Personal Reflection on Observed Leadership Styles and Practices

This essay provides a reflective analysis of various leadership styles, contrasting traditional and modern approaches observed in different institutions and a work setting. The author explores the evolution of leadership, highlighting the shift from hierarchical models to behavioral and servant leadership styles. The essay emphasizes the importance of humility, transparency, and an open attitude in modern leadership, focusing on creating supportive workplace cultures, employee motivation, and the sustainable achievement of organizational goals. It examines how leaders foster collaboration, value employee contributions, and manage conflict through dialogue and respect. The reflection also delves into the significance of ethical considerations, stakeholder engagement, and the creation of a 'win-win' partnership-based contract between employees and the organization. The essay concludes by underscoring the importance of leaders in facilitating employee performance, satisfaction, and the overall success of the organization.

Reflection on Leadership Styles1
Reflection of Leadership Styles
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course Name
Date

Reflection on Leadership Styles2
Introduction
Each historical epoch is associated with a type of leadership. The Ancient Age, perhaps
because it was the longest, was a time of constant political changes: the dynasties of despotic
emperors in ancient Greece; the Roman Empire, followed by the Republic, where power was
divided among the members of the Senate; the divine power that conferred on the pharaohs the
legitimacy of their leadership in Egypt. In the Middle Ages the model of feudal leadership was
characteristic, where a single person exerted an iron grip on his subjects. The Modern Age
marked the beginning of the democratic structures that have survived to this day. The history of
the world offers many examples where we can see how the figure of the leader has changed
according to its context. However, most books on leadership continue to deny the obvious: we
are unable to manage, predict and control what will happen in a context as volatile as today. In
this new scenario, the answer must necessarily be collective. The solutions will emerge from the
courageous action of many people at all levels, who have known how to adapt their mental
models to the new scenario (Adair, 2013 p.123). So far, the institutions I have been to and one
company I have worked with seems to understand the fact that modern leadership should be
distinct from ancient traditional leadership. The leadership I have experienced is characterized by
humility, transparency and an open attitude to experimentation. In such leadership, any of its
members, with or without formal authority, must be able to face the new reality, identify those
key questions that will allow us to anticipate the impact of changes in our organization and
mobilize other people so that assume the collective responsibility, which will allow us to reduce
the gap between the current situation and the one we want. The image of the charismatic leader,
the genius that stands at the top of the pyramid of organizations and has an answer for everything
does not exist. I always find CEO’s holding meetings with middle level and low level managers.

Reflection on Leadership Styles3
The kind of leaders I have witnessed in two institutions I have been to are like a social architect.
Their job is to ask the right questions, and to create the right conditions for the responses to the
new challenges to be collective, that is, for the solution to emerge naturally as a result of the
collaborative relationships established among all the people of the organization and between
these and the outside, taking advantage of collective intelligence (Jaramillo, Bande & Varela,
2015, p.109). The leaders I have seen in the institutions works hard to combine and balance hard
(technical) skills with soft skills, which are behavioral skills or interpersonal skills such as
leadership, communication, integrity, responsibility, passion, motivation, negotiation , decision
making, time management, analysis and reflection capacity, among others (Welty Peachey,
Burton, Wells, & Chung 2018 p.970. Unlike traditional leaders who could trace with certainty a
path that all followed, most of the leaders I have seen currently are agile to face the unforeseen,
the oppositions, new parameters, as well as the ambiguity and the complexity. It is apparent that
the modern leaders are trying to change from dominant classical leadership styles to modern
behavioral leadership styles (Asad, Abbas, Irfan & Raza, 2017 p.27). It is also clear that
dominant management model is now provoking more and more criticism and protest, especially
from younger generations, who have other values than their elders and are more sensitive to the
quality of life at work, in place of recreation, social justice and environmental concerns. The
growing success of the notions of '' corporate social responsibility '', '' sustainable development '',
"Responsible management", which involves considering the interests of the various
"stakeholders" of the company, and not just those of shareholders, partly responds to these
criticisms (Lacroix & Verdorfer, 2017 p.9).
In terms of leadership style, most of the leaders I have encountered are adopting
behavioral leadership style. They are changing from classical leadership to relational and

Reflection on Leadership Styles4
behavioral leadership styles. The leaders I have witnessed are adopting models which would be
likely to provide relevant and especially innovative responses to this endemic and structural
crisis of the traditional management model and the growing dysfunctions it generates. They are
adopting new leadership styles that have capacity to "humanize" organizations and especially to
provide innovative and relevant solutions for the managerial challenges of these (Lapointe &
Vandenberghe, 2018 p.103). This is particularly the case with the paradigm of servant
leadership. This form of leadership style is largely opposed to that of the model traditional
hierarchical and bureaucratic management. It constitutes a paradigm of alternative and radically
innovative organizational leadership and management of men, apparently paradoxical but which
in practice is both powerful and humanistic. It is also opposed to the traditional Western
conception of the leader who would be a charismatic, heroic, all-powerful, visionary and lonely
personality (Gandolfi, Stone, & Deno, 2017 p.351). This alternative paradigm of management
makes a bet on the potential of individual and collective intelligence of men. It is based on the
priority principle of service of line managers with regard to their employees and subordinates so
that they can perform their tasks in the best conditions, instead that they are at the service of the
former as in the management model traditional hierarchy! It is characterized by social,
interactive, multidimensional nature, but also the ethical conditions of the leadership
phenomenon (Van Dierendonck, et al 2017, p.9). Compared to traditional classic models,
servant leadership is effective because it makes it possible to remedy many managerial and
organizational dysfunctions, but also to frequent "ethical deficiencies" of man's management
practices. It is a continuation of a humanist current managerial thinking that has existed since the
beginning of the 20th century (Newman, Schwarz, Cooper & Sendjaya, 2017 p.71). Unlike the
traditional leaders, most of the modern leaders I have encountered tend to humanize their

Reflection on Leadership Styles5
management methods of men and organizations by other attitudes and other behaviors such as:
the systematic practice of listening and dialogue, particularly with collaborators, the creation of a
climate of trust, the practice of the delegation and the empowerment of individuals and teams,
the encouragement of initiative and creative ideas, a good consideration of the qualitative aspects
of the work, and especially the psychological aspects in human relationships to professional
character (Burton, Welty Peachey & Wells, 2017 p. 231).
In terms of mentorship and preceptorship, most of the leaders I have encountered tend to
value their followers so much. Modern leader listens attentively to his followers and forge
creative consensus. He tries to harmonize different or even opposing points of view, rising above
mere compromises, in order to find a solution in otherwise complex issues (Haider & Mushtaq,
2017 p.169). The leaders also tend to co-construct a vision that is truly shared with the greatest
number of employees as to the strategic project of the organization. They also emphasize the
importance of cooperative relations between the different actors of the organization by
emphasizing their interdependence according to a systemic vision (Irving & Berndt, 2017 p.13).
Additionally, they attach great importance to building and maintaining a true climate of trust,
both with internal actors and with the organization's external partners, through sincere and
permanent dialogue and communication, by encouraging true cooperation between the actors, by
a transparency of the information on the organization, by a delegation of the responsibilities and
by the encouragement to the autonomy of the collaborators. They also try to adopt a spirit of
humility, simplicity, partnership and service towards all the people of the organization and in
particular towards its subordinates in order to facilitate their task and encourage them to give the
best of themselves (Yang, Zhang, Kwan & Chen, 2018 p.599)

Reflection on Leadership Styles6
In terms of motivation, the different leaders I have experienced seem to understand the
needs of employees. They do all they can to know about what employees value most. They are
effective in applying Maslow’s theory of needs (Amah 2018 p. 129). Most of the leaders have
intrinsic motivation to help, enrich and elevate others to new possibilities and new ones. levels of
professional fulfillment, both as a person and as a team member, and this, in the best interests of
all. This approach greatly encourages the permanent learning of all and therefore contributes to
developing the adaptation and transformation capabilities of the organization, especially in a
rapidly changing environment (Heyler & Martin 2018 p.231).
In terms of workplace culture, most of the modern leaders tend to create supportive
workplace culture. This culture is characterized by the existence of a "win-win" Partnership-
based contract between each employee and the company or organization where he works. They
condition the phenomenon of voluntary mobilization of people that characterizes high quality
leadership. The power and the humanistic character of most of the leaders I have encountered is
largely the result of the superiority of his" managerial intelligence ", but also of his highly ethical
character, compared to traditional modes of management where the man is considered only one
means of production among others, and not an end, in the service of the maximization of the
profits for the only shareholders (Youssef, 2013 p.89) . In this workplace culture, employees are
valued. Unlike the traditional model of heroic leadership, hierarchical and all-powerful, focused
on productivity and the maximization of short-term profitability, modern leaders tend to assumes
that employees are an end now and not mere means, and that as such, they must be put in the
center of attention of management practices since they are the main (if not the only) source of
value creation. Most of them tend to first and foremost help each employee perform his tasks in
the best conditions. In a word, they must first be at the service of their collaborators well before

Reflection on Leadership Styles7
supervising and controlling them, as in traditional management practices where they are first of
all at the service of the hierarchy and must obey him. They start by ensuring that the working
environment is favorable to followers (Saïdi, 2013 p.73) . Then they start supervision and control
tasks.
In terms of achieving organizational goals, I must admit that leaders I have encountered
tend to achieve goals sustainably. The reason for this is that they make employees happier and
when employees are happy, the performance would be optimal. Their goals is not just to get
profits but to meet ethical requirements and expectations. They ensure that every stakeholder is
considered in any strategic decision. They will spontaneously adopt other attitudes and behaviors
characterized by respect, sharing, help, empathy, encouragement, help with learning,
friendliness, partnership and cooperation. vis-à-vis employees . The result is a radically different
"leadership culture" that is much more conducive to developing the talents and potentials of
employees. These will of course greatly appreciate it and the organization will benefit, especially
in terms of economic performance (Ledlow & Coppola, 2011) .
In terms of managing powers the leaders I have seen do not have much problem because
in their management styles, they include employees and all stakeholders. They do not focus only
on economic results and hence it is hard for conflict to occur and even if it occur, they can detect
earlier through the feedback they get from different stakeholders (Achouri, 2012 p. 111). Their
approaches for managing conflict are based on dialogue, listening and respect for people, on the
search for consensus, the encouragement of creative and innovative ideas coming from all, on
taking initiatives without having to refer to the hierarchy , and above all on an intelligent and
efficient position of service of the hierarchy with regard to all the collaborators. This makes their
job easier and provides them with a powerful source of motivation and satisfaction, especially

Reflection on Leadership Styles8
for those who are in the field, facing customers (Moodian, 2009 p.83). Their style also offers
very innovative answers, particularly interesting and relevant to the many challenges and drifts
of the management of men that we observe today.
Part 2
Effective leadership/management is a key requirement for organizational development and high-
quality performance. Developing a leadership action plan requires a leader to assess his or her
personal leadership skills and effectiveness and establish the areas that need improvement. The
action plan in the table below highlights my personal leadership improvement requirements, in
terms of what I would like to achieve, the given timeframe within which I expect to make the
achievement, what I will do to attain what I want to achieve and how I shall know that I have
achieved the improvement. I must admit that I intend to be a servant leader. This means that I
will focus on some of the skills expected of me.
Leadership
characteristic
What do I want
to achieve?
How will I
achieve
this?
Timeframe How will I know
I have achieved
it?
Communication Attain an
interactive
relationship with
the employees
through effective
Establish
and
encourage
additional
communicati
6-12 months Interviewing
employees on
their reporting
systems and
other

Reflection on Leadership Styles9
communication on channels
that are more
convenient
and desirable
to the
employees
communication
aspects
Encourage
leadership
development
Ensure the
employees also
acquire
leadership skills
and can take up
leadership
positions/
maintain
leadership legacy
Through
delegation of
leadership
duties and
training of
employees
on
leadership
skills.
6-12 months Assessing the
leadership
performance of
employees whom
I have delegated
duties to.
Create
interpersonal
relationship
Attain high
performance
organizational
culture
1-2
years
Through creating
effective
interpersonal
relations based on
dialogue, trust and
transparency
Assessing the
organization’s
performance over
the given time
frame
Leadership style Attain a more
democratic
leadership in the
4-8 months Involving employees
in decision making
processes that relate
Interviewing
employees on
their satisfaction

Reflection on Leadership Styles10
company to their welfare and
any other issues
affecting them by
seeking for their
opinions before
making the final
decision
with decision
making
processes,
especially on
issues relating to
them, within the
organization.
Team work spirit
development
Attain
improvement in
organization
performance in
terms of time,
quality and
standards
6-12 months Establish working
teams and ensure
work division is done
equally and
effectively among the
established teams
Assessing
employees’
performance in
terms of their
teams’
performances
and awarding the
best team.
Employees
motivation
Attain
committed, hard
working and
disciplined
employees.
8-12 months Establishing good
conflict resolution
methods, equal and
fair treatment of
employees,
performance based
promotion and
rewarding.
Checking on
employee target
achievement,
timely
completion of
work, checking
on work quality.
Goal orientation Ensure that any 6-12 months Seeking for my Assessing the

Reflection on Leadership Styles11
decision I make
is directed
towards
achieving the
overall
organizational
goals and
strategies
senior leader’s
opinions before
making decisions and
also involving senior
managers’ skills and
expertise in decision
implementation.
impacts of any
decision I make
and implement
and following
my decisions to
see through their
contributions to
the organization.
Strategic
leadership
Become a more
effective leader
through applying
the strategic
leadership skills
6-12 months Learning more from
senior
managers/leaders as
well as attending
leadership trainings
and seminars to
improve on my
leadership skills.
Also benchmarking
in other successful
organizations to learn
how they carry out
their management
duties.
Asking for the
opinions of
senior managers
on my
management
skills as well as
seeking for the
employees’
opinions on my
management
capabilities and
in capabilities.

Reflection on Leadership Styles12

Reflection on Leadership Styles13
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