Leqadership Self Reflextion
[Type the company name]| | [Type the document subtitle]| | keshav| 5/26/2012| | Table of Contents Introduction2 The rings of the tree and temperaments (keirsey)2 Leadership and me3 My new insights to leadership4 Leadership and my experience5 My weakness as a leader6 Conclusion6 References7 Introduction Leadership is that talent that helps an individual to help one self and others through a crisis situation and attain the goal set set by aligning the direction of his team towards the ultimate goal.
It is very important to be aware of the leadership one has in himself/herself to be a better leader and nourish these qualities. These leaders will be able to perform well on ‘personal’, ‘team’ and ‘organisations’ point of view. This essay is the reflection of and my thoughts regarding leadership. The rings of the tree and temperaments (keirsey) As far as the communication angle of my talent is considered I am concrete in nature. I have well formed ideas shaped enough to be imparted to others in a very convincing way. I concentrate on reality, and facts rather than simply conveying news on the basis of mind’s eye.
But I am sensitive to other peoples change and try sensing a positive or negative energy in a person. In case I find negative energy I tend to sort their situation out by cooperating with them and turning the energy positive. I am also good at converting the the abstract ideas to concrete ones and implementing them if required with greatest dedication. I am cooperative in nature and this makes me friendlier to my colleagues. I am empathetic too and I allot works on the basis of my team members ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ and the ‘quality of the work’ that are offered by them.
This helps me to assign the ‘right work’ for the team member and this helps in maximum productivity and satisfaction from the employees (Keirsey, 1998). In the third ring of being reactive or proactive in nature i. e. directive or informative I am more lenient towards proactive one. This is also one of the advantages of being intuitive. I am capable at directing others to achieve the goals that are set. When it comes to the fourth ring I am more expressive than I am attentive. Among the four temperaments that are there, I belong to the to the guardians category that are concrete and cooperative.
I relate myself more to the administrator than to the conservators (Keirsey, 1998). Leadership and me It is important to analyse oneself as a leader and to be aware of one’s strength and weakness to make a better leader. Most effective leaders always invest in their strengths and surround themselves with the right people to maximise their team. They also understand their follower’s needs. These are some of the core strengths I have as a leader. I am aware and am appreciative of my leadership skills of communication, mindfulness and empathy. I try on building up my strengths and reducing my weakness through self analysis.
Like all the leaders in the world I was also influenced by the other teachers and prominent personalities and am inspired by their leadership styles. I also realise that the leaders made these changes through planning that was implemented on a time plan. I also hope to inspire people around me and make them be appreciative by adapting the most vibrant and preferable style for others. The leaders also influence change by providing direction and chances for continuous improvement. As a leader in my life the number of roles I have played is very limited considering the interpersonal, informational and managerial roles of a leader.
I have been a leader, monitor and resource allocator to my team and the roles played on other areas like negotiator, disturbance-handler, entrepreneur, spokesperson, disseminator, liaison and figurehead are very limited and have to be undertaken in the future. I have only worked on an individual and group level of an organisation and haven’t managed to get past the middle-level management in an organisation. On the basis of the leadership trait theories I sense the traits of I have comparatively a higher level of energy and has a talent of persuasion.
My leadership style also belongs to the new style of leadership that is accepted in the new era and that is highly decentralised in nature. I value my team members and try to appreciate them for their contributions in the welfare of the team. I also promote the system of feedback and thereby improve myself and helping others to improve. This also means that I have adapted myself to a democratic leadership style. I also realise that there is nothing appreciative in a team as favourable working employs. in leadership is need for affiliation.
I am willing to please people and am very often concerned about them. I have a very positive outlook on leadership and I am more productive when I work with employees who have theory Y attitude. I also try and make my team positive enough to realise the Pygmalion effect of thinking positive. I am also very strict about being ethical in implementing responsibilities when I, the team members and the organisation is concerned. This is also why I think upbringing of a child highly influences the moral and ethical standards that will be followed by him/her in the future. My new insights to leadership
Leadership qualities can be inborn. But they can be conquered through continuous efforts and through planning. Leaders are relied upon by the organisations for achieving the already set goals. It can even be said that the the success or failure of an organisation highly relies on the success of the various leadership styles that are adopted by the leaders. It is not possible for all the leaders to have all the ideal qualities of being a leader. It is the different combinations of these qualities that makes one leader different from one another and allows one to be better than the other.
On reading the book ‘the Tao of Leadership’, I accept some of the truths behind leadership of which some are ‘wise leader is like water’. A leader should have it in him to cleanse and refresh all the creatures without any difference and is fearless to search in to the surface of things. It is responsive and is ultimately not bound to anyone. The ultimate goal of a leader is harmony. When harmony is established things tend to work on an organised pace. The group who is working for a leader is very sensitive. When mistreated or not considered adequately, they tend to be unproductive and conflicts occur.
For the best performance, a leader should also be low and open. The reason is that a good leader is also a good follower of the right strategies that are adopted by others. A wise leader is responsible for providing opportunities to all the followers even at the risk of getting unnoticed. A good leader should not only be aiming for good reward and acknowledgement (Heider, 1986). Leadership and my experience I have been selected to leadership roles in education institutes and was a team leader in the organisation that I was employed in. I was chosen as a team leader of a new process without being introduced to the team.
When started my work as a team leader I realised that the team members were not comfortable with each other and that has really affected the team’s performance as a single unit in spite of the fact that the employees were all hardworking. One of the initial steps I took after I took up the role was to resolve conflict through persuasive communication and the misunderstandings vanished in a very short interval of time. The team gathered together, was work and fun oriented at the same time, and also was appreciated for its achievement in a short time p.
Initially three problems were not sorted and then we all glued up well because of the ‘need for affiliation’ I had and the ‘requirement of achievement’ a few others had in the group. My weakness as a leader As a leader I at times tend to be too democratic people fail to realise the difference between the team members and the team leader. I am not achievement oriented which is not always favourable. Different leadership styles are acceptable at different circumstances as I suggested by the situational leadership theory.
I am comfortable in one style of leadership and am in heavy requirement for the affiliation. But the democratic style of leadership may not be optimal when there is a situational change and the preferences would be for autocratic and bureaucratic leadership style. I tend to express myself more than than being an active listener. This means that my team mates may find me incommunicable to. Being unapproachable is a very bad quality where in a leader is concerned. I will also have a tough time working with type X employees because of my decentralised style of leadership.
There were also many situations while taking the test keirsey that I faced questions that are not mutually exclusive. Even as a leader there are some fatal flaws that tend to occur. On being accepted by other if I will also make one of these fatal flaws that usually occur to leaders like thinking I am the smartest person in the room, being a control freak, the politician, the pleaser or the kind. It’s very difficult for a leader to achieve a balance between all these requirements and it can be achieved only through experience (Lloyd, 2011) Conclusion The quality of leadership can be inborn and can be nurtured well.
Organisations should find out talents within the firm and nurture them to be leaders of productive teams so that organisational goals are achieved while being in favour of the employees as well. Leadership is quality that has to be appreciated for being the root cause of the success or failure within an organisation. Employees within an organisation should be given chances to evaluate them self as a leader and person and then choose the most favourable position to enhance productivity. References * Keirsey, D. (1998). Please understand me 11: temperament, character, intelligence.
Prometheus Nemesis book Company. * Lloyd, J. (2011). Five fatal flaws of a leader. Retrieved from http://www. jobdig. com/articles/1572/Five_Fatal_Flaws_of_a_Leader. html. * Lussier, R. N & Christopher f. A. (2010). Leadership: theory, application, Skill development. Cengage Learning. * Heider, J. (1986). The Toa of leadership: leadership strategies for new age. Bantam. * Valentine, S, Godkin, L & Philip E V. (2009). Role conflict mindfulness and organisational ethics in an education based healthcare institution. Journal of business ethics, 94 (3), 455-469.
