Nurs490assignm4week5

Leadership is simply the art of inspiring a group of persons towards the achievement of common goals (Grint et al., 2016). Nevertheless, whereas this definition captures the critical elements of exhibiting the ability to inspire and motivate others, there are many meanings, styles, and forms of leadership. Different leadership styles and approaches call for particular methodologies and skills. During the leadership course, I have learned many aspects that underpin leadership including what I can do to become an effective leader. The purpose of this essay is to provide a critical reflection of the leadership course, what I have learned about my leadership position, strengths and weaknesses and where I want to be as a leader.

Leadership Approach

To better understand my position as a leader, I opt for a style approach to focus on a transformational style of leadership (Mathew and Gupta, 2015). During the course, I learned several aspects pertaining to transformational leadership. I realized that I am a leader through a number of occasions including sports, church service and in my daily association with my friends. In most cases, I would find myself leading others to meet particular objectives of any occasion. In the church, I was appointed to lead youths in a church seminar that was happening in my community’s area of worship. During an athlete’s tournament in my college, the sports head gave me the responsibility to organize and administer first aid to athletes from my college. But even what made me believe that I am a leader by default was my position in a group of friends. When confronted by challenges, I have always found myself articulating the problem before leading my friends into the right course of action. Moreover, I have always been able to inspire others in my circles through my ability for self-management. According to the author, a transformational leader is adaptable, inspirational and entertains new ideas, whereas this forms a critical part of who I am, I certainly believe that I am to become a great transformational leader.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Every coin has two sides and so are our innate forms. I have great leadership capabilities most of which center on four main elements of transformational leadership that include intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, idealized influence and inspirational (Alkahtani, 2015). I discovered these during the course and interactions in various instances. In championing my transformational leadership style, there are several strengths that I cherish. First, I know how to keep my ego in check. It means that if put in a position of power, I would keep my ego under control and prevent it from interfering with the best interests of those I serve. Secondly, I have demonstrated the ability to take risks on various occasions in college and in my community. Therefore, I trust my instincts and can use collective intelligence to make informed decisions. Thirdly, I have developed the ability to make difficult questions by always having a clear focus on the vision, values goals and objectives. Lastly, I have become more proactive and adaptable, which makes me have the ability to anticipate challenges and develop a means of overcoming them. I also have several weaknesses that include agitation by something that does not add up to my senses. For instance, I once collided with a friend over some unattended group work tasks. I felt disappointed, confronted him and in the following sessions, I felt agitated each time I was to attend the same group work with the friend. From this, I learned that I have a weakness tolerating underperformance, which may negatively influence my leadership performance. My other weakness is that I overwork myself. If I could be a leader, I think that I could exhaust myself and which may interfere with effective leadership.

Leadership Plan

To become an effective transformative leader, the plan should begin by first assessing who I am, my personality, skills, strengths, and weaknesses. Building on the self-assessment results, I can then plan a transformational leadership development path. The plan should encompass the four elements of transformational leadership that include intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, idealized influence and inspirational (Alkahtani, 2015). First, I will promote intellectual stimulation by always allowing others to participate in finding solutions to problems. Secondly, the individualized role should embody the customization of learning opportunities for my followers’ desires and needs. Thirdly, on idealize influence, I will always set examples that others can follow. Lastly, on inspirational motivation, I should always involve teams in the planning process through clear communication of expectations and goals.

Summary

Throughout the course and my experience, I have discovered that I am more of a transformational leader compared to other approaches. I have been able to discover several strengths that I can apply in advancing my leadership dream and also the weaknesses that I can work on to enhance my effectiveness as a leader. Moreover, to promote my transformational leadership, having a plan focused on intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, idealized influence and inspirational is critical.

References

Alkahtani, A. H. (2015). The influence of leadership styles on organizational commitment: The moderating effect of emotional intelligence. Business and Management Studies, 2(1), 23-34.

Grint, K., Jones, O. S., Holt, C., & Storey, J. (2016). What is leadership. The Routledge companion to leadership, 3.

Mathew, M., & Gupta, K. S. (2015). Transformational leadership: Emotional intelligence. SCMS Journal of Indian Management, 12(2), 75.