Reflection on Leadership: Personal Philosophy and Application

This essay delves into the student's personal leadership style, identifying it as democratic, emphasizing open communication and team collaboration. The essay outlines the principles the student would uphold, such as self-discipline and ethical behavior, and discusses the impact of personal beliefs, particularly Christian values, on their leadership approach. Key experiences, such as working as a marketing manager, are highlighted to illustrate the formation of their leadership philosophy. Part B then applies the leadership philosophy to a case study involving a lack of communication at Foodland Supermarket, proposing a communication skills training program as a solution to improve employee performance and overall organizational success. The essay underscores the importance of effective communication, skills development, and ethical leadership within organizations.

Running head: REFLECTION ON LEADERSHIP
Reflection on Leadership
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

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Part A: Leadership Philosophy
Leadership refers to ability of a person or group of the individuals in influencing and
guiding the followers. A leader makes decisions, articulates a vision and establishes goals in
an organization (Iqbal, Anwar and Haider 2015). Leadership refers to capacity of the
management that can help an organization in achieving the challenging goals. This essay
throws light on my personal leadership style and the principles of leadership that would not
be violated by me. The essay discusses about the effect of the personal beliefs on the
leadership approach. The essay also talks about the main experiences that have helped in
forming the leadership approach.
My personal style of leadership can be called democratic leadership that helps in the
free movement of the ideas within the team. The democratic leader paves the path for the
open discussion within the framework of an organization. Democratic style of leadership
helps in facilitation of conversation and it synthesizes information into that of best possible
decision. It helps in bringing best out of the professional team within an organization
(McKeown and Carey 2015). The democratic leader utilizes the skills along with the talents
of the members of the team that helps in the efficient running of an organization. A
democratic leader helps in the free flow of the ideas within the creative environment that
helps in finding the new concepts. A democratic leader respects the ideas of the other
members of the team that helps in bringing close bond between the employees of an
organization. A democratic leader delegates the responsibilities among the members of the
team that helps in facilitating the participation of the members in making the decisions in an
organization (Fiaz, Su and Saqib 2017). The democratic leader acts as mediator in between
various members of the group that helps in ensuring the fact that the members are
psychologically sound in an organization. It plays an important role in the creation of job
satisfaction in an organization. It can help in the creation of the sense of the autonomy within

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the framework of an organization. It helps in the creation of greater innovation that helps in
addressing the problems in an organization (Khan et al. 2015). Democratic leaders works in
a collaborative manner by making use of consensus of the opinions that helps in getting
things done in the right manner. The democratic leaders are capable of solving the complex
issues in an organization. The democratic leaders have ability of working in a collaborative
manner by making use of consensus of the opinions that helps in ensuring that the things are
getting done in the right manner (Renko et al. 2015). Democratic leader thinks in an
innovative manner and he encourages the other people in thinking in the innovative manner.
There are certain leadership principles that I would not be willing to violate in the
course of working in an organization. I would like to violate the factor of the self-discipline
that can help in encouraging the other members of the team. A leader who has self-discipline
can provide inspiration to the other members who are working in a team. This can help the
people in following the leader that can help in the development of the organization. A great
leader should be capable of establishing the personal credibility along with the authority in an
organization. The principle that I would not violate pertains to the art of the listening within
an organization. The leader should listen to the opinions of the other members of the team
that can help in building close relationship in between the employees of an organization. The
leader should be able to respect the opinions of the other members of the team that can help
in building unity in an organization (Holten and Brenner 2015). The Personality- Job Fit
Theory of Holland states that there should be fit in between the personality types and the
professional environment that can help in the determination of success of a leader. The
managers can get satisfied employees in the event of matching the personalities with that of
the jobs. A leader should be able to take the advice of the subordinates that can help him in
evolving as a successful leader. A great leader should show the wisdom that can help in the
growth of an organization. A great leader should follow the useful advice of the employees

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that can pave the path for development of organization. A leader should be able to understand
effect of the aspect of great followership that can pave the path for growth of an organization.
The leaders in an organization should be capable of understanding dynamics of the leading
that can help in the creation of an organization that is efficient (Iqbal, Anwar and Haider
2015). I would not violate making use of courage while taking the critical decisions in an
organization. The courage can help a person in evolving as the successful leader in an
organization. A leader should not violate behaving in an ethical manner that can help in the
creation of transparent policies in the organization. A leader should not refrain from sharing
the vision to the people that can help an organization in reaching the objective.
The personal beliefs that I had has an effect on the aspect of the leadership approach
in an organization. My religion is Christianity and the Christian leadership can be said to be
not rooted within the worldly notion of the success. My personal beliefs had a great effect on
the leadership approach as Christianity talks about serving other people which can help in
accomplishing the purpose of God. Christianity stresses on the fact that the leaders should not
oppress and overpower the other people with the help of their authority. My leadership
approach is democratic that takes into consideration the view of the other employees in an
organization. A democratic leader shows love to the other members of the team that helps
him in guiding the other employees within an organization (Popli and Rizvi 2016). A
democratic leader is imbibed with the modesty that can help him in inspiring followers. I
believe in the idea of the inclusiveness that can help me in respecting the opinion of the
various cultural groups in the organization. It can help me in respecting the diverse opinions
that can encourage people to come up with the innovative ideas in the organization.
There have been key experiences that have helped in forming the leadership approach.
I was working as the marketing manager in the fast fashion retailer of Australia called Ally
Fashion. The marketing department had to think of marketing ideas that can help in

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increasing the popularity of the retail store in the market. There were different kinds of
opinions among the members of the organization regarding the social media techniques that
can help in increasing the popularity of the organization. The organization was able to make
profits by respecting the opinions of the various employees of the company. It helped me in
learning about democratic principles that can help in ensuring success of an organization.
Leadership is indicative of ability of individuals in guiding followers in the
organization. A leader is responsible for making the crucial decisions that helps in the
articulation of vision in a company. A democratic leader is instrumental in creating open
discussions within a company. It helps in facilitating conversation that helps in synthesizing
information that can help in taking vital decisions in an organization. The religion of
Christianity speaks regarding serving the other people that can help in in the development of
society.
Part B: Application of leadership philosophy
Leadership philosophy refers to set of the beliefs along with the principles that can
help in responding to various kinds of situation in an organization. Leadership philosophy
helps in the creation of a workplace environment that helps in supporting the employees in an
organization (Hansen 2018). This essay discusses about a leadership issue and the steps that I
would have taken that could have helped in solving the issue in an organization.
A leadership issue that I observed in the event of working in Foodland Supermarket in
Australia pertains to the lack of the communication in between the management and the
employees that was bringing down the profits that was being made by the organization. The
employees of the company were not adept at the art of the communication that was having a
negative impact on the overall performance of the organization. The employees of the
organization were lacking in the soft skills that was driving away the customers of the

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organization. I was working in the marketing department of the Foodland supermarket and I
saw that the senior manager of the marketing department was not doing anything that can
help in the overall development of the employees of the organization. There were many
people who lost their jobs on account of the incompetency of the manager of the
organization. It made the employee turnover in the organization very high that was having a
negative effect on the morale of all the employees in the organization. The employees lacked
in the arena of the communication skills along with the time management abilities that was
having an effect on the performance of the workers (Karanges et al. 2015). The manager of
Foodland Supermarket did not do anything to solve the problems of the employees but
instead terminated many employees from the organization.
The issue arose on account of the fact that the sales representatives were lacking in
the arena of the communication skill that can have a positive effect on the employees of an
organization. The communication skills proves to be essential in the arena of sales that can
help people in understanding the unique features of the product or the service. It can help the
people involved in the sales in communicating about the benefits that the customer can get
after the purchase of the product (Quy, Dong and Nguyen 2018). The issue arose on account
of the fact that the sales associates could not make the customers understand about the
various dimensions of the product that can make the customers buy the product. It was
causing misunderstanding in between the consumers and that of the sales associate that was
causing problem in the organization.
I would have done the things in a different manner that could have helped in solving
the issue in Foodland Supermarket. I would have taken a communication skills training in
Foodland Supermarket that can help in improving the way of communication of the
employees. It can help in building the collaborative relationships that can help in building
trust among the customers towards the organization. The training would train the sales

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associate regarding how to communicate in an effective manner by making use of the concise
language that can help in increasing the profits that are made by the organization (Renko et
al. 2015). It can teach the sales associated about the art of the listening that can help in
avoiding misunderstandings in between the employees of the organization and that of sales
associate. It can help in fostering the cross-cultural understanding within the workplace that
can help in improving the relationship with the clients of the organization. The
communication training in Foodland Supermarket would have played an important role in the
elimination of the communication roadblock in the organization. The communication training
in Foodland Supermarket should lay emphasis on the non-verbal clues that can help in
solving the communication issues in the organization (Fiaz, Su and Saqib 2017). The
manager should have provided opportunities in relation to the communication skills training
instead of terminating the employees of the organization. The turnover of the employees
could be prevented in the organization with the help of the skills based training in Foodland
Supermarket.
Leadership philosophy is indicative of set of beliefs which can help organization for
responding to situations in a company. It can pave the path for the creation of an efficient
workplace which can support employees of organization. In the event of working within
Foodland Supermarket I found out that dearth of communication skills of employees was
causing the organization to incur the losses. It was having an effect on the amount of the
profit which was being earned by the company. Employees of Foodland Supermarkets lacked
the communication skills that has a negative effect on performance of organization. It can
help in improvement of communication of employees that can bring benefits for the
organization. It can prove to be useful for fostering the collaborative relationships in
organization.

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References
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perspective from an emerging economy. The Journal of Developing Areas, 51(4), pp.143-
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Holten, A.L. and Brenner, S.O., 2015. Leadership style and the process of organizational
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