Importance of Leadership and Team Dynamics: Reflective Essay

Leadership has always been an important part in my life. From a young age, I have been taking
several leadership roles since the time I was in school. I was appointed as a class leader. This
role presented an opportunity to enhance my leadership skills. I belong to a highly conservative
culture and women are not given a lot of freedom. There is a lack of opportunities presented to
women in my culture. But my family has always given importance to empowering women. This
reflection highlights upon my own understanding of my leadership abilities and experiences.
Leadership plays a significant role in any organization. A leader can guide the team and motivate
team members to work better (Storey, 2016). A team leader is bestowed upon with the
responsibility of building a positive work culture. This is why it is important for the leader
remain optimistic and work towards creating a motivated team (Day, 2014). There are several
global leaders who have been a source of inspiration for me. I consider Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos
to be my ideals. They are both highly innovative and creative people who have changed the
shape of technology industry. Steve jobs was the founder and leader of the Apple Inc. While Jeff
Bezos continues to own Ecommerce giant Amazon Inc.
I recently went on an educational trip to a lake district. It was a three day tour and provided me
with a much needed exposure. There were various activities that were conducted. I participated
in all these activities and it was an amazing learning experience for me. There were 14 people
who went for this trip. All of us belonged to different cultural backgrounds and ethnicities.
Initially, we faced a number of communication challenges. However, over a period of time, we
became a lot more comfortable with each other and hence we were able to communicate better.
As a group, we did several activities. I was doing a lot of these activities for the first time. As
mentioned before, I belong to a conservative culture. A lot of the activities that we conducted
involved a lot of interaction with people from the other gender. This was the first time I was
getting involved in such interactions. The purpose behind doing these activities was to foster
communication and instil the team spirit within us as a group. We conducted the Juggernaut
challenge. This activity challenged our brain cells as well as our physical endurance. Therefore
this activity was a perfect blend which activated our brains as well as our bodies (Juggernaut,
2017). During the activity, we worked in two different teams and that created the true sense of
competition.

There were various activities that helped us in improving our levels of coordination. We played
sheep and shepherd. This activity helped us in building trust and understanding coordination.
This was the first time I was a part of such an activity and hence I was really excited. I tried my
best to activate all my senses and perform well. Within the first few hours, we all became really
comfortable with each other. Coordination and communication play a significant role in any
business. We are sure that such activities will help us in improving coordination among each
other leading us to understand the importance of effective communication.
Leaders form the backbone of any business. During this trip, I earned the opportunity to lead a
team. This indeed was a fantastic experience. From the beginning of the trip, I started taking
initiative and build a positive relationship with all my team members. I ensured that people can
trust me and that I am available for them. Effective communication strategies adopted by a leader
are very important for any team in order to make sure that there is transparent communication
throughout the team (Quirke, 2017). This helps in increasing coordination and allowing the team
members to effectively perform to the best of their abilities. Hence, I focused on my
communication skills and tried my best to create a positive team environment. A few people of
the group were really shy and hence could be participate upfront. I tried to identify these people
and encourage them in order to successfully interact with others and stay motivated.
In a group of people working together, it is only natural to face conflicts at times. Conflicts need
to be resolved in an effective manner for improved group dynamics (Batra, 2016). I also faced
conflicts in this group. I was initiating conversations and trying to guide the team in order to
motivate them to perform well. During this period, some of the group members felt really bad
about it and argued with me. The argument turned heated from their end even when I was talking
politely. The situation was getting out of hand which is when I decided it is best to let things cool
off for some time. After a couple of hours, I decided to have a calm conversation with them.
During that process, we both addressed our grievances and finally concluded a better way to deal
with the situation. We decided to adopt a collaboration strategy. This strategy is a win-win where
both the parties are benefitted from the coordinated collaboration (Dodgson, 2018).
At the beginning of the trip, as a team we had to decide upon a leader for the group. I wanted to
become a leader because I believed that I possess good leadership qualities. However, there were