In order to improve company’s performance, the respective leadership style is to be adopted. From this perspective, it is crucial to understand who leaders are and what their roles are in terms of enforcing change and maintaining an effective functioning of a company. It is important to understand that today the processes of decision-making and communication is often carried out by a group of individuals. The tendency to carry out changes without a visible leader is observed not only within the sphere of organizational change, but also in the field of social movements. For example, in matrix organizational structure employees are divided in the teams of specialists and set of divisions within the organization are horizontal However, the roles of leaders in companies is still very significant, especially in those companies that are characterized by a big size. Therefore, it is important to acquire a better understanding of the skills that I posses as a leader and how these skills increase or, on the contrary, decrease my leadership potential.
The analysis of my leadership skills showed that I am an authoritative delegative leader. Early approaches to leadership stressed the importance of a strong authoritative leader. It was common to think that authoritative leadership skills positively correlate with efficiency. Yet, there has been a shift in the way that leadership is understood among scholars. Today scholars emphasize that the highest effectiveness of a company is achieved in case a leader within it is able to influence rather than monitor and control. Shaffer (2015) argues that an influential leader is the one who has adopted an effective communication strategy, adheres to company’s vision and mission, and is honest. These are exactly the skills that I would like to develop in order to be able to influence employees. Indeed, authoritative leadership today is rather ineffective, especially among the so called individualist societies. Therefore, it will be helpful to switch to the type of leadership that is more relationship-oriented such as servant leadership.
Use your promo and get a custom paper on
"Leadership Skills Analysis".
Authoritative leadership is rarely associated with employee autonomy. Yet, according to empirical research, employee autonomy significantly increases productivity (Thompson, 2014). This happens as a result of the increase in the employee perceived potential in terms of introducing changes. Employee autonomy thus creates a situation when different perspectives from different categories of employees are taken into account. Employee autonomy, in the meantime, comes as a result of a shift in the way that power is divided and articulated. Therefore, it might be helpful to acquire skills related to introduction of changes to the system of power from vertical to the one that is more horizontal.
Although I have already worked on the development of this skill before, one of the crucial leadership skills in today’s globalized world is the appreciation of diversity. This is one of the biggest challenges of leadership today. Namely, leaders face the problem of differences in religious and cultural values, which creates challenges in terms of leading. When intercultural interaction occurs, a failure to appreciate cultural diversity might lead to conflicts and negatively affect the success of an organization. In a contrast, the promotion of cultural diversity creates a situation when the perspectives of people from different cultural backgrounds are taken into account, which expands the potential of an organization.
I would also want to develop myself as a visionary leader. Leader as a visionary is a leader who seeks for the room for improvement and is never fully satisfied with the status quo. Today given the rising rates of competition, improving company’s effectiveness is one of the main organizational goals, which can be achieved with help of a leader who lives with an eye towards the future. Greiner (1967) argues that the most successful organizations are in the constant process of change in order to raise the level of their effectiveness. In addition to this, an effective leader inspires employee to take part in the process of introducing changes. Namely, the case of Medicaid offices in New York shows that a company benefits if employees are encouraged to share their vision of the company’s future and participate in the work of change teams (Isett, Glied, Sparer & Grown, 2013).
My experience in leadership shows that I need to develop creativity when it comes to the solution of problems. The notion of a leader as a problem-solver has the message that a good leader should solve problems that demand both analytical and creative solutions. To be more precise, some problems are logical and require an analytical approach to their solution. In the meantime, there are problems that should be solved creatively and require an innovative approach. An effective leader thus needs to combine the needed skills in order to solve both types of problems. In addition to this, the notion of a leader as a problem solver has the embedded message that an effective leader should possess the talent of persuading other people that the solutions that he or she offers are the best solutions. It requires a variety of communication skills. In addition to this, leader’s reputation and the influence that he or she has within the company play a big role in terms of proving the ‘credibility’ of decisions offered by a leader.
Summarizing everything stated above, in the globalized capitalist world where the competition is very high, improving company’s potential is the most important goal of an organization, which can foremost be achieved with the help of an effective leader.
