Critically analysing leadership competencies through plan and leadership development activities
Question
Task: Critically reflect upon your existing leadership experiences. Conduct a series of personality and leadership assessment tests to establish your strengths weaknesses as a leader.Prepare and carry out a range of individual leadership activities which will be designed to aid you in developing your leadership skill sets.Build an e-portfolio record of your leadership development journey.Reflect upon the effectiveness of your leadership self-development activities and identify future developmental activities.
Answer
Introduction
This report seeks to identify my existing leadership experiences, evaluate my strengths and weaknesses as a leader, and develop a plan for further leadership development. Through the process of conducting personality and leadership assessments, I have identified my strengths and weaknesses as a leader and developed a plan to address them. Additionally, I have developed a plan to further develop my understanding of different leadership styles and approaches.
To begin, I will reflect upon my existing leadership experiences. I will discuss my experiences in secondary school, university, and my final year of university, where I was selected to lead a project. I will then discuss the results of the two personality and leadership assessments I conducted, which will provide insight into my strengths and weaknesses as a leader. Following this, I will present my leadership development plan, which focuses on developing my communication and interpersonal skills, leadership skills, and understanding of different leadership styles and approaches. Finally, I will discuss my plans for the future and provide a conclusion.
Reflection on Existing Leadership Experiences
My first experience with leadership was in secondary school, where I was elected as a class representative. In this role, I had the opportunity to represent my peers and voice their concerns to the teachers (Badura et al. 2020). This was a great opportunity to develop my communication and interpersonal skills whilst also learning to work with people from diverse backgrounds and opinions (Arnold and Boggs 2019). Additionally, I was also elected to the school council where I had the opportunity to work with the leadership team to develop and implement new initiatives (Kane et al. 2019). This gave me an insight into how a team should be managed and the importance of collaboration.
At university, I was elected to run for the student union. During this role, I had the opportunity to participate in a range of activities, from organising student events to lobbying for better student rights (Syakur et al. 2020). This experience further developed my interpersonal and communication skills, as well as my ability to work with others (Lawton and Rosenberg 2022). Additionally, during my final year of university, I was selected to lead a project that required me to manage a team of students. This was a great opportunity to develop my leadership skills, as I had to ensure the team worked together and met their deadlines (Steen and Shinkai 2020).
Personality and Leadership Assessment.
In order to better understand my strengths and weaknesses as a leader, I conducted two personality and leadership assessments.
The first assessment was the Big Five Personality Test, which measures my Big Five personality traits: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism (Purna and Prawitasari 2019). My results suggested that I am a highly extroverted individual, with a strong sense of conscientiousness and openness. Additionally, I am also relatively agreeable and low in neuroticism.
The second assessment was the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI). This assessment measures my performance in five areas of leadership: Modeling the Way, Inspiring a Shared Vision, Challenging the Process, Enabling Others to Act, and Encouraging the Heart (Díaz, Sánchez-Vélez and Santana-Serrano 2019). The results of this assessment suggested that I am a competent leader, as I scored highly in all five categories. However, I scored particularly highly in Modeling the Way, Inspiring a Shared Vision and Enabling Others to Act (Afsar and Umrani 2019). This suggested that I am particularly skilled in motivating and inspiring others and helping them to achieve their goals.
Leadership Development Plan
In light of my findings, I have developed a leadership development plan that focuses on developing my strengths and addressing my weaknesses.
Firstly, I will focus on developing my communication and interpersonal skills (Hardjati and Febrianita 2019). To do this, I plan to attend a range of workshops and seminars related to communication and interpersonal skills. Additionally, I plan to join a range of clubs and organisations that will allow me to practice these skills in a real-world setting.
Secondly, I plan to focus on developing my leadership skills (Prastiawan et al. 2020). To do this, I plan to read a range of books and articles related to leadership and attend a range of seminars and workshops. Additionally, I plan to take on a leadership role in a range of organisations, as this will give me the opportunity to practice my leadership skills in a real-world setting.
Finally, I plan to develop my understanding of different leadership styles and approaches (Alheet et al. 2021). To do this, I plan to read a variety of books and articles related to different leadership styles and approaches. Additionally, I plan to actively seek out new experiences and opportunities that will allow me to explore different leadership styles and approaches.
Looking Ahead
In the future, I plan to continue my leadership development journey by undertaking new activities and seeking out new opportunities to practice my leadership skills (Leithwood, Harris and Hopkins2020). I am particularly interested in exploring the impact of technology on leadership and how it can be used to facilitate remote working. I am also keen to explore how to effectively manage complex projects and teams.
E-Portfolio Record
Throughout my leadership development journey, I have been creating an e-portfolio record to document my progress. This e-portfolio includes a range of documents, such as my personality and leadership assessments, my reflections on existing leadership experiences, my leadership development plan, and my plans for the future (Daniëls Hondeghem and Dochy 2019). Additionally, I have also included a range of resources, such as books, articles, videos, and seminars, to help me further develop my understanding of different leadership styles and approaches (Lei, Gui and Le 2021). My e-portfolio has been an invaluable tool in helping me to track my progress and stay motivated. By having a visual representation of my progress, I am able to easily identify what I have achieved and what I still need to work on. Additionally, by having a record of my journey, I am able to look back and reflect on what I have learned and how far I have come since I started. Overall, my e-portfolio has been an essential tool in helping me to develop my leadership skills and understanding of different leadership styles and approaches.
Conclusion
Overall, this assignment has provided me with an opportunity to reflect upon my existing leadership experiences, assess my strengths and weaknesses, and develop a plan for further leadership development. Through the process of conducting personality and leadership assessments, I have identified my strengths and weaknesses as a leader and developed a plan to address them. Additionally, I have developed a plan to further develop my understanding of different leadership styles and approaches. I am now confident that I possess the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively lead and manage a team.
References
Afsar, B. and Umrani, W.A., 2019. Transformational leadership and innovative work behavior: The role of motivation to learn, task complexity and innovation climate. European Journal of Innovation Management. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/EJIM-12-2018-0257/full/html
Alheet, A., Adwan, A., Areiqat, A., Zamil, A. and Saleh, M., 2021. The effect of leadership styles on employees’ innovative work behavior. Management Science Letters, 11(1), pp.239-246. http://m.growingscience.com/beta/msl/4192-the-effect-of-leadership-styles-on-employees-innovative-work-behavior.html
Arnold, E.C. and Boggs, K.U., 2019. Interpersonal relationships e-book: professional communication skills for nurses. Elsevier Health Sciences. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=XC2GDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=develop+my+communication+and+interpersonal+skills&ots=NqYi60XPRT&sig=EIeo_xFVD9zR5VaPpkA1yWlt3xo
Badura, K.L., Grijalva, E., Galvin, B.M., Owens, B.P. and Joseph, D.L., 2020. Motivation to lead: A meta-analysis and distal-proximal model of motivation and leadership. Journal of Applied Psychology, 105(4), p.331. https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fapl0000439
Daniëls, E., Hondeghem, A. and Dochy, F., 2019. A review on leadership and leadership development in educational settings. Educational research review, 27, pp.110-125. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1747938X18300228
Díaz, E.R., Sánchez-Vélez, C.G. and Santana-Serrano, L., 2019. Integrating the Five Practices of the Exemplary Leadership Model into Entrepreneurship Education. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 13(3), p.10. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1235867
Hardjati, S. and Febrianita, R., 2019. The power of interpersonal communication skill in enhancing service provision. Journal of Social Science Research, 14, pp.3192-3199. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/322472752.pdf
Kane, G.C., Phillips, A.N., Copulsky, J. and Andrus, G., 2019. How digital leadership is (n't) different. MIT Sloan Management Review, 60(3), pp.34-39. https://search.proquest.com/openview/344afd802ed85d6e1e3268c45af8407b/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=26142
Lawton, A.J. and Rosenberg, L.B., 2022. Carpe Communication: Seizing the Small Moments to Teach Interpersonal and Communication Skills on Inpatient Services. Journal of Graduate Medical Education, 14(4), pp.386-389. https://meridian.allenpress.com/jgme/article-abstract/14/4/386/484932
Lei, H., Gui, L. and Le, P.B., 2021. Linking transformational leadership and frugal innovation: the mediating role of tacit and explicit knowledge sharing. Journal of Knowledge Management. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JKM-04-2020-0247/full/html
Leithwood, K., Harris, A. and Hopkins, D., 2020. Seven strong claims about successful school leadership revisited. School leadership & management, 40(1), pp.5-22. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13632434.2019.1596077
Prastiawan, A., Gunawan, I., Putra, A.P., Dewantoro, D.A., Cholifah, P.S., Nuraini, N.L.S., Rini, T.A., Pradipta, R.F., Raharjo, K.M., Prestiadi, D. and Surahman, E., 2020, December. School leadership skills in educational institutions. In 6th International Conference on Education and Technology (ICET 2020) (pp. 438-441). Atlantis Press. https://www.atlantis-press.com/proceedings/icet-20/125947620
Purna, R.S. and Prawitasari, J.E., 2019. Trait Relations: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism with Teacher Emotion Regulation. International Journal of. https://scholar.archive.org/work/p47mfwibxzdzfd7b4tyjdkjnrm/access/wayback/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/971b/6bdd5907070c8429962fd8a58530b751c8af.pdf
Steen, A. and Shinkai, K., 2020. Understanding individual and gender differences in conflict resolution: A critical leadership skill. International journal of women's dermatology, 6(1), pp.50-53. https://journals.lww.com/acsm-csmr/FullText/2020/03000/Leadership_for_the_Team_Physician.8.aspx
Syakur, A., Susilo, T.A.B., Wike, W. and Ahmadi, R., 2020. Sustainability of communication, organizational culture, cooperation, trust and leadership style for lecturer commitments in higher education. Budapest International Research and Critics Institute (BIRCI-Journal): Humanities and Social Sciences, 3(2), pp.1325-1335. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/47fd/27e696763bcbb894c6e970cabeda2360e764.pdf
