HR Management Assignment on : Opportunity of becoming a leader

HR Management Assignment on :  Opportunity of becoming a leader

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 intention is fulfilled with the help if the assignment. I aim at 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 require dedication and hard work. The aim that is set is difficult to realise, but not impossible.  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. An efficient and reliable employee sought out by organisations in the middle of a crisis or when companies are laying off employees. I prefer to become a role model as a professional who can be respected and relied on when complex situations emerge. This would mean a higher level of commitment and dedication from me. Strategies should not only be laid, but also adhered to. 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 a brand for myself that can be identified and well respected by other members in the organisation. I firmly believe the leaders are made and not born. This means that a person can become a leader by setting out the principles and working hard to implementing. The willingness to work hard, 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. My core values as a leader are honest, humility, efficiency and reliability. I am innovative in nature and I make an effort to do things in a different and effective way in comparison to others. On analysing weakness in me as a leader, I believe I rise up to the occasions when responsibilities are entrusted on me rather than grab opportunities that are made available. This is a weakness that should be overcome as my reluctance to take up responsibilities will adversely impact my plight as a leader. I tend to emotionally bond with people and that makes me very emotionally sensitive. This also means that people tend to demand more from me which can be referred to as ‘special favors’ that I can ever afford to give. It is extremely important to adhere to the core values I have and to expand my skills in communication and to enhance my skills in tackling with various challenges. 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 despite of 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 in entrusting them with opportunities, by caring for them and motivating them. I aim at becoming a transformational leader and to bring about a transformation in the organisation that I work in.

Important leadership Skills

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.

Good Communicator

communication skills are extremely important as communication is what 90% of the job is about (Forster, 2012, p. 39). It is important to have a complex cluster of skills and competencies to become a good communicator. Some of them include

• active listening,
• appealing equally to the hearts and the minds,
• ability of building relationships through dialogues
• capacity to walk the talk and to lead the mob by setting examples
• Communicating with everyone is a personal and a direct way (Forster, 2012, p. 59).
• clarifies the issue without resorting to abusive words even under a stressful situation
• Provides feedback for the employees and render timely information

A good communicator will give high importance to non verbal communication as words may betray but not the body language. This helps a good communicator in analyzing the followers. Communication helps the leader to foresee threats in advance and to prepare to face them. Any form of miscommunication will have its side effects and is bound to highly impact the performance of an organisation.

Motivation

Motivation helps a leader to unleash the true inherent value in people and that increases the chances of success in the case of an organisation (Forster, 2012, p.159). The factors that inspire the employees are entirely different in nature. But some of the factors the improves motivation includes

• Giving a positive feedback and providing them the opportunities
• Financial rewards have a profound influence in motivating the clients
• Education, development and training motivates the employees in an organisation
• Trust on the employees motivates them to rise up to the situation and fulfill their responsibilities
• Commitment and acknowledgement to the employees about the value of their work motivates the employees to work better.
• Story telling is also a powerful and motivational tool where the performances of the employees are concerned.

Having employees who are not motivated is unproductive to the company as there are higher chances for conflict and motivational skills and immense amount of positive energy is highly required by the employees.

Innovation

“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 for the innovative business enterprise (Urabe et. al, 1988). Innovation is a competitive advantage one leader can have over the other. A great leader who is innovative will encourage his employees to question the status quo and offer new ideas irrespective of the craziness of their ideas. Some of the major attributes of innovative leaders are that

• they create values,
• collaborate with the work forces of various departments
• urge creation of new ideas
• Successfully implement new ideas.

Powerfulness

Being powerful is about the ability a leader possesses to change the behavior, attitudes and beliefs that people have in each other and other followers. Some of the characteristics of powerful leaders include making their followers be powerful, and encourages them to make extraordinary achievements. There will also be strong power bases in the organisation that are lead by powerful leaders. Employees are highly willing to work hard for the leader who has personal authority and credibility. Genuine and confident leaders do not misuse their power and empowers other members in the organisations as they are highly required for enhancing creativity. But they will also overtake and carry on processes from any challenge that is paused.

Following are some of the major attributes that are seen in powerful leaders. They are

• self confidence
• they have a strong set of ethics that will guide them on a daily basis
• good decision making skills on the basis of strategic thinking ability
• doing the right think irrespective of the situations they are involved with
• A strong vision
• Selfless attitude where they nurture empowerment of employees in the organisation.
• fairness in dealings with all people

Emotional Intelligence

Relating to others is one of the most important characteristic to be possessed by a leader now. Emotional intelligence is not only about managing ones on emotion but also about managing emotions of the people around you. This is a skill that helps the leader to control the emotional upheavals and minimise unfavorable emotions in an organisational atmosphere. Some of the major skills that are required for being emotionally intelligent are

• self awareness
• Social skills
• self regulation
• Empathy
• Motivation

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.

The three main traits of a leader

The three main traits that are required from my perspective are that of being a good communicator, emotional intelligence and to be motivational in nature.

Communication- communication can be referred to as the ‘lubricatingoil’ 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). 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 communication assisted with the help of technology. 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. 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 conflict resolution in an organisation (Kouzes& Posner, 2007). Workplace is prevalent to conflicting situation. Concerns are raised for voice, fairness and management of various grievances always. Innovation and change are common in organisations now and they tend to entail conflict and resistance in an organisational atmosphere. There conflicts can only be resolved by decoding and clarifying the issues and understanding the needs and the interests. Communication helps in enhancing mutual understanding in an organisation. 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 job 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 leader (Forrester, 2012). The reason behind this is that the work at the senior levels is also about communicating to the lower tier and the upper tier of members in an organisation. Miscommunication renders loss and effective communication increases harmony and productivity in an organisation. Communication is 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. Steve Jobs considered it highly important to listen to others as he could combine his ideas with more active innovations through communications. Market researches that are also done in the organisations now are a perfect example on how to cover the gap between the customer requirements and the various products that are supplied by the organisation. Leaders thrive on ideas. 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 fulfill their expectations. This process can also be effective only through the process of communication.

Emotional intelligence (caring)

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 relate to the employees are extremely important. Emotional connection makes life long bonds and better understanding among the leaders, 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 the creativity and productivity rates. The ideas that are required for implementing a new process or idea is better heard when people care for each other and are emotionally connected. This will also encourage the employees in an 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 use 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 favorable in an organizational atmosphere (Badae & Pana, 2010)

Employees prefer to work in organizations that are friendly to them. Emotional intelligence 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 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. Gordon Cairns was a boss who failed to connect emotionally with his employees initially and the employees dreaded working for him. He was aggressive and defensive in nature and his employees dreaded working for him. He changed his outlook towards leadership and stresses that there is a high requirement for the entity organization to be emotionally intelligent and this can be possible if the leader of the organisation was ready to change. According to him employees are independent now as their relationship towards work is changing and it is the duty of the leaders to supply them with reasons to come to come and work for the organisation.

Motivation

Employees work hard in an organization to ensure that their requirements are achieved. Thisis 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. A study proved that there employees can be managed in an organisation with significant motivation factors and some of them includes flexibility to work, freedom and availability of the various resources to do their work. The time that is given to them by the management was also found to be a major motivator in their case (Gilley et. al, 2009). This means that there should be a visible effort from the firms to provide a motivating atmosphere to the employees with communicate effectively, make creative ideas, prioritization of ideas, creation of new issues, addressing employee issues. This atmosphere can only be implemented with the support of the leaders and managers in the organisation as they are the ones whom the employees report to directly.

Enhancing Emotional Intelligence and Motivational Skills

Enhancing emotional intelligence

It can be said that emotional intelligence 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 emotional intelligence 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 artifacts 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 artifacts 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. Emotional intelligence can be increased by enhancing emotional connections with people and being there for them when it is required. This will only enhance interdependence in the case of a leader and followers. 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-judgmental 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 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 is highly important for ensuring increasing the motivation. Maslow has offered the notion that people work hard so that they can fulfill the various needs that are set in their life. The preferences of the members are entirely dependent on the nature and preferences of the people. Their motivational factors will be highly proportional to the core values and I will try to connect with my followers to detect their core values. I will work at being in a powerful position to supply my followers with their motivational requirements. Rewards, recognitionand 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 changed 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 compartmentalized between the personal life and professional life. The role that is played by the motivation, emotional intelligence, and communication 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 recognized in the early stages in the organization 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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