Leadership Philosophy

This article discusses the concept of leadership philosophy and its impact on effective leadership. It explores different leadership styles and principles for successful leadership. The article also addresses common leadership issues and provides recommendations for overcoming them.

Running head: LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY
LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors note

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Introduction:
A leader is a person who guides a group of people in order to achieve a certain goal.
He is the in charge of all the responsibilities to help people achieve their goal. A leadership
philosophy consists of moral ideas of how a leader should behave and act. Leadership quality
is developed within when we are able to recognize our passion, strengths and weaknesses
(Pardey 2016). It is important to discover oneself and reflect our problems. Nobody is a born
leader, the philosophies associated with leadership qualities helps a person to become a leader
of the group. Leadership quality comes naturally within one self and the only purpose of
leader is to serve those who need guideline for the course of event. A leader never limits his
knowledge and always tries to learn new things. A leader is a person who is always ready to
face new challenges in life. Leadership philosophies is required to understand how it can
make a normal person differs from a group of flock. Leadership philosophy is an odd
combination of leadership and philosophy, which gives a person an inspiring attitude towards
life. The Principles and the leadership qualities together combine to give the components of
leadership philosophy. A leadership philosophy aims to provide a powerful behavioral code
of conduct. One can develop this philosophy gradually over time with the help of
experiences. The leadership philosophy provides a kind of moral and expert support that
everyone on the team or company can have an account to (Ncube 2010). A leader needs to be
bold enough so that everyone respects him and follows his advices. Therefore, there is a need
to acquire effective personal philosophy of leadership. This helps in empowering and
building a greater position in the minds of the followers. Philosophy is something personal
and which you have the right to choose based on your understanding. To become a successful
leader it is important to be inspiring, collaborative, risk taker and proactive (Stone-Johnson
2014). An ideal leader has clarity of vision and is always fair and supportive.
Leadership Styles:

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There are different types of Leadership style for people with different mindset.
Leadership style can be defined as the behavioral pattern, which is acquired by the leader in
order to influence his followers so that they can achieve their required goal (Latham 2014).
Leadership style is a way to provide proper direction, implement plan and to motivate people.
The leadership style is categoriesed in two ways: Situational approach and behavioral
approach. The behavioral approach further comprises of Autocratic Leadership, Participative
Leadership and Laissez-Faire in power orientation; employee orientation and leadership
orientation while the situational approach comprises of Path-Goal Model, Fiedler’s
Contingency Model and Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Model (Nanjundeswaraswamy
and Swamy 2014).
The leadership style that I use is Democratic leadership. I use democratic leadership
style to encourage my team members to enhance their productivity skills (Yahaya and
Ebrahim 2016). I like to include my team members in several decision making process so that
they do not feel inferior. My motive is to uplift their creativity and to engage them in projects
and problems. This helps my team members to feel motivated towards working hard and to
feel highly satisfied. This style helps the team to participate freely and the best part of this
leadership style is comfortable communication within an organization (Puddington 2014). I
also make sure that my team member has the capability to work on his or her own. The
phrase ‘laissez-faire’ is French phrase that literally means ‘leave on their own’. I do not try to
control my people rather I give them freedom to utilize their own knowledge and to work on
their own. Participating in various decision making process will make the group spend more
time with each other which will eventually result in strong team unit. Using this style of
leadership, I try to maximize the scope of flexibility and creativity among the members. One
of the best example of this style of leader is Mahatma Gandhi who always believed in their
followers and never commanded anyone to follow his rules and regulations but rather

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encouraged them to follow their own desire. This style helps my team members to be
regularly motivated and provides work satisfactory. However, I never interfere in their
business, but I give proper guidance to anyone who is in need. I always try to give time-to-
time feedback in order to improve their performance. Furthermore, I emphasize on the
concept of free flow of ideas and teamwork. I believe that every person has the right to speak
and to be heard. This concept will provide a positive environment for the people so that they
can share their views and plans efficiently and comfortably.
Principles:
There principles that I will never be violating as a leader are respecting my
teammates, providing justice to the needy members and to punish those who violates the
ethical consideration of the leader. I will always treat my followers equally. I will always
help them with fair decision without any biasness (Schoemaker, Krupp and Howland 2013). I
will serve them with utter loyalty and honesty. I will be kind towards them and will motivate
them repeatedly. Thus, I will never try to breach the above leadership principle.
One experience in context with my leadership style is stated. I was the leader of a
cricket match where I had to make decision regarding the players. I had to assign them in
their suitable section based on their ability (Stump 2019). Following the democratic style, I
organized a meeting and allowed my team to openly speak about themselves. I made the
decision based on their comfort level where I allowed the whole team participate and speak.
This helped my team to achieve the target and eventually we won the trophy.
Impacts of Leadership approach:
Every leadership approach has a certain impact regarding personal belief or religion.
The democratic leadership approach requires each team member’s input therefore it suffers

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from lack of speed in making decision. Different people give different opinions, which is
sometimes difficult to analyze. Therefore, time management is the only concern in this
approach that can also be eliminated through planning.
Overview of Leadership Issues:
There are several challenges that leaders have to deal within an organization. Being a
leader itself is the biggest challenge. Three kinds of challenges arise that are really
troublesome to deal with: External challenges, Internal challenges and challenges due to
oneself (Frost 2019). It may happen that some leaders have insufficient knowledge and may
be not very skilled. An organization may have to pay huge amount of price if a leader possess
lack of social responsibilities and skills. It is the responsibility of the leader to instruct,
develop and to deliver direction for the team. Organizational leadership is the person or
people appointed to control and have command over a particular business or organization.
The leader of an organization provides a manner of corporate environment. It fulfills the
expectations of the company and provides a vision for the company. Several issues can be
generated in an organization that can hamper the organization’s productivity (Aziri,
Sulejmani and Mazllami 2016). Thus, it is important to identify the key leadership issues
present in your organization and to make critical decisions regarding the same. Even a well-
educated and experienced leader fails sometimes.
Internal issues: There are some limitations that a leader must overcome to follow
their vision. The internal issue may include agitation, loss of confidence, anxiousness, lack of
patience and tolerance. As a leader, I always accept my flaws and try to learn how to
overcome them. I want to eliminate those personalities that interfere within my ability to
achieve the goal.

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External issues: external factors such as scarcity of resources, lack of funds,
opposition from within the organization and social problems. This the actual measure of a
leadership quality that whether the leader is able to cope up with crisis or not. If he is able to
deal with these minor problems then he can resolve any conflicts within the organization. A
leader is responsible to handle the external challenges and if he fails then this can be a de-
motivating factor for the group.
Issues due to leader itself: Being a leader I am responsible to keep motivating my
people. This can sometimes result in problem when I am suffering from stress. It is difficult
to sometimes uphold the standard and focus on the mission. I sometimes feel burdened and
vulnerable. Additionally, being always enthusiastic and serving people can be really tiring
and challenging.
Recommendations of leadership issues:
As a leader of an organization, I can share several recommendations, which will
enhance the ability of a leader (Larson 2018). These principles will positively contribute to
effectively raise the leadership quality of an individual.
Being proactive and dynamic: According to (Fiaz and Saqib 2017), it is important
to be proactive in order to be a successful leader. I as a leader is always energetic and
impulsive in doing things in a right way. I never promote being slow and lazy to my team
members.
Able to take Risks: a leader must be able to take risk and evolve in any challenging
situation. It is sometimes necessary to come out of our comfort zone and to check our
capabilities. It is difficult to determine our strength unless we actually do it. A leader must be
able to face new challengers with utter tenderness.

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Maintaining positive attitude: There can be situation where it will be difficult to be
calm and quiet. This may result in downfall. A correct mindset is necessary to lead and serve
others. As a leader, I will always emphasis on delivering positivity and integrity so that the
followers will have the opportunity to learn.
Provide full commitment: total commitment helps in ensuring goal achievement.
Being a leader one should be dedicated towards its post and should take his work seriously.
Micro managing: it is very important to manage the role of leadership. I am
responsible to ensure that my team members are aware of their work and goal. Therefore, I
will provide a better sense of direction to my team in order to achieve their goal.
Solving communication issues: Communication is the basic reason for the failure of
an organizational leader. Lack of communication affects the performance of the leader.
Upward and downward communications are the two types of communication that is used by
the organization where the subordinates to those who are above them, in the other hand, the
message is delivered to the lower management by the subordinates respectively (Morison and
McMullan 2013). This can be rectified by organizing a webinar program for the group.
Internal recognition program must be practiced in order to spread information.
Providing feedbacks: feedback is important for the followers in order to provide a sense of
motivation and personal backing in the organization. Without feedback the followers can feel
de-motivated and disrespected. Feedback gives a feeling that their presence is also important
for the organization and they should not be restricted.
Proper execution: there can be certain instances where the leaders are unable to execute their
own plans and discipline. They fail to understand the matter and to assign the right people for

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the right job. Often, the leaders do not have a clear vision to how things work. Proper
execution of the ideas and beliefs by the leader will help eliminate the issues.
Lastly, to conclude with I would like to say that personal leadership philosophy is
important to develop in order to gain high level principles to successfully lead an
organization. The leadership philosophy is a powerful aspect in one’s life. Its impact is very
useful for leaders as well as followers (Yao et al. 2014). Though, there are problems
regarding leadership issues but I have also shared some powerful tips to overcome them. This
will help the leaders to be focused and to be on track. The recommendations will help in
developing powerful leadership quality.

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References
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