Personal Leadership Style
Introduction
Effective leadership is imperative for the success of every organization or a team working on a given project. Exhibiting the right leadership style can help to ensure that people in the team are having good relationships as well as encourage them to work hard to bring the best out of the organization. To engage in the right management of the team, it is essential first to understand one’s personal leadership style. Understanding personal leadership can help to identify one’s strengths and areas of weaknesses that are required to be addressed to enhance the performance of a given team. Examining own habits is the sure way to understand the leadership style in possession by a leader (Vann, Coleman & Simpson, 2014).
This reflective paper examines personal leadership skills based on my seven habits. I will focus on explaining my leadership skills style, which situational leadership style using on contingency theory.
Reflection on seven habits
I am the kind of person that is very kind and considerate of other people with whom we are working together on a given project. Unlike other people, I like taking my time first to understand the views of other people in the team when making a given decision rather than being authoritative. Because of my considerate spirit, I usually ensure that I keep my promises and also avoid making negative comments or discussion about other people that I am working with on a given project (Thompson & Glasø, 2015). With my ability to easily strike a balance between work-life and other equally important aspects of life such as family and friends, I can retain my motivation on my position for a long time because it only occupies a fraction of my life. I am usually concerned with the wellbeing of the team member that I am working with for the sake of maintaining good relationships. Although I work hard on every project at hand, I am usually focused on maintaining a sober mind by taking a single step at a time (Vann, Coleman & Simpson, 2014).
I am in full control of my life, in that; I only focus on things that are within my control rather than trying to control things that are beyond my control. I usually do not let my emotions control my actions and decision because they can likely mislead me from making logical decisions. Therefore I try so much to own every emotion to avoid blaming any person for any decision that I take in my life. Because of my good understanding of my life, I have a clear picture of what I want to accomplish in my life (Vann, Coleman & Simpson, 2014). Therefore, to avoid any confusion, I focus more on the organization of my work to avoid any crisis that may distract my plan. In maintaining my path by often creating a plan to guide every day of my week and ensure that my decisions are line with my plan.
Discipline is an important habit for effective leadership. I understand this, which is why I am a well-organized person who avoids procrastination and wastage of time. With my good planning of my every day, I strictly avoid being bypassed by important events or activities for being too busy. This has helped to ensure that everything that I engage in every day of my life is aligned with my overall goal. As focused as I am with my own goals, I am equally concerned about the success of others in the team (Thompson & Glasø, 2015). I establish team spirit and strive to find a solution to any conflict that may arise on our way to accomplishing given goals. I am sensitive to the feelings of others, which is why I tend to seek their views on a given situation to avoid making a decision that may disadvantage other people in the team. Additionally, I tend to be more open and seek to understand diverse viewpoints to make sure that the decisions I make are in line with the desires of other people in the team (Vandayani, Kartini & Hilmiana, 2015).
Situational leadership
From the seven habit I have reflected upon, I have realized that I am posses a situational leadership style. As a situational leader, I have come to understand how to make the right decisions based on the situations at hand. Having the ability to make decisions based on the situation at hand requires a person who is highly considerate and able to adjust to situation. According to Vandayani, Kartini & Hilmiana (2015), situation leaders are never carried away by emotions but rather focus on using logic through every situation that may face an organization. As a situation leader, I enjoy supporting, coaching, delegating and directing the duties at hand. Apart from helping me to establish strong relationships with other people in the team, being considerate to other people has helped to avoid falling into crisis on my decisions.
I think my situational leadership style is stemmed from my desire to ensure every party in the team feels welcomed and engaged. Because every member of the team is an equal contributor to the success of the organization, my focus is often on ensuring that I align my leadership style with needs of my subordinates. Vandayani, Kartini & Hilmiana (2015) argues that situational leaders should have a good understanding of every member of the team in areas such as their skills, willingness, level of engagement and duties. Understanding the role of every member helps to promote togetherness and team spirit, which is important for the accomplishment of the set goals. I think I am well positioned to bring different people together in making decisions based on the situation at hand. Situational leadership style requires people with the ability to bring people with diverse opinions to work together in achieving common goals of the organization. As a situational leader, I have mastered the art of establishing effective leadership skills.
Personal leadership strengths
One of the strengths of situational leadership which I have personally experienced while working with different teams is the ability to form good relationships. Because of my focus on involving my subordinates in the decision-making process, I have enjoyed good working relations with the different parties that I worked with. According to Vandayani, Kartini & Hilmiana (2015), situational leadership style focuses on establishing a good relationship between the management their subordinates. To promote collaboration, situational leaders should establish organizational cultures that encourage all the parties involved to be open about different decisions. Personally, I believe that cooperation is an important ingredient in situational leadership because it helps to attract diverse opinions, therefore, helping to ensure a sufficient operation of the organization. The multi-dimensional decision-making process used in situational leadership style creates a favorable platform through which all the parties can come together and make effective decisions. As a situational leader, I have constantly focused on creating strong relationship with different parties that are we are working together (Thompson & Glasø, 2015).
Personal leadership weaknesses
My first weakness in situational leadership is the confusion in decision making, where some people, regardless of knowing their roles and duties, they are still unlikely to working their duties. The unwillingness of the subordinates to makes adhere to their duties makes it difficult to for leaders to make urgent decisions that are important for the organization. It is also difficult to examine the commitment of the subordinates in the decision-making and execution of their duties. Commitment examination confuses the decision making so that leaders are faced with the challenge of achieving the success on a given project. I also find it difficult to bring diverse views from the different people in the team to achieve a common goal (Thompson & Glasø, 2015).
Recommendation for personal leadership
Although situational leadership style is important for promoting autonomy and collaborative decision making, it comes with some challenges that can lead to negative impact. One of the challenges is confusion in the decision making and the challenge coming with a solution on timely basis. The delay in the decision-making process is caused by the fact that the leaders are faced with the challenge of incorporating the different opinions. Therefore, it is advisable for the leaders also to be firm to take a single stand when the different views do not seem to reach the main solution. In order to achieve effective solutions to the situation at hand, the management should establish a communication platform through which all employees can contribute to the decision-making process. According to Thompson & Glasø (2015), situation leaders should direct and delegate the duties as a way of motivating them to raise their views in the decision-making process.
SMART goals
Ways for achieving the goals
SMART goals help leaders to make decisions that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. Firstly, the diverse views should be relevant to the subject and situation at hand. This means the leaders should identify and verify every contribution of the employees on whether the ideas are in line with the goals of the organization. The other factor to put into consideration is on the measurability of the views of the subordinates. In achieving measurable and relevant goals, the leaders should be well positioned to keenly examine the different situations at hand. There should be an effective communication platform through which the parties involved in the organization can contribute their views (Yates, 2014).
Conclusion
Understanding personal leadership is important for helping one to develop good relations with the subordinates working for the given organization. I think a situational leadership style is an effective form of leadership that can help to bring together the subordinates, parties and other interested parties into the operations of the organization. Situational leadership style focuses on establishing a leadership approach that will be effective in solving a given problem facing the organization at the moment. Although situational leadership style is effective for bringing together the staffs, leaders and other representatives, it is an ambiguous and hard to define based on the fact that different views have to be brought together into a single solution. The decisions made should match with the SMART goals, whereby they should be measurable and relevant to the situation at hand.
References
Vann, B. A., Coleman, A. N., & Simpson, J. A. (2014). Development of the Vannsimpco leadership survey: a delineation of hybrid leadership styles. Swiss Business School Journal of Applied Business Research, 3, 28-38.
Vandayani, P., Kartini, D., & Hilmiana, Y. A. (2015). The Impact Of National Culture On Effectiveness Of Situational Leadership Hersey-Blanchard. DEVELOPMENT, 1, S4.
Thompson, G., & Glasø, L. (2015). Situational leadership theory: a test from three perspectives. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 36(5), 527-544.
Yates, S. S. (2014). The SMART Goal Framework: Teacher Perceptions of Professional Learning and Teacher Practice. Northcentral University.