Leadership Reflection: Strengths & Weaknesses - MAN3121 ECU, 2018

This essay presents a student's personal reflection on their leadership qualities as part of the MAN3121 Leadership unit at Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Semester 2, 2018. The reflection uses feedback from professors and colleagues, alongside the student's vision and management style, to assess core strengths and areas for development. The student identifies as a transformational leader, focusing on motivating teams and sharing a vision. The essay also acknowledges the need for transactional leadership in challenging situations. Key strengths highlighted include commitment, passion, creativity, and innovation. Areas for improvement focus on building self-confidence through visualization techniques and facing fears. The essay concludes with a reference list.

Running Head: Leadership 0
Leadership
Personal Reflection
Student Details
10/22/2018

Leadership 1
Being a student of management, I am looking for making my career in one of the best
management companies after completion of my degree. There are certain qualities needed to
be successful in today’s competitive environment. But to become a successful leader one has
some unique qualities that make him different from others (Gleeson, 2016). This assessment
is to improve my management skills for becoming a successful employee and to be a good
leader. Although, leadership is not only meant upto within an organization, despite anyone
can be leader in any situation. Only a leader knows how to guide the team and make them to
do task effectively and efficiently (Undercoverrecuiter, 2018). They should only know how to
lead people. I have identified some of the strengths that are needed for a leader in me that
would make me a good leader in future. I have used feedback from my professors and
colleagues for the self-assessment and also used my vision and management style to enhance
my core strengths that would make me a versatile leader. Qualities of a good leader include
confidence, decision-making capability, communication-skills, commitment and passion,
accountability, creativity and innovation and many more (Hasan, 2017).
It is important to perform self-assessment to discover strengths and weaknesses of one. If one
has the knowledge of their strengths, ability and the areas which need improvement, it will
help them to set realistic parameters (ForbesCoachesCouncil, 2018). For this I have
performed an assessment of myself using Gibbs reflection model to know about Leadership
Quality Framework (LQF) and this made me identify my personality traits, strengths and the
areas need improvement for becoming a good leader.
What I personally think about leadership quality that is within me is to be of a
transformational leader. I have strength and skills to motivate my team, share my vision and
gain commitment from the team and these would result in enhanced performance in the work.
I think staff feels motivated when they are given task that are appropriate and within their
capabilities (Dobre, 2013). This will give them interesting and inspiring work life. I think I
can be a transactional leader too when it is required to be in more challenging time. When the
competencies and capabilities of my team will be questioned, and members of my team are
resistant to do something, I will work on ‘reward and punishment’ strategy to push their
limits and to enhance their capabilities (Srivastava, Bartol, & Locke, 2006). To become a
leader or a manager, in my opinion one should be trustworthy, approachable, supportive,
hard-working and competent, because these qualities of a leader will inspire his followers and
make them to follow his footsteps (Gleeson, 2016). And these are the qualities that I possess.

Leadership 2
One of the greatest qualities of a leader is commitment and passion (Hasan, 2017). I feel that
I possess this quality as I have been always committed towards my work, goals and ambitions
weather it is studies or any other challenges. I feel that a person needs to be passionate for his
ambitions. A team always wants a leader who is always ready to give his all when they need
his help. This quality of mine surely help me to be a good leader and also enhance
organizations performance as when teammates see their leader is getting his hands dirty for
the work, they will surely give their best shot. Commitment and passion for the work of a
leader infuse new energy in the team members and help them to perform their best (TLM,
2016).
The second strength of mine is creative and innovative. One of the greatest visionary of our
times, Steve Jobs gave answer for the question ‘what separates a leader from a follower?’ as
‘a leader and a follower are distinguished by innovation’ (Hasan, 2017). I always think out of
the box and come up with unique ideas for the work I have been given. I think innovation and
creativity are the mile stones to be ahead in today’s fast-paced world as these makes a leader
and his team stand out from the crowd. I have the capability of making my ideas and
innovation into reality. Apart from these qualities of a leader I have capabilities of problem
solving, honesty and integrity, communication, confidence and empathy which are required
for a versatile leader (Gleeson, 2016).
However, there are some things that need development in order to become an effective
leader. I have discovered that I need to work on to increase my self-confidence. Although,
through LQF assessment, it is clear that people consider me as inspiring, motivational and
confident, but I personally feel that somewhere I lack in self-confidence. Napoleon Hill ones
said that ‘Mind achieve only what it conceive and believe’ (Dunn, 2016). So, to build up my
self-confidence, I will start practising the visualization technique. We start having poor
perception of ourselves when we are struggling with poor self-confidence. Hence, I will start
visualizing a fantastic version of myself. Fear is overcome only by facing it. I will do one
thing every day that scares me the most and it will help me in gaining confidence from every
experience.

Leadership 3
Reference
Dobre, O.-I. (2013). Employee motivation and organizational performance . Review of
Applied Socio- Economic Research , 5(1), 53-60. Retrieved from
ftp://ftp.repec.org/opt/ReDIF/RePEc/rse/wpaper/R5_5_DobreOvidiuIliuta_p53_60.pd
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Dunn, C. D. (2016, 09 07). 10 Things You Can Do to Boost Self-Confidence. Retrieved from
EntrepreneurIndia: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/281874
ForbesCoachesCouncil. (2018, 01 22). Best Tests To Help You Understand Your Strengths
And Weaknesses. Retrieved from Forbes:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2018/01/22/best-tests-to-help-
you-understand-your-strengths-and-weaknesses/#1cc67533495a
Gleeson, B. (2016, 11 09). 10 Unique Perspectives On What Makes A Great Leader.
Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brentgleeson/2016/11/09/10-
unique-perspectives-on-what-makes-a-great-leader/#27aa58a65dd1
Hasan, S. (2017, 02 13). Top 10 Leadership Qualities That Make Good Leaders. Retrieved
from TaskQue: https://blog.taskque.com/characteristics-good-leaders/
Srivastava, A., Bartol, K. M., & Locke, E. A. (2006). Empowering Leadership in
Management Teams: Effects on Knowledge Sharing, Efficacy, And Performance.
Academy of Management Journal, 49(6), 1239-1251.
TLM. (2016). How to Ignite Passion and Performance in Your Team. Retrieved from
Coachmoty: http://coachmoty.com/newsletter/how-to-ignite-passion-and-
performance-in-your-team/

Leadership 4
Undercoverrecuiter. (2018). 8 Tips for Managing Your Team Effectively. Retrieved from
https://theundercoverrecruiter.com/manage-team-effectively/