Presenting Yourself as a Global Leader

Executive summary

The traditional leadership styles are continuously changing with the adoption of globalization. This is because convergence is all over whereby the competitors are the customers, suppliers and the industry in general. This means that new development strategies are required to be able to cope in the dynamic world as well as in future. In this report, it will discuss some of the leadership concerns on the basis of the global trends which require some leadership attention.

The report will also discuss emerging theories that are applicable in the global changing world. This will then be followed by a discussion on the kind of responsibilities that the leaders have towards coping with competition in the workplace, complexity as well as diversity in the organization. The report will further provide a personal plan on development of proper leadership skills. Under this, it will outline some of the personal development goals. This will be followed by a summary of the relevant steps to be taken to accomplish the goals. An evaluation on how to check for progress in each step will be established. The report will end with a summary regarding how the plan will facilitate personal growth as a leader as well as the growth of others.

Introduction

Leadership has been in place and also undergoing changes based on the changes happening in outside world. With increased globalization, there is the need for leaders to acquire some global competencies. The current workplace is demanding for some emergent practices and there are expectations for digital competencies. In order to survive as a leader, it would be necessary to have a sense of learning and continuous improvement.

In order to create a professional knowledge sharing connection, it requires a kind of trust which will be developed over time and facilitated very effective leadership roles (Cameron & Green, 2008). Therefore, to succeed in the industry, it will be necessary for a leader to set reasonable and measurable goals through focusing on trust, knowledge and credibility together with being updated on changes in global trend affecting leadership roles.

Global leadership concerns for the future

To be a high performance organization, it is necessary to tackle challenges of leadership development with a combined broad thinking. There are quite a number of trends that are linked with leadership. Globalization is the first trend as it is the new business world. This thus requires personnel thinking globally. The trend towards having connected markets will be much stronger. This is because the leaders will be required to understand the cultural, legal, economic, cultural as well as political ramifications (Rothstein & Burke, 2010). Therefore, leaders will be required to see themselves as citizens of the world with expanded field of vision. Leaders will be required to have knowledge on how to effectively manage global production, the global marketing as well as sales team to have a competitive advantage.

Another crucial trend is development of a technological savvy. Information as well as communication systems will be the backbone of all the global enterprises. In actual sense, in future, the organizations capable of finding as well developing the right people who are equipped with proper technological equipment will definitely have an advantage over the other organizations who lag behind mainly in the development of human as well as technological resources.

Most of the executives are supposed to be responsible for information technology systems and thus should understand strategic application of technology and thus lead the organization in using it (Mendenhall & Osland, 2012). Another trend is mainly the shift towards defining leaders by their influence and not their role. The high performing organizations currently define leaders mainly not by their positions at the organization chart but by the degree of their influence as well as performance. The kind of influence that the leaders have will determine the capability of being referred to as a global leader.

Emerging leadership theory

One of the emerging theories that deem applicable for global trends is the situational theory. This theory suggests that with different situation, it will require different styles of leadership. This means that for a leader to be effective, he should have the ability of adapting as well as adjusting their style to circumstances of the situation. Some of the basic factors that will determine what to adapt to different situations are the competence as well as commitment of the leader’s followers.

Assessment of these factors will thus determine whether the leader will use either a directive or a supportive style (Fernando, 2007). This theory is chosen based on its nature of flexibility with precision. To be able to compete globally a leader needs to develop a variety of competencies. This theory is effective as a leader can influence a variety of groups, through first recognizing various abilities of the followers and thus tailoring the style.

Another significant emerging theory is the transformational theory which states that leadership is a process by which an individual engages with others and thus is able to establish a connection which will result in an increased motivation as well as morality both in the leaders and the followers. The main aspect in this theory is that a leader is supposed to be attentive to the needs of the followers and thus also finding ways of motivating the followers with the attempt of making them reach maximum potential (Winkler, 2010). This theory is significant in the global sense and it provides advantage of exponential results which is characterized by increased group commitment through using shared values, respect together with charisma to reach certain goals.

Self-preparation as a leader

Self-directed leadership preparation is quite significant for a competitive, complex as well as a diverse workplace. In a competitive workplace, the outcome will be increased productivity as well as efficiency (Hallinger, 2003). A leader will need to operate well in a complex workplace through proper adapting to a complex workplace by trying to uncover any complications and finding ways to solve them depending on the circumstance finally, it is crucial to self-direct oneself as a leader in a diverse workplace as the leader will capitalize all the strengths of every employee and thus make the best out of them.

Organizations are operating in a continuously changing global environment which faces sustained challenges like high costs as well as low margins. Therefore, the competitive advantage of the organization will be determined by the leader’s capability to bring out the competitiveness of the people. The highly skilled employees will provide a competitive advantage and thus influence survival as well as growth. There is a significant culture that is generated by the competitive behavior which is beneficial to the organization.

Today’s workplace requires emergent practices so as to keep up despite the little time that is provided to be developed (Daft, 2007). Mostly, the current models for managing people as well as supporting the knowledge sharing are quite ineffective. It is thus essential for a leader to have proper skills to fit and nurture a complex workforce. In the organization, it will be normal to find that there are workers of different race, ethnic group, age, gender, organization function, personality and even the individual cognitive style. Therefore, knowing how well to cope and work with these differences is a crucial aspect of the leader.

Leadership development plan

There are quite a number of goals that I target to improve which all revolve around sharpening personal development skills which will make me a good and more effective leader now and in the future. As a leader, I am open to change and am willing to grow a lot both as an individual as well as an authority figure. The first significant objective thus is to improve my interpersonal skills. I understand that the colleagues and even employees need to feel comfortable when they decide to come to me with any problems (Pennington & Hoekje, 2010).

Therefore, this might require me to take time and get to know their opinions and listen carefully to everyone’s viewpoint which is an act of respecting them. Therefore, this goal requires having good listening skills. I would want to learn to pay attention as well as demonstrate to others that value is placed on what they have to say.

Another development goal is strategic thinking whereby I intend to build my ability of seeing the big picture. I intend to learn to always step back from day-to-day tactical details of the organization and focus mainly on reasons behind those happenings. In general, it is also my goal to increase my knowledge as a leader (Mobley & Wang, 2012). To be an effective leader, I am aware that I should never stop learning. I would want to increase my knowledge on how to better run an organization, how to cooperate and accommodate different character from team members and definitely how to become a knowledgeable leader.

Another developmental goal that I want to achieve is leadership presence. In this goal I want to improve the ability of making commands when necessary and get the right attention. I should also be able to communicate in an authentic way for the purpose of inspiring others. This therefore means that I will need to have proper communication skills and show a sense of care to the team members (Sternbergh & Weitzel, 2011). The final goal is that I want to achieve change leadership. By this, I would want to be more of a change catalyst and be able to accept change as well as easily implement change. I would therefore want to learn how best to implement and also manage to sustain change within the organization.

Steps to accomplish the goals

Step 1-Believe in myself

The first thing involves believing in myself as well as the ability of achieving so many things in my life. I hold that believing in my capability is mainly the key to everything that I might start. If I become a leader in any position, I need to not only love what is involved but believe that it will in fact work. I believe that with the best foundation that I have with leadership skills and the knowledge on how to be a better global leader; I am capable of achieving all the goals.

Step 2- Determining the best leadership style applicable in the institution

I intend to learn different leadership styles and get to know the application of these styles in different organizations as well as different departments. After learning this, I will be able to know the kind of skills I have to be a better leader now and mostly in the future (Daft, 2007).

Step 3- Identification of the current as well as potential leaders that are within institutions of reach.

This identification will be characterized by getting to know what makes them effective leaders. Together with the common knowledge on the best leadership skills and roles, I intend to examine some of the distinguishing characters that they have which have contributed to making them successful (Stagich, 2001). They should definitely be having some unique features which I seek to look out for and adapt some of them. Identifying them also means that I will seek to interact with them more often get some advice on how they do it and also get some tips on how to become a better leader.

Step 4- Identification of leadership gaps

This step involves establishing some of the current as well as future requirements of leaders which need to be addressed. I will therefore compare the requirements with the current leadership existing and come up with a way of implementing the required changes. In case there are gaps in terms of skills, it would be significant to get to know to fill those gaps (Fairholm, 2003).

Step 5- Striving, continuous fight and staying positive

I understand that attainment of my goals will not just happen overnight and that they will most definitely not happen if I don’t work on them. I should be ready to overcome any obstacles that fall in my way before finally reaching the desired goal (Hames, 2007). I need to always stay positive and continue encouraging myself that I will achieve the desired goal even when there is no hope.

Step 6- Attending seminars

There are seminars which involve teachings on proper leadership styles and practices. I intend to go to about two of such seminars and get theoretical foundation on what is required to make a brilliant leader. From the seminars, I expect to develop stronger interpersonal skills and get tactics on how to increase leadership presence.

Step 7- Training programs

After following all these steps which will mostly involve observation and getting knowledge on what is appropriate. The training program will involve leadership programs being taught and I should become a better leader in terms of creating mind ability. I want to be able to improve my cognitive skills and learn how to adapt my leadership skills better depending on the situation. My desire in this step is to have the ability of enhancing change in my institution and getting my followers into accepting it (Hallinger, 2003).

Step 8- Application of learned leadership skills

Having attained all that knowledge from observation, survey, seminar and training programs I will practice leadership in a real institution or a program. This is to make sure that all the theoretical information can fit well in the real world. This step should help me in building my leadership skills in an applicable way and should improve my interpersonal skills.

Evaluation of progress

In the first step, I will determine my belief based on how I perceive my current ability to address leadership issues. In the second step, I should be able to establish the kind of leadership style that fits in a certain organization and situation to know my progress. In the third step, I should be able to establish my progress through easily adopting the skills portrayed by other leaders. In the fourth step, I should be able to realize a gap in an institution that requires leadership attention. In the fifth step, I need to have known how to get through some leadership challenges without giving up (Mobley & Wang, 2012). In the sixth step, I will know that I am progressing if I can easily relate the teachings with leadership. In the seventh step, I will measure my progress though the good performance in all activities in the program and should have new skills derived from it. In the last step, if at all I could apply all the knowledge that I have into a real institution in leadership I will have attained all my goals.

Application of goals on personal growth

As a leader, I want to be effective when it comes to thinking globally and thus adapting to the global trends which require transformation in leadership. With proper attainment of the developmental goals, I should be able to appreciate cultural diversity in the organization. As a supposed future leader, I have a responsibility of appreciating cultural diversity through having an understanding on not just the economic but also the legal differences, together with social and motivational differences (Hames, 2007). I understand that ability of motivating people in a variety of cultures is quite important and thus the achievement of the goals will enable me to have a clear differentiation on the motivational strategies which are effective for a certain culture and offensive for another one. As a leader, I should be able to understand, appreciate as well as motivate colleagues in a variety of cultures to be termed as a valued resource.

The goals will also require me to have a full understanding on the technology world having been brought up with the notion as an integral part of my life. Being able to understand the intelligence help associated with technology and how that helps us will be a good start. I should also be able to recruit, maintain as well as develop a network of competent people technologically. Another aspect that I target to attain is the capability of sharing leadership. I understand that sharing leadership is a requirement as a leader as I will not be the sole decision maker in the team (Fairholm, 2003). Therefore, I need to learn to develop a social architecture which will facilitate a bright as well as confident people to successfully work together and thus also exercise own creativity. To better operate in future, I will be required to operate in a way that requires me to ask for input and also sharing information.

The fulfillment of the goals will also help in gaining a strategic perspective. As a leader, I will be able come up with proper estimations and be in a better position to anticipate for the market as well as economic trends. Another aspect that will be enhanced is mainly customer focus as well as understanding (Stagich, 2001). Through being a global leader, I will be in a good position to understand the needs, concerns as well as problems of the customers. Another aspect that will experience growth is the ability of spotting trends in the industry and being able to connect dots. Being able to know what to do to fit well in the future could be a significant aspect of growth and will also facilitate growth in the organization.

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