Being a leader is a challenging task that requires playing a variety of roles and assuming numerous responsibilities. A true leader must not only provide the subordinates with tasks but also inspire them to grow both professionally and personally (Iszatt-White & Saunders, 2014). As a future leader, I will focus on the issues such as motivating employees by using the transformative leadership strategy, inspiring them to grow professionally with the help of metacognition and self-directed learning, and promote the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as the basis for the development of corporate ethics and the appropriate models of organizational behavior.
Particularly, I have learned that, though having basic leadership qualities, I need to develop some of the characteristics that will help me become more efficient as a leader. Particularly, I will have to put more effort in motivating people to take responsibilities and comply with the ethical standards that are viewed as acceptable.
Moreover, as a leader, I will have to make sure that I promote further development of the staff. There is no need to stress that the motivation of employees defines the quality of their work, as well as their devotion to the project and the company in general. Therefore, as a leader, I will have to consider the use of incentives, including encouragement of the staff by recognizing their achievements and progress, as the means to empower people for the further development.
The incorporation of a trait approach in the leadership strategy that I am going to develop can also be viewed as an essential step to make, as the trait approach will help set an example for the employees to comply with.
To be more exact, the staff members will be provided with a role model that they will be able to follow and learn from. It is assumed that the model provided will help the staff members not merely copy the behavioral patterns but also engage in the process of analyzing their traditional behavioral patterns and identifying the underlying problems thereof. As a result, the employees will be provided with an opportunity to learn more about themselves as professionals and learners.
It should be noted that, being a leader, I will have to face a variety of obstacles, the lack of enthusiasm among the staff and their unwillingness to accept new behavioral patterns, ethics and roles being the first one to address. It would be wrong to assume that the introduction of a set of rigid rules and penalties for failing to comply with the company’s regulations will help improve the situation.
Instead, the aforementioned use of incentives, i.e., both financial rewards and verbal encouragement of the employees, should be used as the means of avoiding the issues such as people’s unwillingness to commit to their job, the lack of enthusiasm among the staff members, the possibility of a fraud, etc. Furthermore, the adoption of the corresponding CSR principles will allow for avoiding and addressing the aforementioned concerns (Rotberg, 2012).
Another obstacle that a leader is likely to face when carrying out the corresponding responsibilities concerns managing conflicts. One must admit that conflicts are an integral part of working in a team. No matter how smoothly the communication process may flow, misunderstandings will occur from time to time in a workplace. As a result, the team members are likely to engage in conflicts, which will require further resolution so that the workflow should not be disrupted.
At this point, the role of a leader known as negotiator deserves to be brought up. To negotiate efficiently and help the opponents realize that they will have to come to terms for the sake of the team’s existence, a leader will have to adopt an appropriate negotiation strategy. By adopting the strategy that revolves around the concept of compromise, as well as incorporating the elements known as BANTA (best alternative to a negotiable agreement) and ZOPA (zone of possible agreement), a leader is likely to attain success in the process of helping the opponents reconcile and finally come to terms.
An efficient leader must play a wide range of roles in a specific team; traditionally, these roles include those of a manager, a distributor of responsibilities, an educator, a mentor, an instructor, and a teacher. However, it is also required that the leader should perform the role of an inspirer, offering the employees a role model that they could use as an example in defining their own behavioral patterns in the workplace.
It is crucial that a leader should be flexible enough to locate the solution that could satisfy all stakeholders involved as well as create the environment, in which the team members could work productively. As a future leader, I will have to work on the development of a unique strategy that will help boost my subordinates’ motivation rates and help them communicate efficiently so that the goals of the company could be met and that the employees could remain satisfied.
Reference List
Iszatt-White, M., & Saunders, C. (2014). Leadership. Oxford, UK: OUP.
Rotberg, R. J. (2012). Transformative political leadership: Making a difference in the developing world. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.