Question

Write a reflective paper describing your leadership style and skills. Reflect on what you have learned throughout the course, and think about how you can use this knowledge to further your career. Use the results of your self-assessments, leadership map, and other course materials to guide your reflection. Begin your reflection with a single statement that concisely summarizes your leadership style and approach. The statement should be one that you could later share on LinkedIn or your resume. You could also use it to guide your professional development.

Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:

1. Leadership Approach:

1. Leadership Skills: Describe your primary leadership skills and describe how these skills will help you effectively lead a team. Additionally, describe skills or attributes you would like to develop and improve upon in order to become a better leader.

2. Leading and Following: Explain the importance of being able to both lead and follow when working as part of a team, along with how well you are able to lead and follow on a team while in a leadership role.

3. Leadership Style: Describe your personal leadership style and explain how you intend to use that style when working with a diverse, dynamic team.

Answer 1

A. Primary leadership skills that I possess are

Communication skills: For a leader, it is highly important to communicate not only well but communicate effectively. Leaders should master communication in all aspects.

Communication skills help me to have both one on one communication with my team member as well as group communication with the whole team. With individuals sometimes it is important to communicate their weaknesses or mistakes in private. Whereas group communication helps me to direct the message to the entire group. Especially, when a team member performs well, I tend to communicate his performance to the whole team that will lift his morale. Since communication also involves listening I tend to listen to my team member suggestions that could benefit my team performance and help us in achieving the target. Also, it's equally important to communicate well with other departments like marketing and HR to get your work done systematically and smoothly.

With proper communication, I tend to discuss the concerns and issues of my employees.

Motivational skills. Motivational skills are so important for a leader, as it helps to get the best out from the team members. I am a great motivator for my team. I tend to motivate my team with appreciation and recognition when they excel at their performance. I also allocate new responsibilities to the team, members so that they are invested in their work and are motivated to achieve the same. I always encourage my team passion and support them by giving them the required set of tools and knowledge needed to do the job. I also motivate them by mentoring them so that they are not lost in their job, rather help them by giving them more objective feedback on their performance and guide them through the process. Thus mentoring keeps them motivated and builds their focus on the task ahead.

Problem-solving skills. This skill helps me to see a problem from different perspectives and different situations and I tend to get to work done even if I face huge obstacles.

Creativity skills. I also possess creative skills that are required to lead the team Something when I am not able to get a solution to a problem, I tend to think outside the box and come up with a logical and sensible way to solve the problem. This inspires my team when they see me using a different approach rather than the traditional approach to solve complex problems. The creative skills I possess comes through critical thinking, imaginative ideas, sound judgment, and sometimes just by listening to other ideas.

Relationship and interpersonal skills.Since I have to work closely with a team of people comprising of different emotions, different strengths, and weakness, different attitudes, and habits. I tend to form a relationship with them by bringing people from different cultures together. I make sure that my team has appropriate training to do their jobs. I also ensure that the team works as a unit and every member contributes to the growth of the team. Thus working as a team creates a friendly atmosphere and builds loyalty. This largely works by studying their behavior and assigning them jobs as per their strengths. I also understand their emotions and praise their achievements. Also when achieving the target the whole team celebrates together and becomes stronger.

However, there are some skills that I need to improve on. They are:

Delegation skills: Most of the time I tend to do work on my own or spend more time on tasks that could have been delegated. Since I enjoy being on the sales floor I work with customers. However, I am learning to delegate more so that the team is accountable for their action and work by minimizing mistakes and be responsible all together.

Decision-making skills. Sometimes I tend to rely on my seniors for decision making when I am overwhelmed by too many tasks at hand and where a quick decision is needed. However, I am improving my decision-making skill by understanding the situation and then take concrete steps to decide on what needs to done.

Time management skill. It's an area which slightly needs some focus and attention. Sometimes when there are too many tasks at hand, I encourage my team to finish the job quickly by ensuring that tasks are achieved before the deadline. However, I miss on prioritizing work and it happens that my team tends to spend more time than necessary on work that requires attention but is not a priority. This makes the other important tasks fall behind schedule and thus miss important deadlines. However, I am improving my time management skill by focusing on the task that needs top priority first and then go down to meet less important tasks. This helps me to achieve the deadline more systematically.

B. It is as important to lead as it is important to follow. While working as a part of the team I make sure to respect my team member and even take suggestions when necessary. Leading helps me to show the direction to my employees special when they are lost in the middle of their tasks or when they need encouragement to finish their job. Following helps me to learn from my employees on certain tasks and ways and through their experience. Being a leader helps to boost morale when the situation is bad. By following a team member's remarkable idea can work wonders and benefit the company immensely.

Being a follower makes a great leader, and helps a person to learn and move towards becoming a better leader. Nobody becomes a leader just by walking up someday. In fact, a good leader was once a follower of his leader, and since it is an ongoing process, it starts from being a follower. Followers are not less than their leaders and leaders are not superior to their followers. Being a good follower teaches a team member to value other opinions consider their advice and develop emotional intelligence. And the best leaders are those who care for their followers and displays the same through their leadership.

Being a good follower also enable a person to see another person as a follower, and this is exactly the trait needed to lead a team.

C. I tend to follow the Affiliative style of leadership as I consider my team first before anything.
This promotes harmony among employees and in the environment as well and is a great way to resolve conflict in the store. In this leadership style, I tend to develop personal relationships with my employees, know them better, and pay attention to their needs and support them throughout the process. This is a great way when working with a diverse team as this leadership helps to connect to the individual team member emotional needs as well. It is a great way of building trust and when the environment is peaceful and cheerful everyone will be interested to work in that environment. Thus it will avoid differences and instill enthusiasm among the team members and help them focus more clearly towards the goal of the company.