Introduction
The analysis of one’s perception of personal leadership approach can be derived from a reflection on past leadership experiences and practices. The self-awareness perspective serves as a framework for such exploration as it refers to the conscious idea of what a person can do effectively as a leader. It is also essential for acknowledging what remains to be done and learn for developing one’s leadership skills effectively. Thus, the current exploration will focus on the assessment of personal leadership performance and the design of a leadership development plan to enhance capabilities in various spheres of operation.
Leadership Assessment
In the personal leadership assessment, one expects to differentiate between the strengths and vulnerabilities of an individual acting in a leadership role. This will allow to development of a further plan to address the identified weaknesses. Leaders are responsible for the creation and the realization of a vision by encouraging followers to work toward their common goal. Thus, leaders who are productive tend to have a better idea of their strong and weak sides. Self-awareness plays an essential role in this as it allows leaders to keep track of their progress and improve both professionally and personally.
Through reflection and self-awareness, such positive leadership qualities as honesty, integrity, commitment, excellent communication, accountability, and empathy were discovered. Honesty is manifested through following one’s core values and beliefs as well as fundamental ethical principles. Commitment is related to the passion of an individual to his or her job regardless of the complications of a job. Communication is necessary for transferring information to followers as well as gaining respect from them for leadership work. In terms of accountability, it was determined that the rewards for success and blame for failures were shared by the leader and followers, thus encouraging teamwork. Empathy is the last positive leadership characteristic that is exhibited by establishing closer connections with followers and understanding their needs and desires.
However, some weaknesses were found in such areas as delegation, decision-making, inspiration, and confidence, all of which can be improved with the help of leadership development. For instance, it was challenging to delegate important responsibilities to others due to the fear of losing control. Decision-making also appears to be complicated because most leadership decisions are very important, and considering their implications is essential. Inspiring others is a difficult job for a leader because of the need to persuade others to work toward a mutual goal. Lastly, confidence is a quality of an effective leader that can make others follow his or her commands. Although, this characteristic is challenging to establish because of the lack of experience as assertiveness.
Plan Development
To strengthen the existing leadership skills and improve upon the challenges, a cohesive plan should be created. The main focus of the plan is transferring the Nordic leadership model to the Middle Eastern business context to promote greater delegation and teamwork within the energy sector. The first step in the project is to integrate experiential learning into leadership development.
This method is associated with learning by doing – an individual has direct experiences with the context that is being taught. For example, when learning how to delegate roles and responsibilities to followers, a leader should begin the delegation despite the challenges and learn from mistakes as they occur. Experiential learning will contribute to the shaping of high performance and positive connections that enhance leadership effectiveness. For example, the skills of a leader will improve when he or she can explore the case of another effective and visionary leader who knows how to inspire followers and make them work toward a mutual goal.
The second step in the leadership development plan will be concerned with establishing a cross-cultural mindset. This step is essential because workplace settings expand culturally. Important ways to develop competence in this area are to recognize cultural biases, evaluate one’s personality traits, learn about the business and workplace expectations of relevant companies and markets, building strong intercultural connections with followers, and adjust the leadership style to their needs.
The third step is to incorporate some aspects of Nordic leadership. The style is associated with the transfer of power and responsibilities to subordinates as well as a high degree of mutual agreement within the process of decision-making1. Nordic leadership principles can be of benefit because it stresses the importance of cooperation as well as describes leaders as coaches. The fourth step in the plan is expected to be a direct result of Nordic leadership integration because it is concerned with positioning leadership against management, governance, and governmentality.
It is imperative to understand that governance is linked to the alignment of organizational processes with the range of established strategic objectives and an overall direction. Governmentality thus refers to the range of organized practices, such as techniques or methods, through which company workers are governed. Management is different from leadership because it implies planning, organization, and coordination of processes while the latter is about encouragement, inspiration, and motivation. For leaders, it is essential to differentiate between the concepts in order to have a greater grasp of the roles of a leader.
The fifth step in the leadership development plan is expected to be associated with performance leadership, which is a skill required for effective decision-making and employee development. A leader is expected to facilitate increased collaboration between followers in a given setting to enhance the skills of everyone involved in the process as well as promote teamwork spirit. This approach has been derived from leadership practices in elite sports, which encourage collaboration between team members for the purpose of reaching a common goal. The method is expected to increase the systematic development of employees in a work setting; however, some limitations can occur. For example, generative resistance may be an issue since workers may be opposed to increased collaboration due to the lack of strong social bonds that could have enhanced teamwork.
Summary
The leadership development and improvement plan are expected to take up to six months to complete. The first three months will be focused on the plan’s key priorities, which include cross-cultural development, performance leadership, and the incorporation of the Nordic model. The rationale for the selection of the priorities is linked to the initial assessment of strengths and weaknesses as a leader. For example, due to the problem of not being able to delegate responsibilities to other workers, it has been chosen to integrate the Nordic leadership style into practice because it is directly linked to the assignment of responsibilities to followers. Cultural competence development is another critical point of focus for the plan because workplace settings are continuously expanding culturally, with workers offering new perspectives on work.
Cited Reference
Nordic Council of Ministers. 2018. Nordic Leadership. DCC. Web.