Personal Aims and Experiences - Essay Example

Reflective pieces Summary The study provides three reflective pieces on the areas of study covered relating to my personal aims and experiences. They allow me to have an in-depth understanding of my aims and aspirations and provide me an opportunity to incorporate concepts and skills learned in the course. The reflective pieces deal with the most important skill I would like to develop as a leader, which is effective delegation if I am a transformation or transactional leader, and if I am good at problem-solving. The reasons for wanting to learn effective delegation are touched on as well as the benefits this will accrue to me, employees, and the organization as a whole. The personal requirements as a leader that effective delegation will help me meet are well articulated in the first reflective piece. The second reflective piece entails if I am a transactional/transformational leader with an exposition of the various ways my leadership skills and behaviors makes me believe I am a transformational leader. The part provides the characteristics I possess regarding leadership and relates them to transformational leadership styles to back the belief that I am a transformational leader. The third reflective piece is an exposition of my problem-solving abilities where I provide a step by step review of the manner in which I solve problems. Information gathering for decision-making is one of the challenges in my problem-solving since I tend to seek complete information to solve problems that in reality may not be possible and time-consuming to make fast, reliable, intuitive decisions. The leadership skill I most want to develop: Ability to Delegate According to Magee (2015, 150), delegation is an art and science that has to be developed to be effective, and leaders should aim at achieving efficient delegation. The leadership skill I would like to develop is the ability to delegate effectively since I realized the many benefits that can be accrued by a leader and the organization from the effective delegation of duties. According to Prive (December 19, 2012. Par. 4), delegation allows a leader to develop trust and share the vision with the team offering the chance for achievement and progress, which I believe will be beneficial to me achieving success and progress as a leader. The delegation will be beneficial to me in achieving a strong team of members who cherish and trust in my ability owing to a shared vision of the future. Delegation is an important leadership skill and will allow me to know which the most efficient manner of functions is and allow for efficient operations. The delegation will allow me to be more efficient in task management and productivity and offer members a chance to provide their best in completing delegated tasks within stipulated time and meeting quality standards required. The delegation will also help me to have time and energy to dedicate myself to important aspects of the team including development of focus and direction to which the organization should be steered to in the future. The ability to tackle the most important aspects of the organization as a leader will be beneficial in achieving success for the organization and ensuring all the members played their roles well owning the performance and getting motivated to perform better. Some of the areas on delegation I would like to develop as a leader are to understand various stages of making delegation effective. Ability to establish goals intended for the tasks to be delegated is one of the areas I would like to be competent to allow the members of my staff to know what I expect of them clearly avoiding confusion in task completion. I would also like to develop ways to empower the people under me by offering them a chance to be open on the mechanisms they will be able to achieve the intended goals in an ethical, legal, and cost-effective manner (Magee, 2015, 152). Understanding to give away this authority I believe will allow me to delegate tasks effectively as a leader and augment employee motivation and ownership of success (Wideman, 2003, 69). To understand the establishment of effective time frame without rushing tasks is the other factor of delegation efficiency I would like to master (Feldman, 2011, 117). The other reason I believe I need to develop the ability to delegateeffectively as a leader is that it will provide a mechanism to reduce administrative pressures and workload for me to focus on strategic development and guidance for the organization (Rodd, 2012, 86). Delegation will also allow me to have the trust as a leader since the delegates believe that I know and belief they are responsible and accountable professionals (Rodd, 2012, 86). Effectively understanding delegation as a skill will allow me to know mechanisms to put in place for monitoring task progress, offering guidance, and assessing accomplishment and performance of the tasks delegated (Feldman et al., 2011, 117). My plan for development in delegation skills is attending workshops on delegation, studying more on the effective delegation strategies, and practicing the art of delegation. Am I a transformational or transactional leader? Considering my leadership skills and styles, I believe I am a transformational leader. The major factors that back my believe that my leadership style is presented in this section including that I believe in having a vision to which the future of the organization should be and aim through undertaking all possible mechanisms to achieve the vision (Capella University, 2008, 23). I also emphasize on the need for the fulfillment of group or organization interests with each member having a chance to play their role effectively and trusting on other members to perform their duties well (Lentz, 2009, 81). The loyalty, commitment, and trust I aim at developing among the team members as a leader are the other measures depicting my leadership style as transformative. Transformative leadership entails being loyal to the course and other members in the organization with the leader developing trust and loyalty and trust (Capella University, 2008, 23). I emphasize the need for dialogue and finding common ground allowing me to develop different perspectives on an issue and learn from the views of other members of the organization, which is the other characteristics of a transformative leader, a learner. I consider every member as important and functional to the achievement of the vision of the organization and provide an opportunity for each of them to offer changes and opinions that could be beneficial to achieving the vision (Gujral, 2012, 44) The other traits I posses that make me believe I am a transformational leader are taking risks, and challenging set assumptions on the manner things are done. I believe in taking risks by charting new ways of undertaking tasks and I provide individuals time to think independently, chart new ways of undertaking personalized tasks, and provide better results. I consider challenges as opportunities to develop new mechanisms and measures to better productivity by engaging members in idea formulation and concerted efforts to overcome augmenting chances of trust development and productivity. I am very optimistic about achieving set goals within the determined duration with the results either exceeding or meeting the high expectations set when idea formulation and planning was done where all the members participate. I emphasize on the participation by all member in vision and goal formulation since it results in the development of a sense of purpose motivating them to work harder to achieve the vision (Gujral, 2012, 44). I have effective communication skills that enable me to articulate the goals and vision in a clear, precise, and concise manner enabling the members to be engaged. I aim at developing optimism and a sense of personal belief in my followers encouraging and motivating them to perform better and achieve the shared vision of the future. My high moral upbringing and continued adherence to ethical guidelines have allowed me to be a model of ethical behavior, respect for each other, honesty that has allowed members to develop trust in me as a leader. My courage and willingness to make tough decisions that may not sit well with all members but result in the achievement of goals and vision is the other factor making me a transformational leader. Incorporating transformational leadership skills in my leadership, studying more on transformational leaders and their qualities, and incorporating them in my leadership are ways in which I will improve my effectiveness as a transformational leader.   How good am I at problem-solving? It is my believe that success requires adequate preparation and mindfulness of the possibility of problems and being ready and willing to solve the problems as soon as they emerge. I follow several steps in problem-solving that have been useful in guiding me to achieve better problem-solving despite some challenges in deciding on the alternatives slightly impacting on my problem-solving abilities. Owing to these challenges I believe I am not very good at problem solving because I tend to take plenty of time to make a decision since I require a lot of data and information on the problem and once I have made the decision I can be rigid in changing to carter for changes in the economic environment, which could have negative impacts on my effectiveness in problem-solving in a fast-changing business environment. To begin with, once a problem has been discovered, I take time to think through the problem identifying the nature of the problem, defining it, and developing a clear understanding of the problem (Bedell & Lennox, 1997). Most of my delays in problem-solving are at the second stage where I seek to establish a clear picture of the problem. I think I take a lot of time to seek for information and study the problem to have a more in-depth understanding of the aim being to evaluate the goals and barriers related to the problem at hand (Poris, 2000). Once I believe I have all the data and information relating to the problem, I embark on coming up with effective possible solutions writing down my views and seeking from different personnel with different levels of expertise and understanding of the problem. The decision-making stage is one of the stages I believe I take a lot of time and effort because I believe it is the make or breaks stage of the problem-solving and determines the success or failure in effectively solving problems. Some of the challenges I have in this stage include budget, information and time constraints and the need to make considerations on the changes after making the decision. I make a decision after considering all the factors inherent in the problem and considering the information collected. Once I have made the decision and already in the implementation stage, I always take no other options or check on the possibility of changing the mechanisms of implementation. I belief in the effectiveness of the data collection and decision-making stages so much that I usually fear I may in future implement a solution that could not be the optimal mix. This fear has always made me take more time in choosing between alternatives to come up with the best fit. Owing to my fears in the effectiveness of the decision made to solve the problem I seek constant feedback to check for efficiency and effectiveness in achieving the desired outcome. Changes emanating from the decision and feelings of people affected by the decision are some of the feedback I take into consideration in determining the success of the decision regarding the problem. The time to make decision is what I consider a challenge in my problem solving and I believe could be a dent in my problem-solving ability. To develop my problem-solving skills, I will pursue mechanisms to understand how to make decisions when faced with limited information, assess leaders and business executive problem-solving skills, and incorporate them in daily decisions as a form of practice in the aim to achieve netter problem-solving capabilities. References Bedell, J. R., & Lennox, S. S. (1997). Handbook for communication and problem-solving skills training: A cognitive-behavioral approach (Vol. 14). New York: John Wiley & Sons. Capella University. (2008). An Investigation of Significant Differences in Transformational Leadership Qualities between Imams Educated in the Middle East and Imams Educated in the United States. Pro Quest. Feldman, H. R. (2011). Nursing leadership: A concise encyclopedia. New York: Springer Publishing Company. Gujral, G. S. (2012). Leadership Qualities for Effective Leaders. Vij Books India Pvt Ltd. Lentz, C. (2009). Change Management. Lentz Leadership Institute. Magee, J. (2015). The Managerial Leadership Bible: Learning the Strategic, Organizational, and Tactical Skills Everyone Needs Today. New York: Pearson Education. Poris, S. (2000). Effects of computer-based cooperative learning on the problem solving skills of grade six students. Universal-Publishers. Prive, T. (December 19, 2012). Top 10 qualities that make a great leader. Forbes. Retrieved on October 29 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyaprive/2012/12/19/top-10-qualities- that-make-a-great-leader/ Rodd, J. (2012). Leadership in early childhood. London: McGraw-Hill Education (UK). Wideman, J. (2003). Children's ministry leadership: The you-can-do-it guide. Group. Read More