Any effective leader ought to plan for his or her success. A plan consists of career improvement plan and personal growth plan (Bateman & Snell, 2015). In this essay, I attempt to outline my personal weaknesses and strengths as leader, discover some of the areas required for improvement and detect leadership practices and skills that I will apply to become an effective leader. The paper also highlights some of the goals that I consider to be a priority as well as a timeline set for this development. The concluding result will be the whole leadership development plan that I will use for future references.
Strengths
A good leader is one who is able to understand his strengths properly to provide good leadership (Mumford, Campion & Morgeson, 2007). Based on this, I can identify some of the areas that I feel my strengths lie. For example, I have good organizational skills. Organization is a major feature of being a good leader. I normally find it easy to handle some of the given tasks without any coercion. This gives a clear guideline on what tasks are supposed to be completed in a day and in which way. The staffs working under me are proud of my guidance and direction towards service delivery. I always provide clear procedures on everyday tasks that are supposed to be done. This comprise giving the agendas for the meeting, individual goals as well as follow up emails. This kind of organization helps to align tasks and goals together (Bateman & Snell, 2015). Notably, workers usually respond suitably when working with a leader that offers clear guidelines. This ranges from giving meeting schedules to giving a follow up note that ties all the information together.
Possessing perfectly organized materials helps other staff to work towards the common goal (Dearborn, 2002). I intend to work with junior employees to formulate and attain their personal goals. Some of the other strengths that I exhibit comprise: I am very creative, visionary, confident, caring, effective planner, possessing the capability to manage any resource given, committed, structured and considerate. Being structured permits me to set strictures that as a team will work to attain the overall goals of the company. Structure helps to create ties as well as sense of cohesiveness in the place of work (Mumford, Campion & Morgeson, 2007). This kind of teamwork shall be essential for the organization’s success. As workers of the company, we can all work towards common goals if clear goals are highlighted for each employee.
Combining all these skills shall permit me to have followers who are skilled, committed and willing to embark on the journey to attain the firm’s goals. This shall encompass utilizing resources management skills effectually. This merely entails totally using the resources I have in an efficient and effective manner. Everyone has something to offer and I as a leader I ought to embrace these diversities so that all my followers’ sense that they are always treasured. These positive attributes shall increase the job relationship that I have with my support staffs since they will develop confidence in my skills and abilities.
Weaknesses
In may daily activities and programs, I was able to find some of my weaknesses. Being able to identify and acknowledge my weaknesses serves to make me a better leader. I have an opportunity to see some of the areas where work is needed to lead effectively. Some of the areas that I must work to improve include: improving self-confidence, and expanding management skills.
My lack of self-confidence is due to the feeling of inadequacy in certain areas. The feeling that others have more education or training as compared to mine leads to a feeling of nervousness which in long run displays low self-esteem. This predetermined thinking that some people are superior could also be the reason behind why I tend to be so focused on tasks.
An effective leader ought to outline some of the areas that need an improvement (Mumford, Campion & Morgeson, 2007). This will permit me to work to improve on my skills so that I can effectively lead. I have managed to identify many areas where there is need for improvement. Some of the areas include: confidence, improving technical competence, and communication skills. Effective communication is critical because of the dissemination of information to the subordinates.
Areas of growth
Share opinions and thoughts freely; be able to freely advocate for what is right without fear of contradiction Mumford et al., 2000). Communication skills need to be improved, as such, irrespective of the communication methods, the information needs to be well thought-out and clear in an effort to reduce confusion and to make sure that all group members are on the same page. This just means that I must be able to step out of my comfort zone to reinforce some of these skills.
How do I Manage or Lead?
The styles of leadership that I regularly use include: coaching, democratic and affiliative. In most cases I tend to cautiously analyze circumstances collect input from other people before making choices. Like the leadership style of John Seifert, the CEO of The Ogilvy Group, my style leans on collaborative leadership as compared to competitive. Seifert states in Forbes that “I lead by setting direction, motivating people around a set of principles and stepping back to let them do their best work,” (Reiss, 2018). Although Collaborative leadership enables me to be a great team player, the challenge is that I tend to spend a lot of time on collaboration when making personal decision could be the best alternative. The overdoing of collaboration as well as consensual decision making at some point represents the desire to minimize risk by disseminating for a decision. This is in line with the online information that I received from Timothy Donald Cook concerning the role shifting and flexibility to balance different kinds of leadership.
Leadership Goal(s)
Improve interpersonal skills. As a good leader, I will focus on having people skills. This will help my colleagues and subordinates to feel comfortable approaching me with any problems they experience, without being afraid or intimidated of my reaction. Being able to take more time to ask the views of my colleagues and listening attentively to the opinions of every person (Avolio, 1999) also indicates that I hold them at high esteem. Some of my colleagues similarly
