Examining Your Leadership Journey

Leadership Style Analysis

Leadership can be described as a crucial skill which is required to be possessed by the different business managers as well as the executives functioning in the dynamic business environment (Lussier & Achua, 2015).  Leadership can be simply stated to be an art which assists an individual to lead a group of people towards their stated objectives and to ensure that these objectives are achieved for the benefit of the entire team. According toAntonakis and Day (2017), it is believed by many critics that leadership is a skill with which one is born with, however, theauthor believes that leadership can be built over time. The primary motive of this report is to analyze and examine my leadership style and my journey until now and develop a sense of awareness with respect to how I have emerged as a leader today. This analysis will assist me in building my current leadership potential and capability.The report will lay down by current roles and responsibilities along with the key aspects of my leadership journey. Tools such as Gallup Strengths Finder and other Emotional intelligence tools have been used to examine the same. Furthermore, the feedback which I have received will also be analyzed.

Current Role, responsibilities and leadership challenges

Currently I am working as team lead in the Company XYZ and studying part time in order to improve my overall qualification as well as the career aspects. My responsibilities include management of my team members, assigning them with duties and task, evaluating their overall performance, analyzing their performance annually and seeing to it that the overall target of the team is achieved and that my firm is successful in the long run. Although I have been able to manage my team successfully over the last few years, there are various challenges which I have been facing in the past with respect to my anger issues. I often lose my temper when the situation is not in my favor and this often has an impact on my overall performance which then acts as a barrier in my leadership journey.

Key aspects of my leadership journey

According to me, the reason why I believe myself to be a good leader is because I possess certain leadership traits which help me to stand out against my competitors at large and these skills are strong people skills, managing skills and the technical skills. I am good at managing the different people who work under me and due to this it thereby becomes considerably easier for me to reflect and show my differentleadership skills to the people (Tannenbaum& Schmidt, 2017). As I have held various leader positions throughout my career it becomes considerably important and relevant because I have been working upon my skills since a long period of time and have taken various workshops based on delegation skills, communication skills and other related skills like people management.

Personal Leadership Journey

Moreover, I believe that there are certain skills which are required to be possessed internally like the honesty, integration and confidence which I have been implementing throughout my work and this has thereby enabled me to work hard and be a successful leader. In addition to this, as an inspiration I look up to for learning is Jack Ma. Jack Ma has reflected considerable capabilities and skills throughout his term at Alibaba and began the impossible task of developing his nation China (Beck & Cowan, 2014).  He as a leader is compassionate, confident and has a risk taking capability. In addition to this, he also believes that taking risks is good which makes hum unique has a leader and moreover, ensures that he performs well and this has been the reason, his company has been able to perform this well.

Another critical event which has impacted my skills as a leadership has been the international event which had taken place during the second year of my university. I was the chairperson of the managing team of the event and this added a considerable amount of confidence and led me to believe that I am capable of leading an organization at large if I am successfully able to manage a large international fest. In addition to this, I had interned at Woolworths as well which had then assisted me to understand the manner in which the people in firms had to be lead upon and dealt with.

The summary results of the Gallup Strengths Finder

The Gallup Strengths finder is a personality assessment which helps an individual to bring out a positive focus for themselves and can be described as a behavioral test measure which helps to understand an individual’s unique sequence of the 34 different talent themes (Klenke, 2016).  When I undertook the Gallup Strengths assessment test I figured out that I have a series of various strengths sequence which can thereby be analyzed to understand my strengths. The seven different themes which I got are as follows:

Strategic:According to the test, I have a special way of thinking which enables me to find success at my workplace and thereby ensures that I am able to evaluate the different obstacles and thereby adopt a part which will ensure success in the long run (Fairhurst& Connaughton, 2014, pg. 7-35).

Ideation: The ideation theme states that I like to figure out new ideas and concepts so that I am able to increase my connections and am kind of inclined towards disparate phenomena’s and obscure connections (Priest& Gass, 2017). 

Use of Tools and Feedback for Self-Improvement

Relator: The relator theme describes my attitude towards relationships and pulls me closer to known people (Northouse, 2018). 

Focus:This reflects that I am focused and like to possess simple intentions based on my thinking. I like to have well set goals and believe that it is.

Futuristic: Lastly, the test reflected that I am futuristic in nature and that I love to plan about the future and reflect upon the fact that I would like to create a better life for myself. My main motivator of the future is the fact that the future will always be better (DuBrin, 2015). 

Hence, from this given test, I could reflect that my strength lies in specific planning as well as setting targets for the future which can thereby assist me in ensuring that I will be able to achieve long term objectives and thereby ensure a good career development as well as enhancement.

A summary of feedback on your current leadership style, capabilities, effectiveness, interpersonal and social skills

I would like to state that according to the Emotional Intelligence test feedback which I received my leadership style can be stated to be aware and have a good control towards my relationships and general goals. The Emotional Intelligence aspect takes into consideration the following aspects:

Self-awareness: The self-awareness aspects takes into considerations aspects like emotional awareness of the self, whereby I am able to assess my emotions and calculate their impact on my performance (Rosenbach, 2018).  It also considers the aspects like self-assessmentwhich help in understanding whereby I understand my own strengths and capabilities and lastly my confidence level. This aspect considers factors like confidence as well (Daft, 2014).  I got a score of 7 in this aspect and hence, there still exists scope for improvement.

Self-management: This aspect comprises of competencies like self-control, transparency, management of self and responsibilities, adaptability and the achievement orientation which seek to identify whether a person will be able to meet a particular goal and ensure that they are successfully able to ensure that opportunities are seized. I scored 8 in this aspect which reflects that I have been performing considerably well.

Social Awareness: This aspect reflects upon empathy, awareness and networking which means that I take interest in others work and ensure that there exists a good networking base in an organization at large (Covin& Slevin, 2017, pg. 307-327). In this aspect I got score of 8 which reflects that I have been performing very well.

Relationship management: The last aspect reflects upon my leadership skills like the development of various skills of leadership, development, communication, influence, listening and sending along with ensuring that good and everlasting bonds are created. According toCashman(2017), this aspect is very crucial for leadership skills and dynamics and with a score of 7 in this aspect, I believe, I have to improve my skills here. 

Case Study: Inspirational Leadership Journey

According to me, there has been a strong influence of the family on my partner. He has worked for Deloitte and Touché for 10 years and left the job here he was last placed as Audit Manager. However, he had the entrepreneurial skills in him whereby he started his business of Locksmiths with a friend. He is a married man and although he seeks his executive role, he is a good leader as he believes in challenging himself and loves to overcome them at large. Hence, his leadership journey can be stated to be an inspiring one whereby he left his job and went on to pursue his own dreams. He is hardworking and energetic which good communication skills. According to me, he should increase his risk taking appetite and thereby set out a beautiful vision for himself which shall ensure success in the long run. His emotional intelligence test, showed that he is good at managing relationships and got a score of 9 in that aspect. In addition to this, he also scored well in social awareness and self-management However, I believe, that there are aspects like self-awareness whereby he is required to improve his skills and be aware of his own strengths as well as weaknesses.

On the basis of his Gallop report, it can be stated that the themes he got were Competition, focus, arranger, learner and self-assurance. This reflects that he is highly focused on his goals and that he is a good learner and likes to develop his skills. In addition to this, he is highly competitive in nature and that he likes to plan well and arrange well in advance for his goals and objectives. This will help him to perform well as a leader in future

The implications of the feedback and your reflection on its significance

Hence, reflecting from the different sources of feedback I have received in the past from my partners and through the Gallop Test and related Emotional Intelligence test, I believe that the tests convey that I am good in the following aspects:

1. Focused: According to the tests, I am a focused individuals who believes in goal formation and achievement. I have to agree upon the fact because the moves I have taken in life till now reflect this and I can successfully state that until now I have prepared myself in a manner such that I remain focused. I form adequate plans and define my next moves so that I am successfully able to ensure long term success.
2. Good communicator: I have good communication skills which assist in ensuring that I am a people`s person. I believe in expressing myself and guiding the different individualsaccordingly which makes them look up to me and thereby results in a positive outcome for the overall performance of the team.
3. Empathy and vision: I have empathy and a good understanding of the different individualswhich thereby ensures that I am able to predict the behavior of the people which will then assist me in forming a good team and thereby persuading the different individuals to work according to my directions (Bolman& Deal, 2017). Once they are able to do this, my goals as a leader is achieved.

However, the feedback implied that I have the following weaknesses as well:

• Anger issues: As I am highly focused and tend to form various goals and set deadlines for myself which then enables me to achieve these goals, I tend to expect that the other people working under me to follow these aspects as well. However, not all people are alike and when I find that these individuals are unable to do so I get impatient which thereby has a strong influence on my impression in their eyes.
• Lack of relationship management: I am poor in managing long term relationships with different individuals which then has an impact on my overall credibility as a leader.

Conclusion

Therefore, from the given analysis it can be rightfully stated that Leadership as a skill although inborn can be mastered overtime. My experience in various fields has assisted me to develop this skill and hence, I state myself to be a good leader who is highly considerate, passionate and seek to ensure that the goals of the organization. In the future, I am to attain more reverence and capabilities as a leader by joining various workshops which will then assist me to ensure that I am able to overcome my shortcomings. The given report outlined my journey as a leader and also assessed the feedback achieved from various tests I undertook like Gallop and Emotional Intelligence. The report further enlightened me about my capabilities and future prospects.

References

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