8Sk020 : Leadership Skills : Assessment Answer

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Introduction:

Warren Bennis, a leadership expert once quoted that “Leadership is the ability of the individual to translate vision into reality”. Great Leaders are the flag bearers of the qualities and skills which other people look at to become leaders of the future. Leaders with their shinning social intelligence, eagerness for change and a vision which allows them to think about the future contribute both towards the development of the organization as well the individuals. Leaders can be made or found in any domain, it can be politics, union, businesses and many more, more or less the skills and qualities of leader are always pushing them to look at the Horizon (Bolman & Deal, 2017).

The report here is based on identifying and creating a personal model of leadership based on the 3 major areas of leadership and the main organizing idea behind the leadership. The report will also provide a good discussion on the skills, traits and tasks of an effective and an efficient leader. Additionally, a set of Assumptions would also be described in reaching the Personal model of Leadership. The report in depth will understand the leadership model, how it will affect the future leadership and how it differs from any existing model of Leadership.

Personal Model of Leadership

Earth with a radius of 6,371 Km is heavily populated with a population over 7 Billion spread across 195 countries. People belonging to different parts of the world have different upbringing, which implies different cultural differences and in turn different values in an individual. Values are extremely important and play a central role in a person’s life. It is the values within the individual which decides his behaviour and actions when nobody is watching him. Self-awareness is one of the most fundamental aspects of leadership which implies that it is cogent to first know about oneself before attempting to inspire, instruct and lead others (Northouse, 2018). My top three values which form the basis of my leadership are ethics, teamwork and Leadership theory.

Ethics

In my honest opinion ethics play the most important role in guiding the leadership style of a person, which further goes on two sets the tone of a person’s leadership. Ethics is not just clearing the air between right and wrong, deciding on the moral behaviour and more so. Ethics is thinking what is good for the greatest number of people, and accordingly do well for them. It is very important for a person to think about the possible consequences before taking a decision. I personally am a very ethical person, I always tend to do the right thing and I always think of the consequences before taking any decision. It is due to the upbringing of my family that ethics are deep rooted in me, thus forming one of the most important pillars of my personal model of leadership. Ethical decision making is an art, skill and understanding the situation well in advance. Ethical decision making is the need of the hour in the present business scenario, and it is only ethical decision making which can ensure well- being of every person. Thus, these are the reason why I value ethics as most important component in my personal model of leadership (Antonakis & Day, 2017).

Leadership Theory

Leadership is both an art and practical application of skills encompassing the ability of an individual to influence and encourage the individual and the organization to achieve the goals of the organization. It is the presence of leadership which ensures the sustainability of the organization and achievement of the goals. I have read a lot of literature and case studies on the leadership theories and practices. I have come to realize that there is no best style of leadership, and a person has to be flexible in his leadership style. The true essence of leadership lies in flexibility in the time of contingency. Despite the fact that I read literature on transaction style of leadership, transformational, democratic, lassiez faire and others, I could personally connect only the transformational style of leadership. Rest all the leadership theories have more pros than cons, hence, failed to catch my attention (Shamir & Eilam-Shamir, 2018).

Transformational style of leadership is a theory of leadership wherein the leader works alongside teams to identify the change needed, creating a vision to guide the change through inspiration and executing the change with the help of the team. This style of leadership appealed to me because it involves employees, considers their feedback and is always looking to bring improvements in the system. I am of the opinion that no process is ideal and perfect, and there is always a scope of improvement. Thus, study of transformational style of leadership helped me in thinking beyond the surface of leadership, and absorbs the concept more in depth. I am visionary; I look forward to change and a firm believer in the abilities of the team mates, making transformational leadership an important characteristic of my PML (Hiefetz & Linsky, 2017).

Teamwork

An individual cannot achieve what an entire team can achieve in the business workplace. It is certain that positive synergies are created and developed while working in the teams, and the teams have the ability to even move the mountain. I strongly believe in the feet which the team work can achieve in the longer run. Working in teams gives better responsibility, accountability and commitment towards the goals of the teams. Additionally, every team member is aware of his role which he has to play in the achievement of the organizational goals. It is due to this reason I strongly value team work and consider it as one of the most important element of personal leadership model (Shamir & Howell, 2018).

Thus, these three values of Team work Ethics and Transformational leadership theory which constitute my personal model of leadership.

Main Organizing idea of Leadership

Leadership is extremely critical for the success of business organization, thus it is advised that in the head a person should be really conscious of his leadership style and the main idea behind it. My main idea here is that I want to encourage my team, show them the vision, and make them walk the path created to accomplish the goals. I believe that as a leader of the organization I have to set values, cultures and ethics which will help my team perform in the best of the abilities. Additionally, as a leader I will always look out for considerable changes and improvement which will help in improving the performance of my team and push the envelope of their performance (Heifetz & Linsky, 2017).

Skills, tasks and traits important to a leader

Skills

Motivation

One of the most important skills of the leader is his ability to motivate his entire team and push them to accomplish the goals of the organization. It is also important that the leader be aware of the intrinsic and extrinsic factors of motivation in accordance to which the employees can be motivated. Hence, Motivation is one of the critical skills of a leader and most certainly a skill which helps in pushing the performance of the employees (Shamir & Howell, 2018).

Effective orator/Communicator

A great leader is a person who has the ability to effectively communicate with his team members, peers and every stakeholder in the organization. In comprehension, effective communication involves clarity of communication while communicating the message with absolute confidence. Followers of a leader develop greater trust in leader if he is able to communicate effectively with them (Covin & Slevin, 2017).

Visionary

It is the leader, who with his vision creates an aura of future looking culture in the organization. Steve Jobs was a visionary leader, who could sense and see the future of technology before anyone else.  With the vision, comes clarity and eventually leading to a path on which the employees can walk to realize the vision of the leader. Thus, being visionary is an important skill of a leader (Shamir, Arthur & House, 2018).

Traits

Traits basically act as a catalyst which helps in the development of the leadership style of an individual. These traits can either occur naturally to him, or can be developed in the process. Some of the traits important for leadership are:

Exuberates Confidence

Difference between a leader and a great leader is the presence of confidence. A leader without confidence in his speech, action and his conduct cannot create the impact as desired. On the other hand, a leader who is filled with confidence can encourage and motivate the employees to do the unexpected. Thus, confidence is one of the most important traits which a leader must and should possess.

Creativity and innovation

Another important trait of leadership is the ability to create a culture of creativity and innovation in the business organization. Over the years I have seen that leaders who have the ability to innovate and create are able to establish a better leadership amongst their followers. It also helps in setting a culture where innovation and creativity is encouraged. For instance, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Steve Jobs of Apple nurtured this culture of innovation and creativity in their respective organization, and they are certainly remembered for their work (Johnson, 2017).

Tasks

A leader as mentioned in a business organization has plethora of tasks to perform which most definitely is a test of his leadership, as well puts him in a respectable position. The first and the foremost task of the leader here is to encourage, motivate and inspire the individual in the team and the organization to work towards their goals. Leader does so by using motivation techniques, team building techniques, relationship building, setting goals and etc.

Another important task of leadership is to empower employees by virtue of giving them powers to make their own decision and be accountable and responsible for their jobs. Empowered employees are motivated and they develop a definite liking for the leaders, at the same time they work with enhanced productivity to ensure the goals of the organization are continuously met.

Another significant task of the leader is to establish effective communication both with the internal and external stakeholders of the organization. Leader with his effective communication skills takes the entire employees and the organization according to his vision, whilst clearing communicating the needs, vision and goals of the organization. Thus, leaders are the flag bearers of the organization who work along with the employees to achieve the end goal of sustainability for the organization (Clinton, 2018).

Core Values and Assumptions in leadership style

The three most important core values which form the basis of my leadership are:

• Leadership Theory
• Ethics
• Team Work

Some of the assumption taken here are:

• I have presumed that the organization is flat in hierarchy.
• I have assumed that the employees working in the organization understand the rationale and concept of change management.
• I have assumed that a culture of open communication prevails in the organization.

Positioning of the PML in the Industry

There is a saying that there is no best style of leadership, and the true strength of leadership lies in being flexible and contingent in nature. I work in the Real estate industry, which is most definitely challenging and entails hard core business professionals. In Real estate, much of the emphasis is given on Team work, so that the employees can come and work together to achieve the shared goals. In the similar way, Real estate industry is highly contingent, primarily because of the rise and fall in the prices of the land and more so with the changes in the governmental policy. Thus, Transformational leadership theory which is another value of my leadership style comes handy in the structure. Due to this leadership theory I am well aware that the organization has to change due to contingency and it makes me feel confident knowing that I already have encountered the same within my leadership style. Ethics are something which is very personal to an individual; I am personally of the opinion that one should always do the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Thus, working in the real estate industry, where we are dealing with huge cash and are providing something sentimental like home to the customers. I advise my team to be straight forward with the client and keep them in loop with every update on their newly built house and other things. Thus, in my opinion I strongly believe that the core values of my leadership are extremely significant and important (Ford & Harding, 2018).

Relationship in the Business Organization

My relationship with my peers, managers and the management is based on the grounds of mutual respect, trust and harmony. I am the kind of leader who does not interfere in any person’s work, until need be, I keep my role restricted to providing guidance, translating vision, setting of goals for the employees and ensuring that there is no dull moment at the workplace. Thus, I can define my relationship in the business organization to be jovial and of a mentor.

Culture of the Organization

Based on my core values of leadership involved in creating my Personal model of leadership, the culture of the organisation will be as seen in the table drawn below:

Goal to Achieve with the PML