Leadership Reflection Samples for Students †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Leadership Reflection. Answer: Leadership is one of the interesting topics that I have come across in my life. There are a number of definitions that scholars have come up with to define leadership however I can`t ascribe to the definition of Miriam Webster (2010) who defines a leader as being in a position of a leader. My definition to leadership as a managerial role that someone has with the capability to lead and motivate others and empowering them to achieve the set goals of an organization. My definition stands to be corrected because leadership is intuitive and is described depending on how it is perceived. However, the bottom line is that leadership remains relevant such that almost everybody requires the qualities of a leader. Undoubtedly, leadership is dispersed into various forms in society and this makes it sophisticated and complex (Tucker, 2010). However, it is the obligation of all of us to understand and realize the importance of leadership in our life. Gardner (1990) argues that leaders are made but not born. This is one of the intriguing sentiments that motivated me to research further about leadership. Actually, I ascribe to this observation because I have come to understand that leadership comes as a result of leading and imitating the qualities good leaders and people strive to adopt the traits to make a good leader. I can confidently say that leadership is not innate that is, it is not something that we are born with, but rather something that we acquire from the surrounding environment. I don`t imagine someone can become a leader from the blues without any training and become a great leader. To be a leader means you have to follow a systematic channel or way of learning by adopting specific traits that can make you qualify to be called a great leader (Cialdini, 2001). I believe to be a leader you have to pass through a certain process. I also believe not everybody can become a leader despite getting training to become a leade r. What I mean here is that some people are so stubborn that they cannot make great leaders even if they are promised Heaven. According to my view, leadership has been a dynamic concept to me. The kind of people I interact with; my peers, my family members, and other great persons have greatly influenced and changed my perception about leadership. As a result, I have experienced a paradigm shift in terms of behavior and the way I perceive leadership. The influence of my peers and other people in general has helped me to be in a position to classify and distinguish great leaders and poor leaders. I have three revelations that have helped me to understand leadership in my life. Not long ago, my Friend Nelly and a colleague started a motivational club and put me in charge of the organizing and senior coordinate of the club. This was actually my highest position and a milestone away from becoming a great leader. Little did I know it was a good position to exercise leadership power and improve my leadership skills. Now here is what happened, I was responsible for organizing meetings with other club members as Nelly was in charge of enterprising the club and organizing trips for the club. At this stage of my leadership, I had to take the role as a figured out why m friend had decided to give me such a great opportunity yet I had not participated in such a role before. Those were just question lingering in my mind but finally, I got answers for them. I did exactly what I was instructed by Nelly at the end of the exercise the club has been growing tremendously as we were the founders of the club. I created the debriefing sessions, prepared training schedules, and organized meeting rooms without any difficult. The exercise was successful to my level; more members subscribed to our club during that period. In my perspective, Nelly`s approach to leadership was different from my approach of leadership, since Nelly emphasized on the importance of working in team and building relationships he was always correcting me because I was kind of authoritative. His effort really encouraged me to pursue the task and build my aptitude to become a great leader. Notably, his leadership had a more lasting impact on the group members than mine. I noted this especially when Nelly would stand to address the club members. Even by the look of the mood of the audience, Nelly really controlled the audience. The members would give me all the silence. I observed this as at some point, some club members could ignore my instructions and to some point they failed to do what I instructed them. Despite of all this challenges, I thank God I was able to overcome and mimic Nelly`s traits a great leader. I still regard Nelly has the most influential person in my leadership development. When I reflect of the time I was in that club, I realized the importance of building relationships instead of investing in enterprising. Taking the words of Rinehart (1998), leaders should concentrate to build relationships with fellow workers in their workplace. A leader should be a motivator, lead by example, problem solver, enthusiastic, and bearer of burdens. These were exactly the trait of Nelly, and I ascribe that they have transformed me in the trajectory of leadership development. I witnessed his transforming and lasting influence in my life because of giving me a role that I learnt a lot. Another epiphany bout leadership is that leadership is not a position. I ascribe to the words of Dickens 2008 that leadership is a fiduciary calling. To my knowledge, receiving a promotion at a workplace does not guarantee or make one a leader. You can find some people at the top positions but cannot make to be called great leaders because of many factors. The most common trait is the inability to control tempers, solve problems, and being egocentric among other traits. I had this misconception that leadership required position but apparently, I understand a person can be a leader without holding any formal position in an office. Take an example, when a subordinate member of an organization warns the manager of a weird behavior he has observed, in this case, position does not matter. The subordinate takes the role of correcting the senior member of staff of this is what we call leadership. In fact, the subordinate is a problem solver. You are able to realize mistakes and find the sol ution to mitigate the mistakes. It is true I was told my one of my colleague that you can lead from any position. At some point in campus, I thought of becoming a student leader. During my novice year in campus, I thought I will only be heard if I had a position of leadership. In the verge of planning on the approach to clinch the position, I found myself losing morale and finally I did not get the position I wanted. The analogy means out of desire and the impression that I required a position to exercise my leadership skills made me fail to have the position I was aiming at. A reflection and assessment of this experience exposed me to a deduction that I confined myself to an adage that leadership requires a formal position. In fact, I was waiting for that position for me to lead, that meant that if I don`t have a leadership position I have nothing to tell people. Therefore, to be a leader, there is no specific approach, what you need is just to take strides and do what to want without looking sideways. In another perspective, another thoughtful lesson I have observed is that being a leader is not an easy task. I can refer leadership like a changing process and we should also keep adjusting to the changes to suit the modern skills of leadership. Constant education and training are the realistic approaches that can be used to sharpen the leadership skills managers. Another observation I made is that to become a great leader, you have to adhere to existing leadership principles. These are principles that I will adhere to that will make me a great leader. The principles serve as a guideline to define what makes a great leader Bar-On Parker, 2000). Such principles include giving credit where it is due, creating a sense of responsibility, empathy, education, and leading by example. If the managers are in a position to deploy all the five principles, be sure to they will be exemplary leaders and outstanding members of the organization. The principles have as well helped me to hone what makes a great leader. The core leadership principle that everyone anticipating to be a great leader should have is the principle of creating a sense of responsibility to other colleagues in the workplace (Gary, 2002). According to the US Army, 1983, the ability to create a sense of responsibility to the coworkers is an important leadership skill that every manger ought to embrace. Actually, when a sense of responsibility is embraced in an organization, a leader ensures all the tasks are allocated accordingly and no stone is left unturned (Weisinger, 2010). Therefore, the personnel will be aware of all the objectives and goals of the organization hence they will work in accordance to achieve the goals uniformly. Personally, when am held to a certain standard or goal, I have to work hard to surpass that goal. The principle of empathy is important in equal measure because it demonstrates that you are in the shoes of those people under you. Empathy is an aspect that determines the kind of leader a person can make (Morgan, 2010). In the verge of leadership development, I will have to deploy empathy in my work setting for the purpose of bringing togetherness, cohesion and mutual understanding with other colleagues. Education is also important because it helps to keep the workers updated with the latest trend in the business. A good leader should create a portion of the resources of the organization to educate their staff (Couto, 1992). Training is part and parcel of successful leadership. There is a group of leaders who don`t bother on educating their members while other leaders incest heavily towards improving the skills of their workers. Such leaders cannot compete in terms of output. In my verge of understanding leadership development, I get to understand the importance of training in an organization. Of course, I realized the importance of being exemplary leader. I leader is a teacher, therefore, my behavior has an impact on those people am leading. Am aware of the importance of leading by example because most people will emulate my character because am a leader. Therefore, I emphasize on doing the right things at the right time and place. Since leadership is changing a decade after the other, my point of improvement lies upon enrolling to various programs that could broaden my thinking and expand my perception on leadership. I will like to improve my leadership development by doing my personal research as an extra effort to further understand the aspect of leadership. Creating a positive culture and understanding the motives of others helps to improve the leadership skills of a person. Therefore, whenever I will be leading I have to keep a positive culture that encourages others. Life experience and interaction with people of various calibers has influenced my paradigm in leadership. I have heard a life changing experience while being a leader and while being led. The revelations and the encouragement from the peers has been the underpinning factor towards my ability to understand leadership and uniquely made me a great leader. References Dickens, Peter. (2008). A Theology of Leadership. Rinehart, Stacy T. (1998). Upside Down: The paradox of servant leadership. Colorado Springs (CO): NavPress. Bar-On, R. Parker, J.D.A. (Eds.) (2000). Handbook of Emotional Intelligence. San Francisco: JosseyBass. Cialdini, R. (2001). Harnessing the science of persuasion. Harvard Business Review, 79 (9), pp. 72-80. Conger, J. A. (1998). The necessary art of persuasion. Harvard Business Review, 76 (3), p. 88. Gary, L. (2002). Quoting Goleman in Becoming a Resonant Leader, Harvard Management Update. 7(7), 4 6. Morgan, N. (2010). Leadership Is All About Emotional Persuasion. Forbes.com. February 2nd, 2010. Retrieved May 26th, 2011 from https://www.forbes.com/2010/02/02/communication-emotional-persuasion-leadership- managing-speaking.html Weisinger, H. (2010). Emotional Intelligence at Work. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Burns, J. M. (1978). The crisis of leadership. In J.T. Wren (Ed.), The leaders companion: Insights on leadership through the ages (pp. 8-10). New York, NY: The Free Press. Couto, R.A. (1992). Defining a citizen leader. In J.T. Wren (Ed.), The leaders companion: Insights on leadership through the ages (pp. 11-17). New York, NY: The Free Press Gardner, J. W. (1990). The cry for leadership. In J.T. Wren (Ed.), The leaders companion: Insights on leadership through the ages (pp. 8-10). New York, NY: The Free Press. Leadership. (2010). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/leadership Tucker, A. (2010). Leadership part two [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from https://mymoodle.tru.ca/course/view.php?id=964