Leadership Theories and Reflexive Leadership Approach

This assignment delves into the world of leadership theories, covering key concepts such as the Great Man theory and trait leadership theory. It also examines reflective leadership practice, reflexive thinking, and the importance of research techniques in understanding leadership. The assignment provides a comprehensive overview of leadership theories and practices, making it an essential resource for students and researchers in this field.

Dynamic Leadership

Executive summary
This present report is about leadership qualities. In this present report it is discussed
about factors which required to develop to start career in becoming leader of organisation. In this
report career development plan with importance of self-awareness is discussed. To develop
leadership qualities, effective leadership theories are discussed so that skills gets improved.
Further, in this report skills which required in leader to influence, motivate workers at work
place is discussed and also leadership strategy development plan is created. Further, in this report
explanation is provided regarding coaching practises to enhance leadership skills and reflective
and reflexive practises of leadership are discussed. Images are also provided for the bettter
understanding of the report.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
This report is all about to develop career as leader in organisation. In this present report I
will go to discuss about my career development as a leader in organisation and the factors which
required to develop in my personality which improve my overall skill to become an effective
leader. In this report, factor which self developed to become a leader in to be discussed. Further,
key leadership theories by which for personal leadership development strategy is going to be
analysed. Factors which improve capacity to influence, motivate and inspire others in
organisation to also to be discussed in this report. Further, in this report all activities which
required to develop to become effective leader is also to be discussed in this report.
MAIN BODY
I have decided to develop my career as a leader in an organisation.(Peters-Hawkins and
et.al.,2018). I have that quality which made me an effective leader because leadership is a set of
skills which helps inspired me to work because it requires helping other in business organisation
so that effective work can be generated from them. I have created certain five year plans which
are as follows-
Where do I want
to go
Actions which required in me to go there Resources
needed
Functional skill
and knowledge
General skill and
knowledge
Personal style
and capabilities
I want to become
a leader in an
organisation
which required a
long five years to
developed that
professional
skills.
To become a
leader I want to
go through
effective training
which helps me to
develop skills
which required in
a leader of
organisation. I
have to develop
To become a
leader, I have to
complete my
diploma of
leadership and
management by
helps me to gain
effective
leadership skills.
I have capability
to influence
others easily and I
also have that
effective
motivational style
which helps me to
influence others
easily.
Certain leadership
theories which
given to become
an effective
leader is to be
analysed by me
which helps me to
develop that skills
and
improvements in
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effective
communications
skills, leadership
skills by which
my work become
efficient in
organisation.
(Tepper and et.al.,
2018).
me.
To improve self awareness in me to become a leader I have to develop certain skills
which helps me to become an effective leader of the organisation. When I have decided to
become a leader I analysed my skills and I analysed that I have personally lacking self awareness
a leader. This I get to know when I argued with someone with my own idea and this happens
because of my own biasses therefore, I decided to develop self awareness in my working and I
also overlook with elements of successful leader.
Importance of self awareness
This is important to judge your own mental state. It all about to know yourself, your
capabilities, and your inner strengths. Self awareness id the most important part one's life. It
helps to develop informed decisions which required to perform in one working life. To become a
leader self awareness is important because it helps to develop an effective and healthier
relationships with employees and also to solve conflicts to of the organisation. To develop
personal growth self -awareness in an important element. To develop leadership quality in me I
have analysed certain points which needs to be developed in me.
 To assume positive intent
To improve self-awareness as leader I have to develop good faith in me. I have to think positive
in my working which helps me to perform better to achieve organisational objectives.(Ford&
Harding, 2018). When you receiving a feedback from anyone about your working then instead of
arguing recognise factor which lacking in your working and try to develop that skill in your
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working style. Therefore, I have to develop positive thinking which helps me to improve my
leadership skills.
 Assess yourself and your decision
To develop my career as leader I have to assess my own capabilities of working. I also have to
judge my inner skills like my strength, my own mental models, biasses, perception of thinking
according to reality so that I will able to take effective decision to get work from others.
 It is not about you
Self awareness is not about what you thinking in doing work. I have to develop my mental state
at that level by which I will able to take decisions which not only increase my performance but it
also helps me to increase overall performance of the organisation.
By analyse these self awareness point of leader I will able to increase my work
performance. But to effectively developed that work performance I also have to go through detail
study of leadership theory which helps me to develop that capability of working.
Effective leadership theories which helps to increase leadership qualities
To improve my working capabilities as leader certain leadership theories I have to study
which helps me to improve my capabilities of working.(Sacavém and et.al.,2017). Two theories
which needs to develop in performing leader job are as follows-
Great Man Theory- this is one of the oldest and effective theory of dealership. According to
this theory leadership is an inborn quality which means that great leaders are particularly born
they are not made. Certain qualities like charm, commanding personality, judgement, courage,
intelligence, aggressiveness are all inbuilt quality of person which cannot be made. This theory
mainly states that everyone desires to become leader is not possible because inborn quality are
sufficient to perform job role of leader. This theory does not influence to trained individual in
becoming leader.
3

Trait Theory of Leadership
This theory focus on different personalities and characteristics which leads to become
successful leaders in all the different situations arise in organisation. This theory also states that
leaders are born not created but certain points are given as suggestion to become an effective
leader in organisation. Some common points of this theory that are identified are knowledge of
the business, initiative, tenacity, energy, good cognitive skills, flexibility, creativity, honesty,
confidence, motivation power etc. therefore to adopt this theory one has measure their own
quality from this theory and then have to do research on factor which needs to develop.
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Illustration 1: great man theory
(source:Top 8 Leadership Theories.2018)

By briefly understanding these theories I am now able to improve my inner strength
factors by which I am able to perform my job role in organisation. I also have certain critic view
point from these theories which I don't want to develop in my personality.
In trait theory of motivation they only focused on the leaders not on followers or the
situations. They also fail to judge factors which required to develop in leadership outcomes and
that factors include performance, productivity, and also employee satisfaction.
According to great man theory leader are born not made it means that persons who want
to become leader will not able to posses right traits and attributes and will never able to become a
leader. To develop all these strategies I have made personal development strategy.
Leadership skill description strategies Measure
initiatives
Time duration
Honest and
ethical behaviour
To perform a job
of leader,
individual must
have honesty in
their working and
work which they
These are known
to be most power
full trait because
it helps leaders to
focus what going
within
Leaders have to
develop these
skills in their own
personality which
is according to
their own
It gets developed
within one or two
weeks.(Antonakis
& Day, 2017).
5
Il
lustration 2: trait leadership theory
(source: understanding the trait theory of leadership,2018)

perform to be in
ethical behaviour
so that effective
work gen be
generated.
organisation and
it also helps to
develop fair work
in organisation.
perspective of
thinking.
Employee
satisfaction
Employees of the
organisation will
only get satisfied
when their needs
get fulfilled
therefore
effective leaders
are the one who
have the power to
satisfy employee
of organisation.
To satisfy
employees,
leaders have to
develop effective
motivational
theory which
encourage them
to work hard and
to take
challenges.
To take initiatives
leaders have to
develop needs
like safety and
security in work
place by which
employee gets
satisfied to work
in organisation.
To develop
employee
satisfaction it
needs to
developed within
one month of
leader
appointment.
confidence Leaders of the
organisation must
have effective
confidence level
which helps them
to boost
employees
confidence level
in organisation.
To develop
confidence level,
leader have
provided that safe
and secure
environment in
organisation by
which they will
able to encourage
other too in their
working.
Confidence level
will only get
generated when
leaders develop
positive
organisation
culture where all
are respecting
each others and
sharing their own
views.
After the
appointment of
leader it gets
fulfilled in three
to four moths.
Effective
communication
Effective
communication
helps leaders to
To develop
communication in
organisation
To develop
effective
communication
With three to four
weeks.
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find culture
running in
organisation and
they will able to
fulfil employees
expectation from
organisation.
leader have
conduct regular
meetings by
which helps them
to find employees
expectations.
leaders will
develop regular
meetings with
employee.
Capacity to influence, motivate and inspire others in workplace
To perform the job role of leader I also have to develop that power in my communication
that I will able to inspire, influence and motivate my employee of the organisation so that they
work with full encouragement to achieve needs of the organisation. It is a complex element to
influence team members of the organisation to work hard which result in meeting organisational
objectives. Leaders quality to achieve goals will include two factors that is ability to create clear
vision and the ability to understand organisational culture, also ability which develop
performance, and to encourage innovation.(Kyle, Wond & Carlier, 2017.) To develop all these
activities leaders have to perform certain factors in their working. Such factors are as follows-
 lead by example
Leadership is a process which includes regular developments of communication with employee
but sometimes there decision may create misunderstanding therefore, to eliminate that
misunderstanding leaders have to share reason behind actions which they have developed.
Leaders also have to respect employees if in return they want that respect too. Effective skills
and behaviour helps them to appoint right kind of people in organisation.
 Be authentic
Every employee of organisation has their own personalities, skills, strength and some
weaknesses too. Therefore, to lead them in leaders also have to be open and honest in their
working which makes them realistic to achieve organisational goals and expectations. If leader
became fake in their working then employee also will not work accordingly and needs of the
organisation cannot gets fulfilled.
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 Encourage collaboration
The best work will only generated when it is developed in team work. Therefore, leaders
responsibility is to encourage employees to work in a team and to provide equal respect to every
one in organisation which motivates them to take challenges and work in a team spirit. Leaders
role is to build trust and security among employees and to support strength of each individuals
work in team member(Rosenbach, 2018). These strategies will lead to develop effective
solutions of work problems, also to suggest improvements and to work together in achieving
organisational objectives.
 Empowers others
Leadership is not about exerting power to employees of the organisation. It is about to guide
employees and members to provide them full details regarding vision, mission and objectives of
the organisation to achieve the best work from them. Great leadership will only get effective
when employees or workers of the organisation are motivated in their working to achieve
effective goals of the organisation.
These are the capacity of leader which needs to be developed in achieving the best
organisational objectives. Leaders have these quality to influence workers of the organisation to
achieve effective goals and to meet needs of the organisation.
Coaching practises to enhance leadership skills
To develop leadership skills there are some practises which needs to developed in
achieving organisational objectives and to motivate employees in achieving future needs of the
organisation. Such practises are as follows-
Self-awareness
Self-awareness is the practise by which individual will able to enhance their work practises. Self-
awareness is the ability which individual learn form own experiences, embrace their failures, ask
others for feedbacks, will also develop coaching culture, and then will take time to evaluate their
skills which required to develop in performing job role.
Core communication skill
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Role of leader in performing their job role is to develop effective communication skill by which
they will able to motivate and influence employee of the organisation and this communication
skill will also help them find employee expectation from an organisation. By developing
effective communication skill leader will able to create positive organisational culture which
overall helps them to improve performance of the organisation(Northouse, 2017 ).
Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is someone's ability to manage their own feelings and emotions. It has
five elements which include self-awareness, self-regulation, internal motivation, empathy and
also social skills. Leaders will have to bias free because this is the factor which influence
decision making skill.
Active listening
Leaders have to develop this quality where they have to listen each every objective of employee
and by that leaders have to develop effective solution of the quarries of employees. In
performing leadership in organisation leaders have to listen carefully to employees and will also
have to provide mutual respect to them at workplace.
To give and receive feedbacks
Another role of leaders to give and receive feedbacks. By giving feedback they will able to
encourage employee in improving their work skills and by receiving feedbacks they will able to
develop effective skills which required to improve in their work performance.
These are some of the practises which leaders have to perform to enhance their own work
practises and to also enhance other's work practises in organisation.
The techniques of reflective and reflexive practises to develop continuous learning and self-
development
Reflective practises means to develop needs which is repeated. It has four core elements
that is to teach, self-assess, to consider and to do practises(Antonakis & Day,(Eds.)2017).
Reflexive practises is practise which examine and to acknowledge assumptions of human
behaviour.
Reflective practises to develop continuous learning and self-development
9

It is the ability to solve problems and to take new challenges by which organisational
objectives gets fulfilled. It helps to develop confidence level by which work effectively get
achieved. Leaders have to firstly teach employee regarding company's vision, mission and
objectives by which employee will able to understand needs of the company and will work
accordingly. Self-assess is the another term in this approach., in this leader will encourage
themselves and employee to identify their own skills and work on it to achieve needs of the
company. According to third term, leader will consider the situations and make decisions
according to that situation so that work will not get disturbed. Fourth term is the practise under
which leader will leaders will encourage innovations, engagement, and will develop practises
which provides benefits to all the organisation environment(Wells & Herie, 2018).
Reflexive approach of thinking includes to make effective judgements for organisational
context. Under this approach leader analyse problems running under organisation and will
develop effective outcomes to solve that overall problems of the company. Under reflective
approach leaders will carefully take decision to get desirable outcomes in company. In this
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Illustration 3: reflective cycle
(source: What is reflective practice,2018)

thinking leader will firstly analyse the situation and then make alternatives outcomes to solve
that situations of the company.
Reflexive leadership used in extremely urgent circumstances which end up leaders own
effectiveness. To develop new experiences and to develop changes this leadership theory is
established by leaders of the organisation. Under this theory leaders will analyse situations with
their past experience which helps them to analyse situation to and to develop effective decision
in solving that situation in organisation(Marshall, Coleman & Reason, 2017). It will also judge
their ability to examine situation and to develop effective results by judging overall situation.
This will incur heavy cost because these decision are made on urgent basis which require
erroneous foundations and results.
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Illustration 4: reflexive thinking
(source:improve your research technique- reflexive thinking,5
practical tips,2015)

Conclusion
From the above study it can be concluded that to develop career as leader in organisation,
individual have to analysed many phases to develop their career as leader of organisation. In this
report factors which required to develop to become leader in organisation are analysed. Further,
in this report five year plans of personal career development has created and theories of
leadership are provided to analysed skills which required to perform as leader. Further, in this
report a study is also provided to find factors which improve capability in influence and motivate
employee in workplace. Lastly conclusion is provided about coaching practises to enhance
leadership skills and reflective leadership approach and reflexive leadership approach is also
discussed which analysed decision making factors of the leaders of the organisation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Antonakis, J., & Day, D. V. (Eds.). (2017). The nature of leadership. Sage publications.
Antonakis, J., & Day, D. V. (Eds.). (2017). The nature of leadership. Sage publications.
Ford, J., & Harding, N. (2018). Followers in leadership theory: Fiction, fantasy and
illusion. Leadership. 14(1). 3-24.
Kyle, J. W., Wond, T., & Carlier, J. (2017, October). Human Dignity, Higher-Order Needs, and
Spiritual Leadership Theory. In Presented at the 19th ILA Global Conference (Vol. 2).
Marshall, J., Coleman, G., & Reason, P. (2017). Leadership for sustainability: An action
research approach. Routledge.
Northouse, P. G. (2017). Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practice. Sage Publications.
Peters-Hawkins and et.al., (2018). Dynamic leadership succession: Strengthening urban principal
succession planning. Urban Education. 53(1). 26-54.
Rosenbach, W. E. (2018). Contemporary issues in leadership. Routledge.
Sacavém and et.al., (2017). Charismatic Leadership: A Study on Delivery Styles, Mood, and
Performance. Journal of Leadership Studies. 11(3). 21-38.
Tepper and et.al., (2018). Examining Follower Responses to Transformational Leadership from a
Dynamic, Person–Environment Fit Perspective. Academy of Management Journal. 61(4).
1343-1368.
Wells, S., & Herie, M. (2018). Reflective Leadership Practice for Academic Chairs.
Online
Cherry, K., (2018). Understanding the trait theory of leadership. [ONLINE]. Available through
<https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-trait-theory-of-leadership-2795322>
Improve your research technique-reflexive thinking, 5 practical tips. (2015). [ONLINE].
Available through <https://www.cxpartners.co.uk/our-thinking/improve-your-research-
technique-reflexive-thinking-5-practical-tips/>
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Reflective practice. (2018). [ONLINE]. Available through <https://www.cambridge-
community.org.uk/professional-development/gswrp/index.html>
Top 8 Leadership Theories. (2018). [ONLINE]. Available through
<https://www.floridatechonline.com/blog/psychology/top-8-leadership-theories/>
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