Leaders should support the values and mission of their organisations to promote them and behave in a manner consistent with these objectives. Although some people believe that leadership is an inborn quality of an individual, I think that it is a combination of skill, knowledge and understanding of the fundamental principles regarding the way people and organisations function. As such, one can improve their leadership capabilities through training and development, which is how I plan on contributing to the well-being of my organisation.
I think that in my current organisation, the focus in recent years has been on aligning the business goals with the contribution to the community and developing a viable Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy. As a leader, I intend on supporting this by improving my understanding of CSR and the connection between CSR and business goals. Moreover, I plan on emphasising the importance of the social element through my leadership. As Kotler states (2001, p. 103), leadership “has nothing to do with having “charisma” or exotic personality traits,” and therefore requires one to work on their personal characteristics and skills to become a good leader. Although I think that I was not born with leadership qualities, to lead a socially conscious and successful organisation, I need to understand the values and the vision for the CSR, be able to explain these elements to the employees, show them through my work, and continuously improve my skills and knowledge.
Additionally, I understand the importance of my role as a future leader and the responsibilities I have before my colleagues, and therefore I intend on committing to continuously improving my skills and professional knowledge. I have a clear vision of the gaps in my leadership skills, which can I address through further education and by working on my skills.
Based on the learning from this module, some recommendations include a need to approach leadership flexibly by understanding the context and organisational needs. For example, currently, I would suggest using a laissez-faire leadership approach, allowing my team to have as much freedom as they need to complete their work and promoting creativity in their work.
Additionally, from this module, I learned the importance of goal setting and the path-goal theory, which should help me improve the ability to set tasks and motivate my employees to work on them. This theory specifically emphasises the need to tailor my leadership style to the type of employees and work environment that I am in (What is path-goal theory?, no date). As I mentioned, I will work on applying the laissez-faire leadership style and incorporating the company’s CSR into my leadership by emphasising the social mission and the impact we are making through our work.
To conclude, every leader should work towards helping their organisation succeed. I plan on achieving this through personal development and acquiring more professional knowledge. The information I learned in this module helped me broaden my understanding of different leadership theories and the link between the goal and employee’s motivation, which I can now apply in my work. In the future, I plan on further improving my leadership qualities through learning, seeking advice from fellow leaders and feedback from the employees.
Reference List
Kotler, J. P. (2001) What leaders really do.