Leadership Skills Essay: Reflecting on Leadership Styles and Skills

This essay provides a reflective analysis of leadership skills, with a focus on the author's personal leadership philosophy. The essay explores the concepts of transformational and transactional leadership, discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. It also emphasizes the importance of self-knowledge and self-assessment in developing effective leadership qualities. The author discusses the characteristics of an inspirational leader, including trustworthiness, approachability, and the ability to motivate and inspire a team. References are provided to support the discussion, offering insights into the qualities of a successful leader and how to cultivate them. The essay highlights the author's aspiration to be a transformational leader while acknowledging the situational need for transactional leadership. The overall aim is to provide a comprehensive understanding of leadership skills and the development of a personal leadership vision.

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

1LEADERSHIP SKILLS
Leadership is a quality which gives a person an edge over the other individuals. A
leader is public figure who is perceived as a guide who inspires people on different things. In
this paper I shall reflect on my views on leadership skills.
My personal vision in the context of leadership is to be a transformational leader. This
is because I have noticed that such type of leaders possess the skills of sharing their
individual vision and motivating their team (UKEssays, 2018). I think they also have the
ability to gain commitment than in turn results in inspiring the performance of the entire
team. Therefore, I would chose to become a transformational leader as I am very keen to
inspire my team members through providing them the objectives which I personally feel as
appropriate and are within their capabilities to achieve. However, it is also true that it is not
always possible. There are times in which I have to play the role of a transactional leader in
challenging situations. I feel that sometimes I need to pass on my objectives that my team
members would be resistant to and then implement the concept of reward and punishment
that are the major characteristics of a transactional leadership. While talking about my
leadership philosophy, I want to state that my leadership philosophy is being one of those
leaders who possess inspirational qualities within themselves and are credible in nature. It
should also involve being trustworthy, approachable, supportive and competent as well
(Journalofleadershiped.org, 2018). If I am successfully in fulfilling these criteria then I think I
will have the creditability as an effective leader and as a manager. This is something that me
as a follower to seeks within my leader and so will my followers will seek within me. This is
because of the fact that a competent and confident leader is definitely equipped with the
capabilities and abilities that will obvious to his followers. The followers will then find it
easy to share about their visions and problems that will also inspire the other staffs to follow
their footsteps.

2LEADERSHIP SKILLS
To sum up, I would like to state that in order to become a successful leader I think it is
very important to have an understanding about self knowledge and self assessment. A leader
is who has the skills of understanding, creativity, trustworthiness, commitment, flexibility,
communicating, motivating, injecting positivity as well as being approachable.

3LEADERSHIP SKILLS
References:
Deepa, S. and Seth, M., 2013. Do Soft Skills Matter?-Implications for Educators Based on
Recruiters' Perspective. IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 7(1), p.7.
Journalofleadershiped.org. (2018). [online] Available at:
http://journalofleadershiped.org/attachments/article/244/JOLE_7_1_Roberts.pdf [Accessed
28 Apr. 2018].
UKEssays. (2018). Reflective Essay on Leadership | Critical reflection. [online] Available at:
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/management/leadership-critical-reflection-report-
management-essay.php [Accessed 28 Apr. 2018].