Example Of My Leadership Style Essay

A leadership style can be defined as the approach and manner in which directions are provided, plans are implemented and people are motivated. From the perspective to the people being lead or the employees, it is the pattern in which implicit and explicit actions are performed by the people that lead them or their leaders. Leadership style can vary from authoritarian or autocratic where the leaders dictate to the people they lead what to do and how to do it even without getting their opinions or views. Participative or the democratic styles is associated with consulting one or more employees or the people they lead in their decision making process although the leader will maintain the authority to make the final decision. Laissez-fair or the delegated style allows the leader to leave the decision making process to the subordinates although the leader is still responsible for the final decision that is made.
One of the leadership styles that I exhibit is participative leadership. In my sample leadership paper I said I am an open minded person that does not agree or disagree with everything but always give people a chance to air their point of view and express themselves why they believe in what they say. This will make me probably try not get into an argument with them. This approach of leadership has helped me in sharing and identifying the decision making abilities with the people I lead and I also promote their interests in the group and as a measure of practicing social equality in groups.
Participative style of leadership boosts the group members’ morale because members or employees make their contributions to the process of decision making. It causes them to feel that their opinions mattered a lot. To show that I exhibit this style I have found myself in the past as a leader at my church youth group rewarded students in my class who have studied the Bible passages assigned and come prepared to youth group. I have rewarded them with either food, a gift card or used positive reinforcement. I have found those rewards to work well. This also helps to improve and develop others in a measure to achieve success and attain all desired goal in decision making process.
I have also learnt that Participative style of leadership relies on the abilities, knowledge and feedback of the entire team. This means that any good leader must have the ability to listen to the views of the members. For example I have found myself to be a good listener because I don’t interrupt people when they are speaking about their concerns and opinions. I don’t think of things to say when I am talking to another person I hear them and analyze what they are saying. I have also found myself encouraging others to talk about individual affects by asking question.
According to Assessment of Leadership results, I score highly in managing meetings. Any good leadership should embrace meetings to be held routinely and even regularly. This is important because it make members to contribute and be part of the process of decision making. I believe that meetings are great opportunities that let the group members know how valuable they are, that they have useful ideas to offer, and that they are respected and as good leader it is necessary to make sure that their attendance is productive.
There are some clear traits or characteristics that any good leader should exhibit. Some of these qualities can be developed in leadership training or they could be natural part of the leader’s personality. From the results of leadership traits assessments I found myself exhibiting some of these qualities as strengths and they include Honesty and Integrity, Optimism, Persistence, High motivation to lead, Work ethic and Providing a good example. I also found that some of my strengths are team development behavior, using reason to influence others as I outlined in my sample leadership paper. All these characteristics commensurate with the qualities of democratic leaders, for example, as a leader, CEO of the Marketplace simulation and Black Cherry Technologies I provided a good example for others, I was open to ideas had good work ethic and optimism about how our company Black Cherry Technologies would do based upon the balance score card.
Any visionary leader always has the desire and willingness to sharpen their skills in various ways. For me I do choose to further my studies by taking an MBA course in Human resource so that I can be able to understand how to manage human capital. This form one of my smart goals in this leadership career. Among other training includes the attending Society of Human Resource Conferences anytime they are held and become an officer in SHRM Club at university.
In conclusion, I believe that I exhibit participatory or democratic leadership traits. Many Researches which has been published has found that this style of leadership is amount the most effective and yields high productivity. It’s also believed to stimulate better contributions from the employees or members and increases people’s morale. However, this style has some potential downsides. In cases where the roles of each individual are unclearly defined or time is of much essence, it can lead to communication failures and uncompleted tasks due to the long process. The participative or democratic leader always empowers others by giving the members or the employees the opportunity to make major decisions.