A Reflection on Leadership

Leadership is not an innate talent but it is through constant practice to develop the skills. It is the most indispensable skill that every leader should possess to arrive at an effective and constructive way of leading people with diverse values, attitudes, cultural backgrounds, and expertise. Leadership can be acquired through ample exposure in leading a group of people for the benefit of the majority in attaining the visions and goals of every organization. Also, in the course of the passion of each leader to guide and motivate experienced and neophyte individuals in every division. Based on my experience, leadership is not for publicity nor authorship of productive outcomes but it is more on teamwork, collaboration, flexibility, mentorship, coaching, and modeling. Moreover, a first-rate and effective leader is an excellent follower of all the rules, regulations, and policies in the organization. He/she has the charisma to catch the attention of every individual in the department to follow him. Like for instance, a manager in a certain mall department could not reach his/her quarterly targets without the supervisors in every section who diligently worked and limitlessly supported the plans and the goals discussed during the monthly meeting.

As a result, the essential insights, which I have learned about myself as a leader is that, first, you must possess the characteristics of being an inspiration to others to work out and exert some endeavor for the best outcomes regardless of the daily challenges and toughness of each assigned task. Second, be committed and demonstrate a strong passion for leading people, not just only for your interest but the majority of the organization. Third, act as a good communicator. Effective communication prevents the so-called communication gap between the leader and the subordinates. As we all know that impeccable communication plays a vital role to elevate and sustain a strong and systematic organization. Fourth, you should have a comprehensive and sound judgment before making a decision. You can only earn this by listening to people’s ideas related to the focus subject. Fifth, as a leader, you should be accountable for all your actions. This is why the decision must be thoroughly explained and implemented on the specified timeline. So whatever the results, after all, be accountable to face it without doing a scapegoat. Sixth, delegation, and empowerment matter a lot in every division. As a leader, you need to delegate the tasks to others. This is one way of empowering your people to the fullest and shaping them to become a leader like you sooner or later. Finally,, is the creativity and innovation, of course, these two words are completely had in common. As a leader, leading people with innovation and creativity leads you to reach the targets with ample support from your followers. You need to motivate your people innovatively for them to enact their assigned roles productively. One thing to ponder on, constructive changes in leading people are a big thing to have a smooth flow in organizing and managing manpower. The sensible connotation of these results on my leadership development is that, as a leader, we need to advocate the action learning approach for leadership development. We must keep on experiencing and embracing the best ideas and theories, which leads us to develop and enhance more our in-depth skills in leading people. The action learning approach is similar to learning by doing teaching strategy in which every leader has enough opportunity to develop his/her capability by regularly practicing the skill in the working environment. The specific development goals and concrete action plan that would improve my leadership capabilities in the future; first, I should see to it that checklist for task performance is provided to everyone in the division where I managed from time to time that would serve them as a guide to hit the quality results for each task performance. Second, a regular call for meeting every first day of the week to inform everyone of the weekly goals and targets in the department that he or she has to prepare and accomplish. Third, a thorough performance appraisal should be implemented quarterly so each employee’s strengths and weaknesses will be measured and be given corresponding rewards for the strengths and support for the weaknesses of each employee. Lastly, SWOT Analysis is presented during the special assembly within the department to inform and orient everyone on how is the organization going on and how each employee is involved in each quadrant. Effective leadership matters how a leader effectively crafts the target and strategies, leads the people, and implements the plans.