There has been debate over what constitutes a leader so there is no wonder that the styles of leaders vary. Leaders must be able to motivate, mentor, coach and inspire others to reach organizational goals. Leadership style is the manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people (Medina, 2011). All leaders of effective groups have four characteristics in common. First, they provide direction and meaning to the people they are leading and are responsible for keeping team members aware of important stated goals and objectives (Howard, 2005). Second, they generate trust by acting in an honest manner that creates an environment of trust (Howard, 2005). Third, they prefer action and risk taking and are willing to operate outside of the norm (Howard, 2005). Lastly, they are communicators of hope by using effective communication skills, leaders encourage others to believe that the expected behavior will result in successful realization of stated goal (Howard, 2005). A leader can be effective or ineffective depending on the situation because a leader's style is based on personality. My leadership style consists of servant-leader, transactional and transformational leadership. As a devout Christian, I was astonished that many of the servant-leadership character traits are easily defined in Christianity’s stewardship. I incorporate each of these styles in my daily interactions with my direct reports.
Leadership is complex so you must use a variety of styles because the people that you lead have different styles of learning, understanding and performing. You can not succeed in leadership if you are not willing to change your behavior style as warranted. Changing your behavior style will also enable you t...
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...t will be heard. As a transactional leader you must be stern in your commitment to achieving the goals of your company while using motivational tools get your direct reports to achieve those goals. For leadership to be effective, followers must be able to rely on their leaders and vice versa. There must be a mutual level of trust and both parties must take responsibility for the cohesiveness of the relationship. Leaders who create feelings of significance, community and excitement produce followers who are willing to support the goals that they set; it is my constant goal to become that type of leader.
Works Cited
Howard, W. C. (2005). Leadership: Four styles. Education, 126(2), 384-391. from EBSCOhost.
Medina, M. (2011). Leadership and the process of becoming. Existential Analysis: Journal of the Society for Existential Analysis, 22(1), 70-82. from EBSCOhost.
A person’s title within the organization does not make them a leader. The driving factor which determines if someone is in a leader position is their behavior. This person who is a leader will guide those in the organization by influencing, guiding, giving direction, and opinions (Marquis & Huston, 2012). The culture as well as the climate of an organization begins with the leadership (Azaare & Gross, 2011). Each individual person has their own leadership style. Knowing one’s own leadership style will help them understand themselves and be able to grow as a leader. The purpose of this paper is to look at my own leadership style, including my strengths for leading others. A description of a potential challenge that I foresee due to my leadership style and a plan for my personal leadership development will be discussed.
You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink is a proverb I have heard since I was young. Leadership is the skill of influencing people to accomplish goals (Huber, 2014). In today’s world with policy and technological changes the leaders must use their leadership skills to not only get the horse to the water, have him drink, but also do it with a smile an invite others to join him. Leaders use a variety of styles to accomplish their goals. I will discuss the leadership style that I utilize most often, how my style relates to leadership theories and the work type environment it is most useful in.
This is where transformational leaders excel in their roles as motivators and change agents; however, one characteristic that resonates most with followers is the leader’s ability to define vision and mission. Ballou (2015) used the analogy of an orchestra conductor possessing the musical score that provides the details for every participant in the ensemble. The ability of the leader to bring clarity to the vision enables followers to understand the ‘why’ of their hard work. While seemingly autocratic, followers accept direction from transformational leaders because they demonstrate selflessness and are most interested in the team’s success, not their own. These highly regarded traits can alleviate tension in diverse groups by focusing on the vision, not individual differences. While there are similarities between the servant and transformational leader, there are important differences as well. In the book, The Leadership Challenge (2002, p. 153), the authors suggested that transformational leadership affects not only the followers, but the leader as well, by raising each other to achieve the higher purposes of motivation and morality. Another vital component of transformational leadership is the fostering of participation when making decisions. It is never the intention of the leader to inject his or her opinion, especially at the onset of the process. This ability allows followers to arrive at consensus by encouraging team participation, which invites involvement and buy-in of the vision, while decreasing the likelihood of inter-team conflict. The true transformational leader inspires the team because they have achieved a high level of self-actualization, which allows them to encourage and recognize the achievements of others without feeling threatened. When followers are fortunate enough to be led by a transformational
Leadership style is a behavioral model that leaders use it to interact with followers. Leadership is a combination of providing direction, making decision, motivating sub-workers and achieving goals (Fertman & Liden 1999). Furthermore, Chemers (2007) asserted that leadership is the executive of organizational intelligence in which leadership effectiveness is linked to organizational performance. In addition, Obiwuru et al (2011) stated that the leadership styles are predictor to leadership effectiveness whereby leadership style in an organization is one of the factors that play significant role in enhancing or retarding the interest and commitment of the individuals in the organization. In this paper, we will concentrate on three leadership
It is impossible to pinpoint precisely the time when interest in leadership styles emerged. However a set of experiments conducted by 3 social scientist in 1938 is a good time to begin. Kurt Lewin, Ronald Leppit, and Robert White used groups of children to study different approaches to exercising control. Their classic study identified three types of control: autocratic, democratic, and laissez faire. These three types of control came to be known as leadership styles.
Many leadership styles exist. The determining factor if a leadership style is effective or not is often how it is carried out and if it is appeasing to those, the leader is attempting to lead. One of the leadership styles that has become popular is Servant leadership. Although Greenleaf developed servant leadership more than thirty-five years ago and he identified ten characteristics that pertain to servant leadership. (book p. 56) Servant leadership has been successful in various industries and its popularity continues to increase.
In the ideal form, transformational leadership creates valuable and positive change with the end goal of developing followers into leaders. These may include connecting the followers sense of self and identity to the mission and the collective identity of the organization; being a role model for followers that inspires them; challenging followers to take greater pride for their work, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of individuals, so the leader can associate followers with tasks that improve their performance. Transformational leaders focus on intrinsic motivation and personal development of their followers. They believe in five key aspects of being a leader, which are being creative, interactive, empowering, visionary and
Leadership styles reflect a manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people. Traditionally, effective leadership styles were thought of a one size fits all, leaders picked one approach and used it all situations. In today’s world, successful leaders recognize the style of leadership is relative to given situation, based on analyzing the employees and the organization. Leadership styles are most effective when the actions of a leader reflect what is best for individuals and the organization, simultaneously. Leadership styles ultimately affect human behavior, and according to James G. Clawson, change occurs at three levels: Level one leadership is focused on visible behavior patterns.
After completing the “Leadership Style Questionnaire” and analyzing my results, I have learned what my preferred leadership style is and how that influences how I lead and may be perceived from members of the group. From the results attained from the questionnaire, my preferred style of leadership is directing. This type of leadership style is best for individuals who have a low competency and high commitment level. These types of leaders are highly focused on tasks and less focused on relationships. They make decisions without consulting with the group and communicate without regarding the group’s concerns or suggestions. This type of leader also supervises the followers intently. They are very successful in creating objectives for each follower and the group as a whole to guide the group in reaching a certain goal.
Leadership is not about a leader’s needs; it’s all about the needs of the people and the organization her or she is leading. Finding the style that best suites your personality, no doubt, is an essential element to lead your followers and accomplish the work. It allows you to be authentic, meet comfort, and be creative in your job. However, leaders deal daily with different personalities, set-minds, attitudes and beliefs of their followers. It becomes hard for leaders to settle on only one style. Leadership styles sometimes should be adapted to particular demands of situations, particular needs of the people involved and particular challenges that facing their organization. Thus, Flexibility is a fundamental skill any leader should have.
Leaders in general are a significant part of the follower’s success on and off of the result charts. As we know, there are people who lead much better than others. The question then becomes, what makes this leader different? Or even, what makes this person a leader? And what is setting him/her apart from the rest of the leaders? And the answer is their individual leadership style determined by certain traits. In terms of the context of what is significant to the leadership that has taken place in my life, we will be analysing and unpacking transformational leadership as my primary leadership type along with servant and transactional leadership traits seen in the works of someone significant in my life.
"Developing a Philosophy of Leadership." . Leadership Paradigms Inc., n.d. Web. 12 Nov 2013. .
Leadership style is important. It indicates a method that is taken by a certain leader. It can be considered as being directive or even being commanding or even having a collaborative or participative elegance. However, we must know that some leaders tend to be motionless and use a style through different situations that can or will occur in the near future. It is important for the leaders to know what their main style and preferences are (Warner, 2012, para.2). It makes evaluation easier due to the effectiveness of the different styles with a great amount of circumstances that can enhance outcome and positivity. There are many qualities that increase leadership. The many qualities that can easily increase leadership are demonstrated
There are different leadership theories developed throughout the history. Most popular ones are trait theories, behavioral theories, contingency theories, and leader-member exchange (LMX) theory. The author of the post will briefly discuss two theories, Fiedler contingency theory and Leader-Member Exchange (LMX), and compare and contrast their strengths and weakness.
In this paper I will look at the four major leadership styles, their characteristics, advantages, disadvantages, and in what situations a particular leadership style is desired. Additionally, I will look at my leadership style and how I acquired this style throughout my career.