Leadership for Managers

Question: Provide a reflective journal in Leadership for Managers. Answer: Leadership for Managers The aim of this paper is to provide a reflective journal in Leadership for Managers. The course unit has enabled me in understanding the concepts and theories of leadership. In my knowledge, Ive found great leadership requiring internal reflection of the key concepts. Effective leaders need to constantly reflect on their leadership behaviour. By embedding a reflection assignment in this course, I shall be able to integrate theories and practices studies for addressing the current and future issues (Wong and Laschinger 2012, p. 950). This paper addresses my evaluation of the experiences and lessons learned in the course. I have critically observed my own behaviour and ideas for learning while preparing this piece of writing. The first section of this paper introduces the meaning of leader and the research perspectives. The second section reflects upon the personal side of leadership and courage and moral leadership. Lastly, I have reviewed leader as a relationship builder. I have also reviewed leadership communication and leading teams. This course prepares me for various challenges that I would face throughout my life cycle. The course supports skill development and self-reflection through lessons and activities (Travers, Morisano and Locke 2014, p. 224). While writing deeply about my learning experience in the leadership course, the positive and negative effects were encountered that are presented in my writing. The factors leading to the success or failure of the learning effectiveness are also stated n the paper. The lessons that I learned from the course experience through lectures and activities are elaborated. Taking the leadership course was challenging and exciting learning experience. Overall, I gained new leadership knowledge, skills and experience. I also found the confidence to able to weave new leadership theory in my personal as well as professional practice and perform the role of leader. The first chapter outlines the nature of leadership. This lesson helped me in exploring and understanding the true meaning of leadership. I am able to see the potential in myself and others. I found this lesson important as before examining the factors that make an effective leader, it was necessary to understand and know what leadership means. The lesson summarized the key elements of leadership in their definitions by various authors. In the beginning of the module, management and leadership were similar terms for me. I did not know the real difference between the two terms due to a lot of similarity. But, with the completion of this lesson, I learnt the basic difference between leadership and management. According to Kotler, leadership is different from management (Gallos 2011, p. 5). A thorough comparison between management and leadership was also made in context with personal qualities, relationships, alignment and outcomes. In the beginning of the course, I was not sure about m y career plans. I was not certain if the course would prove beneficial and shall go in the right direction. The lessons had self-insights activities that tested multiple intelligences and learn about interpersonal, intrapersonal, logical, verbal and musical intelligences. The activities helped me in identifying my forms of intelligence that I enjoy the most. The results of the intelligence shall help in giving a direction to my career plans and aspirations for the kind of leader I want to be (Chaturvedi 2015, p. 279). The lesson had interesting references such as the Cowboy Code that helped me in having a better insight on the ways leaders must live (Rittenburg 2015, p. 31). The attributes focused on honestly, integrity, fairness, gentle, respectful and helpful. Effective management and leadership begin with self-awareness. It implies working hard to understanding my innate strengths and weaknesses (Northouse 2014, p. 52). Recently, a peer said to me that my level of professionalism has increased. Another self-insight helped me in assessing my current situation. It also helped me in imagining a situation where I am the major head of a department at a corporation. The questionnaire comprised of questions with both management and leadership qualities. The results of the activity gave me a hint that I possess more of leadership qualities. I could get involved in shaping vision, values, ideas and change in the organization. I shall follow an intuitive approach for developing new ideas and seek new dir ections (Daft and Lane 2014, p. 16). I reviewed the evolving theories of leadership for viewing what is practiced today. The theories and major approaches increased my knowledge base about the different leadership studies. The emergence of leadership in different era helped me in learning the development ways of leadership. I came to realize that leadership is not automatic. I have to achieve collaboration, diversity and empowerment for controlling an organization (Vangen and Winchester 2013, p. 689). In the beginning on the course, it was unclear why the executives get derailed. I learnt that the people who betray personal trust, be cold and arrogant, abrasive, bully and intimidate their subordinates shall fail in becoming an effective leader. The biggest challenge faced by me in the above chapter was to understand the new paradigm of leadership. I have come to know the hard skills and soft skills required to guide an organization effectively (Metcalf and Benn 2012, p. 372). The research perspectives helped me in identifying my personal traits and characteristics as associated with leadership. One of the critical factors is to connect the learning to the job. The learning needs to be fully tied with the learning role and its impact on the performance. In the beginning of the chapter, I was not acquainted with the distinction between people-oriented and task oriented leadership behaviour (Vries, Rook and Engellau 2016, p. 242). This chapter helped me with the introduction of individualized leadership. When the course began, I did not know how to judge people effectively. I am still learning to get thorough with the concepts of managing the social system. By undertaking the activities as prescribed in the course, I assessed my level of self-confidence. I have an average level of self-confidence and need to increase it for effective leadership. I reviewed my previous relationship with the supervisor for measuring the success. I had an excellent relationship with my previous employer. The next unit provided an insight on the personal side of leadership. The unit helped me in developing an understanding of different types of cognitive skills, personalities and behaviours (Day et al. 2014, p. 64). I undertook the activity by stating the traits and behaviours. According to the Big Five personality Dimensions, I am moderately extravert, highly agreeable, highly conscientious, low on neuroticism and moderate to openness. I have learnt about my own basic personality dimensions. I am working on strengthening my positive aspects while dealing with the negative ones. I am conducting research on how to be a good leader irrespective of the scores on the big five dimensions. I believe that my actions can strongly affect what happens to me. I am a believer of being a master of my own fate and not as a result of luck or fate. As a leader I can improve my traits by recognizing authoritarianism and locus of control. I am receptive to others idea that makes my personality dogmatic (Leutner et al. 2014, p. 60). I undertook an activity for measuring the locus of my control based on which I realized that I believe in owning responsibility for whatever happens to me. I wish to increase my end values in context to being at peace, salvation, inner harmony and salvation. I also need to enhance my instrumental values such as self-control and ambition. I do not believe in violating my moral values to be successful in life as it will not give me inner peace. The course helped me in determining my style by undertaking a survey called the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI). I came to realization that I am well-organized, reliable and deal with planning belonging to the Quadrant B (Hughes, Hughes and Hodgkinson 2016, p. 5). The lesson Courage and Moral Leadership helped me in recognizing the stage of moral development and ways to accelerate moral maturation. I have developed better understanding about the lesson as I was only familiar with the basic terms. For learning my Mach or Machiavellian score, I answered certain questions for which my score was low. I am personally engaged with people and I believe in doing things for the right cause (Vega and Comer 2011, p. 15). My concepts of servant leadership were unclear in the beginning of this course. The lecturer cleared my concepts my elaborating each stage of the leadership continuum. I am responsible for improving outcomes of my subordinates after I become the leader. I am expected to make quality improvements so that I can act as team player and be responsible. The terms leadership, management and stewardship were more or less the same to me before starting the course. Stewardship supports the belief that leaders are deeply accountable to others as we ll as to the organization, without trying to control others, define meaning and purpose for others, or take care of others (Senge et al. 2014, p. 4). I evaluated the leadership approach along the dimensions of authoritarian leadership, stewardship, servant leadership and participative leadership. I imagined a situation for undertaking formal or informal role in the organization. My leadership scores were indicative of participative leadership. For leaders, courage is both a moral and practical matter (Hutchinson et al. 2015, p. 330). When it comes to leadership and development, one size does not fit all (Manolova et al. 2012, p. 8). My understanding of the approaches got clear by assessing my moral courage. With a high score, I evaluated that I have the real the potential to act as a courageous leader. I shall further improve my courage to be a leader by keeping mind straight. I need to improve my concepts about servant leadership and stewardship. According to Weiss (2013, p. 365) Stewardship is critical component of every organization as it is linked with sustainability. I consider leadership as a means to generate impact. I need to find ways that would accelerate my moral maturation. I have not been involved in situations or dilemmas where I have to choose between two options. I need to improve and use mechanisms for promoting ethical organizational culture (May, Luth and Schwoerer 2013, p. 70). The lesson helps in using communication to influence and persuade others. It recognizes the importance of communication at the times of crisis. I learned the importance of open communication climate, active listening to others and supporting strategic conversations (Marsick and Watkins 2015, p. 14). Teams are groups of individuals who accomplish designated objectives by working independently, communicating effectively, and making decisions that affect their work. The creation of the tutorials for presentation in class called for each team member to assume a leadership role on a rotational basis. This was considered key to success of any team since each team was to be later on required to successfully present their tutorials before the class. The presentations required every member of the group to take a leadership role at the time of presentation. Leadership development should begin by looking at where the leader is in relation to the level of skill and knowledge required to lead wit hin your organisation, and where they need to be (Colbert, Barrick and Bradley 2013, p. 353). My knowledge about various channel of communication has tremendously increased. I need to break the boundaries for overcoming the barriers. I need to understand how my action affects others. The lesson provides with blogs that gives practical insight to create positive organizational climate. Upon analyzing my communication behaviour, I have realized that I possess acting listening skills. It is necessary to possess active listening skills. Being a good listener expands a leaders role in the eyes of others and enhances their influence (Grant and Hartley 2013, p. 104). I shall be conscious about my language in all situations. As a leader, I need to develop my skills as an effective crisis communicator. I need to develop four critical skills such as being calm, communicating a vision, get the awful truth out and be visible (Daft and Lane 2014, p. 282). I need to develop my skills for being in teams. Teams are defined as two or more independent individuals who interact with and influence one another in order to accomplish a common purpose. I shall develop my skills of being a self-directed team so that the team members are able to work without active supervision. I need to improve my effectiveness by making the team interdependent. I undertook a survey for measuring the cohesiveness of the team I wish to be involved in. We need to increase team commitment by increasing interaction and develop high performance. I shall provide my subordinates with effective training and support for creating a compelling vision (Friedrich, Griffith and Mumford 2016, p. 316). Conclusively, I have reflected upon my style and vision of management. I have also identified areas that can help me in becoming a better and more versatile leader. Leadership is an innate quality in me since I was a kid. I have been involved in various teams and at a position of influence where I could lead teams. I do not say that everyone can be a leader, but certain characteristics, skills and personality traits make people efficient leaders. The leadership course has given me tremendous exposure to new opportunities and enhances my growth as a leader. I shall look at the list of existing skills and work out competencies to enable in meeting objectives. The first section of this paper introduces the meaning of leader and the research perspectives. The second section reflects upon the personal side of leadership and courage and moral leadership. Lastly, I have reviewed leader as a relationship builder. In the beginning of the module, management and leadership were similar terms fo r me. I did not know the real difference between the two terms due to a lot of similarity. Effective management and leadership begin with self-awareness. I have to achieve collaboration, diversity and empowerment for controlling an organization. The biggest challenge faced by me in the above course was to understand the new paradigm of leadership. In the beginning of the chapter, I was not acquainted with the distinction between people-oriented and task oriented leadership behaviour. As a leader I can improve my traits by recognizing authoritarianism and locus of control. I am receptive to others idea that makes my personality dogmatic. I do not believe in violating my moral values to be successful in life as it will not give me inner peace. The course helped me in determining my leadership style. I have developed better understanding about the lesson as I was only familiar with the basic terms. The terms leadership, management and stewardship were more or less the same to me before starting the course. I need to find ways that would accelerate my moral maturation. I need to improve and use mechanisms for promoting ethical organizational culture. References Chaturvedi, R., 2015. Multiple Intelligence and its Influence on Locus of Control. Colbert, A., Barrick, M. and Bradley, B., 2013. Personality And Leadership Composition in Top Management Teams: Implications For Organizational Effectiveness.Personnel Psychology, 67(2), pp.351-387. Comer, D. and Vega, G., 2011.Moral courage in organizations. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe. Daft, R. and Lane, P., 2014.The leadership experience. Mason, Ohio: Thomson/South-Western. Day, D., Fleenor, J., Atwater, L., Sturm, R. and McKee, R., 2014. 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