Leaders
may be managers, but not all phenomenal managers can get termed leaders. Three
differences show clearly the distinction between managers and leaders. One is
that a leader is an innovator while managers are administrators (Bertocci, 2009).
That implies that leadership means coming up with new ideas and enabling the
rest of the organization to move to a forward-thinking phase. On the other
hand, managing involves maintaining that which has been established. Managers
keep their eyes on the bottom line and maintain the control of things failure
to which there might erupt disorders within the organization. Secondly, leadership inspires trust whereas
the managing does not care about trust. Bertocci (2009) says that a leader is a
person who inspires others to be their best. He says that leadership is not one
does; rather, it is what others do in one’s response. As for managers,
Northouse (2010) says that their job is to maintain control over people. Managing involves helping the workers to develop
their assets and bringing out their greatest talents.
Personal
skills/weaknesses
There
are many skills that define a competent leader. Several of these are
interpersonal skills. The shortage of such skills deems leadership a failure.
As a leader, I portrayed the following range of skills:
The
fist skill I was devoted to was self-motivation and determination. To achieve
success within my leadership jurisdiction, I knew I had to do what needed to be
done, without the influence of my superiors. I made up reasons and acquired
strength to complete all my tasks without giving up or requiring my peers cheer
me up. Another of my skills was team playing. I devoted to the adage that no
man is an island. I knew that in today’s world, like never before, one requires
a group of people to contribute to success. With that in mind, I delegated
duties to my team who made inquiries during when faced with difficulties. I also sought advice from my team, fellow
leaders and superior when in a challenging situation. Another trait I
endeavored to maintain was hard work.
As
Leatherman (2008) claims, hard work is a major trait shown by successful bosses
as well as a good employees. I worked tirelessly and spent long hours figuring
out viable measures to problems. I dedicated
my efforts to making ends meet through committing myself towards attaining the
best for the institution. The desire to see success attributed to my work of
hands that of my team drove my commitment. Through our concentrated efforts,
things got done, and the seemingly impossible unwound to become possible. Patience got also reflected in my leadership.
Whenever a process went wrong, I took my time to rebuild. Intelligence and
self-confidence summed it all. Intelligent does not mean I was the only person
in the room who could drive the plane. It entailed being figurative and
creating a simple logic of performing duties and easier ways to accomplish
tasks with minimum effort and cost. I
demonstrated practical knowledge and sought wisdom while running the team.
Weaknesses
Weaknesses
are part of everyone. I was also not an exemption and at times my weaknesses
made things not go according to plan. Some of these weaknesses were notable
while others I concealed. Amongst my weaknesses are the following:
One
was getting nervous around people. This weakness mostly came out during
presentations of performance reports to the administration, a failure that was
most notable in the begging of my leadership. My nervousness also occurred
whenever the head of the department (a person I seldom met with) called for me
to enquire about something. At school, I was also introvert whenever asked to
make a formal speech to my fellow students, and especially when the
notification came a few hours prior to the time. Another limitation was in the
form of being a debater. I demonstrated too much passion about work and seemed
to require a reason for any change that got introduced in the organization,
particularly if it touched my department. As Northouse (2010) writes, though it
is good to debate about some decision about a project or a product, it might
rub some people the wrong way. Another of my flaws was going in people’s ways.
My passion for making things run in the right way led me to jumping in
employees’ ways. Though this sometimes made me realize and correct critical and
fatal mistakes in them, it sometimes led to antagonism (Goleman, 1998). Some
felt that I did not trust them to accomplish a delegated task, which made them
discouraged.
Also,
I was in shortage of some skills. Goleman (1998) say that no leader or any
particular person has all the requisite skills for a job profile. That is one
of the tragic disadvantages that a leader has. One example of a skill I lacked
was aggressive interrogative skills. I sometimes lacked the courage to look a
person in the eye and demand an explanation for a letdown. Other weaknesses
included being a too sensitive person, which involved taking things to the
heart leading to disappointment when things got done in the wrong way.
Description
of Leadership Experience
Throughout
my academic life, I have encountered several chances to experience various
leadership positions. For instance, I have experienced democratic leadership
through playing on a high school football team. Due to my pronounced talents in
sports, I was chosen a vice captain for the school team in high school, a
position I served for two years. I was also pronounced treasurer of the Prime
Victors College football team, where I had the privilege to serve for one
academic year. Since my joining this college, I have had the opportunity to
serve as the chair in our group discussion sessions. Adding to my leadership experience is serving
as one of the executives of the youth of my church. Today, I serve as an
administrative assistant at Merchants Fashions where am currently working.
Leadership
Activity/Skills/Knowledge Used
Activity
The
customary roles of a football team captain include speaking for the team
(Goleman, 1998). He/she calls the result of the referee's coin toss that
determines which team will kick off for the first half of play. It is also a
custom that the referee to inform the team captain, whatever he/she cannot
inform other players. Such incidences include the application of sanction for a
player’s misconduct. These are some of
the activities I undertook when the captain was not available. As a treasurer
for my college’s team, I was in charge of the teams accounts. I informed the team of their financial
position through preparing budgets and financial statements. In case the team
was in need of money, I was the signatory at the bank.
I
also played various leadership roles as a chair in class group discussions. I
handled planning meetings and informing the members of time and date of
meeting. During the meetings, I was in charge of ensuring meetings took the
right pace and that everything ran to time. I controlled the happenings and
ordered the turn contribution of all members.
In case the members did not reach a consensus, I chaired a vote of
consensus and announced the majority win ensuring all members accept the
majority decision. Similar activities apply to the position of my youth
leadership in the church. As an administrative assistant, I provide support to
the company executives. That includes managers and other official
professionals.
Skills
and knowledge used and acquired
During
the partaking of my leadership roles, I used my charismatic leadership
qualities to get things going. I applied the problem solver skills and divided
the workload within team members. I also took the initiative of getting
everyone’s phone numbers to update them of scheduled meeting times and
coordinate the work at hand. It’s evident that teamwork can never be present if
there is no cohesion. I used my
interpersonal skills to solve all conflicts among members and made sure
everyone was in terms with fellow members.
Through
these leadership positions, I have gained important qualities of being a good
leader based on personal experiences. Some of the most valuable leadership
traits that I have obtained and aim at strengthening include the following. One
is how to foster team spirit, how to be an effective listener, patience, how to
cope with constructive criticism as well as problem-solving skills. Though I
have gained a lot, I still have more things to learn such as assertiveness,
leadership discipline, public speaking skills, and how to be realistic and not
too optimistic. Playing the role of sports captain in school gave me the
opportunity to play on both losing and winning teams. That has given me a
different perspective of looking at things. I now realize that even if one
fails or lose that is no reason to give up. There is a chance to get right back
up. The class leadership I learned to try to take the initiative to encourage
people speak up their ideas
Summary
Leadership
is the guiding or directing of people through organizing them and motivating
them to achieve a desired goal. Leaders are found different from managers in
many aspects.thus not all managers can become a leader. In fact, a manager is
trained but one can become a natural leader can have. Leadership experience leads one to point out
favorable characteristics that viable leaders should do.
References
Bertocci,
D. (2009). The leadership of
organizations: There is a difference between leaders and managers. Lanham, Md:
University Press of America.
Goleman,
D. (1998). What makes a leader?.N.Y: Harvard Business Review Press
Leatherman,
D. (2008). Quality leadership skills: Standards of leadership behavior.
Amherst, Mass: HRD Press.
Northouse,
P. (2010). Leadership: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in nursing essay writing service services. If you need a similar paper you can place your order from best custom term papers.
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