Leadership Essay: Analyzing My Leadership Qualities and Style

This essay delves into the multifaceted world of leadership, exploring various leadership theories and styles through self-assessment and reflection. It begins by emphasizing the crucial role of effective leadership in organizational success, highlighting how a capable leader can motivate employees and drive commitment. The essay then identifies the author's personal leadership style, which leans towards a coaching approach, and discusses the importance of leadership competencies. It provides an overview of different leadership theories, including trait, behavioral, and contingency theories, as well as charismatic and transformational leadership. The author analyzes the results of a self-assessment questionnaire and class activities to understand their strengths and areas for development. The essay concludes by identifying areas for improvement, such as enhancing self-learning, promoting self-direction within the team, and fostering transparency to become a more effective leader. The essay underscores the significance of good leadership for organizational success, productivity, and profitability.

Running head: LEADERSHIP
Leadership
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1LEADERSHIP
In today’s world leadership quality is a very important ability that is not
something commonly found among all. In my opinion, it is seen that an organization
either reach the height of success by the leadership of an extremely capable leader or
the reputation of an organization can be done and dusted by wrong strategies of a
leader. It is a matter of fact that an effective leader can sort out all the issues that an
organization can possibly face and it can be said that with the help of a leader the
workers can become highly motivated and their level of commitment towards the
organization can get increased by the inputs of a capable leader (Vaccaro et al. 2012).
The purpose of this essay is to highlight the fact that, what kind of a leader I am and
what are the possible areas in which I should improve for the betterment of my work
performance to attain the goals. Thus it can be said that leadership quality is a much
needed factor to successfully run an organization with a motivated and committed
workforce towards the organization.
In my opinion, the scope of leadership can be referred to as a framework of
competencies which allows the leaders to lead just like coaches. This highlights the
leaders on developing their workforce and the capability of the general workforce.
There is a set of 38 competencies categorized into five parts that can be found among
the greatest leaders in the highly successful organizations (Goleman, Boyatzis and
McKee 2013). These 38 competencies of the Scope of Leadership can move the
managers from the regular business sectors to the path of working with an intention to
deliver the best results possible. The competencies of the Scope of Leadership allow
moving the managers from commanding, reporting, coaching, controlling and
inspiring. These enable such a leadership ability and approach that allows the leaders
to improve and leverage their asset, which is the workforce. This Scope of Leadership
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framework innovatively develops the mindsets of the leaders along with their ability
for the development purpose of their people with an intention to foster teamwork and
show results.
Leadership and theories of leadership
Leading people can be referred to as an art of motivating and influencing the
general workforce in a way that would allow them to achieve a shared goal. In my
opinion a leader must be intelligent along with having high integrity and character
that does the right things in a right manner. I believe that, it is a fact that in most cases
effective leaders has to work continuously and have a continuous communication with
the workforce in order to motivate them to make them more efficient at work. In this
section of this essay some leadership theories are given to support the before
mentioned definition of leadership by me.
Trait theory: In my opinion, trait theory highlights the qualities of the leaders
that make them effective at the workplace. This theory does not establish the
characteristics that is common between all the leaders as it can be said that great
leaders does not have the same personality traits and they are significantly different
from each other in many aspects. There are some traits like charisma, confidence;
knowledge which is the most common among the greatest leaders of all time and
relying on these traits might not serve the purpose of motivating the people in every
occasion.
Behavioral theories: Behavioral theories identify the specified behaviors of
the leaders that allow them to achieve success (Batool 2013). In my opinion there can
be some occasions where the leaders can portray task oriented or people oriented
behaviors or may take decisions using the democratic, laissez-faire or authoritarian
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styles. It is also a matter of fact that various behavior styles of the leaders can produce
various results while applying them under different conditions. I think that the
behavioral theories have missed the situational factors and the condition in which
those behaviors should be demonstrated. I think that various limitations of trait theory
and behavioral theory have led to the coin of Contingency theory and various
developments of the contingency models.
Contingency theories: Contingency theory explores that the effectiveness of
leadership is directly related to the interplay of the behaviors, traits of the leaders and
other situational factors. There are four models of Contingency theories and those are
mentioned below (Clarke 2013).
Fred Fiedler model: This model assumes that a team’s performance is highly
dependent on the leadership style and the favorableness of the situation the team is
working in. As an example, it can be said that, job-oriented leaders are seen
performing better in a favorable condition and in some cases in most unfavorable
conditions (Batool 2013).
Hersey-Blanchard Model:
This model suggests that the style of leadership must match with the maturity
of the subordinate people. A leader might adopt styles like delegating, participating,
selling and telling styles depending on the subordinate’s or the general workforce’s
level of maturity. When a leader deals with the new entrants in the organization, he or
she would be needing to adopt a telling style to guide them how to complete a task
and at the same time the leaders may employ the delegating style, interfacing with the
individuals at the higher level of ranks within the organization (Choudhary, Akhtar
and Zaheer 2013).
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Path-Goal Model:
This model highlights that leaders can affect the motivation along with the
performance of the team by offering them rewards for their achievement of attaining
the goals previously set, or clarifying their way towards achieving the target along
with removing the huddles they may face while achieving the goals set.
Vroom-Yetton Model:
His model suggests that leadership styles, like autocratic or consultative or
other styles must be chosen considering various situation variables in a form of
questions that forms a decision tree (Hoch and Kozlowski 2014).
Charismatic Leadership theory:
In my opinion, charismatic leaders command authority not only by the virtue
of a position that is formal but by the virtue of their charismatic personality Day, D.V.
and (Antonakis 2012). There are three components of a charismatic leadership and
those are empathy, empowerment and envisioning capabilities. This theory suggests
that general workforce would attribute heroic or extra ordinary qualities to the leaders
who are charismatic having an idealized goal and a commitment for the organization.
Transactional leadership theory:
It can be said that, Transformational leaders inspire the people with their
personality and vision for changing the expectations, motivations and perceptions for
working to attain the goals. Transformational leadership has four components and
those are intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, consideration for the
individuals and idealized influence (McCleskey 2014). It is a matter of fact, that
transformational leaders are those leaders who tend to stimulate and inspire his people
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to achieve outcomes beyond expectations and in the process they develop their own
leadership capability (Klenke 2016). They help their followers to grow and develop
into leaders by responding to the individual worker’s needs by the process of
empowering then and aligning the goals and objectives of the individual followers,
leaders, the team or the organization. This kind of theory is apt for knowledge
workers where both leaders and the followers can pull up each other to a higher level
of motivation and moral (McDermott et al. 2013).
Discussion of the questionnaire completed
Result of the questionnaire completed by me
After completing the questionnaire I saw that I scored in a way that projects
that I can become a good leader who employs coaching style to get the results in the
workplace. The questionnaire is provided in the appendix section of this essay and the
results show that I am able to represent the position of the management in a
convincing way and try to motivate the general workforce to take decisions. Apart
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from that I can motivate the staffs to enhance their ability to perform better and I can
motivate them by praising and rewarding them (Northouse 2015). Finally the result
suggests that I could provide necessary feedbacks to the employees regarding their
performances.
Class activities
In the class there were several activities which were related to leadership
practices and we learned our first lessons of leadership from those fun filled activities.
We participated in various games including solving puzzles, games that require
leadership qualities and some role playing game where we were asked to create
scenarios and we had to act accordingly (Noruzy et al. 2013). In those fun filled
activities I realized that I belong to the category of leaders who tends to coach the
followers and guide them to the path of glory and I believe that I have the potential to
become one eventually. It is a matter of fact that while performing those tasks, I
realized that it is necessary to involve all the employees to make an important
decision and their inputs are valuable. I also learned that I should coach them well
before allocating any tasks to them and I should not let them solve the problems all
alone as they will be needing my intervention and that would eventually boost their
confidence, if they see that I will back them up no matter what situation arises and I
will be always there for them (Paustian-Underdahl, Walker and Woehr 2014). It is
also a matter of fact that in today’s world this coaching style leadership is widely
accepted among the workers as it would cut the loads from them and they would be
freely able to complete their assigned tass without hesitation whether they are doing it
in a wrong way or not (Sadeghi and Pihie 2012).
Area of development
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It is a matter of fact that I belong to the category of coaching leader and thus
there are some qualities of me that I should brush up before entering an organization
for managing the general workforce. Commitment is the key that allows us to trust the
employees we are coaching and likewise would be needing to make sure that all the
subordinates trust me. I should improve my self-learning ability to make sure that I
am giving correct inputs to my followers for the completion of any task they are
allocated (Vaccaro et al. 2012). I should promote self directing in my team to allow
the workers to complete their tasks with full freedom without my intervention and
only when needed, they can freely ask for my inputs. I should make sure that all the
workers feel free to seek my advice. I should become more transparent towards my
fellow workers to maintain a good ambience in the workplace. It is a matter of fact
that being transparent would eliminate the rate of mistakes done by the workers as
they all would be having a clear idea of what the organization is expecting from them
and what are the needful to do to solve the tasks (Yukl 2012). Not only these, to
become a good leader I should show the workers the path that would lead them to
achieve all the goals set before and the path to achive glory for them as well as the
organization.
Thus to conclude, I can say that leadership quality is a very important aspect
of the managers of any organization and a good leader can lead a organization to the
path of glory and likewise a leader who is incompetent can ruin the reputation of an
organization to the dust and can ruin the confidence, level of motivation and the
worker’s commitment towards the organization or authority. Thus, in short for a
business organization to taste desired success good leaders are necessity and it would
be highly recommended that the organizations should employ good leaders to
maintain their reputation, productivity and profitability.
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References
Batool, B.F., 2013. Emotional intelligence and effective leadership. Journal of
Business Studies Quarterly, 4(3), p.84.
Bhatti, N., Maitlo, G.M., Shaikh, N., Hashmi, M.A. and Shaikh, F.M., 2012. The
impact of autocratic and democratic leadership style on job satisfaction. International
Business Research, 5(2), p.192.
Choudhary, A.I., Akhtar, S.A. and Zaheer, A., 2013. Impact of transformational and
servant leadership on organizational performance: A comparative analysis. Journal of
Business Ethics, 116(2), pp.433-440.
Clarke, S., 2013. Safety leadership: A meta‐analytic review of transformational and
transactional leadership styles as antecedents of safety behaviours. Journal of
Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 86(1), pp.22-49.
Day, D.V. and Antonakis, J. eds., 2012. The nature of leadership. Sage.
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R.E. and McKee, A., 2013. Primal leadership: Unleashing
the power of emotional intelligence. Harvard Business Press.
Hoch, J.E. and Kozlowski, S.W., 2014. Leading virtual teams: Hierarchical
leadership, structural supports, and shared team leadership. Journal of applied
psychology, 99(3), p.390.
Klenke, K. ed., 2016. Qualitative research in the study of leadership. Emerald Group
Publishing Limited.
McCleskey, J.A., 2014. Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and
leadership development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), p.117.
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McDermott, A.M., Conway, E., Rousseau, D.M. and Flood, P.C., 2013. Promoting
effective psychological contracts through leadership: The missing link between HR
strategy and performance. Human Resource Management, 52(2), pp.289-310.
Northouse, P.G., 2015. Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
Noruzy, A., Dalfard, V.M., Azhdari, B., Nazari-Shirkouhi, S. and Rezazadeh, A.,
2013. Relations between transformational leadership, organizational learning,
knowledge management, organizational innovation, and organizational performance:
an empirical investigation of manufacturing firms. The International Journal of
Advanced Manufacturing Technology, pp.1-13.
Paustian-Underdahl, S.C., Walker, L.S. and Woehr, D.J., 2014. Gender and
perceptions of leadership effectiveness: A meta-analysis of contextual
moderators. Journal of applied psychology, 99(6), p.1129.
Sadeghi, A. and Pihie, Z.A.L., 2012. Transformational leadership and its predictive
effects on leadership effectiveness. International Journal of Business and Social
Science, 3(7).
Vaccaro, I.G., Jansen, J.J., Van Den Bosch, F.A. and Volberda, H.W., 2012.
Management innovation and leadership: The moderating role of organizational
size. Journal of Management Studies, 49(1), pp.28-51.
Yukl, G., 2012. Effective leadership behavior: What we know and what questions
need more attention. The Academy of Management Perspectives, 26(4), pp.66-85.
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Appendix
The following statements will help you assess your leadership style tendency. As you
read each statement, try to think of typical situations and how you usually react.
Please use the following marking scale:
1. to almost no extent
2. to a slight extent
3. to a moderate extent
4. to a great extent
5. to a very great extent
Try to answer the questions fairly quickly, without rushing your response.
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Running head: LEADERSHIP
1. I check staff’s work on a regular basis to assess their progress and learning.
2. I hold periodic meetings to show support for organization policy and mission.
3. I appoint staff into task groups to action policies affecting them.
4. I provide staff with clear responsibilities and allow them to decide how to accomplish
them.
5. I make sure staff are aware of, and understand, all organization policies and
procedures.
6. I recognise staff’s achievements with encouragement and support.
7. I discuss any organisational or policy changes with staff prior to taking action.
8. I discuss the organisation’s strategic mission with staff.

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9. I demonstrate each task involved in doing the job.
10. I meet with staff regularly to discuss their needs.
11. I avoid making judgements or premature evaluation of ideas or suggestions.
12. I ask staff to think ahead and develop long-term plans for their areas.
13. I set down performance standards for each aspect of my staff’s job.
14. I explain the benefits of achieving their work goals to staff.
15. I rotate the role of team briefer among the staff.
16. I emphasise the importance of quality but I allow my staff to establish the control
standards.
17. I have staff report back to me after completing each step of their work.
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18. I hold regular meetings to discuss work status.
19. I provide staff with the time and resources to pursue their own developmental
objectives.
20. I expect staff to create their own goals and objectives and submit them to me in
finished form.
21. I try to assign work in small, easily controlled units.
22. I focus on opportunities and not problems.
23. I avoid evaluating problems and concerns as they are discussed.
24. I ensure that information systems are timely and accurate and that information is fed
directly to staff.
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