Leadership, that most critical of traits, one that does not come easily to everyone, and one which may be manifested in different styles and with different measures of success. And yet, many of us aspire to leadership roles, albeit for different reasons and with different outcomes. The notion that individuals fall neatly into specific behavioral styles and patterns and never deviate from them in one which is easily debunked. As a rising female business leader, I am still developing and honing my particular style with the mindset that different environments will necessitate modifications to my approach, and thus it will evolve over time and will change per the situational context, even as my dominant style will influence my behavior in many …show more content…
The foundational concepts of Servant Leadership therefore combine many of the tenets that characterize the other types of leaders. Among the many traits and practices that are indicative of Servant Leadership, the ones that govern my behavior in my current sphere are practicality, ethics, self-awareness, community building, skilled communication, collaboration, and foresight. In the academic environment leading up to and including my college career, these characteristics have served me well, even as I develop an amalgam of other competencies that will shape my ultimate …show more content…
I am also Treasurer of the student’s council. My style is no less humble, no less ethical, and no less positive. As mentor, it is as Servant Leader that I demonstrate and exemplify my qualities. It is said that the three most potent elements of long-term success for college grads are linked to emotional support. And thus I encourage where I see signs of faltering, I provide practical support in the form of tutoring, I galvanize and stimulate their personal growth and college adjustment through recommendations for extra-curricular activities and organizations to join, I render advice on how to comport themselves, and provide emotional support by listening and letting them understand they are not alone, even as these undertakings bolster my own growth and the compounding of my own technical and leadership
The topic of leadership has been explored and written about by thousands of authors who are considerably more qualified than I am to write about the subject. However, I’ve always maintained that developing, evolving and articulating one’s own leadership philosophy is an essential part of a professional’s growth. Through academics and experience, I’ve concluded that leadership is a “soft” skill, more art than science, and that leadership principles can be universally applied. As a topic of discussion, leadership can be ambiguous and seldom does everyone agree on a single definition. Organizations and the people they consist of crave leadership, even if not overtly. Undeniably, strong leadership is essential to achieving
Servant leadership, as defined by Kretiner and Kinkicki (2015, p.486), is putting the needs of others, including employees, customers, and community ahead of one’s own needs. This management style requires selflessness and humility from management so the organization can focus on serving key stakeholders. There are ten characteristics of a servant-leader as identified in the text
Servant leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that augments the lives of individuals, builds better organizations, and creates a more just and caring world, they put the team first, and themselves second (MindTools, 2015). Servant leaders are able to demonstrate their traits through interaction with followers and other leaders within the organization. The characteristics of servant leaders include their commitment to the growth of people, stewardship, and building community, and provide leaders with the opportunity to experience change and to invite followers to change (Savage-Austin & Honeycutt 2011). Servant leadership encourages leaders and followers to ‘raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality’, and set their leadership focus: follower’s first, organizations second, their own needs last (Sendjaya, Sarros, & Santora, 2008). The servant leader focuses on the needs of others to include team members. They acknowledge people’s perspectives, and give them the support needed to meet their goals. Servant leaders involve members when decisions are appropriate helping build a stronger commitment within the team. Strong qualities of servant leadership are trust, appreciation for others, and empowerment. Honesty and integrity form the moral foundation of effective leadership through the four values of truth telling, promise
The Servant Leader discusses the importance of leaders who adopt a service oriented attitude in which they care for the needs of others before their own. A servant leader need not be an actual servant or have ever been a servant to become a servant leader. Rather, a servant leader is born with or adopts an “others first” disposition. Climbing through the ranks may help to create a servant leader, though it is not necessary. When leaders choose to see that the needs of their followers or their organizations are the highest priority they become servants.
My Legacy Leader is LTC Brian A. Coppersmith, USA, Ret. LTC Coppersmith exemplified Army leadership from his character, presence, and intellect to his ability to lead, develop and achieve. LTC Coppersmith’s leadership ability directly affected me as a Human Intelligence Collection Sergeant operating under his command in garrison pre-deployment, and while deployed forward to Iraq. The example that LTC Coppersmith set for me is the foundation that I have used to guide each of my actions on as a leader. It is my hope that I will be able to positively influence and inspire at least one Soldier in the same manner that LTC Coppersmith inspired and influenced me.
Leadership at times can be a complex topic to delve into and may appear to be a simple and graspable concept for a certain few. Leadership skills are not simply acquired through position, seniority, pay scale, or the amount of titles an individual holds but is a characteristic acquired or is an innate trait for the fortunate few who possess it. Leadership can be misconstrued with management; a manager “manages” the daily operations of a company’s work while a leader envisions, influences, and empowers the individuals around them.
Introduction Through identification and ongoing assessment of her leadership style and ability, this leader is able to develop and understand her own strengths and limitations in order to grow and develop into a more effective leader. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of servant leadership, contingency, and path-goal styles of leadership to gain an understanding of current leadership models, identify this author’s style of leadership, and explore why leadership is important to organizations, society, and this author. A Personal Model of Leadership Servant leadership was a term that was first used by Keifner Greenleaf (1970) in his first essay, The Servant as Leader (as cited by Crippen, C., 2005). Greenleaf based his essay on his belief that a servant leader is a servant first, and explained that it would begin with the natural urge to serve and then the leader would make a conscious choice to become a leader, in doing so he makes the choice to ensure that others needs are met first (2005 ). As a servant leader develops he should always keep aware of those who he serves and strive to ensure that they are becoming healthier, wiser, freer, have an increase in autonomy, and become more like servants themselves (2005).
Prosser, S. (2010). Opportunities and Tensions of Servant Leadership. In D. van Dierendonch & K. Patterson (Eds.), Servant Leadership Developments in Theory and Research (p. 26, 29, & 34). Retrieved from:
Before reading about characteristics of servant leadership, I tried thinking about what I already knew about this type of leadership. Some of the thoughts I had were: leaders put others before themselves and leaders go beyond their responsibilities to help others. When I read Chapter 7 from The Special Education Teacher as a Servant Leader, I found that I was correct but did not have the full answer.
According to organisational behaviour by McShane, leadership is defined as influencing, motivating and enabling others to contribute towards the effectiveness and success of the organisation of which they are members (page 382, McShane).Becoming an effective leader depends on the leader’s leadership style. Successful leaders have vision and charisma, also the leader should have an ongoing personality, talkative, careful and self-disciplined. The leader must also have self-concept with a high self-esteem and a motivation drive which peruses goals that motivates their followers. (McShane pg 382). Leaders should also have integrity, this is when the leaders are truthful and they have a consistency of words and actions. Authentic leadership is very important in a successful leader; the leader must be comfortable and act in a rightful manner with a self-concept that comes from within the leader by being themselves. There are cultural values and gender values when it comes to different leadership styles, research has found out that women and men both have different methods of being leaders such as men are more direct when giving a power speech compared to women who prefer a participative style of leadership (McShane pg 384).Leadership however is based on a technique the leader uses and how they apply it to their followers and not so much about who is following the leader but rather what technique best suits and relates to the followers.
I like the fact that the teacher pointed out that leadership can be found everywhere. Leaders don't necessarily exist only in a company where there are a lot of people following you. “Everyone has the potential and possibility to be a leader”. They could be the best at inspiring others, or best at solving problems or dealing with criticism. By and large we all have the necessities to lead and I find, during the group discussions, that the difference and uniqueness of us that give us our own perspective to view and do things. Leadership is also about understanding and combining many different talents and to make them work together to create the best result. There are many kinds of leaders out there, and so many leadership styles. Yet I think we shouldn’t categorised ourselves into one or identify our superiors into one. Why? Because I think it is crucial to be flexible and adapt to which way to lead according to the situations For example, the Democratic style maybe the most popular and most effective, yet it is proved to be counter-productive in urgent occasions requiring instant and firm decisions from one person only, and that is the
In my view, people employ certain traits that differentiate us from our neighbor next door, and leadership is no different. The test produced by the University of Kent in the United Kingdom (University of Kent, n.d.) has developed a process that I feel accurately defines what sort of leader you are based on 50 simple questions. I was not surprised by the results and found them to be quite accurate and expected. In this essay, I will explore why I feel the test is an accurate way to determine your leadership style due to my personal experience with
The first pillar we come across is making sure you’re a person of character. This entails maintaining integrity, demonstrating humility, and serves a high purpose. On page 15 it says, “A Servant Leader makes insightful, ethical, and principal centered decisions.
When stepping into a leadership role, one must have values, morals, and standards. These characteristics are not taught but developed over time. Servant Leaders must be happy with one self in order to leader others or having the expectations of having followers to develop them in to future leaders or believe in. One must have the characteristics of courage, humility, competency, mentoring, decision making, citizenship, and reflection. Being an educator or role model requires having the skills of a servant leadership is important.
Many people associate leadership with a specific job title or form of power within an organization. However, through personal experience, I have concluded that leadership can come in many forms and position as well as from multiple sources of roles and job titles both with and without power. Based on the definition of leadership, anyone can be considered a leader as long as they have the ability to influence people to achieve a particular result or goal which benefits the organization or group as a whole. Individuals with a secure sense of self and understanding, acceptance of diversity within an organization tend to be the strongest leaders that not only make others want to follow, but they also encourage other leaders to gravitate to their