Discovering who we are and how God called us to lead with our own set of unique gifts, talents, and personality, so that the kingdom of God can be built up has been a focus of this class thus far. “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9, NIV) God has a unique plan for each of us, discovering how we fit into that plan can be challenging and rewarding. Seeking God’s wisdom and guidance is especially important for Christian leaders.
Rima’s book, Leading from the Inside Out has challenged me to carefully examine my own life and self-leadership. Building a strong foundation of self-leadership
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Recognizing what motivates people to move from simply knowing what they should do to actually doing it is crucial if we expect ourselves or others to change. Procrastination, fear, self-deception, and laziness are all behaviors that prevent people from moving towards action. Assisting people in identifying those behaviors, as well as, their motivating mechanisms will enable them to make that transition from information to application. (Rima, …show more content…
The most effective leaders understand their followers’ needs. (Rath & Conchie, 2008) Leaders are usually able to articulate an organizations mission, vision, and goals and rally people towards those goals. They lead and people follow. (Rath & Conchie, 2008) Rarely however, do leaders stop to examine why people follow. Leaders are only leaders if people follow and effective leaders must grasp their impact on the people they are leading. In the Strengths-Base Leadership, three of my top five strengths are in the leadership domain of Executing. Leaders with dominant strengths in this area know how to make things happen. They know how to implement solutions and will work tirelessly to get it done, and done well. They have the ability to catch an idea and make it a reality. (Rath & Conchie, 2008) This presents a fairly accurate summary of my strengths and affirms what people often tell me, that I have the ability to see the big picture and understand what needs to be done to make it
Identifying and understanding your own personal strengths is key to being a successful leader. Knowing your strengths means you can focus your efforts to maximize results, in yourself and in others. Strengths Finder 2.0 is designed to uncover your strengths and utilize these strengths to your advantage (Rath, 2007). Identifying and applying these strengths to your leadership style, will enhance your effectiveness as a transformational leader.
Finding Your Voice: Learning to Lead…Anywhere You Want to Make a Difference, by Larraine R. Matusak is a book, which explains the proper way to incorporate leadership into one’s life. The author approaches the topic of Leadership with a quite passionate point of view. Matusak observes leadership through a very wide lens. In other words, she is a firm believer that there is more than one way to effectively carry out the act of leadership. The author is on a mission to bring out the natural leadership skillset in all people, and too encourage anyone and everyone to find a way to lead in life. The main focus of the book is the fact that one does not require any sort of title or major position of power to live out their passion and to customize leadership opportunities for their individual talents. This very concept was stressed constantly throughout this book, along with the idea of weaving a shared vision. Weaving a shared vision is a very important aspect of leadership because it involves shaping all minds involved in an organization to point them towards a common goal. Let’s take a look at some of the main points that Matusak states in her book.
Before taking the StrengthsFinder® assessment I didn’t know what type of leader I was, but I felt I had leadership traits that I could not describe. After answering several questions from the Clifton StrengthsFinder® 2.0, I found out my top five strengths. These strengths consist of individualization, arranger, learner, input and responsibility. The purpose of this paper is to go over my top five strengths to talk about which four domains of leadership these strengths fall under, how class material is applied, and the actions to best utilize my strengths.
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.
First when a leader focuses on the strengths of the employees the odds of the employee being engaged will increase dramatically. This compares to chapter one of our text book in that it says an effective leader is one who helps group members attain productivity. The second key is that the most effective leaders surround themselves with the right people and maximize their team. The book suggest when leaders try to be good at everything they will not be great at anything. Although it is often preached to be well-rounded this results in mediocrity. So instead trying to be good at everything, find and know your strengths and hone those skills to be a more effective leader. The authors say there are four domains of leadership with thirty-four themes that break-down under the domains and these explain the actual strengths of the leader. The domains are executing, influencing, relationship building and strategic thinking. In our text book all but influencing are listed as one of the ten roles of leadership. ...
The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner (2007) is the result of twenty years of research on the factors that influence and create great leadership. Through studies and stories from leaders with various backgrounds throughout the world, the practices and characteristics that create great leadership are delineated. Leadership is viewed not as a group of inherent characteristics, but as learned behavior that anyone can achieve. The goal of Kouzes and Posner’s book is to inspire and educate leaders through transformational leadership. As such, leadership is about mobilizing others to become and do extraordinary things.
Although written for church leadership, everyday church members would also benefit from understanding the concepts that Dawn is directing at God-empowered leaders. Ms. Dawn's work is predominantly scholarly, and she cites several other works at great length.... ... middle of paper ... ...
I believe I am a strong leader and I use my leadership abilities to improve the school as often as I possibly can. One of my strongest leadership skills is communication. I believe that it is vital to talk to others and get others input before making decisions. In the school, I ask other students their opinions on different events and I bring them back to the council frequently. Another leadership ability I possess is creativity. I always attempt to come up with creative and unique ideas to contribute to the council. For example, in meetings I always attempt to share new and different ideas to benefit the council. An important skill for leaders to possess is organization. I show this trait by using a binder to organize my agendas and showing up to every meeting.
My five strengths according to the strength finder include; balance, this helps me be aware of treating all people equally regardless of the situation. I am neither in anyone 's favor or against anyone as this to me is selfishness and individualism. This would result in a situation where some people scale heights due to connections while others are lagging behind. I believe that a consistent environment where the rules apply to everyone is the best for individuals to function best (Rath, 2007). Flexibility is my next strength. By knowing that things do not always work out as planned has helped me change the tactics of how I perform my tasks. I do not always expect to have a smooth flow of opportunities or accomplish goals, but
Northouse, P. (2010). Leadership: Theory and practice (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
One of my greatest skills is being able to be compassionate towards others. By placing myself into someone else’s shoes, I find myself being able to better understand where other people are coming from. I am an extremely caring person that will go to great lengths for anyone. I can easily overlook the differences in other people, and this is what helps me get along with almost anyone that I come across. In order to lead people in a positive direction you need to be able to relate to them on a more personal level. It is much easier when people feel comfortable around their leader. I always like to lend a helping hand or even a shoulder to cry on when it is needed. My strengths include integrity, optimism, faith, innovation, and adaptability. These strengths are important to have in leadership positions. Leaders should have a firm hold on their beliefs and morals in order to have a positive impact on people. Keeping my commitments is crucial to me, because I am a woman of my word. I think this is a good trait in leadership, because people need to be able to count on the person that they look up to. Optimism is also something I value. I belie...
An effective leader adapts changes and communicates his vision to his followers until the followers believe in that vision as their own
One of the most important components of leadership is the leader. A leader is responsible for his or her followers and the overall goal of the group or organization. Leaders are the people held accountable or everything that happens, good or bad. On the other hand, the second major component of leadership is the followers. Without followers, a leader would be worthless. Followers make up the backbone of a leader because they are the masses that get goals accomplished. A leader is just one person, but the number of followers is countless. In order to be an effective follower, there are a countless number of characteristics that allow a follower to be the best they can be. Five of these characteristics include a positive attitude, communication skills, being part of the process, being open to new ideas, and patience.
This paper describes about my leadership strengths and areas for growth/future study. It also included how these qualities are used in my daily work routine, self-assessment results and a brief explanation on Individual style in leadership.
Leaders pour their hearts and souls into their people and their purpose. Leaders are all about their people and their purpose. They invest themselves fully into their