LEADERSHP STRENGTHS

Leadership strengths

Leadership is a very important component in the success or failure of a business organization. Human beings are all leaders. However, they need to be led at some point by others. Leadership comes in different forms. For instance, there are student heads, managers in companies, teachers in schools and supervisors to name but a few. The style of leading often differs from one person to the other. A leader who effectively leads his subordinates gets good results in the end compared to the one that does not. Leadership skills are nurtured in the environment where the leader is operating from, or they can be inborn traits as some cases might indicate (Northouse, 2010). Finding great leaders is a mountainous task since some of the leaders are either in born or made (Sadler, 2003).

Being in leadership position, I have had great challenges to overcome. I have also had moments of success. Both success and failure have taught me to be humble since leaders are not perfect. Focus is an important element of leadership. Focus enables one to see where he is going and to put all his efforts and resources into achieving the set goals. Passion is needed to keep the focus steady and not to lose sight of the mark. Leaders have to be consistent in achieving the goals they set (Sorrentino & Yamaguchi 2008). I need to focus on empathy as a trait because realizing beforehand what people are passing through is paramount in the leadership (Robbins 2005). One is able to make decisions based on facts and help others in dealing with day-to-day problems. The lack of empathy is a sign of autocracy. Such a style of leadership is not appropriate for modern organizations as it can lead to discontent and high employee turnover. Another key trait that I admire is honesty. Honesty is also paramount in the effective management of resources and activities that are allocated to me. This helps me organize how people are going to use those resources effectively and prevent any embezzlement of resources. Thus, honesty is of great importance and I need to work on it since sometimes on may find a situation that is challenging to his integrity (Sorrentino & Yamaguchi 2008).

I have been effective in teambuilding. Bringing people together to perform a certain function or achieve a certain goal is one of the core components of success in any activity that I put my hands to execute. This approach, coupled with the strong background of leadership in various positions has enabled me to build it and be efficient in managing teams. Teambuilding entails bringing people together to perform a certain function (Robbins 2005). It is important since leadership involves leading others to achieve an intended purpose. I always allow people to build and work in teams towards the achievement of the set goals. I allow the formation of both formal and informal grouping and try as much as possible to learn behavior in the groups for effective leadership.

Being loyal is linked with teambuilding. When the leader is loyal to the organization, it encourages the subordinates to adopt the same trait. Therefore, the teams work to further the company’s goals and this prevents any leaking of information to other organizations. Loyalty if important in a company as it enables people to have a sense of ownership and not sell ideas of the company to others (Sorrentino & Yamaguchi 2008). To be Visionary is a very important element of leaders. Leaders should be people who see ahead and then lead others to their vision. In this area, I need more strength. This is because without a vision people will not achieve anything. The vision gives the team strength to achieve something. Vision produces a desire or passion to do something (Robbins 2005).

I have strength in collaboration. That means bringing other people from different sector to work together towards improving the work environment or atmosphere. This trait is important in working together with affiliations in achieving certain goals like improvement of the workforce and creating new and effective policies in the workplace. This enables people to interact together with different teams and get results that had been planned. Collaboration helps in bringing strengths to a project that needed some expertise from other areas. The people who are qualified are thus brought on board and help in meeting the need at that moment (Nelson and Quick 2008).

Communication is an important aspect in the execution of duties. From the communication behavior, one can determine the model of leadership in an organization. In a democratic organization, communication is a two-way process where the leader allows others to contribute to decision-making. By pursuing a democratic and participatory approach, it is possible to overcome resistance to change (Nelson and Quick 2008).

Finally, a leader has to exhibit all or some of these traits to lead effectively. This enables a leader to be equipped well for any duty work that he or she is required to perform. Leadership qualities are developed as one attains these traits and practices them at the workplace. A leader needs an amalgamation of these qualities to be effective in leading others in the organization.

References

Nelson, D. L. and Quick, J. C. 2008. Understanding organizational behaviour, Mason, OH: Thompson/South-Western.

Northouse, P. G. (2010). Leadership: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Robbins, S. P. 2005, Organizational behaviour, UPPER Saddle River, NJ: Peasron Education.

Sadler, P. (2003). Leadership. London: Kogan Page Ltd.

Sorrentino, R. M., & Yamaguchi, S. 2008. Handbook of motivation and cognition across cultures. San Diego, CA: Elsevier Academic.