Leadership: Key to Success in a Competitive World - Essay Sample

Introduction

Leadership can be described as the practical skill which is composed of the ability of an individual to lead, guide and to give direction to other people. It can also be defined as a process of social influence which enables an individual to aid and support others to accomplish a given task. In our world, today, marked with limited opportunities which expose humanity to high-level of competitiveness. Leadership skills are crucial for personal and professional development for maximum productivity (Boal & Hooijberg, 2000). The act of leadership is very critical in the provision of management skills in an organization; it helps to maximize efficiency and to achieve the set goals within the stipulated period. Leadership is the act of influencing people so that they can perform willingly to achieve set objective without being pushed. It involves changing activities which are from informal and formal sectors, which will be on the task of setting goals and the achievement of the goal.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

A leader is a person whose magnetic personality motivates people for a common cause. People who are charged with the leadership responsibilities must have perfect leadership skills both at personal, professional and at the social level of life. The own leadership skills will help us to discover and determine our desires in life; it will make us realize our strengths and abilities to achieve our goals. It will mean that we must be aware of what we want in life and to be sure of what success means to us.

Leadership Model and Theory Which Describe Me as a Leader

Transformational leadership style is what best describe me as a leader. This style describes me because of my unique ability to encourage, inspire and to motivate other people to innovate and to create the necessary change which always helps to shape the future of an organization (Horsford, 2012). Transformational leadership is always accompanied by setting an excellent example at the top of an organization. This is done through a culture of working together as a team and being independent in the workplace without close monitoring during work. My ability to inspire and motivate my workforce effectively with ease and without taking authority of doing supervision gives the best description of a transformational leader. Most of the employees on the leadership track are also advised to be transformational leaders by themselves for easy and smooth operations of the activities in organizations.

In my position as a leader have witnessed several leadership styles. The one which I will start to give an example is the skills approach style. The skills approach always has more emphasis on the skills and the ability which one can learn and practice. This approach suggests that effective leadership depends on the essential of technical, human and conceptual skills. All of these skills can be acquired and practised in an organization. It is important to note that technical expertise is proficiency in any work activity.

The human skill part of this concept is the ability of a leader to interact and communicate effectively with other team members easily. The conceptual skill involves creating and working with ideas and creating a plan, which is to be achieved in an organization. Many of the technical and human skills I have are from experience having gained as a leader in giving directions to different teams. In most of the occasion, I might not consider myself as a natural-born leader; this is because my leadership skills are gained through experience and hard work.

The Most Distinguishing Leadership Traits

There are several different characteristics that a good leader must develop to be successful. A truly great leader should be in a position to understand that there are many various factors and challenges which comes with leading other people and ability to help others achieve their goals. The leader should be able to inspire and enable the team members to attain their best at work. There are many leadership styles, but a good leader should have the traits which include: integrity. The value of integrity can act as a foundational leadership virtue. This is where an individual is in a position to say what he means and mean what he says. It will always make people trust you without giving a doubt of what action you take. As a leader, one is required to raise a high standard of truthfulness, which will also demonstrate your morals and values on defending the company mission and vision.

Another important trait is passion. Many people would love to work with leaders who care about the effort they are putting and appreciate their input. Leaders should lead by example and gain management skills, which will encourage other people to join your team for success. When a leader is passionate, then his work will only be to maintain a happy work environment, and this will give the team the power to work together. Accountability is an important trait which leaders must have. It enables a leader to be able to take full responsibility for their actions. And also monitor the performance of their team. Leaders should lead by showing a good example, which will include keeping their words and even making sure that every member of the team has the resources they need to deliver their duties at their best.

Creativity and communication are also good traits of a leader. Creativity is where a leader does not lack idea and is always coming up with a new opinion to be implemented by the group. A leader should demonstrate creativity and also get the views from the team members who can contribute brilliant ideas. Communication describes a leader as being visionary and your ability to bring your vision to real life for implementation. The leader is supposed to meet regularly with the team and then direct clear instructions to each member. The team members should be praised and even rewarded when they exceed the set expectations.

Traits Which I Strive To Learn and Develop

The qualities which I strive to learn and grow are respect and integrity. The essential point of being a good leader is not to be at the top of the pyramid. Being a leader is about creating a successful company that improves the life of the people. When you have integrity and self-respect, then one will not earn what he did not work for. I always want to strive to be empathetic and treat my team with dignity and which I would wish the same to be done to me.

The Leadership Approach Which I Prefer From My Leader

I prefer my leader to have a situational leadership approach, which is an adaptive style of leadership. This style will encourage a leader always to take stock and monitor the team members effectively. The person in the leadership position will weigh the variables at the workplace and eventually choose on a leadership style that is best to achieve the set objectives. Most of the organizations and in the business management field around the world prefer situational leadership as the model of choice.

This approach will enable a leader to develop the people and the workgroups according to their skills of work and then establish rapport amongst the working, bringing the best from them (Yukl, 1999). Situational leadership is always very flexible, so when my leader has this approach, he will always adopt the work environment and understand the need of the organization. Another key to situational leadership is the adaptability, where a leader must be able to move from a leadership style to another depending on the situation in the organization and amongst the workers. A good leader must have the best insight in order to know when to change the management style and when to stick to the previous leadership style.

Leadership Model or Theory Which Best Describes How I Influence Others and Examples

The best leadership model which describes me is being a team leader, thus having a high task and high relationship with my team. I always lead by giving a positive example, and I'm ready to endeavour the team environment and encourage the team members to reach their potential in the production. My effort to reach the team members at the individual level and as a group by using both the cooperation and the collaboration means. My extreme effort on working tirelessly to strengthen the bonds among the team members make me fit this model of leadership. A good example is when I was a class leader, where I ensured that the class performance increased from the previous class mean by a double. This was mainly possible by applying the teamwork effort.

Goals and Plan Of Action to Improve My (1) Leadership and (2) Motivation Including the Type of Leadership Theory or Model Which I Must Implement to Achieve My Goals

My major goal and desire are to become a servant leader. The servant leadership model is the most preferred way of giving guidance and showing the correct path as a leader. As a servant leader, I must improve on overcoming my egos when addressing the need of my followers. Just from the name servant leader, the requirements of the followers must be necessary than what they want. To achieve the target and the set objectives, then I must lead by showing the example as this will help to boost the work morale of the followers. In servant leadership, the followers are more important than the leader. They help in achieving personal and professional goals and objectives. It is my role to strive to my full potential to attain the character of servant leadership. With this model, the followers and leader will all grow professionally if the organizations empower them and given time to serve.

As a servant leader, I strive to improve in my communication, thus the ability to speak and listen to what my followers say. This will always assist in healthy relationship within the organization. Time management is the sole role of a leader, and this is a vital area of improvement. As many managers have said in the past that time is money; I would also stand with this because when the leader is organized and time conscious, there will be a reduction in waste and a lot of output will be achieved within a short period.

Steps You Need To Take To Complete Each of These Self-Improvement Goals

One of my goal as a servant leader is to improve my communications skills to my followers. To improve communication, then these are the steps I need to take. First I would make communication a priority thus by taking classes, reading books and magazine articles from the world best .successful communicators would always simplify and stay on message, this will always make the followers focus and not missing points. Engaging listeners and taking time to respond to the followers appropriately is crucial in communication as every party will be given time to give opinion and goals. The body language is very key in communication, and most people prefer that the best interface is non-verbal; by understanding the body language of followers will save and help in understanding what they feel about you as a leader.

Another important goal that I need to improve on was time management. To develop time management, I will have to organize my days and weeks in advance. This will need making plan and diaries with the set objectives to be achieved. These will include the task and responsibilities that must be attended to within the period. Setting priority right is a second lesson which is needed in time management. For proper executions of the projects, then the decisions must be made in stages and in components which will be followed strictly. This because every stage in the production will reflect on the end product. Setting boundaries is also key to improving time management. The working time and family time should not be combined. The family and the team members should always understand your time and how it is organized to avoid confu...