Assignment Sample on Professional and Leadership Skills

Introduction

Leadership is the process of motivating others and inspiring them to achieve predetermined goals and objectives (Antonakis and Day, 2018). It is one of the critical factors for achieving success in career and life. Here, I am presenting a reflection on how leadership can aid me in achieving my career objectives and progression. This report has focused on my experiences in learning the concepts of leadership through teaching sessions, lectures, group activities, and module learning. In this report, I have included my understanding of leadership and how the learning module has helped me identify the various concepts of leadership skills and competencies, which will help me gain experience and become a leader in the future.

My understanding before the module:

Before module learning, my perception about leadership was leading people by dividing the task and delegating the work to others. However, after gaining insights into the learning module, I realized that leadership is a quality that itself gets influenced by various factors. It enquires a combination of both skills and experience to be a successful leader (White and Guthrie, 2015). There are multiple ways of performing things, and it varies from time and situation and the decision making capability on how things will take a turn and how the desired results can be achieved. Leadership is not a quality just to influence, but it is a process to lead from the front and take responsibility for own actions and taking the risk to achieve what is targeted.

Reflection on Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is the individual ability to understand self-awareness, social awareness, self-regulation, motivation, and social skills, which allows an individual to be open and understandable towards their behaviour and actions (Serrat, 2017). In leadership, EI is an important ability through which the capacity to deeply understand myself and others can be achieved.
To understand my EI level, it is essential to examine my perceptions, thought process, actions and the reasons behind those actions. Leadership involves the ability to analyze situations and personal judgments with a clear and calm mind, and for this, I should develop this capability. It will help me in difficult encounters with team members or superiors (Goleman and Boyatzis,, 2017). If I develop emotional intelligence, I will be able to grow and evolve leadership. Through observation, I can understand what triggers my emotions and develop self-awareness and control.

I face difficulty managing my emotions in crucial or pressurized situations, and sometimes I also resist my feelings. Emotional intelligence will help me embrace my behaviour and acknowledge my own emotion (Parrish, 2015). Another weakness that I have observed in my personality is social awareness. I have patience when it comes to the professional front, and I also care about others. Still, I am strongly opinioned and very controlling when it comes to working with other members. I feel that I need to learn how to properly delicate task and micromanage effectively. I need improvement in this area as I cannot show respect for others’ opinions and capabilities.
I feel a strong desire to thrive in my life and get motivated through constant improvement and results. EI is a component through which I can motivate myself to develop my strengths and remove my weaknesses (Nabih, et. al. 2016). I believe that transformation leadership will help me in bringing up changes in myself and others through positive behaviour, clear goals, and passion. This way, I can develop an image of myself which has improved for me and my co-workers, classmates and other members.
I feel social skills and networking are equally important in developing leadership qualities. It provides various alternative, suggestion, advisors and planning sessions and successful interactions through which timely decisions can be taken, equally efficient and effective. Through a collection of influential people, I can learn more and develop more experience. The above emotional intelligence quality will help me be a dynamic and perspective leader. Still, it will also bridge the gap between my understanding and understanding of others (Goleman, 2021). The TMMS tool helped assess that I require more self-awareness and self-control and develop empathy towards others.
Leadership styles; organizational structure and cultures
Organizational culture is a set of various rules and regulations and behaviour through which interpersonal relationships are fostered in the organization (Warrick, 2017). The relationship between leadership and organizational culture is very strong as both can either maximize or minimize the productivity of the organization.
Through this module, I have learned that leadership plays a very important role regarding the culture which exists in the organization and is responsible for promoting a healthy environment where communication and organizational ethics are present, and acknowledgement and acceptance are given more importance (Goleman, 2021). The interaction between leadership and employee is considered significant and provides a great contribution to communication, collaboration and accomplishment of organizational objectives.

Leading is communicating a vision and empowering employees to achieve organizational goals. It is an ability to work in a team and encourage others to contribute towards the goals. It is the leadership style that affects performance (Arnold et. al. 2015). I have learnt that in leadership, no gender differences should be present in as in today’s environment where culture is rapidly changing, the requirement of a definite role in leadership is essential for an entity to be adaptable towards the changing need. There are various types of leadership styles such as:

The autocratic leadership style focuses on decisions being made and takes authority with hierarchy. The bureaucratic leadership styles provide clear guidelines and processes and well-documented structures, and defined expectations and responsibilities. Charismatic leadership involves ideas of others and opinions and use emotional intelligence. The coaching style of leadership helps in enhancing communication and teamwork so that the right direction can be followed (Gandolfi and Stone, 2018). The democratic leader focuses on the opinion of the team members and provides those equal opportunities and involvement in decision making. Laissez-faire leadership style encourages the team members and provides the freedom to make decisions. Servant leaders Focus on serving the company and serving the team and tackling the team’s problem, and aiming at productivity. Transactional leadership aids achievements and failures and reward the members who perform better than expectations. Transformational leadership helps team members to achieve the goals and encourage them to find better ways to face the challenges. The visionary leader focuses on spreading the vision and explaining what needs to be done by actually taking the initiative (Nazarian et. al. 2017).

As a leader, I should focus on adapting the leadership style that suits the organization and leaves a strong impact on the performance of the employees and individual (Muls et. al 2018). The impact of leadership style provides the capability to organizational culture to face challenges and adapt towards the change easily. Through the module, I have learnt that no single leadership style suits all; thus, it is important to analyze the situation before choosing a leadership style.
As a leader, I want to lead by example and develop the ability to inspire others through my words and actions. A continuous reflection of my actions and a self-analysis would help me become a better leader (Rahbi et. al. 2017). For understanding leadership style, I took inspiration from the Blake Mouton managerial grid, which provides insight into what types of leadership are present in the business environment and which one I can choose based on my behaviour, personality and situations.

Creativity and Innovation
Creativity is the capacity of an individual’s imagination to generate ideas and concepts using their thoughts and curiosity. Creativity requires an open mind that can help analyze experiences and create original ideas. It is not necessary that an individual can rely on his information but gathering information that they have encountered in real life but had not much given any importance to can also serve the purpose in creating something new and innovative. Creativity is a natural process, so some people are more creative than others (Kwan et. al 2018). Measuring creativity is how a person is developed and how an individual is subjected to a creativity quotient.

When I learned this module, I realize that it enables teamwork as it brings together different personalities and combine their ideas and plans to solve a complex problem. It involves team dynamics and functionalities with personal competencies so that a change can be applied in the system (Kesting et. al. 2015). Innovation leadership reflects the assessment and the capacity for developing something new and unique by perceiving the ideas of an individual’s thought process, others, and environment by understanding them and working effectively to make a positive change.
Studying creative and innovation course made me understand that I can effectively use my brains for achieving results. I also experienced that how my brain works and what I think is not always correct, band how I perceive things might not be the reality (Khalili, 2016). Paradigms, mindsets, and perceptions lead to different thought processes and different behaviours varying from person to person. I also realized that I can use my senses to enhance creativity and apply my thinking in different situations and that some different models or frameworks can assist me in solving the issues and daily situations.

As a leader, I understood that creativity and innovation are an important part of leadership as they can improve the performance of an organization’s profit and help them solve problems to fight in the competitive business environment (Hughes et. al. 2018).
To develop this quality, I understood that I should be able to observe the knowledge of my own and others by observing the surroundings and environment and making decisions that are effective and efficient. For assessing my creativity level, I took the Belbin team roles self-assessment, through which I came to the knowledge that I really need to develop and improve this quality (Mokhber et. al. 2018). I need to develop a different way of looking at things to focus more on solutions rather than the problems.

In various instances, I can produce ideas, but applying those ideas and generating a path for applicability is quite a problem for me. I have analyzed after taking the Belbin team roles test that as the leader, I must be ready to face various temporary issues which can lead to drastic results if not dealt with properly, so I should develop this quality of being creative and innovative so that an alternative course of action can be assessed and timely and accurate decisions can be made (Semuel et. al. 2017).
Diversity and authentic leadership
Increased diversity is a complex issue in today’s business environment where an individual has to deal with deep beliefs and implicit and explicit biases. Diversity is a major issue that has to be dealt with patience and support. It requires a shift in the leadership styles to make the organization’s culture more comfortable and healthier (Vito and Sethi, 2020). This enhances the role of leaders as they have to establish themselves as part of employees and their identity.

Through this module, I learnt that there are instances where employees feel challenged towards adapting the culture and feel threatened and resistant towards the situation and question their own personal identity. It is the leader who can change employee’s thought process and personal beliefs through a cultural shift (Cleary et. al. 2019). Leaders play a critical role in establishing in promoting the culture at the workplace, which is not only healthy but also promotes opportunities and support.
Authentic leadership is a type of leadership that reflects integrity and in the leader’s actions and behaviour. The leader focuses on people’s needs and values and is transparent and morally grounded. I learnt that authentic leadership is one of leadership that leads to self-reflection, self -awareness and transparency (Gardiner, 2015).
The self-awareness feature of authentic leadership helps the leader understand their strengths and weaknesses and how they can get more self-reflective. This leadership maintains transparency in their relationships and provides constructive feedback, which is real and avoids biases. These leaders are most balanced, and before making a decision, they take input from their teams and are open to discussions. Ethics drive them and when face difficult situation they will still do the right thing (Gardiner, 2015).
Through Authentic leadership, I understood that it is an important aspect of leadership style through which I can gain experience, which can help me become a strong and successful leader in the future. Authentic leadership helps in employee engagement through which a diverse workforce can be provided with a comfort zone through which they can achieve their goals as well as contribute to the organization’s success (Gill et. al. 20128). It has a positive impact on an inclusive culture where the leaders can comfort a diverse workforce and establish rules for unacceptable behaviour and encourage open discussions and a more healthy way of accepting others’ opinions. It also inspires others to grow and drive trust and motivation in the leader so that they feel that the leader can help them in uncertainty.

To my knowledge, leadership was just leading others and motivating, but it is beyond that. After coming to know that authentic leadership is such a great leadership that through which all the aspects of leadership functionalities can be achieved and at the same time the organization’s contributions can be made to the maximum (Kotzé and Nel, 2017). Through authentic leadership, I can build strong and trustful relationships and a healthy work environment with a comfortable culture in my organization. I can attain good communication, teamwork, higher productivity and profitability and various other benefits through which the strategic position for an organization, competitive advantage, as well as a diverse and talented workforce that constantly supports and co-operate the leader can be achieved. Through this, I can achieve my career progression and long-term goals.
Group and individual learning from all the group activities
Group work is a teaching strategy through which the students are able to interact without teachers to achieve a common goal. This enables students to get away from passive learning and induces more active learning. The growth of small-group learning contributes towards education and learning in a more cooperative environment. Social constructivism’s enable students to build combined ideas and construct knowledge together.
In my module learning, I was given a group activity as a poster presentation where I was assigned a leader and had a team of 5 members. As a leader, I gained knowledge on how difficult it is to induce teamwork and cooperation when you work with diverse people with different beliefs and values (Rice, 2017). I realized that managing a team of five was a tough ask even though we all were on the same page, but our different perceptions led to conflicts and disagreements. Through group work, I was able to understand that it can have both positive and negative impact depending on how the ideas of others are perceived and accepted and induced so that learning can be introduced in my own system.
The group work taught me how I, as an individual, can work in a group while realizing and overcoming my stress and limitations (Ali et. al. 2015). It also taught me the influence of culture on me and my group. I gained knowledge on how the peer review encouraged me to perform better. Through this, I was getting constructive feedback by organizing regular group meetings, which helped me in practicing self-reflection.

I was able to analyze my performance and my team, which helped me, builds an understanding of the principles of group dynamics and teamwork. It also aided me in articulating the aspects of my skill development and also encourages others to develop their own skills and ideas (Walumbwa et. al. 2017). I recognize the benefits of group work where members brought each other’s strengths and helped each member perform better. It also enabled individual learning and individual performance in me where I was able to evaluate my own performance on the basis of feedback provided by peers, teachers and my team members through which I was able to do a personal reflection where I could assess my own strengths and weaknesses and areas of improvement.
The reflection component on individual and group learning encouraged and motivated me to discover myself and my learning process in both individuals as well as group environment. so that that I was able to verbalize what I could do differently and how I can gain a better understanding of what works better for me and what could be improved (Knipfer et. al. 2018).The group work and individual learning helped in clarifying own thought process and identified my strengths and weakness and how they could be improved overall. I was informed and suggested that I must-read books, observe the environment, and practice active listening and public speaking with the ability to foresee the future and emotional ability to transform myself as a successful and supportive leader.
Conclusion
The above report has provided me with experience regarding various aspects of leadership, teamwork, and progression. The report has outlined the various leadership concepts and their impact on the organization and individual goals and objectives. Through module learning, I was able to identify my own strengths and weaknesses. It helped me in understanding that I am a confident, determined and passionate individual who need more qualities through which I can develop leadership quality in myself. I was introduced to various styles of leadership, and I analyzed that authentic leadership is a style that can be possessed by a leader who can manage a diverse workforce and achieve the predetermined goals. I found various areas of improvement and the right knowledge which can help me in developing this ability which will not only support my leadership quality but will also enhance my career and future goals and opportunities.

References

Books and Journals
Ali, N.M., Jangga, R., Ismail, M., Kamal, S.N.I.M. and Ali, M.N., (2015). Influence of leadership styles in creating quality work culture. Procedia Economics and Finance, 31, pp.161-169.
Antonakis, J. and Day, D.V., (2018). Leadership: Past, present, and future. Routledge
Arnold, K.A., Connelly, C.E., Walsh, M.M. and Martin Ginis, K.A., (2015). Leadership styles, emotion regulation, and burnout. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 20(4), p.481.
Cleary, M., Lees, D. and Sayers, J., (2019). Leadership, thought diversity, and the influence of groupthink. Issues in mental health nursing.
Gandolfi, F. and Stone, S., (2018). Leadership, leadership styles, and servant leadership. Journal of Management Research, 18(4), pp.261-269.
Gardiner, R.A.,(2015). Authentic leadership. In Gender, Authenticity and Leadership (pp. 10-38). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Gill, C., Gardner, W., Claeys, J. and Vangronsvelt, K., (2018). Using theory on authentic leadership to build a strong human resource management system. Human Resource Management Review, 28(3), pp.304-318.
Goleman, D. and Boyatzis, R., (2017). Emotional intelligence has 12 elements. Which do you need to work on. Harvard Business Review, 84(2), pp.1-5.
Goleman, D., (2021). Leadership: The power of emotional intelligence. More Than Sound LLC. Routledge
Hughes, D.J., Lee, A., Tian, A.W., Newman, A. and Legood, A., (2018). Leadership, creativity, and innovation: A critical review and practical recommendations. The Leadership Quarterly, 29(5), pp.549-569.
Kesting, P., Ulhøi, J.P., Song, L.J. and Niu, H., (2015). The impact of leadership styles on innovation-a review. Journal of Innovation Management, 3(4), pp.22-41.
Khalili, A., (2016). Linking transformational leadership, creativity, innovation, and innovation-supportive climate. Management Decision.
Knipfer, K., Schreiner, E., Schmid, E. and Peus, C., (2018). The performance of pre‐founding entrepreneurial teams: The importance of learning and leadership. Applied Psychology, 67(3), pp.401-427.
Kotzé, M. and Nel, P., (2017). Personal factor effects on authentic leadership. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 27(1), pp.47-53.
Kwan, L.Y.Y., Leung, A.K.Y. and Liou, S., (2018). Culture, creativity, and innovation. Routledge
Mokhber, M., Khairuzzaman, W. and Vakilbashi, A., (2018). Leadership and innovation: The moderator role of organization support for innovative behaviors. Journal of Management & Organization, 24(1), pp.108-128.
Muls, A., Dougherty, L., Doyle, N., Shaw, C., Soanes, L. and Stevens, A.M., (2015). Influencing organisational culture: a leadership challenge. British Journal of Nursing, 24(12), pp.633-638.
Nabih, Y., Metwally, A.H. and Nawar, Y.S., (2016). Emotional intelligence as a predictor of leadership effectiveness. The Business & Management Review, 7(5), p.133.
Nazarian, A., Soares, A. and Lottermoser, B., (2017). Inherited organizational performance? The perceptions of generation Y on the influence of leadership styles. Leadership & Organization Development Journal.
Parrish, D.R., (2015). The relevance of emotional intelligence for leadership in a higher education context. Studies in Higher Education, 40(5), pp.821-837.
Rahbi, D.A., Khalid, K. and Khan, M., (2017). The effects of leadership styles on team motivation. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 16(3).
Rice, A.K., (2018). Learning for leadership: Interpersonal and intergroup relations. Routledge.
Semuel, H., Siagian, H. and Octavia, S., (2017). The effect of leadership and innovation on differentiation strategy and company performance. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 237, pp.1152-1159.
Serrat, O., (2017). Understanding and developing emotional intelligence. In Knowledge solutions (pp. 329-339). Springer, Singapore.
Vito, R. and Sethi, B., (2020). Managing change: role of leadership and diversity management. Journal of Organizational Change Management.
Walumbwa, F.O., Hartnell, C.A. and Misati, E., (2017). Does ethical leadership enhance group learning behavior? Examining the mediating influence of group ethical conduct, justice climate, and peer justice. Journal of Business Research, 72, pp.14-23.
Warrick, D.D., (2017). What leaders need to know about organizational culture. Business Horizons, 60(3), pp.395-404.
White, J.V. and Guthrie, K.L., (2015). Creating a meaningful learning environment: Reflection in leadership education. Journal of Leadership Education, pp.60-75
Online
Andreata, B., (2020). Emotional Intelligence: Why You Need It and How to Spot It at Work. [Online]. Accessed Through: < https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/356292 >.Accessed on 5th May 2021.
Blake Mouton Managerial Grid, (2019). [Online]. Accessed Through: < https://expertprogrammanagement.com/2019/05/blake-mouton-grid/ >. Accessed on 5th May 2021.
Kuehnle, A., (2020). Which of the 10 Leadership Styles Works Best for You?. [Online]. Accessed Through: < https://learn.g2.com/leadership-styles >. Accessed on 5th May 2021.
Lacy, P., Lavelle. K., Zamora. A., (2021). STRIKING BALANCE WITH WHOLE-BRAIN LEADERSHIP.[Online]. Accessed Through: < https://competitiveagility.economist.com/whole-brain-leadership-the-new-rules-of-engagement-for-the-c-suite/ >.Accessed on 5th May 2021.
Leadership: What Are the Characteristics of a Great Leader?, (2021). [Online]. Accessed Through: <https://blog.smarp.com/leadership-what-are-the-qualities-and-characteristics-of-a-great-leader>. Accessed on: 5th May 2021.
Lipman, L., (2015). How Are Leadership and Culture Related? [Online]. Accessed Through: < https://www.funteambuilding.com/how-are-leadership-and-culture-related/ > .Accessed on 5th May 2021.
McMohan, T., (2018). Team Roles for High Performance Teams. [Online]. Accessed Through: < http://www.aleanjourney.com/2018/05/9-team-roles-for-high-performance-teams.html>. Accessed on 5th May 2021.
Shah, T., (2019). Unleashing the Power of Diversity through Inclusive Leadership.[ Online]. Accessed Through: < https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2019/05/20/unleashing-the-power-of-diversity-through-inclusive-leadership/ >.Accessed on 5th May 2021.
Ulanova, I., (2017) Leadership, Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Which way is the water? [Online]. Accessed Through: <https://ulanovic.medium.com/leadership-innovation-and-entrepreneurship-51bdc9ea0066 >. Accessed on 5th May 2021.
Wang, M., (2020). How To Become An Authentic Leader. (2019). [Online]. Accessed Through: < https://worldofwork.io/2019/07/becoming-an-authentic-leader/
Whole Brain Creativity Workshops for Leadership and Innovation, (2020). [Online]. Accessed Through: < https://www.creativityatwork.com/innovation-consulting-whole-brain-creativity/ >. Accessed on 5th May 2021.
Writer, S., (2018). Levering future success through diversity leadership. [Online]. Accessed Through: < https://www.boldbusiness.com/society/diversity-leadership-leverage-company-success/> .Accessed on 5th May 2021.