Critique of My Leadership Experience - Essay Example

Running Head: LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE Topic: Lecturer: Presentation: Introduction Leadership involves soliciting the support of other people to assist in the accomplishment of a shared goal (Alldredge et al. 2003). The leader uses his/her abilities to socially influence others to perform particular tasks for the common good. The person needs to possess particular competences that enable him/her to effectively persuade people to follow certain guidelines that he thinks need to be used for success to be accomplished. Beattie (2002) observes that leadership involves steering others to do something that is desirable or to develop something that is useful. In organizations, competent leadership is one of the aspects that are important in enhancing the accomplishment of organizational goals. Competent leaders are can propel an organization ahead through effective management of resources and maintenance of a favorable working environment. Finding solutions for workplace conflicts that may hamper the accomplishment of organizational goals are usually the responsibility of the leader. There are several conceptions of leadership, and each depends on the situation under which it is applied. Management need not be mistaken with leadership. They are different especially in the manner through which they interact with the subordinates. Leadership is more focused on the social aspect and needs a high level of emotional intelligence than management which is mainly concerned with resources, minimizing inputs and maximizing output. The leader has a responsibility of maintaining a socially organized group of followers; ensure that the devotees’ welfare is sustained as well as developing organizational values and principles that the followers need to observed (Cunliffe 2004). This essay is a critique of my leadership experience, which presents my underlying philosophical assumptions while coming in to leadership, and the way they are at the moment. It highlights some leadership learning moments from work and their implications. It offers a reflection of the application of the leadership lessons to academic, professional, and personal situations as well as the insights that I have about working in teams and leadership. Leadership Experience and Philosophies When coming in to leadership, one of my leadership philosophies was the believe that in order for leadership to be effective, there had to be the leader who was to remain the head of the group while followers were to remain loyal to the leader. I had personal values that I attached great respect to. For example, I had a strong believe that I would better move out of the organizations than be corrupt at any one time. This is one of the principles that maintain a genuine competence in an organization. I had come across many situations whereby organizations had fallen due to corruption within the management. In many situations, organizations would use other means to accomplish profitability while ignoring certain fundamentals that determined their integrity in the public as well as the government’s domain. The moment such organizations are discovered regarding lack of integrity in the implementation of tasks; they are usually fined or denied operating licenses. In the organization where I was presented with the challenge of leading the research team to complete a three year research project, I ensured that each team member followed the guidelines that I had put in place, believing that they would in steering the organization to success. I felt that failure to adhere to these values would lead to failure and I would rather quit before witnessing such a disappointment. My personal values formed the leadership foundation. I had several assumptions which I took as right and with a possibility to acting as a driving force towards my leadership thoughts. The standards that I had set were effective in making the assumptions clear. I believed that my leadership style was a significant factor determining the accomplishments of others. Authoritative leadership was significant the accomplishment of organizational as well as personal development goals. This was made possible by the assumption that dependable leadership would promote harmonious relations and enthusiasm amongst my subordinates. They had trust and desired to work under my control. This was a leadership philosophy that I understood was important for the success of my team. My realities as a leader were developed from my beliefs. The manner in which I treated my subordinates was as a result of my conviction regarding the members of the team. I believed that each person was capable of accomplishing tasks if presented with a favorable environment for work. It meant that treating all the team members equally and presenting them with favorable conditions for work would help in accomplishing goals. My beliefs were part of my habitual manner of thinking rather than conscious thoughts. I always ensured that people were capable of accomplishing the best from their actions through helping them to identify their talents and put them in to practice. This is a leadership philosophy that was significant in generating enthusiasm for work amongst the members of my team. In my leadership, I realized that my subordinates needed to accomplish a work-life balance in order to perform. This belief was true since as Beattie (2002) observes, accomplishment of a work-life balance reduces chances of fatigue and unnecessary exhaustion. I believed in flexibility that helped in adopting the most appropriate working procedures that would enhance satisfaction amongst team members. Failure to accomplish satisfaction is likely to cause reluctance and reduced commitment in the work-force. On the other hand, diversity in the work-place promotes sharing of ideas and utilizing talents to the maximum. As a leader, I understood that the two aspects of organizations were applicable in my team, and they led to the development of a highly inventive group. Competitiveness in an organization depends on inventiveness (Bate et al. 2000), which I believed must be initiated by the leader and transformed in to strategies for accomplishment of organizational goals. Up to this point, my leadership philosophies have not changed. They remain the same, and I have come to learn that they are also applicable in academic, professional and personal situations. In academic situations, my leadership philosophies can be used to enhance collaboration amongst staff in order to ensure that they share knowledge and ideas, which is important in promoting inventiveness and competence in the methods of instruction. Teamwork is significant for the enhancement of education. Strong leadership and team building through helping every person to realize and utilize his/her potential are significant in research and development, which is core to offering quality of education. Treating group members equally is significant in ensuring that all members have an equal opportunity for contributing towards the success of an organization is significant in building effective teams (Alldredge et al. 2003). All professions require strong leadership for goals to be accomplished. The success of organizations relies on the leadership to a large extent. It needs to be differentiated from management roles that are mainly focused on maintaining high profits with minimal use of resources. Leadership is about providing direction through socially influencing the followers and ensuring that they understand that the leader’s role is not focused on supervisory activities only. Rather, leadership needs to be seen as an important aspect of the organization that promotes harmonious working relations in the workplace (Alldredge et al. 2003). Managers can possess the qualities of strong leaders, but it is not mandatory that all managers are strong team leaders. For example in my leadership experience, I was the head of a research team in an organization, which had several managers. I reported as a team leader to the manager regarding the progress of my team on a weekly basis. I was close to my team members mainly because I understood the difficulties that they encountered in their day to day activities. However, the manager was mainly concerned about the output, and always enquired regarding the results of the research but not the welfare of the staff. When people note that their personal needs are disregarded by their leaders, they are likely to develop a negative attitude towards their tasks, which may lead to failure in accomplishing organizational goals (Kesler 2002). As a leader, I had to explain to the manager concerning the needs of members of my team. The manager was not focused on any particular leadership philosophy, but was competent in managing organizational resources for the purpose of profitability. However, in order to maintain this profitability and achievements in research and development, the staff who are the implementers of decisions need to have their needs given more concentration. My advice to the manager significantly helped in improving workplace flexibility and satisfaction amongst my subordinates. Their enthusiasm resulted in higher commitment, which led to more productivity. Such a lesson in academics, professional, and personal situations is significant in the improvement of the performance of workers, and hence the quality of output to the students. In conclusion, leadership philosophies are significant in enhancing the leadership potential and the capacity to help people to accomplish organizational goals. Leadership values and principles allow leaders to remain people centered, which help in maintaining satisfaction amongst the subordinates. Teamwork is important in all workplaces and it enhances the exchange of knowledge and ideas. Leadership philosophies are important in the maintenance of competitiveness amongst professionals and should be encouraged among persons who have a leadership role in any work-place. References Alldredge, M., Johnson, C., Stoltzfuz, J., & Vicere, A. (2003). Leadership development at 3M: New process, new techniques, new growth. Human Resource Planning, 26(3), 45. Bate, P., Khan, R., & Pye, A. (2000). Towards a culturally sensitive approach to organization structuring: Where organization design meets organizational development. Organization Science: A Journal of the Institute of Management Sciences, 11(2), 197. Beattie, M. (2002). Educational leadership: Modeling, mentoring, making and re-making a learning community. European Journal of Teacher Education, 25(2/3), 199. Cunliffe, A. L. (2004). On becoming a critically reflexive practitioner. Journal of Management Education, 28(4), 407. Kesler, G. C. (2002). Why the leaders never gets deeper: Ten insights about executive talent development. Human Resource Planning, 25(1), 32. Read More