Leadership Skills: Traits, Approach, Goals and Steps

This article discusses the importance of leadership skills and the traits, approach, goals and steps to develop them. It covers enhancing interpersonal skills, expanding knowledge, balancing workload and inspiring followers. The contingency theory and situational theory are also discussed.

Running head: LEADERSHIP RESEARCH
Leadership research
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Title: Leadership
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Table of Contents
A leaders road to success.........................................................................................................2
Leadership traits......................................................................................................................2
Leadership approach that an individual should possess......................................................3
Situational/Contingency theory..............................................................................................3
Goals to develop leadership skills...........................................................................................4
Enhancing Interpersonal Skills..............................................................................................4
Expanding knowledge............................................................................................................5
Balancing workload...............................................................................................................5
Inspiration for followers.........................................................................................................5
Steps to achieve the goals.........................................................................................................5
References.................................................................................................................................7

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A leaders road to success
The capability to adapt in a changing environment is one of the key instinct that
makes an individual successful in any field. Everything is bound to change and nothing
remains constant. Thus, business as well can never be in a constant situation or environment.
It is extremely necessary to be able to mould oneself in the changing environment. A leader
as well shall possess this quality as he or she is the pivotal persona that guides and takes the
whole group towards the road to success. Thus, a leader must be flexible to understand any
situation and take necessary actions according to that situation. From understanding the
nature of followers to the status of the market, it requires a lot of analysis and assessment for
a leader to understand the situation. A leader’s capability and approach shapes the future of
any business.
Leadership traits
The independent way of leading my life has taught me from my early age that nothing
remains the same and everything changes. I happen to possess distinctive leadership trait that
enables me to hold a position where I can guide others including myself towards a successful
path. I never stay back when it comes to communicate with other individuals, as I believe
communications can help solve any problem. Also in any situation, it is extremely necessary
for an individual to be aware of the status of the situation. It is impossible for anyone to
detect problem area in any situation without being conscious or aware. Hence, being aware of
the situation and acting upon it instantly eliminates the problem. It is also a trait of a great
leader. In addition to this, it is important to take risks if an individual or group of individuals
aim to achieve great reward or goals. In order to take risks it takes an ample amount of
courage in an individual. Hence, one of the trait that makes me distinguish from others is to
choose courage over fear. Courage not only makes impossible targets seem achievable but

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also boosts the spirits of your fellow team members (Northouse, 2017). Last but not the least
it is extremely necessary to be self-aware (Showry & Manasa, 2014). One of the empowering
traits that influence others. It is important to be comfortable in your own skin. This not only
boosts one’s confidence, even so influences others and I happen to possess this trait in me. I
am self-aware that there are no room for shortcuts if one wants to achieve success. I believe
hard work and fair play is what drives someone towards the goal to achieve success in any
platform.
Leadership approach that an individual should possess
In my opinion a leader is not born, instead, acquires leadership traits through various
experiences and knowledge he or she gains in his or her career. Thus, being a follower, my
leader should take a contingency approach. The contingency approach developed by Fred
Edward Fielder states that a leadership approach is efficient only when the leader is aware of
the situation and can take control of the situation (Waters, 2013). A leader is not born in a day
and thus have to go through tough paths and experiences to hold a strong position in his or
her career. Thus, his or her experiences make him efficient to handle any situation he or she
is put into. A great leader can take control of any situation. The leader should be efficient
enough to be adaptable to the ever-changing situations (Giltinane, 2013). The leader must be
aware of the changes that are currently arising in that situation and should take actions
accordingly. One of the core idea of this approach is leader-member relations (Chen et.,
2015). The leader should have a trustworthy bond with his or her followers. Such relations
motivates followers to come up with their problems directly and the leader can take necessary
steps in solving that problem. This ultimately creates a healthy relation between the leader
and his or her followers.

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Situational/Contingency theory
The situational theory states that a leader shall be able to change their behavior
according to the changing circumstances that arises (Ghasabeh, Soosay & Reaiche, 2015). In
order to achieve it the leader must be extremely flexible to any situation. I prefer to adopt this
theory in my leadership instinct and aspire to influence others as well. The situational theory
depend on understanding the task or problem that may arise in a business. It is not necessary
that the nature of the problem would be the same every time. Problems may arise in various
forms and an efficient leader should act according to that problem. This flexible trait have the
quality to inspire other teammates. It is rational that a problem would not be same every time
and the leader shall change his or her style and approach to handle the varied range of
problems (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2013). The varied approaches to handle a task can
influence others as well. For instance, there may be two varied problems arising in the
business simultaneously and in such a situation, the leader has to implement two different
approaches at the same time. One problem may be related with an employee within the
company and other may be a problem related with company-failed strategy in the market. In
such a situation, the leader has to take two varied approaches to deal with these problems. In
my opinion, the flexibility of a leader to handle different circumstances can inspire other
teammates as well.
Goals to develop leadership skills
It is significant to set goals for improving as well as developing leadership skills. As
mentioned in above discussions leaders are not born instead are made with the experiences
and knowledge’s they acquire in their career. Hence, certain goals are necessary to be set in
order to improve my leadership skills. The following are goals that I need to work on for the
development of my leadership skills.

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Enhancing Interpersonal Skills
It is extremely vital for a leader to establish skills where he or she can communicate in
such a way that the other followers have a trustworthy bond with the leader. In this way, the
followers would not hesitate to come forward with their problems and thus the leader would
be aware of the problem sooner.
Expanding knowledge
In any field, the advancement of technology and various factors bring in new scope
and aspects. In business, as well there are many aspects, which keeps on updating according
to the advancement of technology (DaSilva & Trkman, 2014). Thus, increasing knowledge
about those new aspects will help a leader to better analyze and implement necessary actions
towards it.
Balancing workload
The management of work and personal life is efficient in establishing a healthy mind
and a leader must always have a healthy mind to deal with various problems and
circumstances that arises in his or her way (Wallo, Ellström & Kock, 2013).
Inspiration for followers
A leader should inspire his or her followers as well since without the followers it is
impossible to achieve success.
Steps to achieve the goals
The first goal is to enhance interpersonal skills and the following are the steps to achieve it:
 The first step in enhancing this skill is to detect the scope for improvement and find
out your weaknesses.
 The second step would be to focus on basic communication skills.

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 Thirdly, it is significant to improve advanced communication skills as well such as
body language, emotional barriers and so on.
 Lastly, it is important to use these steps practically and practice regularly.
The second goal is to expand knowledge and for that, the following steps are necessary –
 Reading is the most significant way to achieve this goal
 Seek help from mentors.
 Take the help of online courses.
The third goal is to balance workload and the following steps should be taken to achieve it –
 First step would be to structure the activities.
 Setting up realistic deadlines for the completion of activities.
 Reviewing the workload on a regular basis.
The final goal is to inspire other followers and these are the following steps to achieve it –
 Acquire an emotionally stable personality.
 Positive outlook.
 Calm demeanor.

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References
Chen, Y., Chen, Z. X., Zhong, L., Son, J., Zhang, X., & Liu, Z. (2015). Social exchange
spillover in leader–member relations: A multilevel model. Journal of Organizational
Behavior, 36(5), 673-697.
D. Waters, R. (2013). The role of stewardship in leadership: Applying the contingency theory
of leadership to relationship cultivation practices of public relations
practitioners. Journal of Communication Management, 17(4), 324-340.
DaSilva, C. M., & Trkman, P. (2014). Business model: What it is and what it is not. Long
range planning, 47(6), 379-389.
Ghasabeh, M. S., Soosay, C., & Reaiche, C. (2015). The emerging role of transformational
leadership. The Journal of Developing Areas, 49(6), 459-467.
Giltinane, C. L. (2013). Leadership styles and theories. Nursing Standard, 27(41).
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. E., & McKee, A. (2013). Primal leadership: Unleashing the
power of emotional intelligence. Harvard Business Press.
Morison, S., & McMullan, C. (2013). Preparing for the future: challenges and opportunities
for management and leadership skills. British dental journal, 214(1), E2.
Northouse, P. G. (2017). Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practice. Sage
Publications.
Showry, M., & Manasa, K. V. L. (2014). Self-awareness-key to effective leadership. IUP
Journal of Soft Skills, 8(1), 15.
Wallo, A., Ellström, P. E., & Kock, H. (2013). Leadership as a balancing act between
performance-and development-orientation: A study of managers’ and co-workers’

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understanding of leadership in an industrial organisation. Leadership & Organization
Development Journal, 34(3), 222-237.