Argumentative Essay On What Makes A Good Leader

What makes a good leader? If you ask ten different people this question, you’ll very likely get ten different answers. According to Webster’s Dictionary, leadership is defined as “"the power or ability to lead other people,". Of course, there’s much more to being a good leader than simply leading other people. Is it the title that so often comes along with being a leader? Titles in themselves don’t necessarily equate to a great leader, though. For example, consider Martin Luther King, Jr. There is no Captain or President in his name, but he is considered one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known. A position does not make a leader; a leader makes the position. Leadership comprises many different aspects which are vital to the success of the

task at hand.

In my opinion, a true leader looks out for and motivates his subordinates. As a result, the leader gets the very best from his workers. A leader is not afraid of conflict because a leader handles conflict professionally and works to find a solution that benefits the team. A great leader makes decisions that are in the best interest of the group. A great leader keeps the lines of communication open because a great leader understands that he does not know everything.
One of the most important aspects of a great leader is communication. Every year, my company holds meetings where we get the chance to talk about our likes and dislikes of the company. We also get the opportunity to suggest areas the management could use improvement. The one area that always comes up in these meetings is communication. The communication from the upper management to the employees has been abysmal. A lot of times, we hear about important information through the grapevine instead of from the management team. For example, the third shift supervisor put in her two week notice a couple of weeks ago.

Our shift found out from other shifts who would be her replacement; management never came out and told our shift who her replacement would be. This is a serious problem for a couple of reasons, in my opinion. The first reason is this breed’s distrust between the employees and upper management. If employees can’t depend on the leadership team to keep us informed of major developments, what else could those leaders potentially hide? A lack of communication is also how rumors get started. Rumors tend to spread like wildfire, and they often take on a life of their own. In addition, inappropriate communication can also prevent effective leadership. Too often, leaders either don’t communicate, communicate inappropriately through outbursts, anger, or blaming, or simply don’t communicate clearly. Nohita Nohria said that “Communication is the real work of leadership.” One element of communication that is often overlooked is to “trust people”, (Forbes, 2016). Consider this for a moment. How seriously would you take someone that is unsure of what they want to say or where they want to go? Communication breeds trust and loyalty between leaders and their subordinates. However, there are other aspects that go into the making of a good leader.
Handling conflict is one of the most important skills a leader can learn. As a leader, I believe it’s important to understand that things do not revolve around me. Every decision made affects the people under me as well. Every situation is different; they also require different approaches to find a solution. One of the best tools to learn how to best approach a conflict is the “Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI),” (Loehr, 2014). “TKI helps leaders understand how interpersonal group dynamics are affected by conflict-handling styles, as well as helps them make informed decisions about choosing an appropriate style when approaching a conflict situation,” (Loehr, 2014). There are five main areas of TKI, and they are broken down into two main groups, and those groups are assertiveness and cooperativeness. Understanding how to react to conflict goes a long way in leadership positions.