Developing Leadership & Management Skills: My Leadership Development Journey

Question

Task: You are required to critically reflect on your present leadership experiences. Carry out a set of personality and leadership evaluations tests to show your strength and weaknesses.Develop and perform several leadership exercises that can assist in developing your leadership skills. Construct an e-portfolio documenting your leadership journey and reflect on the appropriateness of the development exercises and discover future developmental exercises.

Answer

Introduction

Leadership is a course by which one person effects the other by inspiring, motivating and directing them to achieve goals and objectives(Simiyu, 2015).Effective leadership in an organization is important and a leader has to work on motivating and encouraging employees for improving their performances and bringing growth and changes in the workplace. In the course, I learned the roles of leadership and its effectiveness in business for organizational growth.

Critical reflection upon the existing leadership experiences

Leadership is one of the integral parts of abusiness for bringing growth and development in self and in the workplace. Leaders in an organization have the role of bringing improvement in employee performance for achieving organizational growth and success(Avadhani, 2016). In the leadership development journey, I understood the relevance of leadership in the organization and in any area for bringing development and progress in the work. A person with effective leadership will be able to bring growth to the business by empowering the team members and encouraging them to bring innovation and creativity to their work performances(Hao and Yazdanifard, 2015). Effective leadership is not only a job it is also a multifacetedcommunicationamong a variety of people with different individual and specialized qualities and practices(Schuetz, 2017). Leadership allows managing the team members by communicating effectively with them to understand their needs and requirements(West-Burnham and Ireson, 2017). The overall leadership development session helped me learn the need for leadership and its benefits in completing and influencing people to improve themselves.Good leadership is one that brings a change in various aspects of the organization by developing effective strategies(Zainol et al., 2021). Leadership initiates by developing goals and vision and a desire to picture the growth and development of the organization in the future. Effective leadership develops an attitude and idea that is acceptable to all members and which needs to be truthful and honest(Kapur, 2020). I learned that for becoming a good leader it is very important to be supportive in an organization by listening to the employees and helping them to resolve the identified issues in business.

Personality and leadership assessment test

I have understood a person with leadership skills can influence people and can bring growth and progress in their work and achieve success. A true leader has the confidence to stand alone in making tough decisions and to listen to others to bring change(Axelrod, 2017). The potentials of a good leader include confidence, the capability to interconnect the values and vision, create the right culture in the workplace, and honesty and transparency with team members(Muteswa, 2016).Before the session, I had not much idea about leadership roles and their effectiveness in influencing people and attaining success in business. The personality and leadership assessment test to develop my strengths and weaknesses as a leader is to be challenging, bring insights that add value in the workplace, provide meaningful feedback, and effective communication with team members and provide answers to them for bringing improvement and progress in their work performances.For becoming a good leader it is important to implement leadership development strategies for bringing improvement in the workplace and improving the performances of an individual and organization(Kjellstrom, Stalne and Tornblom, 2020).Furthermore, for identifying my strengths and weaknesses I will work on communicating with my juniors and developing a healthy relationships. I will work on accepting challenges and look at making decisions by myself to know my strength and capabilities. This helps me understand where I have to work on improving my leadership skills and performance to grow myself and become an effective leader in the workplace.

Leadership activities in developing leadership skill sets

Carryingdevelopment and advancement in business leadership activities is one of the significant parts of an organization. An effective leader believes that people want to improve their skills so theyworkin creating an atmosphere in which achievement is not only conceivable but also transmittable. They believe that placing the right individual in a right place is an integral and essential activity for bringing growth and development to an organization(Cismas, Dona and Andreiasu, 2016).The leadership activities for my leadership skill set include social groups, teamwork, internship, effective communication, conducting seminars and counselling to team members, completing the project in the required time and taking challenges. This leadership activity allows me to improve my skills and build confidence and experience for my growth and development in being a good and effective leader. Leadership is a quality which cannot be learned by any person from another through self-determination. In leadership effective communication is an integral part of influencing people and bringing improvement and progress in work(Hiregoudar and Vani, 2018).

E-portfolio record for leadership development journey

From the overall session, I learned that for becoming more influential and effective in the workplace in an organization it is essential to be a good leader. Developing a healthy relationship is an integral part of becoming a leader where employees can share their ideas and thoughts. Managing the relationship with employees is a crucial part of the success and failure of the organization(Ansah et al., 2018).I have focused on working on those areas for developing my leadership skills and becoming an effective leader in an organization towards employees.In the organization, employees perform better when they are appreciated for their work more than their salaries and bonuses and are important for the firm and leaders to appreciate their work and effort(Seppälä and McNichols, 2022).The leader or the business owner has to focus on developing a healthy relationship with employees for bringing improvement to their business.Employees who are inspired produce better results in an organization(Xesha et al., 2014).Furthermore, I will work on inspiring and motivating employees for bringing growth and progress in their work performances and developing leadership skills. Leadership helps in understanding the employees and the manner a leader should be performing with their team members for bringing good results in the workplace.

Conclusion

In the overall session, I learned various things which are important for my career development in the future. I learned about being a good leader is important to listen to the employees and motivate and encourage them for growth and development.

References

Ansah, R.H., Osei, J., Sorooshian, S. and Aikhuele, D.O. (2018). Importance of employer-employee relationship towards the growth of a business. [online] ResearchGate. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327963541_Importance_of_employer-employee_relationship_towards_the_growth_of_a_business [Accessed 12 Jan. 2023].

Avadhani, A. (2016). Leadership Development and Personal Development: Is there a Connection? [online] ResearchGate. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307882630_Leadership_Development_and_Personal_Development_Is_there_a_Connection [Accessed 12 Jan. 2023].

Axelrod, R.H. (2017). (PDF) Leadership and Self-Confidence. [online] ResearchGate. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318029583_Leadership_and_Self-Confidence [Accessed 12 Jan. 2023].

Cismas, S.C., Dona, I. and Andreiasu, G. (2016). Responsible Leadership. [online] Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304105888_Responsible_Leadership [Accessed 12 Jan. 2023].

Hao, M.J. and Yazdanifard, R. (2015). How Effective Leadership Can Facilitate Change in Organizations through Improvement and Innovation. [online] Global Journal of Management and Business Research: a Administration and Management, Global Journals Inc. (USA). Available at: https://globaljournals.org/GJMBR_Volume15/1-How-Effective-Leadership.pdf [Accessed 12 Jan. 2023].

Hiregoudar, S. and Vani, G. (2018). Qualities of Good Leadership for Effective Organisation. International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) |, [online] V. Available at: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijrsi/digital-library/volume-5-issue-4/336-338.pdf [Accessed 12 Jan. 2023].

Kapur, R. (2020). Characteristics of Effective Leadership. [online] www.researchgate.net. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344348836_Characteristics_of_Effective_Leadership [Accessed 12 Jan. 2023].

Kjellstrom, S., Stalne, K. and Tornblom, O. (2020). Six ways of understanding leadership development: An exploration of increasing complexity. [online] www.diva-portal.org. Available at: https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1439623/FULLTEXT01.pdf [Accessed 12 Jan. 2023].

Muteswa, R. (2016). Qualities of a Good Leader and the Benefits of Good Leadership to an Organization: A Conceptual Study. European Journal of Business and Management, [online] 8(24). Available at: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/234627475.pdf [Accessed 12 Jan. 2023].

Schuetz, A. (2017). Effective Leadership and its Impact on an Organisation’s Success. [online] www.researchgate.net. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314166742_Effective_Leadership_and_its_Impact_on_an_Organisation’s_Success [Accessed 12 Jan. 2023].

Seppälä, E. and McNichols, N.K. (2022). The Power of Healthy Relationships at Work. [online] Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2022/06/the-power-of-healthy-relationships-at-work [Accessed 12 Jan. 2023].

Simiyu, A. (2015). (PDF) ROLE OF LEADERSHIP IN ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. [online] ResearchGate. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273766248_ROLE_OF_LEADERSHIP_IN_ORGANIZATIONAL_DEVELOPMENT [Accessed 12 Jan. 2023].

West-Burnham, J. and Ireson, J. (2017). Leadership Development & Personal Effectiveness. [online] https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/. Available at: https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/5952/1/download%3Fid=17238&filename=leadership-development-and-personal-effectiveness.pdf [Accessed 12 Jan. 2023].

Xesha, D., Iwu, C.G., Iwu, A. and Slabbert, J. (2014). (PDF) The Impact of Employer-Employee Relationships on Business Growth. [online] ResearchGate. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271849361_The_Impact_of_Employer-Employee_Relationships_on_Business_Growth [Accessed 12 Jan. 2023].

Zainol, N.U., Tan, K.O., Hee, O.C. and Fei, G.C. (2021). (PDF) Managing Organizational Change through Effective Leadership: A Review from Literature. [online] ResearchGate. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348364189_Managing_Organizational_Change_through_Effective_Leadership_A_Review_from_Literature [Accessed 12 Jan. 2023].