Personal Philosophy of Leadership Development - Assignment Example

Personal Philosophy of Leadership Development Business Leadership is the capa of someone to lead others. It crops up from ones abilities and qualities. Skills do not make a leader. A leader is often born with qualities that make him or her who they are. The qualities are inherent. The qualities include courage, confidence, determination, honesty, and wisdom. Leaders possess the ability of critical thinking and decision-making. This makes them consultant ants of the people they lead. Leadership is a calling; it needs individuals who can stand criticism and human judgment. The duty of leadership involves improving the life and status of one’s followers. A leader is different from a manager. Qualities define a leader. These qualities are inborn and it means leaders are born. Skills that a person acquires make him or her manager. This means that not all managers are leaders. Leadership means service to the people. A leader is a servant to the people he leads. He is bestowed with the responsibility of bettering the lives of his or her followers. Leadership development is useful to individuals who aim at improving their leadership skills. Leadership development is important as it creates a passion in leaders to lead their followers and serve them accordingly. This paper articulates my personal philosophy of leadership development and my development as a leader. An Ideal Leader Unique qualities characterize a leader. First leaders must possess character. Actions define character. Leaders understand that success is founded on character. An ideal leader possesses strong character, which assures the people he leads, that he will provide success. First impressions create lasting impression. A leader has to seal the deal with a first impression. Charisma does it for first impressions. Making others feel good is the best way of having charisma. A leader has to be courageous. People cannot put their trust in a coward. Courage builds confidence, and self-confidence is leadership at work. An ideal leader has focus. Focus entails prioritizing important factors and concentrating on them to accomplishment. Priorities without concentration gets nothing done, resulting to no progress. Concentration without priories limits growth and progress. Embracing both priorities and concentration translates to achievement of set goals. A candle loses nothing by lighting another. Humans depend on each other for survival and peaceful coexistence. Ideal leaders are grateful for what they have. They put other people needs ahead of theirs. This is selfless service and generosity (Maxwell, 2007). An ideal leader has the habit of giving and does not let the obsession of getting possessions take control. Lack of this quality is the root of greed and corruption among unethical leaders. Leaders are who they are by virtues of initiative. They are always on the move and they know what they want. An ideal leader is self-driven. A great leader will make mistakes but instead of quitting, learn from the mistakes. A good leader will inadvertently act to create the change desired by followers. A leader is born and not made. Qualities are inborn and inherited. Leadership is a calling and one who takes up leadership should do so with passion. An ideal leader is passionate with their position and service to people. One can achieve whatever their minds can conceive. A true leader is optimistic about life and circumstance. This leader holds positive attitude throughout the line of duty. The attitude al leader holds determines their actions. Positive attitudes translate to developmental actions. An ideal leader knows how to get along with his people. Building and maintaining healthy relationships with the people one leads is a sure way of successful leadership. Giving people hope and direction in life as a leader is the start of building relationships between a leader and his people. Complementing people when they do well and encouraging them is a way of maintain these relationships. A leader becomes one when he can lead himself or herself. This calls for decision of character. Belonging to oneself is the result of decision of character. An ideal leader is self-disciplined (Maxwell, 2007). He or she is able to lead oneself before taking on a crowd. Leadership is entirely about service to the people one leads. A true leader serves people best interest. They put the people they serve ahead of theirs. An ideal leader possesses the quality of servant hood. Leaders are who they are because they take responsibility. Responsibility is a key determinant of a leader, as one cannot take up leadership without this quality. Leaders improve their vicinity to better their performance. They take responsibility of their mistakes and learn from them. An example of an ideal leader is the 44th President of The United States of America, Barrack Obama. Barrack Obama’s leadership has been characterized by integrity, responsibility, servant hood, and vision. America attributes its progress to these leadership skills. Finally, a quality that describes an ideal leader is vision. A leader guides followers through a journey for a season. This calls for vision to take the crew to the right place. Vision leads a leader to the target it has painted. It is what fuels a leader to achieve the set goals. Becoming a Leader While leaders are born, great leaders are nurtured. It takes a number of measures to nurture a great leader. Throughout a leader’s life, learning takes place. Training and networking play a major role towards making a great leader. Experience plays the primary role towards nurturing a great leader. In the video leadership and values, YouTube, a number of qualities and skills are highlighted that are considered towards becoming a great leader. These values and skills include individuality and equality that helps a leader is unbiased in decision-making. Integrity make a leader uphold morals he or she believes in. Service and responsibility are the guiding principles of a leader. Respect and dedication to people develops healthy relationships between leaders and the people they serve. Great leaders put in place enjoyment and fun. All work without play makes jack a dull boy. Leadership cannot be productive without fun and enjoyment. Credibility and honest help a leader avoid the evils that come with the power bestowed upon them. Unity in a leaders circle is attributed to loyalty and teamwork. All these translate to excellence, efficiency, quality, and accountability. Organizations need to create a coaching culture to transforms their managers to leaders. A coaching plan has principles that enable transformation of an individual to a leader. The first principle is responsibility (Wilson, 2011, 408). A mangers report will less likely take upon them once a manager takes responsibility at his workplace. A second principle is self-belief. Complements from bosses and peers boost individual’s self-belief. Self-belief makes great leaders who become confident in their actions. Blame free is the final principle. Humans learn from their own mistakes and they should be allowed to make progress through trial and error method. Meeting new people in a social context and exchanging views builds leaders. This is the type of networking that leader’s embrace to learn from the people the lead (Wills, 1994, 19). Individuals working together achieve set goals for the best of an organization. Some take the part of leaders and grow among themselves to build a better organization. Organizations need to offer mentoring to managers. Mentoring is responsible for faster development in a leader. Mentors are advanced in their careers and their advice would be useful to inexperienced learners (Manuel, William and Lankalau, 1996, 50). Better job performance is a result of good mentoring. Protégés benefit immensely from mentors who are capable in terms of experience. My Personal Leadership Development My leadership is founded on my morals. I do not compromise my values to please anyone; I do what is right. Family values and ethics define my morals. I take responsibility of my actions. Integrity and honesty help me earn people’s trust and maintain it by serving them to their expectations. I am not good because I fear punishment or I expect a reward. I am good to the people I serve because of the healthy relationship I have with them. I am good to the people I serve because they have bestowed in my power to improve their lives and performance. These people have entrusted a lot in me. Having been blessed with the best of mentors, my leadership development skills are competent enough to serve my people and meet their expectations. Challenges in my line of duty include loss of assets and life. The experience is sickening but I have to stay strong and lead my team through the hard times. I have learnt that situations come with different complications. Each needs a different angle of approach to be tackled. I have recognized the fruits of positive teamwork to accomplish successful missions. A manager needs to possess leadership qualities for effective management. All the same a leader and manager need to listen to the people they lead. They need to provide an ear and listen to what they say and not just lead and expect to hear what they want. A manager and a leader should be able to set goals, give directions, discipline, and reward and improve his or her subordinates. Mangers need to foster innovation and creativity by adopting strategies aimed at improving an organization and individuals (Hayes, 2012, 14). Mentorship, networking, and experiences have boosted my personal leadership development. Conclusion Leadership is a calling. Qualities of leadership are often inborn. Some qualities and skills are learnt through experience, education, mentorship, and even networking. Leadership qualities re unique and this is what makes leaders different from other ordinary individuals. Managers need to take up leadership qualities to improve performance of employees in companies. It is also essential for the individual growth of employees. Mentors with positive motives should be assigned to individuals undergoing personal leadership development. Leadership eventually comes naturally, and the leader together with his or her people benefit. References Content4cecs. (2013). Leadership, values and skills. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPg9dUxfkNo Hayes, J. (2012). Leadership & Management in the UK - The Key to Sustainable Growth. A summary of the evidence for the value of investing in leadership and management development. Maxwell, J. (2007). The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow. Thomas Nelson Inc. Scandura, T., Tejeda, M., Werther, W., & Lankau, M. (1996). Perspectives on mentoring. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 17(3), 50-56. Wills, G. (1994). Networking and Its Leadership Processes. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 15(7), 19-27. Wilson, C. (2011). Developing a coaching culture. Industrial and Commercial Training, 43(7), 407-414. Read More