Reflective Essay on Leadership Skills, Experiences, and Goals

This essay is a reflective piece on leadership, exploring the author's personal experiences and development of leadership traits. The essay begins by defining leadership and its importance in organizational settings, highlighting the author's self-assessment as a leader, identifying themselves as a mix of leader and follower, and discussing how life experiences have shaped their leadership qualities. The essay delves into specific instances where the author has demonstrated leadership, such as managing a soccer team and acting as a class monitor, which boosted their confidence and communication skills. The author outlines leadership goals, including developing management and influencing skills, building effective teams, and successfully completing projects as a leader. The essay then explores strategies for effective team leadership, such as face-to-face meetings, active listening, and motivational techniques. The author discusses how they have applied these strategies to influence coworkers and resolve conflicts. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of leadership development and effective communication for achieving project goals and fostering a positive team environment.

Essay

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Reflective Essay..........................................................................................................................1
Part 1...........................................................................................................................................1
Part 2...........................................................................................................................................2
PART 3........................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Leadership is the trait that will be very necessary for the handling of the various
operations and functions in an organisation. This reflective essay will include the details of a
person as a leader (Bolman and Deal, 2017). Along with the experiences of past that helps in the
better management of the leadership traits of an individual. Besides this the positive behaviour
and abilities will also be discussed in the essay.
Reflective Essay
Part 1
Leadership is a very vital and significant trait that is required for the better handling of
the various operations and functions in a company. The effective leader will look after the
various problems and the opportunities in its surrounding and will give the best of the output in
the form of services by effectively guiding to its fellow team members. Besides this, the life
experiences too plays a very significant role in the effective handling of the various measures in
the organisation. I cannot call my self as a complete leader but to some extent, I do have certain
leadership traits that will help in the effective handling of the various operations and the carrying
out the effective functions in my surrounding (Northouse, 2018). In the majority of cases, I am a
spectator or a follower, and seek guidance from a higher authority to meet the operational needs
and requirements in a very effective way. I prefer to observe the situations from the point of view
of a follower and work upon it as per the guidance and instruction of a leader or the mentor, who
guides me to take into consideration the proper measures and steps to have a better handling of
the different operations. I don't get engaged directly to an activity with performing an analysis
and looking after the effective guidance of a leader or an experienced person. But once I get the
appropriate guidance and instruction to carry out the different steps or measures, I perform that
task as an effective leader. Hence, I can call myself as a mixture or an amalgam of the leader and
the follower, in combined, based on the various situational context (Goleman, 2017).
I also believe that the effective life experiences also helps an individual person to develop
and explore its leadership traits. Various operations that can be taken into the effective handling
of the various operation that will help in the better handling of the different measures that will
lead to the efficient management of the various operations to meet the requirements of the
operations in the company. Other than this, there have been various instances where I get the
chance to develop my leadership traits and the qualities, that have played a significant role in the
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effective maintaining of my different operations. My teachers are the excellent example of the
leaders that helps in the effective management of the various traits and qualities of the various
students. They are the effective supervisors who will see through the effective management of
the various operations in the organisation (Ward, 2016). Besides this, my parents also have the
effective leadership qualities that help in the effective management of the various operations. I
want the leadership qualities like kindness and generosity from them as my role models, that will
help me in the better management of the various operations.
In the past, I had many chances to act as the leader and had many chances to influence
and guide others such as managing a soccer team, and becoming the class monitor. Such
activities and instances give me an effective chance to showcase my leadership skills and help
me to improve them to a greater extent. It gave me a sense of satisfaction and boosted up my
confidence level. It helped me to open up to a wider public and kerb my hesitation in a very
significant manner. These activities and events helped me to improve my leadership skills and
develop the traits and attributes to meet the significant growth requirements. Although, I still feel
I have much more to learn to be a good leader. I need to take into consideration the various
quality traits like management skills and effective work experience to fulfil the demands and
requirements of the goals to be a successful and effective leader (Antonakis and Day, 2017).
But the effective rise in the confidence level and an experience of managing and handling
people have helped me to develop myself as an effective and successful leader. These activities
helped me to develop my communication skills which will be of my great help in becoming a
good leader in the future. My role modals have the effective management skills which I want to
learn from them. If I get a chance to be a boss, I would rather act as a guide and a mentor to
bring out the best of my fellow team mates. As per the trait theory, I would try to acquire the
effective traits to improve their work efficiency.
I have a following leadership goals to be fulfilled:
 To develop my management and influencing skills.
 Having a better team to manage effectively.
 Carry out various operations as a good leader to completer a project.
Part 2
To be the effective team leader, the better interaction is needed to be take into
consideration for the better handling of the various operations in the company. The effective face
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to face meetings are needed to be taken into a group for the effective management of the various
operations and solving of any sort of issue or conflict in the company (Heifetz and Linsky,
2017). This will also lead to the effective negotiation process and had lead to the better listening
and understanding of the various operations. Many team or group member acted as the bystander
and were not on any conclusion regarding the actions. As a leader, I listen and gave my opinion
on the various beliefs and ideas of the team member related to a project. I will look after the
effective motivation and will showcase my interest in the project that will help me to handler the
various operations and meeting of the effective management of the various operational
requirements. I get the chance to influence my co workers and helped me in the effective
handling of the various operations that will help in the better management of the various
operations in the organisation related to the project (Fairhurst and Connaughton, 2014). To fulfil
the above discussed goals, I would take into consideration the effective handling of the various
operations that help in the better management of the various operations and needed to be handled
in a very effective way, to meet the requirements of the company. I will follow the various
operations that will help me to improve my skills and help me to gain a better share of ideas to
meet the requirements of the project and the company. I will also look after the effective
management of the bystanders by motivating them to perform, so that they can give their part in
the completion of the project in a very effective way. While handling this operation, there were
many situations where the conflict arise In this case, I used my effective communication and
negotiation skills that will help in the better management of the various operations in company to
fulfil a project (Renz and Herman, 2016).
PART 3
Besides this, I also looked after the effective management of the various motivational
measures and adaption of different motivational theories to encourage and improve the
confidence level of the individual team members in the company. I would use my interactive and
better communication skills to get the ideas of the efficiency, interest and capabilities of the
individual, and hoe to utilise them in an effective and significant manner to get the various
operations of the project effectively managed. This will help in the better management of the
various parts and operation of the project and its completion as a team. I get the effective chance
to improve my negotiation skills to achieve my set goals (DuBrin, 2015.). Besides this, I also
improved my influence skills. For example, While working on the project, I get the chance to
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interact with the group members who were acting as the bystander. I influenced them to get the
done the work allotted to them. Besides this, I used by influence in the rectification of many
conflicts in the team. I also used the effective online communication approach to get the work
done. After the discussion from the team members, I can say that I fulfilled my above goals to a
greater extent. And this has helped me to increase my goals to be an effective mentor and a good
and motivating leader (Johnston and Marshall, 2016).
CONCLUSION
Thus, from the essay it can be concluded that the better management of the various
operations is needed to be taken into effective consideration to meet the project requirements and
develop the leadership traits. The effective handling of the various operations helps in the better
management an enhancement of the leadership traits and having a better communication with the
various team members to get the work done in the project.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Bolman, L.G. and Deal, T.E., 2017. Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership.
John Wiley & Sons.
Northouse, P.G., 2018. Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
Goleman, D., 2017. Leadership That Gets Results (Harvard Business Review Classics). Harvard
Business Press.
Ward, J., 2016. Keeping the family business healthy: How to plan for continuing growth,
profitability, and family leadership. Springer.
Antonakis, J. and Day, D.V. eds., 2017. The nature of leadership. Sage publications.
Heifetz, R. and Linsky, M., 2017. Leadership on the Line, With a New Preface: Staying Alive
Through the Dangers of Change. Harvard Business Press.
Fairhurst, G.T. and Connaughton, S.L., 2014. Leadership: A communicative
perspective. Leadership. 10(1). pp.7-35.
Renz, D.O. and Herman, R.D. eds., 2016. The Jossey-Bass handbook of nonprofit leadership and
management. John Wiley & Sons.
DuBrin, A.J., 2015. Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills. Nelson Education.
Johnston, M.W. and Marshall, G.W., 2016. Sales force management: Leadership, innovation,
technology. Routledge.
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