Reflective Essay: Leadership Style, Improvement, and Self-Awareness

This essay is a reflective journal detailing a student's journey in understanding and improving their leadership skills. It encompasses the theories learned, insights from online resources and guest speakers, in-class activities, assessment feedback, and psychometric tests. The reflection covers areas such as talent management, recruitment, performance initiatives, and cultural and engagement initiatives. The student analyzes their strengths and weaknesses, identifies areas for development, and proposes strategies for improvement, aiming to enhance self-awareness and leadership effectiveness. The essay concludes with personal insights gained from DISC personality and situational analysis tests, highlighting the importance of adaptability and continuous learning in leadership.

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

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................2
Leadership:.................................................................................................................................3
Elaboration of the Theories:.......................................................................................................3
Online Resources:......................................................................................................................4
Guest Speaker:...........................................................................................................................6
In class Activities:......................................................................................................................8
Assessment of the Feedback:.....................................................................................................9
Psychometric Tests:.................................................................................................................11
Conclusion:..............................................................................................................................14
References:...............................................................................................................................15
Bibliography:............................................................................................................................16

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Introduction:
Leadership is one of the major aspect of the modern business organizations (Aarons
et al. 2016). Major responsibilities of the effective leaders inside the organization are the
formation of the strategy for the operations of the organization with a precise focus on the
achievement of the higher growth for the organization, the production of the motivation to the
employees of the organizations and the effective identification of the factors that are
influential in the decrement of the performances of the employees (Bolman and Deal 2017).
The paper analyses the required activities of a leader in managing the performances of
the employees, managing the retention of the employees who are considered to be the assets
of the organization, in managing the human resource of the organization and along with that,
the paper evaluates the personal skills that are required for becoming an effective manager.
Leadership:
The ability to lead the individuals and influence them towards a predefined goal are
considered to be the major aspects of the leadership (Barbera 2014). In modern business
context, the leadership is observed to be notably influential as the growth of the organization
will be dependent on the ability of the leaders to lead the organization in an effective manner.
Elaboration of the Theories:
The theories that are taught to me are significantly helpful for me in my development
of the leadership attributes. Being a leader, it is much needed to identify the gap in the
performance of the employees inside the organization. The theories were able to provide me
the base for the identification of the variation in the desired performances and the actual
performances of the employees. In connection with this, the assessment of the development al
needs and the developmental activities were notably helpful for me in becoming an effective

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leader. One of the major concern of the modern day organizations is observed to be in the
form of the retention of the employees (Miner 2015). The theories were significantly helpful
for me in the understanding of the impact of the higher turnover rates in the modern
organizations and along with that, the necessity of the effective rewarding policy with the
introduction of both, intrinsic and the extrinsic rewards, is well served by the theories that
were taught to me. The theories enabled me to understand the technique for managing the
stress of the employees and necessity of the conduction of the employee engagement
activities for the reduction in the stress and job dissatisfaction of the employees.
Apart from this, the theories were significantly helpful for me in understanding the
different stages of the career growth and the increment in the pay structure as well. The
theories helped me to understand the human resource planning considerations. I understood
that the modern organizations are notably trying to implement the scientific management of
the operations of the organizations and the main influential factor in this, is the notable
competition that the organizations of modern generation are able to experience in the
industry.
Online Resources:
The online resources were significantly contributing to my development as a leader.
The management of the talents is one of the prime requirements of an effective leader and the
success of the organizations in ensuring the growth is observed to be notable when they can
manage the assets of their organization (Lepper and Greene 2015). Along with the
management of the talents, the concept of the talent acquisition is also of great significance
for the leaders and that is pretty evident from the assessment of the online resources that I
used. The online videos helped me to understand the importance of recruiting employees with
precise focus on the ability of the employees to provide the much required quality and at the

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same time, the resources enabled me to know to understand the personal quality and
competencies of the probable employees. In order to get an efficient employee, the
assessment of the personal skills of the probable employee is much needed. The assessment
of the personality skills becomes crucial for the leader as the leader is the responsible person
for figuring out the appropriateness of the probable employee in becoming a team player.
Along with that, the assessment of the employee for the aspects like values, ethics, and the
avoidance of the cultural differences has notable significance for the leaders.
Apart from this, the resources helped me in understanding the importance of the
acceptance of the faults for the better improvement. It is important for a leader to get the
opinion of the employees rather than dictating them the operations as that might have the
possibility to introduce considerable amount of unrest among the member of the organization.
The video resources that I used, were of great significance for me in achieving the idea of the
fact that the transfer of the power to the employees to take decisions regarding the operations,
has great potential in integrating the employees to the organization and the growth of the
organization. The acceptance of the failure builds the base for the recovery and an efficient
leader is expected to appreciate that. It is impossible to do everything in the correct way and
the identification of the reasons responsible for the failure has potential to provide the
solution for them and that becomes crucial for a leader in managing the employees.
Guest Speaker:
The guest speaker for me was Katherine Dziaman. The speaker was observed to
communicate us regarding the definition of the leadership and the necessity of the leadership.
The speaker commented that the leadership is the capability of developing a vision which has
the potential to motivate others with a passion towards a particular goal that is acknowledged
by everyone. In addition to this, the comments of the guest speaker were notably helpful for

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me in the understanding of the differences between a boss and a leader. The usage of the
authority is predominant in the case of the boss. On the other hand, the strictness is notably
limited in cases of the leaders. The speaker was able to inform us regarding the several
attributes of an efficient leader like the integrity, honesty, trust and passion along with
awareness and passion. In the modern business context, a leader must make sure that he or
she manages the workforce with utmost honesty and that must reflect from the decision
making that the leader undertakes in order to judge the performances of the employees
(DuBrin 2015).
Apart from this, ten more characteristics which were described by the guest speaker
was notably helpful for me in my development as a good leader as all of those characteristics
bare considered to be much needed for becoming an efficient leader. The characteristics were
listening, empathy, team working, awareness, persuasion, strategic thinking, commitment and
building a community that will follow the leader (Daft 2014). Apart from this, an efficient
leader is expected to have the skills for challenging the people to think, to communicate
clearly, to make effective decisions, to measure the performances of the employees and
reward the efficient employees (Algahtani 2014).
In class Activities:
The in class activities were majorly focused in the elaboration of three notable aspects
which are the talent management, the recruitment and selections and along with that, the
performance and reward system. The necessity of the selection procedure and the recruitment
of the efficient candidates were pretty visible with the troubles that the modern organizations
are facing due to the incapability of the fresher employees (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). In
addition to this, the activities were instrumental in my assessment of the management of the
employees who are able to provide the much desired quality. It is evident that the talent

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management is achieving greater importance in the organizational setting and the major
factor responsible for the increment is the maintenance of the quality (Herzberg 2017). Till
this part of the class activities, I had a question and that was the possible methods for the
management of the talent. With the third part of the class activity, I figured out that the
introduction of an effective rewarding policy is the best possible measure that the
organizations are liable to take to manage their human assets. Along with this, I also acquired
the knowledge of the difference between the intrinsic and the extrinsic rewards and how that
helps to satisfy the different needs of the employees.
Assessment of the Feedback:
Overall Structure:
From the scorecard, it is visible that I scored 3 in the mentioned aspect. The feedback
states that I did well in this aspect. However, in this assignment, I focused on the HR
initiatives rather than anything else and overlooked the topics like the relationship between
the HR practices and the ability to recruit. Hence the developmental need for me is pretty
clear.
Performance Initiatives:
In the aspect of performance initiative, I scored 3. The analysis of the performance
initiative went pretty well for me. However, I worked well to figure out such factors that have
major impact on the performance of employees. But I missed to conduct a deeper analysis
these factors to search which of these factors have the major impact on the performance of
the employees compared to the other factors.
Culture Initiatives:

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In the aspect of culture initiative, I scored 3.5 which was pretty good. According to
the feedback of my assessor, I tried well in this part. However, the score of 3.5 shows that I
need to develop more and the feedback made sure that I know the areas for the development.
I need to produce more in depth analysis of the linkage between various elements of the HR
initiative process that have the potential to pose a threat to the strategic direction of the
business. Apart from this, my paper lacked appropriate examples and citations that would
increase the value of my paper.
Engagement Initiatives:
I scored 3.5 in the engagement initiative section. I was told that my approach to the
possible solutions were pretty good. However there are much needed aspects that I missed
and I need to recover from that. In order to improve, I need to add more theoretical
frameworks into the recommended strategies. I need to elaborate in detail how and why these
recommended strategies work by using the theories and the frameworks.
Recommendations:
In the recommendations section, I scored similar to the previous section and that was
3.5. My assessor told that the coverage of the issues that I portrayed was good. In addition to
this, the assessor advised me to look for several other issues apart from HR initiatives in
order to understand the strategic HR issues. Along with this, the assessor commented to
evaluate all the elements that have the potential to be a cause of the HR initiative challenges.
The assessor was able to comment that my paper did not show a clear understanding of the
above mentioned topics and that is the reason responsible for the fact that I need a
refinement. One of the major lapses in my paper was that I wrote in generic terms rather than
focusing on a company and weakened my analysis. Hence i need to improve this aspect as
well.

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Psychometric Tests:
In order to evaluate my skills as a leader, I undertook two tests which are the DISC
personality test and the Situational analysis test.

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(Fig: DISC Personality Test Results)
(Fig: Situational Analysis Test Results)
During the test, I chose the suitable and the most effective options under the situation.
Along with this, the test was pretty effective for the fact that, it presented questions or
situations of various job roles inside the organization. However, the test result that I got was
23 out of 32. It was not too impressive but the result was significant for me in the assessment
of the faults that I conducted during the test. However, during the test, I felt that I was not
able to answer some of the questions with the achievement of notable insights regarding them
and those are the sections where I missed the scoring. Hence the improvement needs to be in
alignment with the achievement of the knowledge in those sections.
In the personality test, the evaluation of my personality was conducted. With the
result of the test, it was pretty evident that I have a strong personality where dominance holds

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the major share. The result ensured that I like to control the proceedings by myself. Along
with the dominance, the second major aspect was the Influence which describes that I
communicate with my followers in an effective manner. In addition to this, the steadiness and
the persistence in my personality is limited and that acts as a drawback of mine. Being a
leader, I need to be patient and that is the reason for the improvement of my personality.
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, the leadership in the modern business context is observed to be
notably critical. The success, failure and the growth of an organization are significantly
dependent on the leadership. Along with this, the revival of a company from the failure or
crisis also largely depends on the effectiveness of the leader.