Instructor: Wagner, Douglas
Class Summary
The class highlighted the essential nature of leadership in today’s organizations. Leaders possess the ability to drive others to attain a purpose. Hence, leadership is a critical component in organizations as it is a determining factor in success and growth. As a leader, it is important to posses necessary skills to help lead effectively. There are leadership skills that are common among effective leaders. However, other skills are unique to individuals. The possession and use of leadership skills is often the difference between effective leaders and ineffective leaders. In general, the class emphasized the importance of leadership in different spheres of life.
Definition of Leadership
Leadership is the practice of influencing others to purposely achieve a result that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. Leaders influences and motivates followers to achieve not only the set goals but also go far beyond them in excellence, ingenuity, and creativity. Additionally, leaders help followers to do the right things by creating something new, building an inspiring vision and setting directions. A leader may or may not lead through official power or authority. Hence, a CEO of a company or a student may successfully lead others to success behind the scenes. The common factor is that all leaders lead through personal connection, persuasion, and inspiration. Leadership is different from management. However, they are both complementary skills. Leadership is a soft talent. It revolves around influence, motivation, drive, and other unquantifiable skills.
Personal Skills/Weaknesses
One of my greatest strength as a leader is my ability to be decisive. Leaders often find themselves in situations where they have to make complex decisions. My ability to be decisive means that I can make complex decisions through my good judgment. Hence, I have a strong orientation for things done within a given framework. In situations where quick decisions are required, I do not hesitate to commit to evaluate alternatives that are viable to reach set objectives. Good communication skills are part of my strengths. I have outstanding communication skills that have played a significant part in forming relationships. Thirdly, I am visionary. Since I can see the future, I have a clear, exciting idea of what to do when trying to accomplish a goal.
My weakness comes from my decisiveness. I tend to make quick decisions without compromising with what others might think is the right decision. Additionally, I can be a perfectionist. Hence, when things are not done as expected, I tend to be disappointed. However, I have efforts to see things from different perspectives. I constantly remind myself that not all people are as quality-conscious as I am. Therefore, in some situations, it is more important to make the right decision than the perfect one.
Leadership experience
Last summer, I was part of a volunteer project. I played the role of a leader of a team. We worked together to plan and manage implementation of a community project to ensure that the disadvantaged people in the society had access to essential services. Our team completed our part of the projects ahead of schedule. We received very positive reviews from our organizers. In my position, I coordinated the project’s lunch-and-learn sessions. Each week, we would to brainstorm what we would do to meet our goals. We worked together to ensure that with the tight project schedule, there were always fires that required putting out. The greatest challenge was when one of our team members was suddenly hospitalized. But even in his absence, we overcame this challenge by making an extra effort and working overtime to ensure that everyone was in the loop. As a leader, I was also responsible for building team morale. Throughout, I learned a lot on leadership.
Leadership Activity/Skills/Knowledge Used
I employed various leadership skills. The first skill that I employed is decision making skill. I used collaborative decision making by listening to the opinions of others on the team. I routinely asked other team members for their viewpoints and feedback when making decisions. I also used communication skills in an extensive way specifically in inspiring others and solving conflicts. Often, individuals do listen attentively. It is, therefore, the leader’s job to speak in a clear and effective manner. This means not using verbal or nonverbal signals that aren’t understood by people. Not only does the likelihood of losing a message increases but the message may be lost. It is important to communicate in a clear manner. I learned f my ability to set clear vision and objectives. Throughout my leadership skill, I easily influenced others to work towards achieving the set goals and objectives. To achieve a great result, I employed motivation skills to influence others towards the desired direction. Through these skills, I was able to push my team members to do their best.
Summary
Leaders influence and motivate followers to achieve not only the set goals but also go far beyond them in excellence, ingenuity, and creativity through building an inspiring vision and setting directions. Some of my greatest strengths include decisiveness, communication abilities and having a vision. My weakness comes from my decisiveness. I can also be a perfectionist.
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