fairness- A good leader must be fairing everything they do. They should make sure that there is no discrimination of people according to race, religion among others. In his plans to reform the tax system, he said he would want to reduce taxes for the middle class and even cut taxes for small businesses that help in job creation. This shows that he care for everyone in the United States and does not want people to suffer because of high taxes imposed on them (Ingo, 2010). f) Trust- President Obama is a very transparent leader and the citizens of America trust him. Among many others qualities, he is also a very passionate leader. He does his job with so much passion. He does his job not only to satisfy himself but the people of the United States of America. Mentoring Programs Leadership behaviour determines leadership skills. Some of the most common qualities required by many employers are integrity, responsibility, maturity and ethics. Due to this organisation are creating mentoring programs with many reasons. One of them is raising the moral of their employees (Eric, 2009). By boosting their morale, they increase production in the organisation and help in developing their careers. Self-confidence energises and it will give them the courage to stretch, take risks and achieve beyond their dreams. The mentorship programmes has many advantages. However, the company should explain to the employees the importance of the program. They should also explain why they have taken time to set out this programme and used a lot of money for it. An organisation should help plan for such programmes to keep their members in check. The work of the human resource system is to identify common leadership traits. This will help them creating a programme for the leaders and form them to better leaders. These qualities will guide critique and help the leaders in improving their everyday performance (Ingo, 2010). This program will help the trainees be in a position to deal with pressure, make sound decision and take the best risks. One-Week Employee Training Program This program is for selected team leaders and its main aim is to make the team leader’s communications skills the best. One of the ways is through making their conflict resolution skills good. Conflicts are a day-to-day thing and a team leader should know how to resolve conflicts between workmates. This will create a better environment for everyone to work effectively and be more efficient (Eric, 2009). Another way of improving their communication skills is through effective customer practise. For a business to grow one must have a good clientele. Proper handling of customers encourages an expansion in clientele (Ingo, 2010). Therefore effective customer practise is very important. Other skills such as practice skills may not really touch on communication skills but on their responsibilities. This will teach them on how to give better feedback, be more accountable and improve their negotiation skills. These skills will help them be better leaders in future. This process will teach them skills such as knowledge, attitude and proper behaviour. Learning principles define that a good program has to certify the learning and training objectives that include, practice, guidance, reinforcement and feedback. Reinforcement includes giving incentives and even money so that as the trainees try to finish a task they are well motivated. Developing People and Capabilities Problems such as confidence, initiative, problem solving and solution finding have affected many organisations. The aim of the short training is to bring out the best of each individual. It aims at showing the worker what their partners do. It also shows them how easy or challenging it may be (Eric, 2009). This helps the workers work together effectively knowing what their workmates do and know fast it can be done. The two ways the program does this is through; 1. Job rotation. During the program, the leaders change or rotate jobs with their workmates. This makes it possible for each one of them to know what they do and learn to it. This will help them to be in a position to do their workmates job just in case on gets into a problem. This will reduce backlog in the work if one of the workmates is not around (Eric, 2009). 2. The redistribution of certain controls may help in identifying leadership qualities in some of the junior members. The human resource can help them in bringing up these good leadership qualities. This program is also good in evaluating and making sure that the people are in the right jobs. They are not just struggling to make the organization happy but they are happy with what they do. On Job Employee’s Training This program focuses on models of problem solving analysis. It also allows them to refer to present leaders and think for themselves as they develop the good leadership traits and let go of the bad ones. The On Job Employee training should be in a way that addresses leadership experiences. Attainment of some leadership traits is through observable behaviours. This is through the incorporation of the behavioural theory (Eric, 2009). The juniors take duties done by the senior and try to execute them. This helps to grow leadership skills in them. Maslow’s hierarchy of basic needs applies here (Shelly. 2009). The five essential needs needed in motivating employees are; safety, shelter, love, self-esteem and self-actualization. If the workers have a good place to leave in and they are safe, they will be motivated to do their best (Ester & Mike, 2008). Love is also very important. If an employee does not feel loved and appreciated by the others employees they will not give their best to the organisation. As mentioned earlier, Self-actualization is very important because it will help the employees to give their all because they are confident of what they are doing. Both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards are important in a workplace. Principles of learning Learning has quite a number of principles. These principles help the person teaching to know how to handle various situations. Some of the principles are; 1. Organising efforts- This aims at teaching the learners that putting effort is important. The efforts can make one get high achievements. This area also involves learners to work together because the task may be challenging. This principle encourages teamwork. It also encourages one to be a very first thinker and to make the right choices when faced with a challenge. 2. Clear expectation- This is where what the learner should learn by the end of the session is clearly stated out. It is where performance is the most important thing because very many people are expecting a lot from the learner. This could be associated with tuition assistance. This is because the leaner in tuition assistance is expected to achieve certain habits or qualities by the end of the session. Qualities learnt through this principle may be the same as the ones in the tuition assistance. They could also learn on setting of gaols and evaluating themselves for improvement. 3. Evaluation- This is a method where learners learn how to examine themselves. It also makes learners realise that they would be evaluated in their various fields of study. In the event they get to evaluate someone in an organisation, they learn that they should do it fairly (Noe & Winkler, 2009). Fair evaluation creates a good relationship between workers. Evaluation helps workers to get the quality of hard work, which is very important. 4. Recognition of accomplishment- This principle dictates that when one does a good job, they should be recognised. This makes the workers for instance to work hard. Recognition encourages people to put in maximum effort. This principle may be used to encourage hard work in people. It may also be used to encourage teamwork. 5. Self-management- This principle encourages learn how to manage their time among many other factors. Proper time management is an important quality. It helps one make proper use of their time no matter how little it is. This helps in effectiveness of the work. 6. Learning as apprenticeship- Apprenticeship is learning through copying or looking. This helps the learners to copy the good and desirable qualities of the person they are learning from. This principle gave rise to the mentorship method of developing leadership qualities. This may make learners learn how to be hardworking, courageous, risk takers, good communicators among many others (Noe & Winkler, 2009). Learning From Theory to Practise This is where the employees practise what they had learnt theoretically. In this program, reinforcement shapes behaviour. The learners have to respond to environmental stimuli. A positive behaviour show that one has changed during the training process (Ester & Mike, 2008). Motivation Measures External and internal rewards determine motivation training. The two types are instinctive and extinctive. In instinctive motivation one is able to practice what they have learnt and this makes them feel like better and more skilled in their area of practice (Ester & Mike, 2008). Training programmes help employees want to learn more and be better leaders in future. The employees are able to grow their leadership qualities. Organisation’s Succession Planning Program This program helps the organisation in knowing good team leaders and retaining them for better positions in future. The duty of the human resource to establish skills and expertise the candidates require. The human resource should also retain qualified candidates for positions. Placing the right leadership for effective leadership takes a long time of training. This makes an organisation to have good and consistent performance (Shelly. 2009). This program involves building leadership qualities such as communication, decision making and confidence. This program also helps individuals transform and provide them with lifetime skills that they can use anywhere they go. Conclusion Leadership is an important part of our daily life. Without leaders, the world would have been a different place without any order (Ester & Mike, 2008). Claims are that everyone is born with some leadership qualities. Strengthening of these leadership qualities is important. The above named programs are important in bringing out the leadership traits in employees and instil other traits that the employee may need it their daily practice. These programs also help in bringing out the effectiveness of the people and build a successful industry. President Obama has done his best to see to it that America is a better place for the citizen through fostering equality and listening to his people. References: Shelly. L. (2009). Leadership the Barrack Obama Way: Lesson on Teambuilding and creating a winning culture in challenging times. New York. McGraw- Hill Professional Dinesh, S. (2011). Barrack Obama in Hawai and Indonesia: Making of a Global President. London. ABC CLIO Ester, C. & Mike G, (2008). Making sense of leadership: Exposing the five key roles used by effective leaders. New York. Kogan Publishers Eric, C. (2009). Five leadership theories applied in Barrack Obama’s first 100 days as president. New York. Grin Verlag Ingo, W. (2010). Contemporary leadership theories: Enhancing the complexity, subjective and dynamics of leadership. New York. Springer. Noe, R. A. & Winkler, C. (2009). Employee training and development: for Australia & New Zealand. North Ryde, N.S.W.: McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd. Read More