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Leadership reflection
Writing a personal leadership philosophy
Leadership reflection
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Step 3: Write down your leadership philosophy
With the above steps concluded, you can start putting your leadership philosophy on paper. We briefly mentioned the importance of having a written statement in the previous section. Writing down your philosophy helps clarify your ideas and makes it all just a bit more concrete. It can improve your focus and help you keep yourself more accountable, since you can always go back and read what you’ve created. To help you write down your leadership format, we propose using the Thin Difference format below, although you can always just write a document in your own style. The format is based on the four core elements of leadership philosophy: theory, attitude, principles and behaviour.
Theory: I believe in _________________.
Write the specific elements of leadership you believe are at the heart of being a good leader; the values you prioritise. An example sentence could be: I believe in confronting issues head-on is the key to better communication.
Attitude: My thoughts will ___________ and my words will ______________.
These sentences refer to the attitudes you want to foster in the workplace; the example you want to set with your own attitude. The aim is to focus on the attitude you think will boost your success as a leader and help to achieve the
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It helps you determine the guiding principles, behaviours and actions you want to put at the heart of your leadership. By carefully considering your values, priorities and objectives, you can create a framework for effective and focused leadership. Having a leadership philosophy creates clarity to your decision-making and your actions, which help you inspire and motive the followers to back your vision. You will be a leader with a clear mission and way of operating, which makes it easier for people to respect and trust you because they will always know where you are coming
I believe that as a leader we should all have a leadership philosophy that we live by and teach our subordinates to live by as well. However, even at this stage in my life I still have yet to figure out what my leadership philosophy really is. Crazy right that at the rank of SFC with 18 years in the United States Military, I do not have this one simple thing figured out. As I write out my thoughts pen to pad hopefully I can come up with something that makes sense is enlightening and that I can pass on to my soldiers as a guide. So that as they enter into the Senior Enlisted ranks they are better equipped then I to lead there soldiers.
Leadership is contagious throughout the world and most importantly in the Army. It is not just my view, but of all leaders, at all levels, that organizations are responsible for setting conditions that lead to long-term organizational success. As I reflect on my experiences, through experience and observation, I realize how my values, beliefs, and perspectives about leadership continuously evolve over time. Recognizing these changes over time helps me better understand that people in organizations have different perspectives in life. This leadership narrative serve as important guiding principles for how I will lead at the organizational level and represents my thought, values and beliefs.
Before you can summarize the concepts related to leadership theory, you have to define what leadership is. Leadership is a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task or goals. The fundamental concept of leadership is indirection. In any organization, the leader indirectly impacts the performance of the organization through the performance of individual team members. To make that impact, the leader takes on the role of the coach, and the inspiratory. As the coach, the leader improves the performer's skills. As the inspiratory, the leader inspires the passion required for optimal performance. A good leader can make decisions with a clear mind and will listen to theirs but can run through every consequence and possibility in their head. They take every angle and come out with the best answer for the majority of the people or situations it effects. And will not let their emotions be shut off but will have feeling where it is needed.
They have profound convictions for for their leadership; Their behavior always reflect their core values and they view themselves as individuals that “lead with their hearts as well as their heads while also building enduring organizations” (George 2003). Leaders are encouraged to maintain the perception of authenticity but making sure that their words are consistent and reflect their action or intentions. They should not be so pompous and arrogant that they cannot relate to or find mutual and common ground with their staff. (Goffee & Jones 2005)
Everything in leadership will be determined by the competency of the leader. John C Maxwell is credited with saying “everything rises and falls on leadership. The leaders are often the ones making the decisions influencing success or failure. When I think of competency, I believe it is important to acknowledge the difference between competency and confidence. Confidence is the belief that I can lead; competence requires results of successful leadership. Confidence is the place people get the idea a person is a “good guy.” Being a good guy or even being confident is not a qualification of competency; it merely means one has the right to have dinner. Being a good guy allows
Leaders do not just appear out of thin air and automatically start making great things happen in the world. A leader must learn from prior leaders or role models that they are surrounded by that they look up to. Not everyone can be a leader, only some people have the correct characteristics it takes to lead others in the right direction. Those who do great things, for example volunteering at a homeless shelter, are not leaders. Many people mistake a “great person” as being a leader, which is completely incorrect (Kouzes and Posner, p. 3). While playing an active role in your community is a positive thing it does not make someone a leader of that community. All leaders have a group of people they have inspiration too and that is a good way of determining who your personal leaders are. My mother, brother, and grandfather are my leaders because I have always looked up to them and tried to mimic some of the great things that I have seen them do. My mother has always been an independent women with goals and an action plan to accomplish those set goals. Stephen, my elder brother, is outgoing and tends to have a leveled head when it comes to evaluating stressful situations. My grandfather is the most caring person I know and he is amazing at keeping situations under control in order to please everyone. These are all the qualities I want to combine into my own leadership style. I know I am not a efficient leader of these actions yet, but I plan on growing into this as I more on into my career, fulfill my set goals, and adjust to the curve-balls that life throws at me.
Model the way- “leading by example”, and demonstrate the concepts regarding the manner in which individuals should be treated and the way our aspirations should be followed.
Developing a personal philosophy of leadership is essential for every leader to establish prior to becoming a leader. A leader should be aware of their strengths and weaknesses and then develop a philosophy that would best compliment that leader’s personality traits and strengths as a person. Leaders need to have their personal philosophy established prior to becoming a leader because once you are in a position of leadership it is time to lead others, not time to determine what philosophy would be best used to lead. I truly believe that a personal philosophy of leadership should be fluid as the leader continues to learn about leadership and people throughout the leader’s career but the four core principles of integrity, ethics, positive attitude and honesty must remain constant.
The leadership is a privilege and it is such a privilege and an honor which will carry the tremendous responsibility which will inspire others to direct them to accomplish goals and vision of the organization. Leadership is about influencing the people, by producing direction, purpose and motivating in order to accomplish the mission, vision and improving the organization. The leadership philosophy is evolved based on the experiences, both positive and negative, in most of the initiatives and activities that we undertake. It is also one among the collaboration and teamwork within which the team members can utilize each other’s strengths to counter the weaknesses of the individuals. By observing, introspecting and experimenting we can developed a leadership paradigm which is inclusive, collaborative and proactive. We can develop the ability to recognize which will approach in order to reach the productive conclusion. The great leaders know their limitations and are capable at utilize their strengths and also the strengths of others to compensate.
When people think of leadership so many things rush through their heads. For example am I a leader, am I apart of a group that has a leader, and what does being a leader mean? A common definition of being a leader is a person who leads or guides a group of people. So now knowing the definition of a leader who pops into your head; Phil Jackson, Mike Krzyzewski, Martin Luther King Jr.? All of these people are great leaders, but the real question is why are they so great? One very important thing that all these men have in common is they have a philosophy of leadership. This philosophy is going to help guide these men during turbulent times, or when they need guidance themselves. Nobody is perfect and everyone needs direction no matter how wise or gifted you are. I am no different, which is why writing this philosophy of leadership is going to be a fruitful experience for years to come.
Leaders can have a powerful impact on the futures of many, and the way in which one approaches leadership is paramount to the type of impact one will have. Continual growth in the areas of knowledge I have and seek to acquire, as well as recognizing my leadership style and utilizing my personal strengths to the fullest, is vital to the successful implementation of my personal philosophy of leadership.
Although I have many core values, including diligence, happiness, helpfulness, true friendship, freedom, and intelligence, the most significant in my life are love, morality, honesty, and forgivingness. Throughout my life, these particular values have proved key to becoming the person I wished to be. “The term leadership involves our self-images and moral codes” (Values in Leadership). In order to lead and to be someone who upholds their values, one must be fully aware of what is important to them and what drives them.
Throughout my life, my experiences and role models have shaped my understanding of leadership. I believe leadership is responsibly guiding and motivating others to use both my strengths and their own to obtain success. My personal leadership philosophy is guided by my core values of my family, relationships, loyalty, harmony, and responsibility. My ever-changing definition of philosophy helps my leadership and decision making routinely. New experience’s and external forces effect my translation of leadership daily which, in turn, helps shape me into a successful leader.
Leadership is defined as a process by which an individual influences others to obtain goals. There are three aspects that should be addressed when explaining leadership. One aspect is that leadership is a social influence process; leadership could not exist without a leader and one or more followers. Another leadership aspect is compliance; all of the leader’s directions must be complied with voluntarily. Compliance is what separates leadership from other influence-based formal authority. Finally, leadership results in the followers’ behavior, that is purposeful and goal-directed which must be in some organized setting (Leadership Theories and Studies, 2009).
1. Leadership is the ability to bring people together while motivating and inspiring them to work as a team to achieve a common goal. There have been several leadership influences in my life. From a very young age, I watched my father lead his troops while serving as a senior enlisted member of the U.S. Army. I saw how he held them accountable for doing their jobs on one hand while mentoring them and giving them the direction they needed, sometimes almost like a father figure on the other. Working for four different law enforcement agencies over the last twenty-seven years, I have been exposed to several supervisors, some good and some not so good. Looking back on it, I believe my leadership philosophy has been influenced more by the bad supervisors than the good ones. The first thing they showed me was the difference in a supervisor or manager and a leader. Very few of them cared for their members at all. They seemed to be more interested in their next promotion and gave little to no attention to mentoring their members and helping them achieve anything they wanted to achieve. Because of this, there always seemed to be a morale problem. The members never seemed motivated to do anything other than the bare minimum to get by.