Leadership Development Report - Leadership Competencies and Learnings

This report delves into the concept of leadership development, focusing on the author's preferred leadership style, which is servant leadership within a situational leadership framework. Drawing inspiration from figures like Elon Musk, the author aims to integrate followers with a shared vision and utilize a participating leadership style. The report outlines essential leadership competencies, including self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, and relationship management, emphasizing their importance in developing effective leadership skills. Key learnings from the course, such as emotional intelligence and practical experiences gained through group projects, are highlighted. Emotional intelligence is recognized as crucial for understanding and managing emotions, while the group project provided valuable insights into handling people and managing conflicts. The author references several academic sources to support the analysis of leadership theories and practical applications.

Running head: LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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1. Leadership want
In accordance of the various leadership styles put forward by Hersey Blanchard, I would
like to be a servant leader. I want to be a servant leader in the wider area of situational
leadership. In the previous assignment we learned about the leadership styles of Martin Luther
King and Elon Musk. Considering the same the leadership style of Elon Musk was a style that
attracted my attention. Although Elon Musk can more rightly be called a transformational leader,
his vision is important. At many times he has shown distinct characteristics of a servant leader
who is eager to serve the people that work under him (Meirovich and Gu 2015). I want to be a
leader like him as he can integrate his followers with the vision that he has with his organization.
I want to utilize the participating style of leadership. It is a style that utilizes a low task but high
relationship framework. In this case the leader actively engages with his subordinates to get their
work done. I want to be a leader like this because this leadership can help to optimally develop
my leadership abilities. Hence, I can experience quick and more effective development as a
leader. In a servant leadership style the main goal that the leader has is to serve the others within
his team and also his organization (Seto and Sarros 2016). I want to share power and put the
needs of my employees first. I can develop high levels of emotional intelligence and situational
understanding through my participation as a servant leader.
2. Required leadership competencies
In order to be the leader of my choice there are some essential competencies that I would
need to master. The most important among these are self-awareness, social awareness, self-
management and relationship management. These aspects need to be developed in order to
improve the leadership skills. The larger part of leadership depends on management functions of
the employees. This helps in the development of better operational effectiveness. Firstly, self-

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awareness is important. It would help to know my strengths and weaknesses. Secondly, social
awareness is important as it can help me to identify with the people I would lead. This means
that I would be able to develop empathy, organizational awareness and service orientation to take
a more holistic approach towards leadership development. Self-management is an important skill
that I would have to master. This would help me to nurture and develop my leadership
capabilities. This includes self-control, trustworthiness, adaptability, conscientiousness,
optimism, achievement focus and initiative (Li et al. 2016). I would need to manage myself and
develop the abilities to manage others at the same time. Relationship management is another
skills that I would need to develop within myself. Without developing proper relationship value
one can never be a servant leader. Developing relationship management would include
inspirational leadership, influence, communication, and catalyst for change, conflict management
skills and other important aspects. This is one of the most important factors that I would need to
develop as this can help me to become effective in the work that I do and develop my essential
abilities further (Henkel, Marion and Bourdeau 2019).
3. Key learnings
Throughput the semester the course materials were instrumental in their roles concerning
the knowledge of leadership that was gained. The learnings that were generated helped to
understand many of the intrinsic and deeper concepts that were related to leadership. Two key
learnings were according to me the most important in deciding the value of the learning that were
developed through the learning received throughout the year. However, the essential learnings
were not just developed through the readings that were part of the semesters. There were also
many practical experiences that were effective in providing more value to the learning. The
practical experiences no doubt shaped my learning in more effective ways.

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One of the key learnings from the semester that was gained is emotional intelligence.
Emotional intelligence as learnt was one of the most important aspects of leadership
development. It helped to develop better relationships with the people that were the subordinates
(Ford and Harding 2018). As learnt from the semester resources, emotional intelligence was the
ability to identify, perceive and understand the emotions of others. Subsequently, it helped to
manage people better by connecting with them at a personal and human level. The emotions had
to be managed on order to understand the essential values that leadership could offer to the
people that formed part of it. This concept learnt form the semester was very important. For me
this made two things very clear. One was that leaders should be more understanding of the
ranges of emotions that people can have. The second was that the emotions of the various people
tend to manifest themselves and become crucial in determining their behaviors, motivations and
performances.
The second thing that was learnt though the semester was more about the leadership
experiences than textual learning. The experience was gained as I was provided the role of
assisting my fellow classmates on a given group project. Various aspects related to leadership
were learnt during this process. Some of the more important aspects that were learnt were
regarding the factors that affect the handling of people. This was evident from the fact that while
doing the group assessment at a time, there was the development of mistrust between some of the
members. I was given the responsibility to organize the study materials that were required to
complete the project. I also had to manage many of my fellow students in regards to the things
that needed to be done in order to manage the goals associated with the group assessment. This
was a very important part of the learning that I developed. Managing conflicts by considering the
views of the others helped me to become closer to my group mates. In essence, I became much

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valued as a person who can manage the team. The team needed to go through various sessions as
a result of the group activities. These sessions were important in developing practical
experiences in regards to the servant leadership functions. It is here that I developed an essential
inclination towards servant leadership.

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References
Ford, J. and Harding, N., 2018. Followers in leadership theory: Fiction, fantasy and
illusion. Leadership, 14(1), pp.3-24.
Henkel, T.G., Marion Jr, J.W. and Bourdeau, D.T., 2019. Project Manager Leadership Behavior:
Task-Oriented Versus Relationship-Oriented. Journal of Leadership Education, 18(2), p.1.
Kashyap, V. and Rangnekar, S., 2016. Servant leadership, employer brand perception, trust in
leaders and turnover intentions: a sequential mediation model. Review of Managerial
Science, 10(3), pp.437-461.
Li, Z., Gupta, B., Loon, M. and Casimir, G., 2016. Combinative aspects of leadership style and
emotional intelligence. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 37(1), pp.107-125.
Meirovich, G. and Gu, J., 2015. Empirical and theoretical validity of Hersey–Blanchard’s
contingency model. Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, 20(3), pp.56-73.
Raza, S.A. and Sikandar, A., 2018. Impact of Leadership Style of Teacher on the Performance of
Students: An Application of Hersey and Blanchard Situational Model. Bulletin of Education and
Research, 40(3), pp.73-94.
Seto, S. and Sarros, J.C., 2016. Servant Leadership Influence on Trust and Quality Relationship
in Organizational Settings. International Leadership Journal, 8(3).