HOTO7016 Mentoring and Leadership Development Assignment Sample
Introduction
Leadership has been identified as a fluid practice because the approach has been exposed to a continuous flux owing to changing experience and personal development.
The study helps to formulate a reflective analysis of my personal leadership style and focuses on two particular instances where mentoring activities have influenced my leadership capabilities. An evaluation of three different leadership competencies has been conducted through the study to render a better idea about my leadership approach.
Finally an action plan to launch my career in tourism industry after the master’s programme that I am attending has been developed by aligning my competencies accordingly.
Leadership styles
Tourism in India has been suffering from recurring security challenges which have had a derogatory effect on reputation of this sector and the industry has substantially declined over the years.
The tourism industry in India was observed to earn 4 Billion US dollars through international tourism in 2020 and was a billion less for what it had earned in 2019 (Statista.com, 2021).
The fall in revenue suggested that international tourists were no longer indulgent and comfortable to visit India owing to rising security challenges for them. It thus becomes imperative for me to work on my leadership style so that all the stakeholders like tourists, employees get motivated and tourism in India could get back to its former glory.
However it is very important to evaluate where my leadership capabilities are in contemporary times to become a better leader in future. There are some common types of leadership that get incorporated by contemporary leaders- Democratic, Autocratic, Strategic, Transactional, Coach-Style, Transformational and each of these have been developed surrounding distinct traits.
I have been observed to lead group based activities accurately because the process of decision making was based on the input of every team member (Al Khajeh, 2018). This motivated the team members and they felt more responsible towards the organisation as every member gets an equal opportunity to share their opinion.
Although I was the one who made the final call, every other member had an equal say in deciding the direction of enterprise. My approach is effective as it allows lower level employees to exercise authority and it is very important for them to understand how authority is handled so that an effective career is developed in future.
The decision is finally taken after considering the recommendations and requirements of every member so that team members do not show any signs of resentment in future. I have observed that it is necessary to preserve all the stakeholders especially in tourism sector as they contribute to overall productivity of the process.
Furthermore I tend to show great indulgence towards necessity of tourists as the sector is customer centric and developing my capabilities to understand consumer behaviour would render me a sustainable career. All these traits and practices are aligned to a common leadership style known as Democratic leadership, where the leader tends to make group based decisions instead of relying on self accountability skills.
Mentoring Activities
The primary motive of my mentor was to develop a pipeline of capable leaders and it is the responsibility of these newly developed leaders to ensure success for an enterprise in the present or future.
Leadership mentoring is a trusted method as it developed my ability to function in an uncertain situation and align myself accordingly so that other members tend to get motivated by my actions.
Leadership is not present from birth and is acquired over time, which makes it possible to propagate the necessary skills through suitable mentoring approaches.
Learning from Doing
It was advised by my mentor to practice with development tools and get involved in activities for transitioning into a better leader.
The abilities are not present from birth and get developed eventually through participation in activities or events. These activities help to prepare me for achieving desired goals by rendering practical experience of handling a team and a scope to understand requirements of team members (Sims et al. 2021).
My mentor made it necessary for me to step out of my comfort zone so that I could handle certain real life scenarios, putting my leadership skills into real-life context. This helped me to understand my capabilities and focus on the possible impact of being under my leadership strategy.
Furthermore I was able to grow confident about my approach as my abilities were tested in real life situations and this validated different assumptions about my leadership style.
Learning from everyone
I was advised by my mentor to take decisions according to the necessity of a situation. However in group based activities or board meetings it became a part of my responsibility to listen carefully to what every other member has to say and opine.
According to my mentor, any initiative to learn from others would give me a vivid scope to incorporate changes to my approach and prevent any resentment from the team in future (Sousa and Rocha, 2019).
It is important to understand my team members and assign changes to the structure to motivate them accordingly. Maintaining a sense of motivation is crucial as it helps to influence employees and they function according to the guidelines pitched by an organisation in particular.
Leadership competencies
Leadership competencies are a collection of skills and abilities of an individual which help to represent effective leadership within an organisation. I think a single set of competencies do not develop a leader; rather every organisational framework demands a different combination of abilities to effectively lead a team.
Certain skills, abilities that proved to be important for me in terms of the tourism industry of Kerala, have been evaluated and listed below.
Networking
According to me, leadership networking is the process of developing and using my networks in such a way that it facilitates relationship building, strengthening of alliances in the process of achieving organisational goals. It is important to motivate others through informal ways, instead of exercising hierarchical power at every instance.
An active networking helps to build reputation and exchange valuable resources like feedback, opinions that could be incorporated to improve overall productivity of the process (Dirani et al. 2020). Effective communication between the entities is a necessity as it helps to bypass information and opinions regarding the current issue of security.
I tend to share meaningful connections with entities that have best interest in mind so that credible information is derived. The effectiveness of my networking could be derived from the ties and relationships I have with different parts of my organisation.
Social intelligence (SI)
It is my ability to understand the dynamics of different social situations and predict outcomes of my team while functioning in a familiar situation. The findings help me to develop a guideline to operate effectively in various social situations and any scope of conflict is prevented (Andriukaitienė et al. 2017).
I consider Social Intelligence to be an important competence for leadership as it helps to understand the requirements of the team members in contemporary social situations. I could accordingly adjust my offerings and requirements in order to satisfy both sides of the enterprise.
In a way it helps to maintain overall productivity of the team. Furthermore SI helps me to understand the security and safety requirements of tourists in different social situations. It helps me to take timely measures and not wait for the tourist feedback to take actions as it would affect the reputation of the industry by then.
Conflict management
It is the ability to help others or team members to resolve interpersonal conflicts and preserve efficiency of the process. Instead of posing an opinion that would be contrasting to both their views, I was observed to suggest ways to combine their conflicting views.
In this way none of the views were compromised and a healthy environment was maintained in the workplace (Shum et al. 2018). A healthy workplace is necessary as it helps to keep the employees motivated and free from any unneeded burden that could hamper their performance eventually.
Action plan
| Objective | Steps to be taken | Time frame |
| Internship | Acquire experience in a wide range of tasks like planning, marketing and customer service by testing out my leadership skills in a professional situation.
Acquiring a global perspective on leadership styles that are prevalent in the contemporary tourism industry. |
6 months |
| Diploma course in Travel and Tourism | Acquire sufficient networking skills by completing assignments in an externally set scenario.
Developing skills on customer satisfaction and security through a specialist programme arranged by the institution. |
1 year |
| Job | Incorporating any scope of placement and selecting a distinct path out of the career cluster as a destination manager.
I would be in charge of managing and implementing national/regional tourism strategies for the promotion of a destination. |
5 years |
Conclusion
A suitable leadership approach is important for any organisational structure as it helps to motivate employees through situations of uncertainty. The study helps to evaluate democratic leadership, as the traits and abilities of a democratic leader align to mine.
Thereafter certain leadership competences like Networking, SI and Conflict management have been identified and evaluated to give a better idea about my leadership approach. Finally a suitable action plan has been developed according to my abilities and weaknesses to maintain a sustainable career in future.
Reference list
Al Khajeh, E.H., (2018). Impact of leadership styles on organizational performance. Journal of Human Resources Management Research, 2018, pp.1-10.
Andriukaitienė, R., Voronkova, V., Kyvliuk, O., Maksimenyuk, M. and Sakun, A., (2017). Theoretical insights into expression of leadership competencies in the process of management. Problems and Perspectives in Management, (15, Iss. 1 (cont.)), pp.220-226.
Dirani, K.M., Abadi, M., Alizadeh, A., Barhate, B., Garza, R.C., Gunasekara, N., Ibrahim, G. and Majzun, Z., (2020). Leadership competencies and the essential role of human resource development in times of crisis: a response to Covid-19 pandemic. Human Resource Development International, 23(4), pp.380-394.
Shum, C., Gatling, A. and Shoemaker, S., (2018). A model of hospitality leadership competency for frontline and director-level managers: Which competencies matter more?. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 74, pp.57-66.
Sims, C., Carter, A. and Moore De Peralta, A., (2021). Do servant, transformational, transactional, and passive avoidant leadership styles influence mentoring competencies for faculty? A study of a gender equity leadership development program. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 32(1), pp.55-75.
Sousa, M.J. and Rocha, Á., (2019). Leadership styles and skills developed through game-based learning. Journal of Business Research, 94, pp.360-366.
Statista.com, (2021), India: luxury tourism revenue 2019-2024, by market. Available at:https://www.statista.com/statistics/1071617/india-luxury-tourism-revenue-origin/[Accessed on 13th April 2021]
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