Robert Gordon University: Strategic Leadership Portfolio Coursework

This report, submitted as part of the Strategic Leadership module (BSM538) at Robert Gordon University, analyzes the student's past leadership experiences and reflects on how these experiences, combined with the module's learning, will shape their future leadership approach. The report focuses on three distinct workplace scenarios, detailing the challenges faced in each and the leadership styles employed, including transformational, transactional, and participative leadership. It explores the application of leadership theories in practice, such as the importance of team building, communication, and employee motivation. The student reflects on the effectiveness of their actions and identifies areas for improvement, outlining future strategies based on theories like situational leadership and the Leadership Participation Inventory. The report also emphasizes the significance of role modeling, inspiration, facing adversity, empowerment, and generating enthusiasm within a team, including the use of Social Exchange Theory. The overall goal is to develop a comprehensive understanding of strategic leadership and a personalized leadership development plan.

Running head: STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
Strategic Leadership
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

2STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
Past experiences of leadership
The three different experiences that took place in my workplace have taught me the
different ways in which one must be able to take control of the situations. Self-reflection is one
of the best ways in which one will always be able to understand the different areas of strength
and weakness that are present and also formulate the future strategies to overcome the areas of
weakness as well. The first experience took place when I was in charge of a sales team in my
organization. In the initial time, the team was performing well and all the members were able to
carry on with their tasks in a proper manner. They were also very happy with me as they could
rely on me for getting any kind of help. However as days went by, I realized that there are some
issues in the team as employees were not able to get the collaboration or the unity that is needed.
There was a lack of proper understanding and also the clash of opinion. This was because many
new employees were recruited who did not have proper knowledge about the assignments or how
the company projects must be done. As marketing and sales are a very dynamic area, it is
essential for all the employees to be updated and also be able to develop all the new kinds of
skills including communication and interpersonal skills. Many employees were from the non-
English speaking background and they had many problems in understanding the group meetings,
business discussions, and many other such works. However, this was creating a huge issue
because the already existing members refused to help them out. The tenure employees had
brilliant knowledge in the field of computer handling, communication skills, and others.
However, they were able to understand the task and also complete it easily.
However, I have been influenced by the transformational leadership theory in this
aspect. This is a transformational leader is one who inspires all his followers by the means of his
flexible and charismatic nature (Berkovich 2016). I realized that this cannot go on as I have to

3STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
develop a team bonding and a proper unity among the team. I arranged for some regular personal
sessions like the one to one sessions and also the group discussion session where I carried on
some inter-team interactions and asked them to understand that they have to cooperate and help
each other.
A sound team is one that exists on a mutual understanding and cooperation.
I arranged for some English communication classes and also cross-cultural training sessions so
that the team members can understand the social and linguistic differences' of every individual. I
also hired external trainers so that they could train these employees on how to embrace the cross-
cultural differences.
I developed a horizontal communication system instead of the top-down approach that
was existing in the company. This has been very helpful as this taught the employees that they
can reach out to their leader whenever in need.
A horizontal communication system helps develop a freely moving two-way communication
system. This has helped a lot in removing all the confusions and the employed were able to
communicate with each other in a free and also open manner. I have been able to set a proper
example in front of all my employees by making them understand that they have to cooperate so
that they can overcome all the different conflicts that are arising in the team.
The next experience took place when I was working as an assistant operations manager. I
was in charge of taking care of the company operations and to see if employees are well fitted in
the ongoing business system. However, later on, I realized that the employee attrition rate was
increasing very much. This is mainly because the employees were unhappy with some aspects of
the existing operations of the organization. I was trying my best to solve this problem. Being one

4STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
of ten company leaders I realized that I have some duties or responsibilities towards my
followers and they need my support. I arranged a group discussion session and also one to one
sessions with all so that I can understand the different issues that they are facing. Safer taking
with them I realized that they were not receiving any rewards or any kind of recognition for the
constant hard work that they are giving. Many employees have not even received any proper
increase in their pay scales. This is naturally making them frustrated and they are resigning.
However, I realized that transactional leadership theory must be used here. As per this theory,
a leader has to adequately reward and also punish his followers (as they deserve) so that they can
get the motivation and also the lesson respectively. As a leader, he must ensure that he is
motivating his employees by giving different rewards like the extra monetary benefit,
complimentary off and others. I took this issue to the management and also the head operations
manager and highlighted the cause behind this increased rate of employee attrition. However,
this issue was taken seriously and they revised the salary slabs for all the employees based on
their performance and also their areas of expertise. Apart from this, I also suggested that there
must be some regular appreciation mails or bonuses given to the employees so that they can get
the needed motivation and can stay within a similar company rather than thinking about a switch.
Therefore the transactional leadership theory has been of great help in this aspect.
The other experience I had was during ongoing project work in my workplace. I was in
charge of a team project that would be delivered in front of some foreign clients. I was in charge
of the team ad in the initial phase the work was going on properly. However, after a week, there
were many errors in the deliverables. This was because the business decisions were not properly
being delivered to people of all the departments. This was a team of 20 people and only 10 of

5STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
them were the ones to take all initiatives and to the rest were just left out. I waited to analyze the
scenario and the situation was just worsening day by day. It is for this reason that I used the
participative leadership theory. Participative leadership theories suggest that the ideal
leadership style is one that takes the input of others into account (Grill et al. 2017 p.378). I
develop an open communication system or the horizontal communication system and made
everyone take part in the conversation so that everyone can give in their opinion in the decision-
making process and nobody is feeling left out.
Different leadership behavior in the future
I have realized from the first example that in the future, I will be using the situational
leadership theory right from the beginning. This will help me to adjust my abilities as per the
need of the situation. For an instance in the future, when I realized that the old and the existing
employees were not helping r cooperating with the new one, then I will be changing my
leadership style from democratic to authoritarian. This will help me to create a proper discipline
and also a proper mutual understanding among all the different employees. In the future, I will be
following the Leadership Participation Inventory theory by
James Kouze and Barry Posner. This is an essential theory because by following this, a leader
can make his followers observe the good qualities that are present within their leaders.

6STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
Role model
A leader must be developing himself or herself into a role model so that all the followers
can look upon them (Wang et al. 2019 p.20). A role model is one, who will be practicing the
similar aspects that he preaches. It is for this reason that all the followers will be able to look
over to their role models for any kind of guidance that they need shortly. I will always try to find
out the weakness that is present within me and keep them open in front of all the followers. As
per my perception, a role model is one who can honestly confess all the strengths and the
weaknesses that are present within him or her
Inspiration
Followers need to feel encouraged or motivated to be able to follow the principles that
are being taught by their leaders (Kouzes and Posner 2018). Unless the followers feel motivated
they will never be able to feel the urge to listen to the different suggestions that are being given
by the leaders (Mayfield and Mayfield 2018 p.80). I will always endure all the different
challenges that a coming in my way so that I can develop a kind of inspiration within all the
followers or the employees so that they can understand the rights and wrongs of their actions. I
will also take all the responsibilities of the different actions that I entitled to my followers. In
other words, I will never leave them without any support. If in future I face this kind of situation
where there is a huge team conflict, I will ensure that all the employees are getting proper
support from me. I will also develop some on job training or skill development training for them
so that they can get the proper domain support and can solve all their issues.

7STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
Facing Adversity
Courage must always be present within a good leader so that he or she can face all the
challenges that are coming in their way (Kouzes and Posner 2018). Courage is the hallmark of a
good leader. It is for this reason that a good leader must never back step while some challenges
are coming in their way. In the future, if I ever face any challenges I will always try to face them
with courage and also maintain my confidence. This will also set a proper example in front of all
my followers and they will also be able to use the same shortly.
Empowerment
A good leader is one who will always empower his or her followers. This is because to
set a proper example, the leader has to earn the trust of the employees so that they can follow his
footsteps( Kouzes and Posner 2016). To ensure that I can make my followers trust in me, I will
always try to empower them by following different measures. Some of them will be making
them a part of the business decision making process by developing the horizontal communication
system so that they can openly give their views, arranging for proper reward and recognition
system to empower them at all the aspects.
Generated Enthusiasm
An ideal leader is one who can create a passion within their followers. All the employees
must have proper dedication and also passion in themselves so that they can work properly.

8STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
Social Exchange Theory in the Workplace must be used to ensure that there is an employee-
friendly and proper organizational culture being followed in the organization (Cropanzano et al.
2017 p.479). In the future, if I feel that employees are suffering from a lack of motivation or a
proper reward and recognition system then I will be using this social exchange theory so that I
can understand, analyze and also amend employee behavior. In other words, I will always try to
ensure that rewards and recognition are always present within the workplace operational system
so that none of the employees are feeling neglected or left out. Proper rewards must be given to
the employees so that they can
Reflective statement
As a future leader, I want to ensure that I can support all my colleagues at every single
time. In other words, I will always try to set proper examples in front of my team members by
giving them the right advice. In other words, if there are team conflicts I will always follow and
unbiased mindset and help to solve the conflict in a proper way. Cross-cultural competence is
one of the most important aspects that must be present among all the leaders in the modern-day
scenario (Wesołowska et al. 2019 p.149). This is because to work in a global business
environment it is expected that all the leaders will be able to give equal rights to all their
employees so that there is proper team cohesion. To ensure this, I will be focussing on my
cultural competence. I want to make a positive contribution to my team and the industry as a
whole shortly. I want to work with more employees from the overseas region so that I can get
proper business intelligence and also some very innovative business ideas from these employees.
This will help me to improve the overall production of the organization. I want to make some
contribution towards employee development as well. This is because as a leader I will always try

9STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
to train my followers in such a way that they can go to other higher positions shortly and are also
able to help others that are behind them. I will always be focussing on the development of my
emotional intelligence so that I am aware of my emotions and can also keep proper control to
solve the same.
As I am often unable to manage myself under huge work pressure I tend to lose my calm
and suffer from anger issues. This often makes some burst out in anger over my team members.
However, this is not right because I have to keep patience and develop stress management ability
in the long run. To make some positive and useful contributions to my work shortly, I will
always have to maintain my calm even during stressful situations. It is for the welfare of my
personal development and also for the overall welfare of my colleagues that I will be following
some recommendation like -
 Taking short breaks in between so that I can work with a refreshed mindset.
 I will always follow the participative leadership approach by developing a horizontal
communication system. This will ensure that all the team members are capable of
expressing their views and business ideas and can reach out to their leaders whenever
there is a need without any kind of hesitation.
 I will follow a transformational leadership approach so that I can create a change by
inspiring all my team members.

10STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
A 5-year personal development plan
Areas of
development
Needed
resources
Actions to be
implemented
Desired output time
Decision-making
skill
Decision making
skill
development
books, online
tutorials,
maintaining
proper feedback
from peers,
colleagues, and
relatives, and
others
I will develop
my self-
confidence and
move forward in
a step by step
manner so that I
can take
decisions at the
right time
without any
issues
This will help
me to focus on
my leadership
skills.
My followers
will be able to
vest their faith
within me
knowing that I
will make the
right decision at
the right time
Year 2020-year
2021
Team working
spirit
I will undertake
a thorough
reading of the
team
management
skills from the
books, journals.
I will develop a
horizontal
communication
system so that
there is no
communication
error or any kind
This will enable
me to take care
of the needs and
demands of all
the members of
the team coming
from different
Year 2021-year
2022

11STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
Articles online
course materials
and others.
Apart from this,
I will also take
the regular
feedbacks from
colleagues,
family members
and also from
peers.
of hesitations
existing in the
team. Apart
from this, I will
also ensure that
that there are
interdepartmenta
l meetings so
that none of the
employees are
missing out the
chance of giving
their own
opinions
cultural or social
backgrounds.
This is important
because to work
in a proper team,
I will have to
ensure that there
are proper
bonding and
understanding
among all the
members of the
team
Responsibility I will move
forward in a step
by step manner
so that there is
no mistake and I
will always take
feedback from
seniors and co-
workers
I will always try
to deliver the
work within time
so that there is
no compromise
with the
deadlines
This will help
me to set a
proper example
in front of all my
team members.
They will learn
how to take up
the
responsibility of
Year 2022-year
2023

12STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
their tasks
Stress
management
Stress
management
classes,
meditation
classes
I will always try
to take short
breaks in
between the long
duration of
works so that I
can get a proper
refreshment and
can cope up with
the huge stress
This will help
me to focus on
multi-tasking
and then be able
to ensure that
can help out all
my followers at
the right point of
time.
Year 2023-year
024
Domain skill I will have to
undertake an
extensive study
of business
management and
marketing
systems so that I
can help out my
followers
whenever they
are in need.
I will be
studying all the
past and the
modern trends
that are
occurring in the
field of retail
marketing and
business
administration.
This will help e
to stay updated
This will ensure
that I can
support all my
followers in
times of need.
However, I will
never portray
any false
qualities about
myself but will
always try to
ensure that I can
Year 2024-year
2025