Leadership Report

            I have had a good time in this class where we were taught on the Principles of Management. My instructor in this class has been….Before I joined the class, I had limited knowledge of what constitutes effective leadership in an organization and also was not fully aware on how to apply the principles of management in an organization. I took the class so that I would be having a better understanding of the concepts of management, leadership skills, and decision-making in real-life experiences. I cannot regret taking this class of principles of management since I have benefited much from the issues that we have been taught. I am now a better leader than before, and I can demonstrate enhanced leadership skills both at a personal level and within an organizational context.

            The class has helped me to understand my weaknesses and strengths in leadership and management. The knowledge of my weaknesses helped me to work hard towards addressing them to become an effective leader in future.

Definition of Leadership

            My basic understanding of the idea of leadership is that it involves guiding a group of people in a certain direction with the aim of achieving a common objective. In leadership, the person guiding the others is also actively involved in the activities of achieving the objective and not only giving instructions. I understand leadership as the ability to share a vision with a group of people and working to ensure that vision is realized within the set duration. Leadership entails the essence of taking the ultimate responsibility in enhancing the capacity of a team to achieve particular goals, but at the same time minimizing all the potential risks to the team members in achieving the objectives (Northouse, 2015). Leaders have a mandate of ensuring that they do the right thing also help others in a team to do everything right as required. As such, a leader sets the direction, builds the vision, and is creative in building something new for a team. However, it is important to understand that leadership may mean different things to different people and application to various contexts such as the community, religion, politics, and organizations.

            Other than understanding what leadership entails, it is also essential to differentiate between leadership and management since they imply similar actions, but in reality are different. Managers focus on behavior and things that one can see physically. Thus, effective management ensures compliance in which the person being managed does everything as instructed. The influence of a manager is obtained through authority, and every manager seeks to improve the way they instruct for the other people to follow. On the other hand, leaders deal with emotions and motivations. Every effective leader has a desire to see things working out, and the people led always seek to do what they are motivated to do. The influence of the leaders arises from emotional and social skills, and thus, is required to develop their social and emotional skills (Kotterman, 2006).

            In practice, leaders create a vision and managers create goals. The leaders are considered as agents of change, but, managers maintain the status quo by sticking with what is working and refining the processes to make them better. In most instances, leaders are fond of taking risks, but managers control the potential risks. Regarding growth, leaders grow personally, but managers rely on the existing skills that are already shown to be working. Leaders are known for building relationships as compared to managers who tend to build systems and processes.  

Personal Skills/ Weaknesses

            This class helped me to identify my skills and weaknesses as applicable in leadership. My strengths in leadership include; ability to communicate effectively, adaptability, being self-motivated and determined, success-oriented team player, and ability to inspire others. Other than the strengths, I have understood my weaknesses in leadership such as being a debater, lacking some essential skills, and being emotional when faced with challenges.

            I realize that I can communicate effectively both at a personal level and at an organizational level in the issues that seek to enhance productivity and results in attainment. I consider effective communication as necessary both in oral and written contexts since formal communication can be achieved through oral or written channels. On the issue of adaptability, I realized that I could easily fit in a workplace as long as I share a similar vision with the others working there and also works to ensure that I adapt to that environment. However, I always desire to impart a positive change to a team and thus ensure to make an environment better than I find it.

            As an aspiring leader, I understand the essence of being self-motivated and determined in achieving success. As such, I am always determined to do everything possible, and in the right way, to ensure that I am successful in every leadership activity. I am a team player and value the input by all the members of a team since they make significant contributions to the achievement of goals. As a team player, I am determined to succeed and thus have to inspire the other members to work hard for the common good of an organization. On the issue of inspiring others, I am on the front line in guiding other people to do the right things and also motivating them to attain their personal and organizational goals.

            Other than the strengths that define my leadership skills, I have weaknesses that I need to work on to enhance my effectiveness in leadership. I think that I over-use my communication skills as evident in being a debater. I realize that I tend to question almost everything that happens which I do not understand whether it is being passionate about work or it just comes out naturally. I need to be given a reason for any change introduced in the organization even when though it rubs others the wrong way. I think that I need to control the trait since it may be a cause of conflict with my colleagues. I also lack some essential skills, and specifically decision making. I understand the value of effective decision-making skills, but when it comes to practicing it, I do not fully articulate them as required. The other people look up to the leader to make decisions that influence the operations of the organization. I also identified the weakness of being emotional when faced with a challenge which limits my ability to make decisions on how to address the challenge. I observe that I am not always ready to handle the leadership challenges professionally for fear of the unknown. In some instances, I have considered it as a way of hiding my weaknesses which only makes the situation worse than it was. I think that I need to devise ways of dealing with the challenges that arise since they are inevitable in every leadership experience. Also, challenges help to make a leader strong and also prepared for the future if similar challenges arise.                   

Description of Leadership Experience

            I had a real-life experience of leadership which took place from May 15th to June 15th, 2017 at Al-Higaz Company. It was after taking my class on principles of management from January to May 2017. The company I worked has a range of expertise from Telecom and Civil infrastructure development and particularly the OSP fiber optic cable and secondary networks. It was a good place to learn and also experience some aspects of leadership. I worked on a part-time basis and had the opportunity of observing how leadership was handled in the organization. I also worked in the same company from 2011 to 2012 as a supervisor where I exercised most of my leadership skills. I demonstrated poor leadership that affected the employees and all those under my supervision since I did not have basic skills in leadership. I could not communicate effectively, handle staff as required, and also was weak in decision-making. I think that I was ineffective since it was my first opportunity to exercise leadership in such a large organization. I was nervous and used to have conflicts with other employees due to my ineffectiveness in leadership. However, after undertaking the class on principles of management, I have improved on how I handle leadership especially in communication and staff handling. My latest experience in the same company is a tacit proof that the issues studied in the class have been helpful to my leadership abilities. I can comfortably lead a group of people in a team for a particular goal and inspire the team to achieve the goals. The class readings helped to change my perspective on leadership and also in advancing my leadership skills to match those of effective leaders in the successful organizations.      

Leadership Activity/ Skills/ Knowledge used

            Throughout the class discussions and instruction on the principles of management, I have acquired various skills that are applicable in real life experiences of leadership. I have also acquired additional leadership skills from the opportunities I have had to work at Al-Higaz Company. My personal and social life has also sharpened some of the leadership skills that I have as applicable in organizational leadership and management. All the identified platforms above have helped me to grow as a leader and also understand my weaknesses and strengths as essential for every effective leader.

            Regarding the class discussions and instruction, I learned the basics of leadership and also how I can apply leadership skills in moving an agenda forward in an organization. I realized that I need to be ready to learn and adopt new skills in leadership as I interact with other people in the informal and formal engagements. For instance, I worked as a supervisor at Al-Higaz Company where I interacted with various groups of people. Other than leading the people under me, I also learned from them especially on the need to communicate effectively, and also being self-motivated and determined. I realized that leaders might not have the privilege of being guided on what to do since they are expected to show others what to do. As such, I need to understand how to handle every situation that arises for the common benefit of the organization and the other employees.      

            My experiences at Al-Higaz Company both as a supervisor and the recent one month part job contract, have helped me to understand what I bring to the table on leadership skills and weaknesses. I cannot regret having had an opportunity to serve as a supervisor since it gave me the desire to study about leadership and management in an organization. The experiences I had due to my poor leadership skills were essential in molding and nurturing me to be who I am today. There are several things that I learned, and endeavor to utilize them in every leadership activity that I will have in future. Among them is communication, self-motivation, being a team player, inspiring, and decision-making. I understand better than before, the essence of communication in leadership since it helps to drive an agenda and also share the vision with other like-minded people. If I had effective communication skills when I worked as a supervisor, my engagement with other employees would be better than it was. I used to have conflicts with other people since I lacked some basic skills in leadership communication, which I now have.  I also learned that, without self-motivation and determination, it becomes challenging to actualize a vision of its fulfillment.

            My understanding of a team player is being available and contributing positively to make the team strong and on-course in actualizing the vision. As such, I need to contribute positively to every team of employees that I work with, for the common good of the organization. In the part-time job at Al-Higaz Company, I participated in teamwork activities where we were required to have unity of purpose in ensuring that we achieve the organizational goals. I also believe that leaders should be inspiring to their followers for them to grow together and have consistency in their engagements with them. I exercised the skill of being inspiring to others when working as a supervisor where we managed to beat deadlines despite having conflicts now and then. I have realized that my supervisory tenure would be effective if I demonstrated all-around leadership attributes other than being deficient in some and proficient in others.  The experiences I have had both at a personal level and organizational context have helped me to realize that I am easily swayed from one side of a decision to another, probably due to the failure of being firm and decisive. Decision-making process requires careful observation and analysis of the issues at hand, which informs a decision. Thus, I need to understand the process and then practice it in my leadership experiences. Other than applying the leadership skills in the previous experiences and activities, I intend to improve on the various weaknesses to become an effective leader in future. 

Summary

            I consider the class on principles of management as one of the best courses that I have handled with a direct impact on my career and personal growth. I learned the basics of leadership and management and also how to become an effective leader in the 21st century. I have also understood my strengths and weaknesses as applicable in the leadership experiences I have had in the past. I need to focus on making my strengths more effective than before and also limit the negative impact of the personal weaknesses of my leadership experiences. The path towards becoming an effective leader may not be smooth, but with the willingness to adjust, learn, and practice; the future holds great success for me in leadership.   

References

Northouse, P. G. (2015). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications

Kotterman, J. (2006). Leadership versus management: what's the difference?. The Journal for       Quality and Participation, 29(2), 13

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in essay writing services. If you need a similar paper you can place your order from cheap assignment writing service services.