Application: Leadership Style Inventory
Introduction
Leadership has diverse definitions; there is no single definition that fits all situations. Surveys from global leaders such as Steve Jobs, Mahatma Gandhi, Richard Branson, Martin Luther King and Winston King among others shows that there different ways of leading people (Anderson, 2010). The common leadership styles identify with Transactional leadership style, Autocratic leadership style, Bureaucratic leadership style, Charismatic leadership style, Participative/Democratic, Laissez-Faire Leadership, Task oriented Leadership and Relations/People-Oriented Leadership among others (Kippenberger, 2002).
My Leadership Style
My leadership style is Task-Oriented Leadership, although I sometimes mix a number of leadership styles. Task oriented leadership style only focus at the end results. I’m the kind of persons who clearly define roles and work to the followers; structures are already in place as I’m busy involved in monitoring, planning and organizing work. My workmates argues that I maintain and develop performance standards in the workplaces (Anderson, 2010).
Top management teams in organizations I have worked for have embraced me in meeting deadlines through effective management of time (Kippenberger, 2002). I value less on the importance of teams in the workplace, as I regard the practice as a waste of time; and as a long process of coming up with simple solutions.
Potential Challenges
There is a possibility of my Task-Oriented Leadership resulting to Autocratic leadership. I have faced a number of challenges in retaining employees and motivating employees (Scouller, 2011). Autocratic leadership is an extreme form when reflecting on transactional leadership, in a way that I at times find myself with the extreme powers, while my juniors are left with no power. Team members and the staffs have no opportunities to air their suggestions even if the suggestions are directed for the goodness of the organization.
Majority of people I lead feel that I exercise excessive power on them, which results to resentments. I have realized that my leadership style is characterized with high employee turnover and absenteeism (Kippenberger, 2002). There are situations that my leadership style has resulted exemplary results, especially when dealing with casual laborers that are not educated and in times of crisis; dealing with educated employees has resulted to a number of conflicts. I find myself excising military like method of leadership.
Improvement of my Leadership Style
Improving my leadership effectiveness and competencies will be guided by incorporating Relations/People oriented leadership. I have realized that my major challenge is including people in the decision making processes, I tend to lock people from the decision making processes. Relations/People oriented leadership will enable me to learn on ways of organizing, developing and supporting people in teams (Anderson, 2010).
Relations/People oriented leadership will encourage me to develop participatory approach, where the teams will be subjected to creative collaboration. I will learn to treat all members of the teams equally, without any discrimination. I will do away with my hostility and encourage members of the teams to approach me directly and address to individual needs of the team members as we strengthen the organization. Highly effective teams are willing to endure risks and more productive since the team members are confident that the leader will offer the support (Scouller, 2011).
Conclusion
Different leadership styles are applied in different platforms, there is a need for the leader to exercise due diligence in selecting which type of leadership style that is best suited to certain scenarios (Scouller, 2011). Leadership is complex and not fixed on certain timelines, indicating the reasons why some leaders excel in certain fields but not in other fields (Anderson, 2010).
References
Anderson, M. (2010). The Leadership Book: How to Deliver Outstanding Results. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Financial Times/ Prentice Hall.
Kippenberger, T. (2002). Leadership Styles. Mankato, Minnesota: Capstone.
Scouller, J. (2011). The Three Levels of Leadership: How to Develop Your Leadership Presence, Knowhow and Skill. New york: Management Books 2000 Ltd.
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