Leadership Experiences in Becoming a Navy Commission Officer - Essay Example

My Leadership Experiences One of my greatest goals in life is to become a Navy commission officer in U.S. Aiming to enhance my qualifications, I have decided to join the Officer Candidate School (OCS) in order to learn to become a competent Navy leader in the new future. Prior to my decision to join the OCS, I have invested a lot of time and effort in establishing my academic and professional background to enhance my qualification for the job requirements. During my days as a student, I have always been chosen as a leader because of my friendly personality. The simplest and greatest reward I get from being a leader is the group acceptance of my ideas aside from their willingness to participate in the group activities. As a student in a graduate school, I have maintained my position as a group leader. As a result, I have learnt to appreciate and deal with individuals who have different cultural backgrounds and ethnicity. There were also times when conflicts of interests are present within the group that I handle. By establishing an open communication line with the team members, I was able to successfully resolve the misunderstandings and arguments within the group. In the process of calming down the increasing tension, I have taught my group mates the importance of Tai Chi as a relaxation technique wherein the group members have decided to individually write down their frustrations, anger and discouragement in a piece of paper and place them in the ‘garbage basket.’ As a result, I was able to successfully reduce the negative pressure that exists among the team members. In general, the practice of a weak leadership is likely to contribute to the organizational failure and inefficient operations within the Navy. In line with the inefficiency in the Navy’s operational system, there is a higher chance of having a decreased working attitude and morale of the leaders as well as his or her subordinates. In the end, it becomes more difficult to create and maintain a healthy and peaceful working environment for the team members. Based on my previous leadership experiences when implementing an important organizational change, ‘resistance to change’ among the team members is one of the most common loop-hole or bottleneck that could impede the planning of developmental stage in the Navy. Basically, the three major factors that could promote resistance to change include: (1) the fact that people may feel that they have no control over the sudden changes; (2) the workers may see change as a threat to their current positions of authority; and/or (3) workers may fear that change could result to a loss of status or privileges. In line with this matter, the Navy leader should be able to use their leadership skills in developing new strategies that could transform ‘resistance to change’ into a new opportunity wherein the entire team members will regain their motivation to work towards a single organizational goal. To ensure the success of implementing a new organizational plan is to develop a two-way communication line between the Navy leaders and his subordinates. This strategy will prevent unnecessary internal conflicts that could cause more operational problems to the Navy leader. Another good strategy is for leaders to implement a regular feedback from its subordinates with regards their expected way of being handled by the leaders. Having completed the boot camp at Great Lakes has taught me the basic principles and knowledge on Naval. Driven by this realization, I seek to obtain a widely acclaimed program in Leadership at OCS wherein I will gain a solid understanding of Naval Leadership concepts which would enable me to apply these skills into our organization. Being a student of OCS will enable me to establish a clear professional goal which is necessary in preparing myself physically and mentally as I pursue a career in the navy. The organizational development of a navy is a very complicated matter which often encounters many problems that needs to be resolved based on scientific planning. In line with the limited economic resources available for the navy, the need to implement a new planning system based on a goal-oriented program arises. Navy leaders that possess an effective leadership skill can make a big difference in the management of Navy. Having a good leadership skill will make it easier for me to reduce the unnecessary internal conflicts that could hinder the team’s progress on achieving the Navy’s goal and objectives. As an effective navy leader, it is possible for me to prevent mismanagement and other operational errors due to miscommunication and lack of a structured operational system. In line with my educational background in finance, accounting, statistical analysis and operations management, my line of work as a business analyst requires a lot of analytical tasks. Even though I handle a small group of people, it takes a good leadership skill in handling my subordinates to enable me to keep up with tight schedules and deadlines. With a good leadership skill, I was able to delegate some of the work to my subordinates which enables me to succeed in making timely and right decisions each time complex issues arises. Based on my personal experience with my past work experiences in private business companies, I have learnt that team work is essential aspect in making the organizational goals and business objectives attainable. Considering that planning for an organizational development has to be well-organized, promoting a team-work within the organization could minimize possible conflicts due to possible resistance to change or the inability of the leader to convince all the team members to willingly support the leaders’ strategic plan in order to achieve the organizational goal. Throughout my professional life I have displayed the core values of a navy leader. The strategic way I ran my business as well as my previous work performance as an employee shows my honour, courage, dedication and commitment to my chosen profession. As a person, I have always been a courageous leader. This personal quality has made me reach the top of my career as a professional worker and a businessman. I believe that being an effective leader will enable me to retain the best talents in the Navy. In the absence of a good leadership, there is a higher possibility that the members of the navy will be less motivated and dissatisfied with their career. Losing these talents will have a negative consequence on the part of the entire organization because of the additional costs attached with the training and developing new navy members. I also noticed that being a leader requires a lot of social skills ranging from being able to display a high level of self-confidence, hope, optimism and resiliency that are needed in developing a positive self-awareness and self-regulated behavior among the rest of the team members. Being able to communicate openly the team members’ concerns could make them feel valued in a unique way as being a special part of the group. In line with these qualities, Navy leaders should have the natural tendency to inspire, motivate and value their people in the sense that the leaders will enable his subordinates to grow intellectually. A navy leader should be able to enhance the capabilities of the Navy members since empowering the whole team could increase the success rate of the entire group in terms of meeting the group’s main objectives and goal. Another positive impact of a good leader could develop a close personal relationship with the rest of the team. Building a special working relationship with the group members could improve the collective performance aside from the fact that it could minimize the possible stress and burnout from work. It will enable me to convince the team members to be strongly committed with their assigned task. Since a good leader practices both integrity and fairnerss, it becomes easier for them to win the respect of the Navy members. As an ethical and moral consideration, Navy leader(s) should focus on building individual and collective capacity of the team members by establishing their subordinates professionally. Basically, the ethical values of leadership are deeply embedded in the leaders’ vision, articulation as well as the organizational programs that the subordinates either accept or reject. It also requires the leaders to make socially acceptable decisions wherein the entire team will be actively engaged in a collective pursuance. In line with my goal of becoming a Navy commission officer in U.S, my short-term goal includes enhancing my leadership skill by enrolling myself in a leadership program in OCS and improve my basic knowledge on logistics and administration by attending the Navy Supply Corps (NSCS). Within a short span of two years, my plan is to become a Navy LT (mid-term goal). Two years after, my long-term goal includes continuously improving my leadership skill as well as the basic knowledge on Navy to enable me to reach the Navy position as a captain. *** End *** Read More