My Goals as a Leader and Assessing My Leadership Qualities - Essay Example

?(your Section number Personal Leadership Development Plan My goals as a leader My basic interest is to acquire professional competence in the subject of my choice, build a career around that and contribute to the society as a responsible citizen even as I pursue my aspirations. This may not sound novel or unusual but the seriousness of my commitment for the short, medium and long-term goals is reflected in my special interest in this personal leadership development program. We see the examples of leadership in all walks of life – in business, industry, trade, politics, academics etc. – and realize the important link between leadership and success/failure in the chosen path. Hence, I believe that training in the theoretical aspects of personal leadership development would enhance the chances of my success in post-academic life. I define success as a continuing phenomenon of setting goals and achieving them, with each succeeding goal being higher or nobler than the preceding one. Success is a relative term as well, in the sense that it is as much a feeling of self-satisfaction as the recognition that one gains in an organization or society at large. I place great importance on personal probity, teamwork, participation in peripheral fields of activities etc. as the means to achieve success and recognition. Ideally, I wish to work for any organization that reflects my personal beliefs in order that I contribute to it with full sense of participation, and grow along with it. This means that the (your last name) 2 organization must have a good track record of corporate responsibility, well-respected by the society and enable its employees to blossom to their fullest capabilities. My profession as a retail manager should see me gaining hands-on experience in the initial years, followed by managing teams of juniors in three to five years time and ultimately setting up and running my own business unit in about 8 to 10 years after graduation. Assessing my leadership qualities Without assigning any priority, I consider the following self-assessment assignments as being very useful and revealing: Motivation to lead, Emotional intelligence, Participatory leadership attitude, Leader-member exchange, Self-confidence and Generalized self-efficacy. It is not that I have scored above average in my self-assessment exercises in these fields – rather, the exercises revealed to me my strengths as well as weaknesses. Knowing one’s weaknesses is the first step in learning ways to overcome them. My goals and aspirations as mentioned earlier would demand that I learn to work in a team as a member, build a team and provide leadership to it in due course, handle difficult situations with a balanced approach, and be self-confident and efficient. These are the reasons for me to consider the six selected factors as the most helpful and relevant to my situation. Motivation to lead: I have scored … , taken as the average on the individual dimensions of this exercise like identity-based motivation, noncalculative-based motivation and social normative-based motivation. The exercise helped me to appreciate the vital link between my ambitions and the practical world of dealing with people and their own motivations. Individual scores reflect the gap between what it takes to be a good leader and my present state of (your last name) 3 preparedness to assume leadership role in the real world. My medium-term and long-term goals provide the motivation for me to lead. If I have to realize the aspiration of owning a business in the long-term and achieve a measure of success, I should be a good leader to motivate those working for me to contribute their best. Emotional intelligence: I have scored … , taken as the average on the individual dimensions of this exercise, comprising expression, thinking, knowledge and regulation. Having a different level of intelligence from team members, whether higher or lower, is immaterial so long as one can exercise intelligence with prudent emotion. I am certain to face difficult situations, whether as an intern learning on the job or as a team leader exercising control over members or as a businessman motivating employees to contribute to my business. My personal knowledge, thought process and communication/control methods would determine my emotional quotient. To a lesser extent, I would also need to deal with issues relating to those availing the services of my business. This self-assessment exercise has been vital in realizing the difference between intelligence and emotional intelligence. Participatory leadership attitude: I have scored … , taken as the average on the four dimensions of attitudes towards differential capabilities of individuals, information sharing, willful participation and supervisory controls. Attitude is a behavioral trait but can be modified through training. In the democratic or autocratic styles of leadership, participatory attitude characterizes democratic style and helps a team and its members to perform beyond the call of duty. Differential capacities of individuals are evened out in a team through information and (your last name) 4 resource sharing. Since I wish to lay emphasis on team-building and collective achievement, this assignment has influenced my attitude positively. Leader-member exchange: I have scored … in this exercise, which I believe is another dimension of attitude towards interpersonal relationship. A follower (member) has to diligently carry out the instructions of the leader and earn appreciation for the quality of work and attitude. The importance of this exercise for my future goals is that it is an exposure to what leaders say or do and why. Hence, it is training for watching leaders at work, one’s own performance rating and areas of improvement. Self-confidence and generalized self-efficacy: My score on these two counts is …. A confident person has a positive attitude which would help him/her execute tasks without the baggage of either self-doubt or the end results. Confidence is not restricted to one’s own capabilities or knowledge but is a much wider concept whereby one taps into the capabilities of a leader or other team members to overcome occasional gaps in capabilities, without much inhibition. This is a process of constantly acquiring additional knowledge. Without the attitude to seek knowledge when in doubt, one stops to grow both emotionally and intelligently. In this exercise, I have learnt the importance of self-confidence and its relationship with attitude. Generalized self-efficacy is completely an acquired quality. Prioritizing tasks, executing them efficiently and in a timely manner, courteous behavior and orderliness, and above all paying attention to detail are all important elements of an efficient professional person. It is appropriate to say that leadership embodies efficiency and abhors clumsiness. Even if a person has learnt all the right things to do as explained in the leadership development program, doing (your last name) 5 things efficiently would still remain the crucial and final link in his/her evolvement as a good leader. Impact of the course The course is an eye-opener as far as understanding the outside world vis-a-vis my own beliefs and attitude. The latter are self-taught and self-acquired through experience and/or imitation, which is not adequate for good leadership. It is a well-known axiom that before attempting to change the world, one should attempt to change oneself. This is best achieved by a theoretical grounding in personality factors, team situations, leadership styles and becoming aware of the alternative and superior possibilities of dealing with any given situation. The assignments were helpful in evaluating me and my attitudes with those required by a good leader who deals with the outside world in a complimentary way – sometimes changing oneself, and changing the outside world at other times. As a specific instance, I recall my experiences as a class leader in high-school days, getting involved in events throughout the year(s), organizing them, co-opting fellow-students and interacting with staff and parents associations. In the process, I have tread on many toes, made good friends and many enemies. In hindsight, I now realize that my attitude was certainly overbearing and tending towards ‘my way or highway’ style. I thought that was good leadership until I began learning more about myself and my behavior in this semester. This personal leadership development course would help me to deal with real-life situations in a much better manner: listening more attentively to alternative opinions, evaluating the adequacy or otherwise of my own opinion and deciding on the best course of action – with firmness and fairness. Read More