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.
2. I have seen supervisors that held no one accountable for anything. I have seen some that would not deal with any problems between members in their unit and were commonly referred to as the “ostrich” because they kept their head in the sand and pretended there were no issues. I have seen first hand how that type of leadership also damaged morale and unit cohesion. One interesting thing that I have noticed over the years is that almost every true leader I have encountered in law enforcement was consequent...
... middle of paper ...
... from equipment and vehicles to time off and I can tell they notice and appreciate things like that. I believe in acting as a buffer between them and my boss I can temper things that are passed down that don’t always make sense. I have had former members come to me and tell me that they had no idea how much I was keeping the bosses out of their investigations until they had a different supervisor that didn’t care. That is the way it should be. A leader doesn’t look for accolades from his members, he takes care of them behind the scenes, often without them even knowing. I have conversations with them to learn what they want to do with their careers and what their goals are. I believe in trying to help them achieve success at our agency no matter what their definition of success is, because I have found out the meaning of success is very different for different people.
Natural born leaders are almost nonexistent in today’s military. Military members have to complete numerous leadership classes as you progress through the military ranks whether you are an enlisted or as an officer. There are many attributes that people would have to possess to be considered a great leader. Some of those attributes include honesty, respect, trustworthy, and enthusiasm just to name a few. There have been many leaders I have worked with or for over my past 19 years in the Army. One of the most important one would have to be honesty. Honesty is important because if the people that work for you cannot believe what you tell them, they will never trust you or support you. Employees can make or break their supervisor. If they do not like or trust the manager they will not respect them and they will only do the least amount possible. When your employees believe that, you value their opinion and their work ethic. Like you and trust, you they will do anything you ask of them. Whether the decision is right or wrong it is a decision, a leader never want to leave their subordinat...
Introduction According to the Oxford Dictionary, a leader is defined as “the person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2013). Though there is a definition for what a leader is, people still have different ideas about what a leader should be and how he or she should act. There has never been a concrete idea of what a leader is; the only thing we know is that this person is the one in charge of the unit. We look at characteristics of those people we see as leaders and use those attributes to compare other people to see if they are able to be as good as, or even better than, those aforementioned leaders. We have to keep in mind that in different situations, leaders must do different tasks which indicates the need for different qualities.
Dr. Kerfoot (2006) suggests that there are leaders who are genuine and supportive with regard to frontline employees and can identify with their needs and then there are those that are self-motivated and self-loathing that they neglect the important needs of the staff and are pre-occupied with the managerial tasks at hand as they deem employee needs less important but Farber (2004) purports that leaders must prove their leadership by their actions of doing what is moral and ethical, “demonstrating progress and literally changing the
The experience with my negative leader I will name Mohammad Smith the Authoritarian. I have learned as much from this poor leader as I have from strong leaders. This negative leadership style decreases the motivation of employees because it makes them feel as though they can’t respond with any initiative or creativity. This leader did not like the team to attempt questioning his directives, because he then puts on the defensive front. This leader was worried more about his status and saw his team members as subordinates or lesser people. When working projects with his team, he would tell them what he wanted done and how to accomplish and not discuss and receive advice from them. A bad supervisor is the leading cause of job dissatisfaction with jobs.
Once they have such trust from the people surrounding them, not only does it show that they care, but at the same time it shows that he or she are can be compassionate about them. They’re showing the people that they’re not too busy focusing on themselves being leaders but rather showing that they can be trustworthy. The people (the “followers”) will see that the leader cares for them, because they take time to recognize them (for instance their strengths and weaknesses) and acknowledge whichever their concerns may be, and by doing so, that’ll help the people understand that their not just working with an overbearing person but rather realize that they’re working with a trustworthy and compassionate “friend,” the one who will have them in mind when making important decisions. All of this will lead the people to do their jobs efficiently and bring out the best in them as
Leadership is being able to direct or guide other people by either your own actions or by actually guiding them into the right direction (Acumen). Inspiration to be a leader might come from many different areas like your family, friends, peers, or even teachers. My inspiration didn’t really occur to me until I started attending college in August 2013. In all actuality I never even thought of how to be a leader until I was in Mrs. Moore’s Perspectives class. I now have a desire to be a great leader, and the inspiration has come from Mrs. Moore, and my family. I am the first to attend college out of my family, so in a away I have already started leading my siblings in the right direction. Being a leader means inspiring others to pursue their dreams, and aspirations and helping throughout the journey to success. Being a leader has nothing with authority or being able to tell other what, and how to do things, it’s about having people who look up to you and want to follow your example.
I believe that leadership is something that should be earned. Whoever is the most qualified and passionate should be the person who leads, not the most popular. I believe that having integrity and expecting it at all times from your team is the best way to operate. I believe that leaders cannot always be the “good guys” in every situation. I believe that it is important to find people who will help you most achieve your goal, but ones who are loyal, passionate, and want to grow personally. Mutual respect in any situation will allow for people to speak their minds, even if it is difficult. I want to help my team members find their passions and help them succeed outside of our organization. I believe that leadership is about encouraging
Leadership and management are two systems of action that work together to get a mission accomplished. Leadership determines where to go and what to do both now and in the future, and charts the direction to get there. Then management determines how to get there, by setting the systems, processes and techniques needed to realize the goals and the executing. Although previously command has tended to be included as part of leadership, it is different in that, it is the rights of authority conferred upon an individual by an external party to exercise so as to achieve a mission and it carries responsibilities, duties and accountability. Although responsibilities can be delegated or shared, the commander remains accountable for the results of his command (General John A. Wickham).
As a person who is for the most part uncomfortable with change, it is important that I find ways be a leader in a world that is ever changing. In order to be the best and most prepared leader as possible, it is necessary to be aware of one’s core identity and the values, talents, and strengths that are included in this. Consistent with the indications of Vaill’s term, “permanent white water”, the tendency of the world to change is unavoidable and “continual”. We as leaders must find ways to adapt and acclimate ourselves to these situations. Through the discovery of my core values, talents, leadership style, I will be able to develop an action plan to transform my talents into strengths and use leadership techniques to best accommodate my ambitions.
When reflecting on my leadership styles, strengths and weaknesses I am rushed with thoughts, memories, regrets and actions of personal ways that I have handled past situations in the work place and ways that I plan to handle new situations at my new work place. I have had many successes with the way I handle my leadership role but there are also things that I wish that I could go back in time and change. The way some situations are handled, I think to myself, well this could have been done differently or I could have done this instead of what I did to enhance the outcome of the situation. There is always room for improvement in whatever job or task someone takes on and this is just one of those things. During the development of my PLAP, I have had the chance to weigh out my strengths and weaknesses of my leadership and it has been very effective to seeing where improving needs to be met. The plan has also let me evaluate the direction I hope to head in to achieve my leadership goals.
Leaders will no matter what have an influence on our world. They have missions, dreams and ambition, and with these things they are bound to go far. For leaders, what makes these dreams come true is having strong qualities such as leadership practices, values and strengths. If developed and learned how to use correctly, these are what take leaders to the next level and accomplish great things. In the following paper I will talk about leadership in our ever-changing world, explore my leadership practices, values and strengths as well as elaborate on the goals I have made to challenge myself as a leader.
Leadership is trait that is extremely important in any society. Leadership is known as the way people attempting to make a difference in a situation. However, I believe that it is better said to be a way of influencing others actions. Leadership is usually connected to a great leader that affected his or her followers in a dynamic way. Throughout the semester for my leadership class, I have expanded the knowledge in numerous ways. I now have fully understanding of the purpose and process of leadership to a society. Being a leader one must maintain an image of being the role model. I believe that this is leader should be who is someone who has the ability to influence, encourage, listen, and nurture. They are able to inspire, stimulate, persuade, shape, and have an effect on others.
What is leadership? Leadership is defined as a process by which a individual will influence others to obtain goals. Leaders will guide, direct motivate, or inspire others. Leadership is defined by not only traits but actions as well. Leaders are inspirational, trustworthy and charismatic. Many people may think a manger is leader. Although leadership and management go hand in hand, they are not the same. Everyone has their own beliefs about what characteristics an effective leader should have. To me, communication skills, critical thinking skills, and having a vision are few characteristics of becoming an effective leader. A leader is not only born, but made. Some are born as leaders or some are made to be leaders.
Some people were born to be great leaders and some were born to be great learners. I ask myself this question, “How was I created?” Was I born a leader or was I molded to lead. As I explain my philosophy on how I want to lead, I will first dive into my past to recognize and pin point my creator. October 27th 2004 I raise my right hand in order to serve and protect the United State against all enemies, foreign and domestic. At this moment in my young personal leadership journey, I get my first glimpse of a leadership style, “shut up and listen.”
By allowing for employees to be increasingly engaged in workplace activities, they are then given the opportunity to develop new skills. Most leaders also encourage for employees to participate in team building activities so that any employee would be more comfortable and have stronger chemistry when working with other members of their respective departments, and with other employees in the company as a whole. Leaders are capable of motivating their subordinates through a series of actions, such as words of encouragement, acts of appreciation, and allowing for employee involvement in key decision making processes in the company. For instance, leaders who appreciate, constantly encourage and assist in the improvement of the tasks performed by their subordinates will be able to build a strong and healthy employer-employee relationship. This good relationship instils the traits of confidence in employees and motivates them to enhance their performance. Excellent leaders commonly try to develop a dialogue or establish open communication with their subordinates. Employees who are well