MG629: Developing Leadership and Management Skills Detailed Report

This report provides a detailed exploration of leadership and management skills, emphasizing the importance of effective leadership in today's turbulent business environment. It delves into personal leadership style identification and highlights activities for enhancing leadership skills. The report includes a personal SWOT analysis to identify strengths (positive spirit, problem-solving) and weaknesses (lack of empathy, sternness). It contrasts the 'great man theory' with the 'trait theory,' advocating for skill acquisition in leadership development. Different leadership models, such as democratic and transformational leadership, are discussed, with a focus on developing traits that promote healthy working relationships and push individuals beyond their comfort zones. Activities like team sports and cross-cultural experiences are recommended to mitigate weaknesses and enhance leadership potential. The report concludes that empathy and the ability to challenge individuals are crucial skills for modern leaders.

MG629 Developing
Leadership and
Management Skills

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ......................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
The modern business landscape has been very turbulent when it comes to the majority of the
external disruptions which affect the operations on a day to day basis which is why in order to steer
the business in the right direction, proper leadership is very necessary in order to drive the
workforce of the company (Floris, Wiblen and Anichenko, 2020). Leadership is quite a complex
field of business administration as there are many models and theories which must be read to
develop a deep understanding of how to lead people. This report will detail the process of personal
leadership style identification and highlight the various activities which are needed to enhance one's
leadership skills in order to deliver the desired results.
MAIN BODY
It is a commonly known fact that leadership is one of the most important factors which
affect the company's success and overall profitability in the market which also decides its operations
and routines along with managing its workforce and aligning the workforce with the overall vision
of the company, in other words, leadership matters in the modern world ((Leadership matters,
2022). Leadership refers to the process of leading and managing people and functions in a
professional capacity to achieve the organizational objectives in a proper manner. I personally feel
that leadership is a very valuable trait for a person to have due to the amount of personal
development that is associated with the development of leadership traits and by being a good leader
and grab the required skills, I can boost my employability in the future by a large margin as the
dearth of good leaders is a very real problem in the current business world. In order to grow and
identify my personal leadership skills, it is very important for me to have a solid idea regarding my
strengths and weaknesses which can be done in the most efficient manner with the help of models
of strategic management such as the SWOT analysis which helps an individual form an opinion
about their core competencies or the lack thereof while also helping them identify areas of
opportunity and potential threats to avoid. I performed a personal SWOT analysis of myself to find
and connect my skills and lack of them to the leadership attributes which are in demand in the
current business industries and it has been listed below.
Strengths
 I possess great energy and positive spirit
Weaknesses
 I lack the ability to empathize

 I am great at recognizing employee pain
points
 I lack the ability to be stern and strict at
times
Opportunities
 There is immense scope in obtaining
domain knowledge of leadership
 The future of leadership is dependent on
people based learning rather than class
based ones which can be taken advantage
of (The Future of Leadership
Development, 2022)
Threats
 Not being well versed in interpersonal
communication can be lethal for future
employability
 Non-transformational forms of
leadership
On the basis of the above conducted analysis, I was able to formulate a clear view of my
personal skills and strengths regarding leadership which were identified as possessing great zeal and
having a positive attitude while also being an expert in recognizing and proving solution to complex
problems that people might encounter while working which I can use to my advantage. At the same
time I also identified some obvious weaknesses which might trouble me in the future as I lack the
way to properly keep employees in check via sternness and I also do not possess an empathetical
mind which is a major skill required of modern leaders. I believe in such comprehensive evaluations
to find traits which can be acquired to strengthen one's leadership skills as I do not believe in the
great man theory of leadership which states that great leaders are born with innate abilities to
motivate and influence other people in a great manner. Instead, my reflection and personal career
path is based on the trait theory of leadership which states that apart from innate talents, leadership
is majorly dependent upon acquisition of key skills which one does in their lifetime (Vaughn,
Sugerman and Furman, 2020).
My strengths which include the positive attitude I possess along with my ability to identify
the pain points of employees can help in pursuing democratic style of leadership which is one of the
better styles that one must focus on as opposed to autocratic forms of leadership which state that
leadership should be dependent upon strict concentration and abuse of power which does not work
in the modern business environment.
Illustration 1: Leadership models

But gradually I would like to move onto developing traits which can allow me to develop
and practice transformational leadership which is a major model of leadership which states that
styles of leading people that are built on the grounds of a healthy working relationship and pushing
people out of their comfort zones and this will not be possible without me being stern enough with
them while also not being able to empathize them when they are in need of support. In order to
mitigate my weaknesses and become a much better leader, the following activities were formulated
and I duly participated in them in order to increase my potential as a leader which are listed below.
 Sports – I participated in a lot of team sports in which I learned how to keep the team
disciplined and how to push them in times of need which helped in my lack of sternness
 Cross cultural experiences and social groups - I learned to understand and counsel people
and lead them towards greener pastures through this activity which will help me as a leader
CONCLUSION
The above report went into detail regarding the various skills and competencies that modern
leaders need to drive the business in the correct direction and used a lot of leadership models and
theories to demonstrate this fact. It was concluded from this report that in order to become a good
leader, empathizing with people and knowing how to push them beyond their comfort zones are
very necessary skills to have.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Floris, M., Wiblen, S.L. and Anichenko, E., 2020. Senior project leadership skills and career
stallers: Analysis of perception differences and implications for careers. Project
Management Journal, 51(2), pp.214-234.
Vaughn, G.J., Sugerman, K.S. and Furman, M.I., 2020. The Power and Importance of Leadership in
a Crisis. NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery, 1(4).
Online referencing
The Future of Leadership Development, 2022 [online] available through <
https://hbr.org/2019/03/the-future-of-leadership-development>
Leadership matters, 2022 [online] available through < https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-
insights/leadership-matters>