Leadership: Self-Reflection Essay - Approaches and Reflection

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership, exploring various theories, styles, and approaches. The author begins by defining leadership as a process of guiding and influencing followers towards a common goal, emphasizing the importance of strategic thinking, vision, and skills like communication and emotional intelligence. The essay delves into different leadership theories, including trait and contingency theories, and examines leadership styles such as autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire. The author then reflects on their own leadership style, identifying themselves as a transformational leader, highlighting strengths like self-management, adaptability, and proactive thinking. The essay also discusses other leadership styles, such as bureaucratic, charismatic, and servant leadership, before concluding with a reflection on the application of leadership theories and the importance of self-motivation in achieving organizational goals. The author uses examples to illustrate how different leadership styles are applied in various situations and emphasizes the importance of adapting leadership approaches based on the context and the needs of the team.

RUNNING HEAD: LEADERSHIP
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Leadership
Essay
Student Name
6/17/2019
Leadership: Self Reflection

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Introduction
Leadership is all around that is not limited to the work environment. I analyzed the concept of
leadership and its theories and on that basis I get to know that Leadership is a process by which a
leader lead an organization or guide, direct and induce the behaviors of its followers towards
achieving a common goal. Leaders are the person who leads the group or team on the basis of
their leadership approach and this approach depends on the situation, it can be at work, home or
any other place (Northhouse, 2017).
Leadership is extremely important for the success of any organization. There are various skills
that should be in a leader in order to be successful in personal and professional life (Bolden,
2016). I think the most essential skill that differentiates a leader from other people is the strategic
thinking and long term vision. Other skills that should be present in a leader are creativity, self-
driven, motivation, communication, emotional intelligence and integrity (Pardey, 2016). From
the study I get to know more about the theories of leadership that has greater influence on the
personality of a leader. Leadership theories are trait theory and contingency theory, whereas trait
theory focuses on the traits or qualities an individual possess that is best fit for leadership and
contingency theory focus on situation analysis than finding the specific style of leadership
(Anderson & Sun, 2017).
On the basis of class learning I get to know the leadership styles that are developed by Kurt
Lewin which includes democratic style, autocratic style, and laissez faire (Lewin, 2016). These
styles of leadership are depends on the situation and how leader use it according to the
circumstances. Autocratic style of leadership is when a leader is dominating and controlling,
don’t get suggestions from their members and always try to direct others (Harms, et al., 2018).
On other side democratic style of leadership is when a leader is more participative and
encourages others also to take part in the decisions through taking new ideas from them, taking
feedback from them and provide direction to the members. The most common and useful
leadership style is laissez faire that leaders didn’t implement authority and responsibility relation
with their members instead they delegate their authority to subordinates and let them do the
activities or job accordingly, under this interference of leader is less and subordinates handle in
their own way (Biling, 2015). Nowadays, the styles of leadership that are used in current
scenario in organizations are transactional and transformation style of leadership.

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Leadership Styles
This reflection is based on my own experience of leadership and the style that I find relative in
me according to the readings. In my experience I have seen various situations that shaped my
perspective on leadership. I put myself in the role of a leader as one who converts vision into
action for a future that influences others to follow me. The main role of a leader is to get the
things done by others and guide them, unite them in one direction for continuous improvement
(Heifetz & Linsky, 2017). After analyzing my strengths and weaknesses I see myself as a
transformational leader as I always try to think outside the box and react according to the
situation that exist. Some of the characteristics that I have analyzed in myself that matches with
transformational leader are:
1. Self-management: For me self-management is the most important element that helps me in
achieving best result in life. I am directed towards my goals and work on daily basis to
achieve them. I followed my routine in a strict manner and always try to be focused,
motivated and curious for learning new things that will be helpful in achieving my goals.
2. Entertain new ideas: The main strength and a trait that I have is innovative thinking and
emphasize on getting new ideas for a problem, mainly when I am working in team on a
project I try to find different alternatives to solve a problem rather than sticking on the same
way of doing a task.
3. Adaptability: Adapting the changing environment is the necessity. I believe that which
doesn’t change, doesn’t grow and that which doesn’t grow will die. So change is part of life
whether it is in professional aspect or in personal life. I am an extrovert kind of personality
and always adapt with the changes whether it is in culture or situation I respond it in a
creative way.
4. Proactive: It is the ability to deal with the uncertain situation actively and taking it in a
positive way. I always participate in all the activities and influence others also to be the part
of team. Active participation in all the cultural activities, class activities and in planning is
necessary for growth.
This self-assessment helps me out in finding my key strengths and weaknesses that I must work
upon. I feel confident about the qualities that I have and through this assessment I understand the
style that I follow in order to lead a team.

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Other leadership styles that can be seen in a person are bureaucratic leadership style, charismatic
leadership and servant or ethical leadership style. Bureaucratic leadership style is a leader who
adheres to strict rules and applies those for taking managerial decisions (Storey, 2016). In my
perspective bureaucratic leaders are more rigid and don’t adapt the changing scenario quickly. I
didn’t possess the traits of a bureaucratic leader as I am adaptable and change according to the
situation. Another leadership style is charismatic leadership in which a leader develops an image
to attract the followers through his thinking and actions. Such leader influences other with their
personality traits and I believe that this style is important to bring positivity in an environment or
in working premises. I have a weakness that I can’t be more focused on positive things and some
things that are not working well disturb me that bring negativity and in that case charismatic
style is not applicable.
Servant or ethical leaders lead by setting the example to others, through proper literature review I
get to know that this type of leadership is best suits on those who want to work in a non-
government organization or not for profit making organizations. Generally these leaders have
high level of integrity and follow a proper code of conduct or have strong ethical values (Holten
& Brenner, 2015).
In Self-assessment, on the basis of my strengths and weaknesses and traits that I follow I possess
transformational style of leadership but not stuck to a single behavior rather my decisions and
style changes as per the situation as my key strength is that firstly I analyses the situation and on
that basis I decide what to do and what not to do. Through self-assessment I observed that I have
strong problem solving skills, participative nature, always try to get innovative ideas of a
problem and has skills of self-management all that are the characteristics of a transformational
leadership style. I get to know through the examinations of past situations that I have
experienced and had these characteristics that will be j=helpful for me to be a leader and lead the
organization.
Approaches
I reflected on the approaches of leadership as well, that how these theories of leadership are
applied in practical manner. Firstly, I understand the implication of contingency theory where I

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get to know that it depends on the relationship between leadership style and situation as leader
opt for the best style that he thinks matches with the situation. In my case I am not stuck to a
particular style, I analyzed that my style of leadership is mainly transformational but sometimes I
opted for the autocratic style where I think that my decision is right and will be beneficial for all
the team so all this can be best understood with help of these leadership theories and its
implication.
In contingency theory following points can be included:
 The delegation of authority by the leader to subordinate
 Goal set by the leaders for member of the teams by aligning their personal goals with
team goals.
 Speed at which task will be completed
 Amount of personal power
 Clarity of the task
Fiedler theory of leadership comes under contingency theory of leadership; it is based on two
different leadership style that is people oriented and task oriented. Leaders who are people
oriented mainly focus on building relationship with their subordinates and team members. Task
oriented leaders always focus on completing the task and influence or use autocratic style of
leadership to make the task done. Few other theories are path goal theory; this theory helps in
knowing how leadership behavior is impactful for the followers to achieve the group goals
(Fiedler, 2015).
Leadership approaches that I feel is the most common is contingency model of leadership but the
basis of all this is trait theory that is universally accepted. All these theories have some
limitations and criticism. I came to know from the reading that some of the traits in a leader are
already exist and some can be developed through training programme and in span of life with
experience. All leaders have different set of skills and style to lead a group or organization. If I
look through the best entrepreneurs Elon Musk has transformational style of leadership and on
other side Bill Gates follow autocratic style of leadership so through that I gain clarity that all
successful people have different style of leadership they have their unique way of dealing with
the things and situation (Rubens, et al., 2016).

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For instance, in most of the group projects when I lead the group firstly I try to understand the
skills of other that they are excellent in so that task can be divided accordingly to get the best out
of everyone and my leadership style is based on the group that I lead and its member’s behavior.
I was leading a group in which one member was stuck to his way of doing an assignment and
wanted others also to apply the same tactics but I tried to influence others to do the way they
think that was best and through that many ways were identified to solve a common problem.
Through assessment I get to know that the main element in the leadership is self-motivation, a
leader who is self-driven and stay motivated in all the situations will become more successful
rather than a leader who is always pessimistic. For instance, I always do the work that I like to do
without and chase for that thing that I need. I always keep trying new ways to keep myself
motivated as the most important thing that motivates me is reading inspirational biographies. I
am always curious to learn new things, finding innovative ways to complete a task whether at
home or at work but in doing so I keep myself up to speed to deliver my best on time. The best
thing that I learnt is that when I am motivated all the members near me get positive vibes and
energy and that makes a task so easy to do that is the reason I am always optimistic and I am
ready to take new challenges.
Conclusion
Leadership is a process of influencing others to achieve the organizational goals. The main
elements of leadership are leader and followers. Leadership includes influencing, leading,

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inducing a team to attain the organization goals or team goals. Through this self-reflection I get
to know many of the aspects of leadership cleared. Firstly, leadership is affected by the situation
a leader changes his approach as per the situation. Secondly, there is no perfect style that can be
applied on each and every situation. Third, I get to know more about my strengths and style of
leadership that I follow through examining my experiences by contingency theory and trait
theory. These theories is the main way to understand and examine the style that a leader follow,
these approaches are very useful to make a conclusion on what leadership style and behavior a
leader follow to lead his team. At last this is a great learning for me from educational perspective
and personal perspective.
References
Anderson, M. H. & Sun, P. Y., 2017. Reviewing leadership styles: Overlaps and the need for a new "full
range theory". International Journal of Managemene Reviews, 19(1), pp. 76-96.

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Biling, M., 2015. Kurt Lewin Leadership Studies and his legacy to social psychology: Is there nothing as
practical as a good theory?. Journal for the theory of Social Behavior, 45(4), pp. 440-460.
Bolden, R., 2016. Leadership, Management and Organizational Development. Handbook of leadership
and management development, Volume 22, pp. 143-158.
Fiedler, F. R., 2015. Contingency theory of leadership. Essential theories of leadership, 12(2), p. 232.
Harms, P. D., Wood, D., Landay, K. & Lester, P. B., 2018. Autocratic leaders: a review and agenda for
future. The Leadership quarterly, 29(1), pp. 105-122.
Heifetz, R. & Linsky, M., 2017. Leadership on the line, with a new preface: Staying alive through the
danger of change. US: Harvard Business Review.
Holten, A. L. & Brenner, S. O., 2015. Leadership style and the process of organizational change.
Leadership and Organization Development Journal, 36(1), pp. 2-16.
Lewin, K., 2016. Most effective leadership & Management styles Approaches. New York: Routledge.
Northhouse, P. G., 2017. Introduction to leadership: Concepts and Practice. London: Sage Publications.
Pardey, D., 2016. Introducing Leadership. New York: Routledge.
Rubens, A., Leah, J. & Schoenfeld, J., 2016. Using biographies to teach leadership skills. Journal of the
Academy of Business Education, 2(1), pp. 1-20.
Storey, J., 2016. Changing theories of leadership and leadership development. New York: Routledge.