The Assignment (2-3 pages):
Personal Leadership Philosophies
Develop and submit a personal leadership philosophy that reflects what you think are characteristics of a good leader. Use the scholarly resources on leadership you selected to support your philosophy statement. Your personal leadership philosophy should include the following:
- A description of your core values.
- A personal mission and vision statement.
- An analysis of your CliftonStrengths Assessment summarizing the results of your profile
- A description of two key behaviors that you wish to strengthen.
- A development plan that explains how you plan to improve upon the two key behaviors you selected and an explanation of how you plan to achieve your personal vision. Be specific and provide examples.
- Be sure to incorporate your colleagues’ feedback on your CliftonStrengths Assessment from this Module’s Discussion 2.
Expert Answer and Explanation
Personal Leadership Philosophies
Leadership is an essential element in human life both for personal growth and also in an organizational setting. Leaders help with motivation, offer proper paths for others to follow, and ensure coordination within the team (Bhattacharyya, 2020). As a leader, one is guided by personal leadership guidelines that shape how one implements their leadership skills and traits. These philosophies shape one’s character and can determine the greatness of a leader.
Characteristics of a Good Leader
Leaders are responsible for shaping any organization or the nation as a whole as they are involved with establishing essential decisions that ensure the progression of the human race. However, a leader can either be good or bad based on their individual and personally identifiable characteristics (Fransen et al., 2017). A set of characteristics can be used to determine a good leader and ensure that bad leadership is averted.
To begin with, integrity is one of the main characteristics of a good leader. Integrity or otherwise moral soundness is essential as it ensures equality and eliminates bias within the organization, making the right decision even under immense pressure (Haski-Leventhal, 2020). A leader also needs to possess the character of an effective communicator, be self-aware, and influence.
Other than knowing how to come up with the right decisions and correct motivation for the employees, a leader needs to be able to communicate these findings and influence the staff or followers to align themselves with the implementation.
Personal Core Values
As a leader, I have several core values that determine my leadership acumen and capacity to interact with other key stakeholders. One of my major core values is the element of self-awareness. The value is essential as it improves the understanding of my personality and how to interact with others. Self-awareness enables the understanding of both my strengths and weaknesses as well as those of others (Olanrewaju, & Okorie, 2019).
Self-awareness improves on the value of empathy and persona responsibility for my own actions. As an empathetic leader, I would be able to understand the concerns and issues related to those around me and offer the most accurate intervention. With the value of responsibility, it is also apparent that I can embrace new opportunities and ensure they lead to the expected outcome.
Responsibility also focuses on the growth of other members within the society or organizational setting. These core values also sum up to the overall value of servant leadership. As a leader, ensuring that I lead by example is one of my desire and main goal. Providing good examples, setting new modalities that would act as guidelines, and ensuring there is proper conflict resolution are some of the elements that drive my value of servant leadership.
Mission and Vision Statement
My personal mission is to be a great leader who can positively transform the lives of those around me and help make the world a better place. In line with the mission, my personal vision is to become the greatest leader who acts as a role model and an icon of the world. The mission and vision are essential as they offer a foundation for moral ground and a guideline for future self-development.
Analysis of CliftonStrengths Assessment
Based on my CliftonStrengths Assessment, my main strengths include consistency, discipline, responsibility, connectedness, and relator. The strengths are critical as they offer a vivid description of my qualities as a leader and my strengths within the society. For instance, consistency deals with my need for things to be in a state of balance and equality.
On the other hand, discipline focuses on my desire for predictability leading to the imposition of a definitive structure. Responsibility extends on the themes of discipline as it ensures that I take ownership of my own doing. Connectedness and relator are also essential as they affirm my beliefs of events happening for a reason and understand other people based on their circumstances.
Key Behaviors to Strengthen
The two main behaviors that I would like to strengthen include social interaction and communication. While I have better responsibility and discipline with my work or roles, I need to be able to communicate with others effectively, and creating a mutual understanding with the ability to have strong social interaction and effective communication skills would be beneficial to me as a leader.
Plan to Improve the Behaviors
A key plan is to identify my strengths and weaknesses related to the issue and then conduct self-education on the preferred modes of social interaction and communication. The use of online tutorials, physical practice, and joining various social groups would improve key behaviors (Sun, & Henderson, 2017). By becoming a great leader and effective communicator, I would lead through diligence and servant leadership to attain my mission and vision.
Conclusion
Leadership is essential, but great leadership requires positive core values and great strengths. Ensuring that a person improves their core values and their strengths are in line with that of a leader is critical for growth and development. A leader should also strive to learn and improve their weaknesses as they advance and grow over time.
References
Bhattacharyya, S. S. (2020). Evolving from Manager to a Business Leader: Characteristics of ‘Yogic Perspectives’& ‘Vedic Philosophy’. A Review of Economic & Social Development, 56(2), 374.
Fransen, K., Vanbeselaere, N., De Cuyper, B., Vande Broek, G., & Boen, F. (2017). When is a leader considered as a good leader? Perceived impact on teammates’ confidence and social acceptance as key ingredients. Athletic Insight: Online Journal of Sport Psychology, 12(1), 21-51.
Haski-Leventhal, D. (2020). On Purpose, Impact, Vision and Mission. In The Purpose-Driven University. Emerald Publishing Limited.