HR Assignment essay writing help on: Leadership and leadership skills

Q?? Write an essay on Leadership and leadership skills??

Solution attached:

Introduction

The opportunity of becoming a leader is awarded to everyone in one way or the other. The difference is made on the basis of the decisions made and the reactions undertaken at that point of time (Forester, 2012).  I, as a person have also received this opportunity and it is highly critical for me to decide the kind of leader I am and would be by analysing the inherent values that I have in me and I believe that should be developed. This process is undertaken in the assignment.

I prefer to be working in the middle level or upper middle level tier of any organisation that I am involved with in a time period of 20 years. The target that is set is not an easy one and will required dedication and hard work from my side. But I am also deeply convinced that it is not a difficult task.  In 20 years of time I should reach a position and have enough of strong, convincing and powerful aura around me to make any of the giant companies to hire me. This would be possible only when I can raise myself to the expectations of the employees in meeting the organisational goals that are set for me.

One of the my major aims is to be an ideal role model for my organisations employees where in they will admire me for my profession and my personal life. This would mean a high level of commitment and dedication from me. I also need to have good working relationships with my colleagues and also have followers who would look up to me for the decisions that I make.

Achieving goals on time would mean being very positive, working hard and making other employees work hard as well. I prefer to be hands on leader who can be communicated to without any inhibitions. This is only possible when I develop and brand for myself that can be identified and well respected by other members in the organisation.

I firmly believe that there are two major forces that are responsible for driving the organisation towards the achievement of the ultimate vision that is already set. They are the visible and the invisible forces. The first set of forces mentioned acts objectively and the impact it has is highly measurable with in any organisation. The nature of these forces can be objective and managers can manage it. On the other side invisible forces are the forces which align all the factors together and align them towards success of any organisation. The nature of these forces and subjective and is not measurable. But the influence they have on other employees and one is too much to be eliminated and I prefer to apply my attention in these forces. Some of the main forces are communication, to be powerful, have a vision, empathising and motivating the employees in a favourable direction for achieving the goals.

I firmly believe the the leaders are made and not born. This means that a person can become a leader by setting out the principles and working hard and implementing them to become a leader. The willingness to work hard, and going through the churning process of being a perfect leader through experiences is what is required for a leader. A person should be able to take up responsibilities in the case of leadership. One should not only depend on genes to offer performance, but also invest on knowledge, experience, common sense and willingness to learn for becoming a leader.

On analysing myself as a leader, I believe I rise up to the occasions when responsibilities are entrusted on me rather than fall for the opportunities that are given to me. This means that my chances become lower as there are many other people who are ready to grab the opportunities when they are entrusted. I tend to emotionally bond with people and that makes me very sensitive to them. In a way it can be said that I am better with dealing people than technology. This can also be taken as a great talent among the leaders today.

One of the role models I have is Steve Jobs who had started a technological revolution in the world. He was obsessed with the concept of innovation and perfection and presented the most wonderful things to the world through his concepts. He will live long in the world despite f his physical absence. I am humble enough to think I might not make it to the top as he made it as he is the man of the decade, but I am keen on becoming his follower. Unlike him I don’t believe in bullying people to achieving the targets set by challenging them, but entrusting them with opportunities, by caring for them and motivating them. I aim at becoming a transformational leader and bring about a transformation in the organisation that I work in.

Important leadership Skills

All leaders are different from each other and would have different skill sets. But some of the necessary elements will make them different from the other leaders in this world. But there are some common factors that are necessary for becoming a leader who is well accepted. “Model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act, and encourage the heart”. Thousand of personal best cases in leaders depict these talents. But the number of other skills that the leaders have cannot be dismissed. Some of such traits include confidence, trustworthiness, visionary, adaptability. Communicator, decision maker, analyse, broad mindedness, people focuses, change agent and empathy (Dent, 2003).

Credibility will always remain a core ingredient that will determine and define a strong relationship between the followers and the leaders. It is important to follow the leaders willingly. Majority of the constituents would be ready to follow a leader which is honest, forward looking, inspiring and competent. There are also many characteristics that can be inherent or cultured in a leader apart from these. Some of them are intelligence, fair mindedness, and straight forwardness, broad-mindedness, supportive, dependable, cooperative, courageous, determined, caring, imaginative, mature, ambitious, and loyal. Self controlled and independent (Kouzes & Posner, 2007)

I personally believe some of the major characteristics I would like to inculcate in myself include that of a good communicator, caring, innovation, motivational/inspirational, and to be powerful enough to be dependable. A good communication will help a leader to communicate information with various people and stake holders in any organisation. Any form of miscommunication will have its side effects and is bound to highly impact the performance of an organisation. A good communication is also necessary to enhance positive and working relationships in any organisation and to ignore unhealthy conflicts. Communication is also one of the effective means of problem resolution in an organisation (Kouzes & Posner, 2007).

An employee is bound to spend majority of his life in an office. It oozes the motivation out of the employees if a working atmosphere is about competition and conflicts. Developing healthy and positive relations in an office is highly necessary and this can only be established through means of genuine caring one share with the other. This caring is also expected out of the leaders in the organisation. The powers of motivation cannot be underestimated. Motivation has the power to make people work hard for overcoming the challenges that are in front of them, and also to be prepared from the forthcoming challenges.

Innovation is a competitive advantage one leader can have over the other. Innovation is not only about creating new products but also implementing new processes and putting forward creative outputs. Innovation is about out of the box thinking. “Innovation consists of the generation of a new idea and its implementation into a new product, process or service, leading to the dynamic growth of the national economy and increase the employment as well to a creation of pure profit ft the innovative business enterprise (Urabe et. al, 1988).” Innovation is a process that involves communication and listening. Doing these increases the credibility to the leader, not only in terms of benefits that are given to him but also due to the value it creates in people around him, the organization and the whole economy.

Dependability is not a trait that everyone has. It can be synonymous with the concept of trust. It is a trait makes the employees. Dependability can also be replaced with some terms like conscientiousness or rudeness. It is highly concerned with the patterns of behaviour that is in relation with the attitudes of the people who are working. there is a high level of dependability s it tends to be plan full, organized, and earnest, take commitments seriously and rarely get into trouble. There are all the traits that are required in leaders as far as any organization is concerned. There are also chances where is dependability is concerned with the managers that the leaders. But it should also be remembered that leaders are mutually not exclusive to each other (Hughes, 2008).

The three main traits of a leader

The three main traits that are required from my perspective are that of being a good communicator, caring and to be motivational and inspirational in nature. These traits are also in relation with many other important traits that are required in an organization. The reason behind it is that these traits when are accepted together will also involve trust and mindfulness in an organization.

Communication- communication can be referred to as the ‘lubricating oil’ or lifeblood in the case of organization. It is also one of the primary medium that can be used for getting things done in the case of organizations (Forrester, 2012). The talent to communicate plays an integral part in the well being of the organization and the leaders. According to Daft and Lengel (2000), communication is also about listening and focusing on the bigger picture and is not only about conveying the thoughts to employees. A leader who is communicating will analyze the meaning from different points of reference. Communication cannot be complete if the process of communication is not fulfilled effectively. Communication is also as much a predictor in the case of the performance of the leader as much in any other traits. One of the major duties that are aligned with the leader is to communicate well. The threats of miscommunication cannot be underestimated. It also means that miscommunication can kill a firm and it will make efforts and strategies that are put forth by the organization use less. Some of the major traits that can be spread in the organization with the help of communication are clarity of information, trusts interdependence and understanding when it comes to the various members in an organization (Neufield, 2010).

 Millions of decisions are taken all around the world through the medium of communication in organizations from various parts of the world. Decisions are made in these organizations with the help of this media. Activities of millions of employees in any organization are also done with the help of effective communication. In other words it can be said that the success or failure of an organization is decided on the basis of communication. Globalization has also increased the importance of communication in the world. One of the examples that define the importance of communication is well evident in the case of advertisements for Jobs. Any of the advertisements where senior managers or leaders are involved specifies communication skills as one of the essential criteria where the applicants are concerned. In most cases exception, outstanding or highly developed communication skills are mentioned as criteria for good communication (Forrester, 2012).

The process of communication is undertaken in an organization in a various myriad of ways and some of them includes written communication like writing, memoranda, letters, magazines, reports, emails, video conferencing, informal presentations, formal presentations, team meetings. All these processes allot a high level of importance for the smooth flow of work in an organization. The leaders are in charge of these in most cases. Communication is thus not only a vocal process. It involves writing and listening. Listening can be considered as an important key to success as listening involves generation of ideas and insights. This leads to innovation where the leaders are concerned.

It can be analyzed that some of the main problems in the organizations are caused because people are not as good at communication as there should be. Another reason is that where communication is interpreted from different viewpoints where the employees in an organization are concerned. The spectrum of such factors will include individual personalities, life experiences, and interactions with many others. Culture also plays an important role in this.

The importance of listening and intrapersonal communication can be well analyzed from Steve Jobs. It was important for him to walk into various people to analyze and understand various outlooks that people would have on various matters. He also used himself as a focus group for the process of forming new ideas that were never invented on the face of the earth. According to him people wouldn’t know what people wanted unless and until it was kept to them. On the other side there are many organizations that take the help of customer research to fulfil their expectations. This process can also be effective only through the process of communication.

Communication between various departments is highly reliant on leaders. Leaders are responsible aligning various employees or his group members in the same direction through the process of communication. Communication is also highly important for increasing the rate of innovation in a firm. Innovation is also the need of the hour.

Caring or empathizing

It is very important for a leader to be emotionally connected with people. The advantages that a leader and an organization can have when they are caring are very high. Emotional connection makes life long bonds and better understanding among the leaders and the group members or their colleagues. It will help them to recognize the real talents that are hidden within a person. It will also in turn help the leader to assign the roles accordingly that would pave way for maximum efficiency. It can also be seen that when there is caring and empathizing within the members, the interdependence of the employees and the collaboration among them increases. The benefit of this process is that it will enhance creativity and productivity rates. The ideas that are required for implementing a new process of idea is better heard when people care for each other and are emotionally connected. This will also encourage the employees in n organization to look forward to coming into an organization. This will intern reduce absenteeism and turnover rates in an organization along with increased amount of dedication from them.

The capacity to empathize is very important for maintaining the leader-member relations. But it is also highly dependent on the leader to channel his emotions in the right way where his group is concerned to make us e of emotions productively (Garner, 2003). It can also be a prerogative of the leader. Some of the major advantages for the trait that can be induced from caring is motivation. A heartfelt leader can be self motivating and a self motivated leader can motivate others. They can also create better interpersonal relationships that would be helpful in his profession, perform better, adapt easily, and also create a climate that would enhance cooperation. A caring leader is also highly trusted by the subordinated and can be reconciled by them.  But there are also chances that empathy would turn into sympathy and that is not favourable in an organizational atmosphere (Badae & Pana, 2010)

Employees prefer to work in organizations that are friendly to them. Empathizing is also of high relevance as people from various communities are working together now. This would mean that there is a high chance of the occurrence of conflicts and conflicts tend to happen there is a lack of understanding in the employees. Empathizing would mean harmony in the organization and increased productive rates. It is not any important for the employees to empathize with the employees but also the customers. Understanding them helps the organization to adapt processes and make products that are of high importance to the customers. So, in short it can be analyzed that empathy is a highly valued currency. It helps for the creation of the bonds of trust, and insights of the various thought processes of the people who are involved. It also motivates the employees. This will make the leaders be prepared to face the problems that might occur when certain decisions are taken in relation to change.

Motivation

Employees work hard in an organization to ensure that their requirements are achieved. This is one of the reasons why there should a harmony between the requirements of the organization and the subordinates. It is highly important for a leader that he is highly encouraged and trained in a way so that the requirements of the organizations are met. This can only be possible when a leader can motivate his group members to rise up to the requirements of an organization. The output of the employees is highly dependent on the appreciation and rewards that are given to them that are according to the requirements of the employees.

 A leader can only have adequate followers when he/she is successful in motivating the followers. This stresses the requirement of a leader to get into the shoes of a subordinate to provide him with the motivation that is required by him/her. He /she should also be able to convince and reassure the employees of the achievements that they made in their life. An efficient organization should be able to cater to the requirements of the employees and motivate them for them to be truly committed to the organization. There are also theoretical and practical evidence for the productivity that is enhanced by a motivated employee. Many researchers have also proved that the organizational performance is a dependent variable that is dependent on many other variables including motivation, communication, mindfulness and many other aspects in a firm.

From the scenario of motivation leadership can be defines as the influence that particular individuals would exert on the goal achievement that is required in the context of an organisation. This goal achievement can be said to be directly proportional with the motivation of a person. The motivational factors also are highly dependent on the nature of the leader. Not all leaders will have the power to motivate the employees by fulfilling their requirements. This means a leader should have the mind to be helpful where the employees are concerned depending on the nature of the leader he/she is. It can be either emergent leader of assigned leader. Motivation in the early days was defined as the hidden force that was present among people to perform in a favourable way.

An example of the achievement that can be made through motivation can be interpreted from Herzberg. When motivators are present in an organisation the employees in the firm tend to be extremely happy and this results in an improved performance. The impact of these motivators tends to be long lasting. On the other side when there is a lack of motivation, the employees tend to be unproductive and dissatisfied with their job and would result in dissatisfaction and poor performance (Robins & Judge, 2008).

Enhancing Caring and Motivation

It can be said that empathy has a direct relation with performance in an organisation. It is higher the sympathy and required the ability to apply oneself in a different context and then understand the perspective of the other person.

One of the ways I believe will enhance empathy and caring in me is to try and like people for what they are and not to change them. Analysing the personal back ground and understanding them personally will help me to understand what their thought process is and how they are bound to handle situations. I will ensure that I keep in touch my employees and acknowledge myself with the scenario in their life. It is highly possible that the employees will fail to perform well when there is a personal problem or a professional problem. Understanding this problem and trying to sort it out will make it easier for the employee and for me. A genuine concern for them will help them to feel appreciated and motivated and it is possible that their gratitude will be expressed in form of productiveness.

There is a high requirement for both transformational leaders and authentic leaders to show that they care for the needs and achievement of the employees of the followers. There is a high level of importance assigned with empathy and the culture of the person. I will work harder in analysing the relevance and culture of each employee. The religious and the cultural artefacts will provide significance and most of the scenarios are evaluated by them from this point of view. Having an understanding of their culture and the religious and the cultural artefacts will make me more prepared for empathising on their thoughts.

I will also work on interpersonal communication to understand the message that is conveyed by the employees. I will try and listen to more people and speak less if it is required. I personally believe it is very important for the employees of followers to have someone whom they can rely on with their problems.

I also empathising with a person am highly necessary for the creation of a shared bond that is based on trust. This will only enhance interdependence in the case of a leader and follower. I will remind myself of the importance of having followers and try not to be impatient with them. Having followers are very much necessary for a leader as I cannot be one without having my team mates supporting me.

I will make a special attempt to take a new mind set and update myself with learning not letting my knowledge hinder me in my evaluation of people. There is a high relationship between rationality and reason. I will work on some of the features that are highly required by leaders that have empathetic attitude and some of them are non-judgemental attitudes, perceptiveness, sincerity, presence, relevant, expressiveness, supportiveness, boldness, zeal and self assurance. Enhancing all these qualities will also mean that I will have to work harder in the case of my communication as it is the attribute that governs performance in almost all the qualities that is depicted about. It is difficult to be bold an honest for a leader as it would sometimes threaten professional growth. So in that situation it would mean doing the ethically right thing. Actions will speak louder than words which is why I will also have to work hard to create a powerful aura for my personality so that people would find me dependable and approachable. Empathy will also help me to mature cogitatively and appreciate the blessings I have in my personal life.  It is a good thing that I was genuinely taught to care for others when I was growing up and hence it will be easier for me to understand the others perspective and be in peace with others in case a conflict arises

Increasing motivation

Noting all the employees and helping them personally is highly required to motivate them in favour of the job that they are doing. I will try and recollect the memory and try and recognize people around me personally analysing and understanding their nature. I will learn to analyse situation on the basis of the context and then try to mend it. Referring to theories that are proposed by various thinkers like Maslow, Herzberg and implementing them in real life will be highly important for ensuring increasing the motivation.

I will work at being in a powerful position to supply my followers with their motivational requirements. Rewards, recognition and job satisfaction are some of the major component that would motivate the employees to increase performance. Rewards should not only be on terms of payment but also on terms of encouragement and recognition for them. I will ensure that people get opportunities and let others come into lime light o that they are notices. I will let the employees know that I have high expectations on them. This will make them work harder. Inter-dependability is a factor that will enhance performance as it is a win-win strategy meant to work for them and me.

I will try and analyse what are the wants and needs of the employees around me and cater to their requirements as much as it is needed. I will try and allot the works to the team members not according to my preference, but according to their requirements and job satisfaction needs. This will in turn increase the performance of the employees.

I will work having a positive outlook towards everything and a positive leader has a great force in motivating the employees. I will practice at staying with positively outlook and encouraging my colleagues, but also giving them my feedback.  This will make them improve and work harder to achieve better organisational position that is actually expected.

I also believe that employee engagement is one of the key factors that are necessary for improving motivation. This can be provided only on the basis of the various beliefs of the person and the surroundings in which they were grown up. I will work on the motivational drivers that are applicable to people around me making myself knowledgeable about how people respond to various motivations.

Employee requires various motivations and occasional pats on their pack for them to be happy and not only increase in the incentives. It also means that though employees may respond positively to incentives in the initial stages, but they will be expecting recognitions at a later phase. it also means that as the employees climb up the ladder the importance that they allocate to money will reduce and will look out more positively on recognitions, award and job profiles. I will learn to appreciate that to criticise as an occasional criticism may destroy the working relationship between the employees where as appreciation will tend to improve the outcomes in an employee.

Empowerment is also a way of motivating the employees. This also means that I should cease my tendency to become control freak and a perfectionist at least as I climb up the ladder. The reason for this is that empowerment has the power to enhance productivity in the employees as the option would mean that they will have to take responsibilities for their action.

One of the major things I will do is to learn and unlearn in the process of leadership. Willingness to learn will take me to heights as no other traits. Being a leader is not about keeping my needs ahead of everything, but about keeping the requirements of the employees or followers and customers ahead of me.

Conclusion

Leadership is not about being in the limelight always but about leading a team and members in the same direction towards fulfilling a goal. A leader should be highly self motivated to motivate others which are not easy as there would be times that the most efficient of leaders would be least motivated. This assignment helped to look into myself as a person and as a leader and to form a better idea on what has to be changes for becoming a better leader. Being a leader is not as easy as it is thought of. Adhering to the requirements of becoming a leader continuously for a life time is not possible if one does not have enough amount of determination. I learned that is not possible to fake leadership qualities unless one naturally has it. A leader can be made only if the leader is willing and not over a night. Experience is what creates a true leader and visionary. A leader who is de-motivated may also de-motivate the whole team and this means not rising up to the requirements of acceptable performance level.

One of the major lessons I learned from this assignment is that the qualities that is inherent in a leader cannot be compartmentalised on the basis of the characters that is required. The role that is played by the silent forces is that of bonding between the employees and their integrity towards achieving the vision and mission of the organisation. This also means that none of the elements can be sacrificed. There is interdependency between the main themes of leadership that are mindfulness or innovativeness, courage, communication, having a heart, motivating and integrity. This means when a leader works on enhancing one property the others are also naturally enhanced. So a leader has an option of working his best in the trait that is his personal favourite and yet manage to achieve a considerable growth in the other characterises.

Leadership traits should be nurtured from the beginning or it is not possible to make a leader overnight. This means that a considerable effort should be taken in enhancing the characteristics consciously or unconsciously or leadership will be taken as a burden by the people on whom leadership is entrusted to.

In conclusion, leadership itself is a challenge that is to be undertaken by the employees in addition to the work that is allotted to them. Leadership requires sufficient amount of training and a willingness to learn. A leader should be recognised in the early stages in the organisation and should be trained to take up responsibilities from the initial stages.  It is very difficult to become Steve Jobs and to follow his ways. Great leaders are born out of effort and immense dedication and passion towards what they do. Leadership cannot be entrusted.

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