My personality traits that promote and inhibit my potential as a change leader

My personality traits that promote and inhibit my potential as a change leader 1
My personality traits that promote and inhibit my potential as a change leader
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My personality traits that promote and inhibit my potential as a change leader 2
My personality traits that promote and inhibit my potential as a change leader
Introduction
Leaders are tasked with the role of giving inspiration to their team members to facilitate
the attainment of the team’s established targets (Yukl, 2010). To achieve this, leaders utilize
different leadership styles and behaviour such as transactional, democracy, and transformational
styles of leadership. The process of leadership is associated with instances of change, particularly
in the current work environment that is impacted by globalization, technology, and changes in
the taste and preferences of consumers. Managing change has become an integral part of
leadership, and hence, leaders are required to possess appropriate qualities to be agents of
change. As an aspiring organizational leader and manager, I am privy to the fact that I will play a
significant role in managing change. To successfully execute the process of change, a leader
should be aware of his strengths and weaknesses as an agent of change (Zaccaro, 2007). In line
with these aspects, this paper is going to discuss three aspects of my personality and behavior
that exhibit change leadership characteristics and three characteristics of my leadership that
inhibits my potential as a change leader.
Personality that exhibits change leadership characteristics
Communication
The possession of effective communication skills is one of my personality traits that
exhibit effective change leadership characteristic. As a change agent, the possession of effective
communication skills enables me to institute a mutual understanding regarding the purpose of
change and its effects on the team that I lead (Riaz & Haider, 2010). As a leader, I can develop a
message and convey it effectively to the target audience in a persuasive manner to drive the

My personality traits that promote and inhibit my potential as a change leader 3
process of change. Resistance to change is a common scenario in organizations, and therefore, it
is important that the leader should convince and persuade the followers to accept change. To
ensure that the subordinates understand the need for change, it is important that the leader should
create a clear picture of the change process and its objectives. I have the ability to develop a clear
vision and articulate it in a clear and a detailed manner to my subordinates. The ability to
communicate my vision clearly as a leader enables me to win the trust and loyalty of my
subordinates, and this is instrumental in getting the desired support from my followers while
effecting change within my team. This is consistent with the transformation al leadership theory
where a leader works together with the subordinates to identify the need for change, and then the
leader develops a clear vision that will lead towards the achievement of the identified needs.
Flexibility and adaptability
As a leader, I very flexible and can adapt easily to new changes in my surrounding. These
characteristics will enhance my effectiveness as a change agent in my leadership position. In the
modern leadership environment, the occurrence of unexpected events requires that leaders should
take appropriate measures to ensure smooth operations. This is in line with the contingency
theory of leadership which argues that during the occurrence of unexpected events, leaders are
required to adopt contingency measures to curb the negative impacts of the unexpected scenario
(Roger, 2003). The success of a leader is dependent on the leader's ability match the existing
characteristics regardless of whether the leader is relations-oriented or task-oriented (Winkler,
2010). A relations-oriented leader is one who utilizes the supportive leadership style while a
task-oriented leader is one who uses directive leadership style. As a flexible and adaptable
leader, I am able to make appropriate deviations to my styles of leadership to one that is suited to
the situation at hand, and hence, I am an effective change agent (Peretomode, 2012).