Leadership needs to be widely diversified to be truly successful. A leader must exhibit traits of accepting and solving a wide variety of business problems and issues, of different hues, and have varying levels of impact on the business environment. It could be in terms of trade union issues, or could even be proceeding against directors for breach of contractual trust. What followers look upon leaders is to provide solutions that could be implemented for good, and without creating further rancor. A leader needs to mold himself to suit the critical tasks and issues presented to him and solve them with perspicacity and wisdom, considering both the short-term and long-term effects of his actions and decisions. Thus, he needs to do some hard thinking before taking a final decision on pressing issues. Therefore, leadership involves taking stock of the situation and acting in the best interests of all; it could also be in terms of taking alternative views of the situation, being considerate of the views of followers, etc., and making solutions that truly address the problem in hand. It could also be in terms of creating a congenial atmosphere for work processing and involving all players in the tasks at hand. Only by taking a complete and holistic view could management leadership be successful in creating amicable rapport with the workforce and aggrieved parties and find solutions for their grievances.
Effective leadership
Pick an occasion when you served as an effective leader within an organization (whether formally or informally):
The occasion when one served as an effective leader within the organization was when one officiated as an executive of the Literary Club, an innovative venture.
“Leadership is essential for creating the future through innovation.” (McCrimmon 2008). The main idea was to release an official souvenir to commemorate the Golden Jubilee year of the organization. It was necessary to coordinate with writers to publish articles and short prose, poetry, etc., and also augment the printing and publication costs of the souvenir through sponsorship advertisements and publicity efforts and the “vision unites people.” (The Leadership is Followed: The Manager Rules. 1997).
To what factors do you owe your effectiveness?
The factors to which one owes effectiveness are the educational background, the encouragement given by parents and peers to instill and develop taste for reading a large assortment of good books of various genres including self-development and literary works of various distinguished writers. The passion for writing, though inborn and innate, needs to be developed at a tender age, lest it dies a natural death. Talents cannot be hidden for long; it needs to seek outlets through reading, writing, and communication. Writing provides the best forum for not only displaying one’s innate talents and communication skills but also creates avenues for self-expression and skill development. Through writing, one could become self-critical, understand and eliminate one’s deficient areas and seek excellence in written matters. It also molds one’s total personality with relation to society, environment, and societal order. It seeks to harmonize the world within a person with the world outside, with which he/she constantly interfaces and interacts. It is necessary to believe that “leadership is setting a new direction or vision for a group that they follow.” (Leadership and Management. 1995).
What leadership qualities do you feel you exemplified?
The leadership qualities one exemplified were planning skills, organising skills, co-ordination, motivation, and decision making. It also sharpened interpersonal and group dynamics skills which are needed for leadership success. Through interacting at personal and official levels with different levels of organisational hierarchy, one develops a plethora of skills on how best to interact with people and situations in order to achieve desired goals and objectives. It is necessary that a harmonious and delicate blend be established so as to serve the cause of humanity and sub-serve individual goals to seek and achieve group harmony and efforts.
What qualities of an effective leader do you think you could improve in yourself?
Written communication skills are very important in leadership and need to be improved, especially in the present context of e-commerce driven world with no geographical barriers, for reaching out to the world. It could also be seen in terms of creating better order and discipline for the team to follow. Discipline and adherence, coupled with hard work, skill development and interpersonal interacting are important facets of effective leadership. Again, since the concept and ethos of leadership is constantly evolving and changing over time, it is necessary for one to keep abreast of the latest development and learning in leadership and how it could be developed wisely over changing time while retaining its essential core principles and ethos.
Critically examine your leadership qualities to complete this DQ
The leadership qualities need to be evolve over time. The leadership skill sets needed for a jet airliner pilot would not be the same for a primary school teacher, or even a business leader. Not only do the skill sets vary in individual traits, but the kind, intensity and degree of leadership also differ significantly. For the military, the skill sets required is “honour, duty, mission, insight, “ etc. whereas for a business leader it is in terms of planning, organising, evaluating, motivating and seeking markets for products and services. A full set of leadership qualities may not be needed for all leaders to be successful – only those that could be fitted to the task ahead need to be applied in terms of planning, organising, motivating, commanding, decision making, gaining results and seeking goal compliance and conformance. “Some leaders try to develop themselves by studying the lives of great leaders,” (Shenkman 2007).
Conclusion
It is seen that leadership is an evolving process that needs to adopt a holistic view of the situation and select the skill and leadership qualities that are needed to achieve them. The circumstances surrounding the facts are also important. When leadership needs to be competitive, strategic decision needs to be made and implemented that could benefit all concerned.
Bibliography
Leadership and Management. (1995). [online]. TeamTechnology.co.uk.Web.
MCCRIMMON, Mitch. (2008). The Strategic Management: The Importance of Leadership and Management. [online]. Suite101.com. Web.
SHENKMAN, Michael. (2007). Can You Turn Managers into Leaders. [online]. The Sideroad. Web.
The Leadership is Followed: The Manager Rules. (1997). [online]. Me96. Web.