HOTO7016 Mentoring and Leadership Development Assignment Sample
Reflective summary
Introduction
The topic of the assignment is Plastic Waste Management Challenges in Kerala Tourism Sector. The aim of the report is to analyse the concept of plastic waste management in the Kerala. The tourism sector is one of the fastest developing industries of the world and a medium of employment generation for many of the nations.
This is a remarkable social and economic phenomenon. Tourism is a movement of people from one place to another with a purpose to stay for a short period or for vacation.
Leadership Styles
Within the country, the most famous and developing tourism state is Kerala. Kerala is a state situated in the southwest and one of the most popular destinations of the world. It is very well renowned for its backwaters, culture, tradition, and eco-tourism activities.
The major attractions of the beautiful state are beaches, backwaters, hill stations, wildlife, lighthouses, and waterfalls. Recently, I have observed that the tourism sector of Kerala has a major challenge to deal with the increasing level of pollution due to an increase in the plastic waste. Tourism has caused many issues among which waste is a major issue.
The report focuses upon such challenges faced by the tourism sector and thereby recommends viable ideas for curbing this issue by well-planned and structured plastic waste management ideas. Furthermore, Leadership is an art to motivate people and dealing with various challenges within a sector or field.
It is directly linked to the performances and attainment of objectives or goals. Also, I have deduced that Effective Leadership is a key asset towards overcoming this challenge. Also, it discusses a vivid interpretative and analytical study over Laissez-style leadership is an approach in which an attitude of trust and confidence is shown to the team members.
Little or no guidance is provided from the mentor and employees are deemed as capable of taking important decisions. Moreover, team members are expected to solve their problems by themselves and they are provided with access to various tools and resources.
On the other hand, it also provides a reflection upon the Affiliative style of leadership is based on the emotional aspect and promotes team building and a harmonious environment as the workplace.
Numerous leadership styles and theories have been discussed to provide a vivid study towards this contemporary challenge. Lastly towards the ends it provides several recommendations that sound a key factor for curbing this challenge such as working together with the local awareness organizations is also a great idea to deal with this challenging situation.
Within Kerala, various trusts and programs are developed where the focus is done on enhancing the awareness about nature and sustainability and the ways that it can be protected by minimising the usage of plastic and making the state free from plastic pollution.
Leadership Competencies
The present business environment is changing at a very fast pace and businesses are required to adopt these changes (Moldoveanu and Narayandas, 2019). In such a scenario, leaders are responsible to make aware of the changes to the employees and convincing them to accept and not resists.
For instance, the increased use of technologies and automation has fixed machinery and computers in the company and reduces the requirement of manpower. Thus, I feel that I should develop this quality and skill within me to further facilitate change in the workplace.
As a leader, I will have to make important decisions every time and has to take accountability for the same. This enhances the need to develop this skillset so that I become able to gran the opportunity available in front of me without wasting any time. The quality of a good leader is that he knows when to make a decision, consulting a team, calling a meeting, etc.
As a leader, my responsibilities don’t have defined limits, instead whatever it has to be done for me to manage my team efficiently will have to be done without compromising.
One of the greatest duties that should be performed by me as a leader is to engage in interpersonal communication with the members and make sure that they are feeling fine within their personal lives too. I feel that for doing so informal and consistent meetings should be undertaken so that the members feel that they could confide within me and share their worries.
I have to make critical decisions every single day and hence for this, I will be required to develop my logical reasoning and critical thinking skills too. Decisions should be taken in a way that can generate revenue for the company and also aligned with the individual goals.
Networking is a key competency that helps in developing and maintaining long-term relationships with the key people involved in the business-like suppliers, customers, etc. (Panait, 2017). Networking is the competency that can be developed by communicating in an effective manner. I feel a person can handle such issues and any situation with network relationships.
Interacting with different people provides an opportunity to get a broad scope in life. It helps in getting self-confidence, open-mindedness, and strong relationships. It provides opportunities to communicate first, learning, etc. Moreover, with this key capability business expansion is possible and new opportunities for the organization can be identified.
Mentoring Activities
Mentoring activities are organized with an aim to enhance the knowledge base and learning skills to meet the developmental objectives (Rihal, 2017). I participated in two mentoring activities.
One is in the career preparation at my college where I worked on the development of my positive attitude skills and behavioural traits. I learned that these two things are very important in career and professional development. I engaged in this mentoring process and experienced various things like identified my reading skills, potential opportunities, critical thinking, etc.
Apart from this, my second mentoring activity was on youth development and leadership with the industry speaker. In this program, I participated in conflict resolution training and the importance of community volunteerism. These are beneficial for my career progression and success in life.
I analysed that speaking and communication capabilities are very important in becoming a leader. Apart from communication, presentation and skills are crucial to perform as a proficient leader in the workplace.
Leadership competencies are the skills that aids in delivering superior work performances (Marques, 2015). Numerous leadership competencies exist that an HR manager analyses while hiring an employee like social intelligence, conflict management, decision making, change management, emotional intelligence, people management, industry knowledge, and courage.
The three leadership competencies that I am required to develop for my successful career are networking, change management, and decision making. I believe that these three are very essential in leading a team and I am needed to focus on these skill sets.
Leadership is a crucial trait that is required in every organization and any industry (Bottomley and Willie Burgess, 2018). After conducting various self-assessment tests, it has been identified that my leadership style is of a democratic approach.
This is a theory of involving the team and inviting their contributions in further strategy making and goal attainment. I analysed that I will be a leader who aims to follow this kind of leadership approach where I will welcome every one suggestion so that they can open up and their involvement and engagement in the work can be seen.
Enthusiastic employee provides high and quality productivity comparatively with the low morale employees. Democratic leadership theory makes the team aware of the goals for which we are working for.
Employees that are working in a team should be well aware of the vision and mission of the organization and democratic leadership styles facilitate that. When suggestions are provided by individuals, then it open up more conditions and aspects that one must not have thought of.
Appropriate solution for the issue can be taken that can support in eliminating the problem. Further, I believe that open communication must be ensured in the company so that misunderstandings and mishaps can be avoided and a happy work environment can be developed.
I feel that open communication within the workplace scenario has other benefits too. It means that when open communication is fostered, the team members start feeling a sense of belongingness. This helps them to come to the workplace every day and do not dread the experience. As per my views, open communication also leads to frequent feedbacks.
Consistent inflow of feedbacks has resulted in streamlining the activities within the workplace and massive reduction within the conflicts. When information flows, it support in identifying the problems that are caused and appropriate steps can be taken through which the problem occurred could be eliminated. This is beneficial for the leader too.
This is so because whenever something has to be communicated, whether of positive nature or negative, the leader won’t have to hesitate rather could convey whatever problem or issue is being encountered within the scope.
Action plan/ career plan
| Competencies | Objectives | Action required | Time frame |
| Change management | To accept change and | I have to take various necessary steps to develop my change management skills by clearly defining the change, and determining its impact | 3 month |
| Decision making skill | To grab the opportunity available | In order to attain this skill, I have to gather relevant information, Conducting SWOT analysis and identifying the alternatives
|
1 month |
| Networking | To interact with people and develop healthy relationships | In order to improve the networking skills, I have to take a close look at the network and resources that are available. | 15 days |
| Motivational skills | To encourage employees in order to get better results and productivity | I have to set up of small goals and encouraging the team to achieve the same. Further, it can be done by staying positive and celebrating results and small achievements. | 4 months |
References
- Bottomley, K. and Willie Burgess, S., 2018. Changing generations in today’s workforce: Leadership skills for Millennials. Employment relations today, 44(4), pp.5-9.
- Marques, J., 2015. The changed leadership landscape: What matters today. Journal of Management Development.
- Moldoveanu, M. and Narayandas, D., 2019. The future of leadership development. Harvard Business Review, 97(2), pp.40-48.
- Rihal, C.S., 2017. The importance of leadership to organizational success. NEJM Catalyst, 3(6).
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