Leadership Self-Reflection Portfolio, Term Paper Example

In my quest for knowledge I have come a long way in establishing diverse strategies of improving myself in matters relating to leadership. I have come to realize that to achieve life long pleasure in all of my surroundings profound leadership is essential. This aspect has played an integral role in molding my perception of evolution as well as development principles in all aspects of my individual and corporate life. Each and every single day provides us with myriads of opportunities for development as well as growth within and around us.

Leadership insights

In this paper I have opted to follow a more formulaic model. The objective of doing so is to develop the best way of conveying my personal reflections on what entails leadership. In essence, there are those leadership aspects which have made me to be a stronger and reliable leader.

Don’t permit prejudices to stop your forward improvement

“Effective leaders make people feel that even the most difficult problems can be tackled productively “(Fullan, 2011). As I indicated in the very introduction, I am a basically a strong willed individual, to some I may appear as a stubborn person. However, considering leadership calls for individuals with focused minds, that’s why I always stand on my ground. Hence, this course has considerably prepared me to see far beyond the barren barriers or obstacles and more learned how to embrace these challenges as they are. As is widely accepted by those people who have had their share of leadership “it is not enough to have the best ideas” but also that “the goal is not to innovate the most.”  These two aspects have in essence become the foremost eye openers to me. I have come to learner how to avoid instances where the problem involved “is not the lack of innovations but the existence of too many detached, intermittent, bit by bit projects with shallow implementation”. Previously I was a victim of this school of thought however, with careful involved and employing clear cut and goal oriented objectives I came to the conclusion have clear insights is the way forward.

By not let my prejudices to restrain ideas, momentum toward the ultimate goal is greater, as is the objective itself. When prejudices limit thinking, the thinking or the concepts suffers for it.

Leadership equals relationship

Prior to this course, I knew that leaders who had made people desire to work with them who were highly successful than those who shunned them. This brought me to think of what Fullan once stated “When the individual soul is connected to the organization, people become connected to something deeper.” However, I did not grasp is how these leaders managed or obtained this trusted and uninterrupted following. In the course of analyzing my leadership concepts I have come to realize how important it is to build health relationships with classmates. These relationships as I have come to realize are crucial in nurturing trust, which in turn, raises concepts as well as collegial work settings. What this illustrates is that relationships do not assume everyone in the organization will get along well all the times. However, they do emphasize on the qualities that define a leader, as well as what assists them to gain trusted following. Hence such phrases as passion, determination, energy, optimism as well as enthusiasm do tend to flood the leadership course. What this indicates is that if we can mold these traits individually, conceivably we can also impart them along to others. And this can be declared to be one of the core abilities of associated with effective leadership. More so, it forms the cornerstone of profound leadership qualities.

Teamwork, not dictation

Being a leader doesn’t translate to dictating or telling others what to do or no not do. Leadership is rather a channel of giving others the tools or the opportunities so they can achieve the prospects in addition to become pacesetters themselves. Therefore, a leader ought to be more of a coach than a dictator, more of a counselor than a manager. As Fullan (2011) observed “Change your approach to strategy and you change the way a company runs.  The leader becomes a context setter, the designer of a learning experience— not an authority figure with solutions.” and this echoes the previous observations that “An organization cannot be improved only from the top.” – Fullan (2011).

Though we tend to seek answers or direction from one person, human psychology suggests that we tend to seek directions from an individual who can provide the best solution to all of our questions. What this shows is that we fear to individually navigate through the questions disturbing us. That’s why a good leader is needed, a leader who can create context instead of formulating all inclusive answers. These opportunities for teamwork I have noted do allow us to create procedures with which to curtail any limitations, and equally putting logical freedom in our hands (Ramsey, 2006)

Technology and leadership

In most instances I find myself seeking numerous technical solutions which can be easily solved from computers or rather the internet. By why? Technology is wonderful if embraced positively. In the course of my leaders training I have come to realize that Fullan was right when he argued “Information is on document as well as in computers.  Knowledge is in citizens.  The technocrats are erroneous in thinking that if only we can give bigger access to more information for more people, we will have it made” (2011). In leadership, to be effective, as an individual I have to learn how to embrace nuance.  A condition seen on paper may possibly be dissimilar than the circumstances that is evolving out in realism. Thus, it is not fair to pay too much interest to the plainly obtainable information alone; as a leader this can make you miss out on the necessary social feature that might bring it each and every one together.  This is risky in that frequently when we depend on issues that are “irrefutable” we fail to spot the chance to refute it.

Is technology a help or a impediment?  This inquiry was not countered in the course, but the leadership course has shown me that not each query has a response; to a certain extent the answers over and over again acquire more questions. And this explains why the aspects of leadership and technology have a tendency of fascinating me.

Divergences can be healthy

The most interesting thing that I have come to note in regard to leadership is that not every person or organization within the system will consider the same issue in the same considerations. Naturally, most people will spend a good portion of their time attempting to evade conflicts. This explains why nations make treaties with their neighbors to avoid wars. However, where do we really draw the line between striding calmly to safeguard the feelings of others and striding too lightly to make onward advancement? This has compelled to think that most of the things I have learned concerning leadership were too trivial and dainty. Everyone seemed to accept everything everyone else said, and questions destined to spur supplementary thought were repeatedly met with ostensibly hurt feelings (Buffum, et al, 2008). Despite my own preposition, perhaps this explains why forced to protect our deportment, we inquire deeper into our comprehension, in addition to looking outward for additional substantiation.  Occasionally, this intellectual spelunking results in noting that we were off-base, at times it serves to reinforce our original positions.  No matter what the result, divergence can be healthy and lets an institute to progress.

As once Anthony Storr noted and quoted by Fullan (2008) “The charisma of certainty is a snare, which entraps the child who is latent in us all.” Whenever I think about leadership, what comes to my mind is a picture of individuals who cause or bring about opportunities for change. And this has compelled to understand that if knowledge is not in anyway shares, then, it is purely wasted. And as a leader, it is pivotal to understand that decisions are like final solutions, that is why any leader must learn how to effect changes in order to move forward,equally,flexibility must be sustaining in order for any anticipate plan or project to be realized.

Conclusion

When it comes to application, I’m a transformed person.  The entire scope of leadership has instilled a new focus in me, where I am now more relaxed and equally ready to let go anything that is on the verge of suppressing my success. And that’s why when I happen to ask questions I am also prepared to listen to others when seeking answers. All in all,i`ve improved ,however, the greatest learning in regard to leadership are learned by living.

References

Buffum, A, et. al. (2008). The Collaborative Administrator. Bloomington: Solution Tree.

Fullan, M. (2008) Change Wars. NY:Solution Tree.

Fullan, M. (2011) Change Leader.NY: Jossey-Bass.

Ramsey, R. (2006). Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way. Thousand Oaks: Corwin.