Personal theory-based leadership style: A reflective paper
Introduction
There are many theories of leadership. Depending on the researcher, some theories may also be subdivided based on specific characteristic. Nevertheless, regardless of the researcher’s views, for the practitioner, it is important to be cognizant of their personal style. The responsibilities of an educational leader are vast and varied. They must be able to be effective with the faculty, support staff, students, parents, community members, supervisors, and colleagues (Avolio, Walumbwa, & Weber, 2009). Being aware of a personal leadership style can help a leader identify areas of needs, strengths, and areas for further development. This paper is a reflective exploration
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I do not make hasty decisions; I consider as many possibilities as I can first. Because I consider myself as being very flexible, I think I adapt to situations easily, and I make decisions accordingly.
Regarding the motivation beliefs self-assessment, I know I am highly self-motivated. For this reason, I believe in building other people’s (whether students, co-workers, or followers) ability to use intrinsic motivators rather than an external, rewards and punishments system. I have found that many individuals who are not self-motivated usually have low self-esteem, low self-efficacy, and low self-confidence. I strongly believe that when you help others achieve success, these negative attitudes or feelings can be replaced with positive motivation.
While my self-assessment regarding the self vs. task indicated that I am more task oriented, I have reflected on those areas as well as asked others to evaluate how they see me regarding those areas. In conclusion, I do not agree with the evaluation for the self-assessment, which indicated that I am more task oriented. By nature, I am a people pleaser and a caregiver. However, I am also highly motivated and focused. Therefore, I believe that I do not necessarily have one supersede the other. In reflection, I do think that it depends on the specific task. Nevertheless, I do believe that I would care greatly about the people while accomplishing the task. When I look at my self-assessment, I notice
According to dictionary.com leadership is defined as, the position or function of a leader, a person who guides or directs a group: Its synonyms include guidance, influence, control, direction and supervision. These are all qualifications that are needed to be an effective leader. All characteristics are not necessarily needed at the same time and do no need to be used for each subordinate. This paper will identify my personal leadership philosophy along with theories to support my leadership style.
Participating in the course Foundations of Organizational Leadership presented many opportunities to enhance and enrich my perspective on leadership as well as develop my own unique leadership philosophy. By observing the theories, models and cases presented in Northouse, Kouzes and Posner textbooks, I was able to learn through the experience of others what a true leader should represent. While considering the strengths and weaknesses of each theory, I am able to implement a leadership style with an effective approach tailored to many different types of learners. In addition, witnessing both the triumphs and failures of various businesses and leadership styles, helped me confirm my personal stance and aspirations towards becoming a leader. By implementing what I have learned from the course and textbooks, I will address in this paper what specific leadership theories, styles and models have contributed to forming my own leadership philosophy. In addition, I will also define the values, qualities, strengths and weaknesses and ethical considerations that pertain to my stance on leadership. By integrating a faith based approach as the foundation of my leadership style, I hope to implement my new philosophy into my current and future career path.
Phase 1 of the Personal Leadership Philosophy Paper presented the opinion and supporting information establishing that; leaders are products of opportunity, birth and environment, but of these; opportunity influences great leadership the most. Furthermore, it was discussed that assigned leadership is a cancer to corporate America and this point is illustrated in the following example. While employed at Deloitte and Touché Consulting Group (DNT) we engaged ARCO, a major oil and gas company, to develop and implement an email migration strategy that consisted of 1200 Arco users at their subsidiary company, Vaster Resources Inc. In the initial meeting we were introduced to a gentleman, we will call John Smith for the purposes of this paper,
When developing a template to assess which leadership styles are best suited to mitigate the effects of a decline in financial compensation, it is imperative to understand leadership theory. One of the first pioneers in leadership theory was Kurt Lewin. Kurt Lewin (1890–1947), was a prominent figure in psychology in his generation. He provided a solid foundation to the teachings of organizational development. In many circles he was known as the father of organizational development. He was best known for the development of field theory. Field theory was essential because it allowed business professionals to understand why undesirable behaviors was produced. It also taught how to bring about desirable behaviors. Field theory was developed in part because Lewin wanted to address organizational employee turnover.
A leadership philosophy helps to define and let others know what you expect, what things you value, and how you act as a leader. Different styles of leadership are needed for different situations. Every leader needs to know when and how to display a particular approach of leadership within a group. Leadership strategies define every leader’s personal leadership style. Three leadership styles of a counselor are the following: authoritarian style leaders, democratic style leaders, and laissez-faire style leaders.
Urban Meyer is the head coach for The Ohio State Buckeyes football team. He is 49 years old and was born in Toledo Ohio. He attended University of Cincinnati where he played football. Coach Meyer is married and has three children. Prior to coaching Ohio State he retired from coaching was working as a sports analyst for ESPN. Before retiring and working for ESPN, Coach Meyer was the head coach for the University of Florida. He led the Gators to two BCS championship wins and he held the highest percentages of wins for any active college football coach. (www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com).
My father once told me that, “everything we do— be it in academia, at work, social or family life—we are guided by principles, beliefs and values that collectively form our ideology of life.” I believe that every leader, to a certain extent, is shaped through her individual personal experience. Although in some cases, we may not realize to what extent our personal assumptions and beliefs shape our ability to lead or be led.
As a leader, it is important for us to have a simple, profound leadership philosophy. I have decided to go about this by answering six prompts of my core beliefs and behaviors which are, I always…, I spend a lot of time…, I value…, I am curious about…, I respect…, and I listen… These six prompts form the basis of how I see myself as a leader and a person.
I believe a personal leadership philosophy is developed through experiences as both a follower and a leader. Leadership skills are gained in many ways such as learning from the successful methods and mistakes of others, constructive criticism from followers and leader colleagues alike and remaining current in leadership literature. I have developed my theory based on personal encounters with positive and negative leadership experiences which include leading by example, listening and adapting to your followers needs and lastly, including followers in times of significant change.
Synergy:The term synergy will always tie in with teamwork. A leader must work with a team to create positive outcomes. A Team leader who tends to dominate
Completing the main project for this course has been an interesting exercise forcing me to challenge some of my long-held beliefs of both my personality and management style. Each survey I took revealed some interesting aspects of educational leadership that I will apply when given the opportunity as an educational administrator. This section of the paper will summarize the key findings for each of the aforementioned surveys.
According to Schwartz (1997), Goizueta joined Coca-Cola at a time when the company was in trouble. Slowed by bureaucracy and with an eroding stock price, the beverage maker was slowly loosing its market share to rivals like Pepsi. An inspirational leader, Goizueta was able to turnaround the beverage maker and before his exit, the company had become one of the most recognizable brands in the world. His managerial style as Rowe and Guerrero (2010) point out was more intellectual than hands-on.
A large amount of credit is given to Bass 's transformational leadership theory identifies four aspects of
Leadership is a concept most people feel informed enough to discuss, but that few are truly educated sufficiently to comment on. Therefore, it is instructive to consider the leadership styles of people with very different approaches both to better understand the diversity underlying leadership, as well as to appreciate the effective and less effective strategies that underlie different leadership outcomes. For that reason, this essay will consider the styles of two leaders who are less visible in this highly contentious presidential election season: Jill Stein (the Green Party nominee) and Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate. The leadership styles of both are very different, yet they are aligned in the sense that both are outsider candidates struggling to gain momentum from a disaffected electorate. This essay begins with a theoretical discussion of leadership more generally and then turns to the two leaders as case studies, comparing and contrasting them and drawing conclusions about how they both work within the same public sphere and for putatively similar ends (i.e., gaining votes).
A theory that supports motivation is the self determination theory. In the self determination theory people need to grow and gain fulfillment by a drive in them. Self Determination is the process of deciding how to act on ones environment. When one is trying to overcome a challenge or encountering a new experience a person wants to gain the knowledge to succeed over the new challenge. When self determination theory is in focus internal factors are at play; a person is primarily focused on the need to gain knowledge or independence. There are three factors that contribute to a student’s self determination and the needs are linked to the student’s