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Essay on A Personal Model of Leadership

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Introduction Through identification and ongoing assessment of her leadership style and ability this leader is able to develop and understand her own strengths and limitations in order to grow and develop into a more effective leader. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of servant leadership, contingency, path-goal styles leadership to gain an understanding of current leadership models, identify this author’s style of leadership and explore why leadership is important to organizations, society and this author. A Personal Model of Leadership Servant leadership was a term that was first used by Keifner Greenleaf(1970) in his first essay, The Servant as Leader (as cited by Crippen, C., 2005). Greenleaf based his …show more content…

Leadership effectiveness is dependent on the relationship between the leader and the followers and can be effective if the leader is popular or authoritative in situations depending on the experiences and expectations of the employees (Schultz, D., Schultz, S., 2010). Although the contingency theory has merit and is valued in many organizations this author feels that servant leadership and path-goal theory is better suited to this author in her work with an Assertive Community Treatment team for a community mental health center. In an ACT team is important that the staff have the skills and confidence they need as they go into the community to provide services and make decisions working with consumers with severe persistent mental illness. In order to provide support and assist the staff in building their confidence and developing skills needed in their jobs the servant leadership style and path-goal theory of leadership provides the best approach to leadership for an ACT team. The path-goal theory’s focus is on the leader’s behavior that can allow for the employees to reach personal and organizational goals. A leader’s attitude has impact on the attitude of the staff. Leaders can reward employees when goals are met which can increase employee motivation, job satisfaction and overall productivity (Schultz, 2010). This theory identifies four styles of leadership as directive, supportive, participative and achievement-oriented (Schultz, 2010).

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