Leadership Qualities
Leadership is a term that has many definitions, as different people take it differently. Northouse explains that leadership is a character trait that one usually possesses even as they are born. The definition, therefore, concludes that leaders are born and not made. Northouse, therefore, suggests that leadership is a hereditary trait since one is born with it (Northouse, 2007). However, some of the character traits of individuals are points of strength while others are areas which need improvements. The ability to utilize one’s strengths and at the same time, minimize the effect of the weaknesses make a leader sure of good results.
The traits that one possesses define the leader’s abilities to handle different situations. Desirable character traits make the leader an effective one while undesirable ones are responsible for poor leadership. The method that one uses to lead also determine the results of the employees. Additionally, the skill that one possesses and more so when it comes to the ability to communicate to their juniors significantly impact the performance of the organization.
As a leader, my strongest trait is that I can effectively manage people. As a leader, I can understand what my employees are supposed to do. I am also able to know the skills of each employee and the type of work that best suits them. The awareness of each employee makes me able to assign each employee the duty that they can perform best. Additionally, my knowledge of the needs of each employee makes me able to know how to treat the workers best.
The fact that I can know the needs of my juniors makes it easy for me as a leader to motivate the workers and therefore results in improved results. My ability to understand the employees has also made it easy for me to enhance the proper relationship among the employees and consequently led to teamwork. The impact of collaboration among the staff members is that it has brought very high employee output. My awareness of the workers also puts me at the forefront by making me able to get views of the workers by listening to their opinions and getting their feedback.
Another thing that makes me one of the best leaders is that I have skills of how to manage resources better. I am not only able to handle the funds of my firm but also use other business resources appropriately. One support that I manage very well is labour, and this has made the labour force very useful. As a leader, I am also able to use things like equipment and supplies appropriately. My ability to allocate the resources to the areas that need them and make follow-ups to ensure that the funds are in the right use puts me up-front as a leader. The proper use of resources results in the effective running of an organization.
As a leader, I also have a strength in that I am social. The social nature in me makes me sensitive to the feelings and ideas of other people. At the workplace, I can understand the problems of my employees and therefore offer solutions where possible. Through interacting with the juniors, I can also identify their goals and link them with the institutional objectives for the success of the entity. Socializing and listening to the employees makes me as a leader to offer solutions to the employee problems, therefore, increasing employee retention.
It is my high strength as a leader that I possess skills of conflict management. I am usually able to solve any difference between my employees effectively. Amicable conflict resolution has made the employees able to maintain the cordial relationship among themselves. The effect of good the relationship among the employees is that it has made teamwork easy. As a manager, I am also able to solve problems that arise within the workplace. To solve the issues, I usually take time to discover it. Once I identify the problem, my next step is generally taking the right action to adequately address the issue.
The place where I need to improve as a manager is in my controlling of emotions. I have a weakness in that I am mostly unable to control my feelings and those of the workers. Both positive and negative emotions are, at times, a significant barrier to the way I lead the workers. At times I find myself giving the wrong message and other times the workers fail to take my message serious for they know I communicate out of sadness. To become a good leader, I have to work on controlling my feelings.
Another challenge that I have when it comes to leadership skills is the inability to create visions among the employees. Although I know that developing images that employees should work to achieve is crucial, I mostly have difficulties in making it. I want to improve my skills in planning and emerging visions to become a better leader. To curb this weakness, I have been trying to make some short-term and medium-term targets for myself and the employees. With time I will fully overcome the weakness, which is my inability to plan.
As a leader, the style that you use significantly impacts on the productivity of the workers. While we believe that majority of people are theory X who cannot work without pressure, at times the pressure you put on the workers might make them not work effectively. I being a leader believe in democracy at work. Making your workers free to choose what to do makes the workers do their job effectively. Although other leaders believe in dictatorship, I practice democracy, which makes my employees have a high degree of productivity.
Although I take close attention to what workers are doing, I usually allow them a degree of autonomy. However, the fact that I let my worker’s freedom does not mean I do not correct stray workers. I typically take actions on every employee who does the wrong thing. From my experience, the democratic style of leadership motivates employees which result in increased employee efficiency.
If a leader uses the right style of leadership and possesses the skills that make them best leaders, they are sure of getting the best results from their workers. Leaders, therefore, should fully utilize their strengths and work to improve on their areas of weaknesses. The style that a leader chooses should also make sure they fully utilize all the workers and achieve the best results from them. If a leader makes the wrong choice of the style, it is hard to get the results they require.
References
Northouse, P. G. (2007) Leadership: theory and practice. SAGE Publications.