Leadership and Influence
Leadership is the capacity to involve others and sway them in the right direction. It entails exhibiting self-awareness, passion, and a distinct purpose, which indicates influence rather than authority (Toegel & Barsoux, 2012). Inspiration and teamwork are the foundations of effective leadership, not control or intimidation. I think great leaders are made not by their strength but by their capacity to inspire their subordinates.
Personal Leadership Journey
I am not a leader at the moment; instead, I am a mother to my child, a wife, a daughter, an aunt, and—what is more significant—a role model to my friends and family. As a role model, I have learnt never to give up since there is the little girl who wants to be like me. In my life, the two people that I consider as great leaders are my father and my husband. They are amazing, caring, and compassionate. They always they believe that other people matter and want others to succeed In future; I want to take the time to listen to others as I lead them other than misusing authority to order them around. In future, I want to become a leader that cares about his followers, inspire them, and show them that they matter. Moreover, I want to influence people's decisions other than controlling or commanding them. I want to uphold respect to others and let them reciprocate the same to me.
Core Values and Work-Life Balance
My core values are open-mindedness, courage, respect, motivation, dependability, optimism. I believe this regard and trust must be earned. Moreover, I believe that family is important; therefore, individuals must have a work-life balance. I believe that everybody has both strengths and weaknesses. Like any other person, I want to work on my weaknesses and compliment my strengths to ensure that I accomplish my task to the best of my ability. Besides, I intend to accomplish my goals through teamwork. As expected, a few people would want to sit back and wait for others to accomplish projects only to take the credits. Communication plays a key role in as far as teamwork is concerned. Communication ensures that a team grows stronger together. Communication is a two-way process. Furthermore, effective communication ensures that team members listen to others as they give their opinions and suggestions. Teams can only succeed when members are at par. Diversity in a workplace helps in improving productivity. People from different cultures, religion, and ethnicity are essential for bringing different approaches to solving problems in teams (Kearney, Gebert & Voelpel, 2009). Besides diversity regarding thinking styles, job level, skills, and physical abilities form the key pillars of strong and effective teams.
Delegation and Conflict Resolution
Delegation is important for teamwork since it allows all members to be actively involved in projects. However, I would not want to micromanage my team members or juniors. Conflicts in a workplace have both positive and negative impacts on teamwork. Conflict resolution opens up a chance for discussion thereby getting new ideas from team members (Kearney, Gebert & Voelpel, 2009). As a leader, it gives me an opportunity to show them that am listening to their grievances and getting them involved in coming up with the solutions. However, it may reduce the level of cooperation among team members thereby reducing the rate at which things are done. Also, it may create an unconducive workplace environment due to anger among team members.
Continuing Growth and Mentorship
Throughout the semester, I have learned that diversity, communication, and teamwork are key elements of leadership. I intend to continue listening to others and letting them air their views and opinions. My legacy is that I not only want to be a mentor but a role model who recognizes the importance of other people by giving a chance to shine.
References
Kearney, E., Gebert, D., & Voelpel, S. C. (2009). When and how diversity benefits teams: The importance of team members’ need for cognition. Academy of Management journal, 52(3), 581-598.
Toegel, G., & Barsoux, J. L. (2012). How to become a better leader. MIT Sloan Management Review, 53(3), 51.
