Self-Reflection on Dynamic Leadership: Importance, Role, Journey, and Feedback

This report reflects on the importance of leadership, the current leadership role, leadership journey, Gallup's strength finder analysis, feedback from others, and implications of reflection. It provides insights into the self-reflection process and how it can help in understanding one's leadership style better.

dynamic leadership
Self-Reflection

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Executive Summary
Leadership is an essential facet in the life of a leader as well as follower. A leader dwells upon
followers, guides them, assists them and enables them to accomplish set goals. On the other
hand, followers look up to their leader, take inspiration from them and through the leader’s
assistance, work towards accomplishing organizational goals. This course has enabled me to self-
reflect upon my own leadership skills as well as gain feedback from external sources like my
team members, family members, partner and online tools to understand my leadership better. The
clarity that I have achieved through this process is extremely prodigious. This report contains the
details of my learnings through this reflection which have not only helped me in understanding
my current leadership style but will also assist me in guiding through my future leadership
endeavours.

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Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction to leadership and its importance.................................................................................3
Current leadership role....................................................................................................................3
Leadership journey so far................................................................................................................3
Gallup’s strength finder analysis.....................................................................................................4
Feedback from others......................................................................................................................5
Implication of reflection..................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction to leadership and its importance
There are several theories regarding the inherent nature of leadership as we witness today.
Scholars suggest that leaders are born with certain attributes that are hard to acquire. On the
other hand certain researchers debate that leadership abilities can be gained and enhanced
through experience and effort (Landis, Hill & Harvey, 2014). Through this report, my aim is to
share my leadership journey and my learnings from the same. Upon immense self-reflection, I
have also been able to identify my strengths and weaknesses. This analysis has helped me gain a
deeper insight about my leadership abilities. The report also throws light upon the results of the
self-reflection tools that I have used as well as upon the feedback that I have received from my
partner, family members and peers. I am certain that my learnings through this course will help
me in the future course of my leadership journey.
Current leadership role
At present, I work as an assistant manager in a retail shop. I am leading a team of four people.
This is my first professional leadership experience. I have been associated with this organization
since the last two years and was promoted as an assistant manager last year. As a leader, I have
adopted a democratic leadership style. This style is participative in nature wherein the leader
encourage his team members to be a part of the decision making process and engage is healthy
discussions. A participative leadership style is also known to foster creativity and innovation
(Anderson et. al., 2017). In the retail shop, we face different kinds of customers every day. Some
customers are cooperative while some are challenging. A leader must be able to deal with
challenging circumstances because it is during such situations that the entire team looks up to the
leader. Every time, we have a difficult customer or we face issues within the team, I try to lead
the team by example. This makes them trust me and hence also improves our coordination. The
leadership role is new and hence it is full of learning. This role has taught me to take
responsibility for a team, be punctual, remain honest and work hard.
Leadership journey so far
My first leadership experience was when I was appointed as the captain of the football team in
college. I had always been active in sports and especially took keen interest in football. For the

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two years that I captained the football team, I learnt several facets about a leadership role. As a
leader and as an athlete, I tried my best to keep my team motivated. We even won several awards
and accolades for our performance. The entire journey was extremely overwhelming. I worked
hard and led my team with a solid spirit and true passion towards the game. There was increasing
pressure on us from the college authorities because our seniors had performed incredibly well
and established a strong brand name for our college. Therefore we were consistently burdened
with high expectations. During such times, I worked towards boosting the morale of my team
members and ensured that everyone performed to the best of their abilities with a calm and
composed attitude.
After college, I got a job at a retail store and pursued further education from a distance course.
After one year, I was offered a leadership role at the shop. As a leader, I try to create an
atmosphere of comfort. I ensure that the team has fun while they work and the job does not feel
mundane. I also try to establish a unique, one on one connection with all my team members in
order to understand them better. Creating a positive working atmosphere is an essential ability of
a leader. Hence I try to create a workplace environment which is motivating and engaging.
Gallup’s strength finder analysis
In order to gain a deeper insight about my leadership skills, I took the Gallup’s strength finder
test. The test helped me in identifying my top five strengths. The test helped me analyse my
ability to deliberative. This signifies that I am careful and calculative. A leader should have a
high risk appetite in order to ensure team’s growth (Pardey, 2016). But at the same time, a leader
should be able to take calculated risks. Therefore I am sure that this ability of mine will help me
pave a calculative path for the future.
The second strength as per the test was being an achiever. I have always been highly ambitious
and have focussed on being at the top of my game. As a leader, this need to achieve helps me in
motivating my team members. A leader must be able to set and achieve SMART goals. As a
leader, I try to set daily, weekly and quarterly goals for the team. The third strength was being an
activator. I try to be the source of energy for my team. As a leader and as a team player, I try to
ensure that all the members of the team feel involved and motivated. This helps in boosting team
morale and improving team dynamics.

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The fourth strength as per the test of ‘Command’. This reflects upon my ability to take charge. I
believe taking initiative and absolute responsibility is one of the most important abilities of an
effective leader (Leavy, 2016). A leader must lead by example. This strength helps me in
depicting my ability to lead a team. Last but not the least, the test reflected upon my ability to be
strategic. A leader is a person that the entire team looks up to (Hassan et. al., 2018). Therefore it
is important that a leader is strategic in nature and can think way ahead into the future. I try my
best to consider every possible scenario before taking a decision and ensure that I am prepared
for them all. This has instilled a sense of strong trust of my team members.
Feedback from others
Feedback from others always acts as an eye opener. Through the course of this self-reflection, I
took feedback from my partner, my father as well as one of my team members. Their feedback
was honest and helped me in identifying my strengths as well as short comings. My partner
mentioned that I am extremely confident and possess great communication skills. I should use
this ability to motivate my team members. My father mentioned that I am extremely determined
and once I set a target for myself I leave no stone unturned to achieve it. A leader must have a
‘Never give up’ spirit. My team member specified that I always create a very comfortable
atmosphere and instil honest within all team discussions.
However, there were a few negative feedbacks as well. My father mentioned that I must learn the
art of saying no to people. I tend to please everyone around me and owing to that I tend to
overburden myself which adversely impacts my performance. In fact, it is very important that a
leader is able to take on calculated responsibility to the extent that it can be fulfilled effectively
(Bolden, 2016). I would surely work on this aspect. In an anonymous feedback, one of my team
members mentioned that sometimes put my team members under a lot of pressure to perform. A
lot of the goals that I set are not realistic.
The feedback received from all these sources reflected upon ability to bring in immense energy
to the team and lead the team with passion, determination and responsibility. However, there is
still a lot of room for improvement. My partner also mentioned that I must learn to manage my
time effectively and find time to spend time with my family as well.

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Implication of reflection
The feedback that I received as well as the entire self-reflection process has been extremely
overwhelming. I have been able to dig out and identify sides of my personality that I did not
know existed. I have decided to focus on my short comings and work towards improving them.
The foremost thing that planned was to set better goals for my team members. Initially, I used
this strategy of setting exceptionally high goals as a tool to motivate team members. However, if
this strategy puts team members under pressure and hampers their performance, I would discard
this practice. In fact, I would try to include my team members in the process of setting goals.
I would also try to be more assertive and prioritize my work in an efficient manner. A leader
must be able to manage time effectively owing to a large amount of responsibility. I have
decided to put a day planner in place which would help me in managing my time with efficacy.
My partner also suggested that I must read more books as that helps in widening horizons and
opens new gates to information. Therefore I have decided to read books; both fiction and non-
fiction.
From my feedback, what I have come to understand is that I am highly ambitious and see myself
as a highly successful professional. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is one of the motivation
theories that suggests that a hierarchy of needs must be fulfilled for motivation (Anderson,
2014). My source of motivation comes by fulfilling Self-esteem needs. I see myself as a leader
and as an achiever. I like being given more responsibility and fulfilling that responsibility to the
best of my abilities is my biggest source of motivation for me. In fact, as McClelland states that
every individual has one essential motivator that drives the person. In my case, it is my need to
achieve. My role as a leader or the position of power that I hold is not as important to me as my
personal need to achieve the goals that I set for myself.
Through the entire analysis, I have realized one extremely important thing which is that I must
learn how to set SMART goals. These goals include the goals I set for myself as well as my team
members. A leader must have immense clarity about future goals because the entire team relies
upon these goals and works towards accomplishing them. At present, I need to work towards
gaining clarity of my goals and planning my future better. Gaining this understanding would help
me by giving me a direction to fulfil my need to achieve. There are several online workshops

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also that are conducted which can help in enabling people to set clear goals. However, I would
start by setting daily goals. This would offer me clarity for the day and will also help me in
planning my day better.
Conclusion
In the current circumstances, Effective Leadership is the prerequisite to a successful
organization. A leader has several responsibilities. A large number of people look up to the
leader and take inspiration through the leader’s actions. A leader must be a competent manager, a
guide, a mentor, a friend as well as a peer for team members. The areas of responsibility for a
leader are much wider than a manager (Jyoti & Dev, 2015). Therefore it has always been
important for me to be a good leader.
Through this course, I have been able to throw light upon my own leadership abilities including
my strengths and weaknesses. The entire process of reflecting upon my own skills through
feedback or online tests have helped me gain a deeper and detailed analysis of my personality. I
am certain that the leadership learnings from this course will pave a better way for my leadership
endeavours ahead.

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References
Anderson, A. (2014). Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. The Prairie Light Review, 36(2), 7.
Anderson, H. J., Baur, J. E., Griffith, J. A., & Buckley, M. R. (2017). What works for you may
not work for (Gen) Me: Limitations of present leadership theories for the new
generation. The Leadership Quarterly, 28(1), 245-260.
Bolden, R. (2016). Leadership, management and organisational development. In Gower
handbook of leadership and management development (pp. 143-158). Routledge. United
Kingdom.
Hassan, S., Prussia, G., Mahsud, R., & Yukl, G. (2018). How leader networking, external
monitoring, and representing are relevant for effective leadership. Leadership &
Organization Development Journal, 39(4), 454-467.
Jyoti, J., & Dev, M. (2015). The impact of transformational leadership on employee creativity:
the role of learning orientation. Journal of Asia Business Studies, 9(1), 78-98.
Landis, E. A., Hill, D., & Harvey, M. R. (2014). A synthesis of leadership theories and
styles. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 15(2), 97.
Leavy, B. (2016). Effective leadership today–character not just competence. Strategy &
Leadership, 44(1), 20-29.
Pardey, D. (2016). Introducing leadership. Routledge. United Kingdom.