Personal Definition of Leadership

What is your definition of leadership?

From a personal view, leadership is the ability of a leader to influence the actions of others in pursuit of common goals. Leadership is the inherent desire of the individual to empower the people and inspire them to seek solutions to achieve team goals. It is the ability to lead by example and is often willing to take the first step before everyone else is ready. Additionally, leadership takes place in different forms and environments. For instance, at home one can be a leader to their family by showing compassion to siblings. One can be a leader in the environment by picking and disposing of trash appropriately, or by working hard in a team or group. Still, one can be a leader by standing for what is right, defending others, and staying true to one’s values. Thus, as conceptualized above, leadership is being servants to others to help them realize their full potential. It is working together with others, being a good listener to people’s opinions.

Why is it important to have a definition of leadership?

Leadership encompasses more complex and varied definitions. Attempts to analyze leadership has derived several assorted definitions of leadership. The descriptions are as diverse as leadership needs. Therefore, an explanation of leadership is important because it creates awareness of our perspective of leadership. It gives a broader view of all kinds of leaders and not just leaders who can easily be identified. 

How does your definition support your perspective on the concept of leadership?

Leadership is a process where an individual influences others through motivation to accomplish team goals (Guillén, Mayo, & Korotov, 2015). If one has the desire to lead, they can develop the skills through a never-ending process of self-study, training, and experience. For leaders to inspire others, certain things must be acquired through continued practice and study. My definition of leadership on the ability to influence others reflects the concept of leadership in that leaders inspires others to achieve team goals. 

When you think about developing your leadership skills, what type of approach do you use?

Leadership skills have been recognized as a key in leading others. However, the ultimate question remains, how do you become such a leader? Is there a right way to develop one’s skills? For the record, the answer to this is a yes. In this context, I consider the following approach as the most appropriate way to improve my leadership skills. Firstly, a good leader should first learn to follow (Redmond & Dolan, 2016). Forit is in following that leaders learn and recognize the value of working as a team and serving others. Similarly, while following it is important for a leader to have a mentor who gives advice and feedback on one’s performance. Ideally, seeking advice from others is not a sign of weakness but a way of growing into leadership. Secondly, visions are an important factor in developing leadership skills. As a leader, it is important to have an objective, vision, and a mission to be able to share them with the team and show them a clear path to follow. More importantly, the vision, mission, and goals should resonate well with the team and benefit them in return. Thirdly, it is important for good leaders to understand their strengths and weaknesses. Realizing and utilizing my strengths and correcting my shortcomings, will assist me in being a formidable leader. Along with that, great leaders are not only focused but are also passionate about what they focus on doing. I hope to achieve this by showing concern over people’s progress, as well as showing appreciation. A good leader also has values and morals and adheres to them. Otherwise, compromising on one’s morals and values is likely to blur the subconscious mind and hinder success. In addition to the above, leaders should always serve as a role model and be able to inspire others to follow. If I want to become a good leader, I must first work on the qualities I want my team to emulate.

Do you develop a plan based on your definition, or do you simply follow your instincts?

One of the reasons why leaders make tough decisions is because they have learned to rely on their instincts. However, it takes years of experience to trust one’s gut instincts (Sonnino, 2016). Ideally, people who operate without a sound plan, often fall prey to oversight, misunderstanding, manipulation, and misinformation among other undesirable factors In light of this, it is important to understand first how to make a great decision. As a leader, it is important to develop a plan in order to learn how to synthesize a large amount of information I have to deal with every day to make informed decisions.

What is your definition of management?

Management is a process of getting things done within an organization. Mostly, it encompasses strategic planning, the definition of objectives, management of resources, and deployment of human resources to achieve organization goals. It is an art of getting things done by organizing people into groups and assigning responsibilities based on their skills.

Explain the differences between leadership and management.

Although management and leadership are sometimes used interchangeably, there are fundamental differences between the two applying to a team or organization. Ideally, management involves controlling a group of people to drive them towards accomplishing organizational goals (Bertocci, 2009). Virtually, management requires planning, organizing, and coordinating organization resources to achieve goals. On the other hand, leadership is the individual ability to inspire, influence, and enable people to contribute towards a vision.

References

Bertocci, D. I. (2009). Leadership in organizations: There is a difference between leaders and managers. Lanham, Md: University Press of America.

Guillén, L., Mayo, M., & Korotov, K. (2015). Is leadership a part of me? A leader identity approach to understanding the motivation to lead. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(5), 802-820.

Redmond, S., & Dolan, P. (2016). Towards a conceptual model of youth leadership development. Child & Family Social Work, 21(3), 261-271.

Sonnino, R. (2016). Health care leadership development and training: progress and pitfalls. Journal of Healthcare Leadership, 4I(2), 1-46.