Leadership Styles And How They Influence Social Work

This work is part one of an ongoing communications portfolio which will be expanded upon weekly. Barrett (2011) describes leadership communication as “the controlled, purposeful transfer of meaning...” (p. 6). The following is a self-assessment (Barrett, 2011, pp. 407-411) which will help gauge my current leadership communication abilities. Each area will be answered with either excel (master of skill) , competent (acceptable but could improve) or need to develop (needs attention).

“Developing excellent communication skills is absolutely essential to effective leadership. The leader must be able to share knowledge and ideas to transmit a sense of urgency and enthusiasm to others. If a leader can't get a message across clearly and motivate others to act on it, then having a message doesn't even matter."

1. As you take on leadership and management roles, communication becomes even more important. The higher you rise in an organization, the less time you will spend using the technical skills of your particular profession and the more time you will spend communicating. Top executives spend most of their time communicating, and businesspeople who cannot communicate well do not stand much chance of reaching the top.

There are many models of leadership that exist across a range of fields (e.g. social work, education, psychology, business, etc.). The ability to transform an organization successfully requires a different set of attitudes and skills. Transformational leadership is an approach where a leader utilizes inspiration, charisma, individualized attention, and intellectual stimulation with their employees (Iachini, Cross, & Freedman, 2015, p. 651). Transformational leadership helps to clarify organizational vision, inspires employees to attain objectives, empowers employees, encourages employees to take risks, and advocates the seeking of alternative solutions to challenges in the workplace (Transformational Leadership, 2015). It allows the leader to engage and motivate each follower identify with the organization’s values and goals.

Managers in today’s world are important assets to the multicultural organisations. Leadership styles of managers are highly important in terms of managing the team of followers, which has a correlation to the productivity and results that the team would achieve in the future. By having good management, it contributes to the success of the organisation. Hence, it is vital to identify the different leadership styles especially in different cultures to suit the working environment and culture of the organization. In the present multicultural global business industry, cultural differences can come in the way of the success of project completion (Anbari, Khilkhanova, Romanova, & Umpleby , 2009) . It has been claimed that rigid leadership does not promote motivation and creativity, therefore, managers should lead by flexible leadership and be culturally sensitive, adapting to different cultures, for the team to be able to move forward and reach their goals (Anabri et al. 2009). The way a manager’s leadership takes place also affect’s the experience of the employees at work and the relationship between the manager and the employee. Jariya (2012, p66) states that ‘different cultures differ in the values they endorse, people from these cultures often interpret the same managerial practices

Social work is one of the most diverse fields in that there are so many distinct areas that social workers can specialize in such as family, children and school social work; community social work; health and medical social work; mental health and psychiatric social work; substance abuse social work; hospice social work; military social work; as well as positions in policy, administration and research. Because the field is so varied, there is no one size fits all leadership style. Each of these distinct subdivisions of the social work field calls for different leadership styles. Also dependent on the most effective leadership style in any given work environment is the employees themselves, as some may need a more transactional approach where as other may work better with a non-transactional laissez-faire style of leadership.

Transformative leadership is a leadership style that aids employees to make positive changes within the organization while also guiding them to become successful future leaders. Part of being a successful leader in the human services field means helping their social service workers recognize that they are called upon to display specific characteristics that help guide and shape the lives of the clients they serve. In order to assist clients successfully, social service workers must learn and understand diversity and what it means to be self-aware. In addition, social workers must address their personal values, examine how they perceive the work they do and understand how this perception affects other members of their staff.

In the publication Serve to Lead (2012), James Strock asserts that one essential characteristic of every leader for the 21st century embodies in the recognition that communication is part of everything we do as human. As we have seen over the years the direct impact of technology on our lives, it has helped nations and people of diverse background to communicate efficiently and because communication is a key component of our lives, it also serves as the facet of interpersonal skills.

As there are many cultural differences in the world, working all together can sometime be

Although it is hard to pinpoint many of the success factors responsible for effective communication in different situations, communication is generally noted as a critical success factor in most leadership models. The primary reason that there is a lot of ambiguity in research surrounding communication is that is a rather complex concept that includes a multitude of different factors that are dependent usually on a particular situation. In a different situation the scope of the factors involved in communication could be entirely different. This paper selects some popular leadership models and discusses some of the roles that communication plays within these models.

Leadership is an important attribute in individuals such as managers, academic experts, and researchers. The topic of leadership continues to gain popularity and importance in almost all sectors. The way leaders in managerial positions communicate determines their effectiveness and success in achieving high levels of performance and success in their organizations. There are numerous books that provide an insight into effective leadership and communication. One of such books is by Atwater and Waldman (2012). This paper provides a summary, contextual analysis and critique of the book.

It is essential for business leaders to have excellent verbal and non-verbal communication skills, as leaders are often a symbol of a company’s integrity and this affects not only how customers perceive the company, but also impacts the thoughts and actions of lower positioned employees. For example, a leader that speaks using improper grammar, or writes correspondence with spelling errors throughout it, could project a negative image that can be harmful to a company. Customers might conclude that the leader is incompetent and they might decide that they do not wish to purchase goods from a company that hires inept leaders. Furthermore, employees might become less apt to respect an authority that appears to be uneducated, as well as employees might feel that if the leader disregards using proper communication than it is not necessary for them to use it either. Business leaders need to know when to listen, when to talk, and how to share ideas effectively. Clear and concise communication states exactly how, who, what, and when and serves to guide, direct, protect, persuade, and to inform. Communication is essential for decreasing miscommunications and for increasing productivity, motivation, and efficiency. When someone uses effective communication, he or she is more apt to have favorable results and his or her requests will become granted more often. Furthermore, communication builds goodwill. Having excellent communication skills is

Communication would fall under the good listener category of being a leader. Communication is a key component to being a good listener because if you don’t communicate to whomever you are speaking with then some things might get lost in the process. The leader of a team will have to listen to their boss then relay the message to his or her team, and that’s where paraphrasing takes a good part in communication and listening skills. A good leader is always communicating with other leaders and trying to find out other good ideas they can use to improve some of their techniques.

workplace as well. Communication is an essential skill that we cannot avoid, and should be perfected as a goal in improving your leadership efficiency. When in a leadership role, the leader

Throughout high school, I was fortunate to hold several leadership positions. Being in the leadership group taught me the importance of having a vision and taking initiative in order to lead effectively. But most importantly, it taught me that effective communication is key to good leadership.