Leadership Skills and Leadership Development Plan Essay

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Leadership refers to the ability to influence people to attain certain goals and objectives. Good leaders possess certain traits that form the foundation of their leadership. These traits include honesty, confidence, charisma, trust, vision, good communication skills, and the ability to delegate. Despite possession of these traits, all leaders have weaknesses that limit the level of success they achieve. On the other hand, these weaknesses affect their leadership and lower their performance and productivity. I have several strengths and weaknesses in leadership.

My strengths in leadership situations include patience, open-mindedness, and focus. Patience is one of the traits that enable me to take control of matters while in leadership situations. Some problems require sufficient time and attention for leaders to develop appropriate solutions. I can work or wait for long hours if there is hope for a solution to a problem or completion of a task. Patience is also important in situations such as training because employees have varying speeds of learning. Therefore, it is necessary to accord them enough time to ensure that they learn effectively. Finally, the attainment of goals takes time. This requires patience on the part of the leader. Patience is a strength that forms one of the pillars of my leadership. Open-mindedness is another strength that I exhibit in leadership situations. It enables me to embrace ideas, opinions, and criticisms from other people with the aim of developing better solutions, plans, and strategies. Being an open-minded leader means that I am open to change and new ideas. Good leadership is developed through constant improvement that is achieved through responding to feedback and criticism. This requires an open mind. In addition, open-mindedness allows me to accept corrections when I do something wrong that affects other people. It enhances cooperation and teamwork among employees or team members. Finally, I possess the ability to focus on tasks until their completion. This trait is augmented by patience. Concentrating fully on a task increases the chances of completing it successfully. Moreover, it reduces the likelihood of making mistakes or doing a shoddy job.

My weaknesses in leadership positions include lack of charisma, poor problem-solving and decision-making skills, and poor communication skills. Charisma is an important trait because it involves inspiring and motivating employees to attain goals. I am not charismatic and thus find it hard to inspire and motivate employees. It is difficult for me to motivate employees and as such increase their productivity and performance. This is evident from my role as the leader of the development department at the IT organization. Another weakness I exhibit is poor decision-making skills due to inadequate experience and knowledge of leadership. The decisions that I make are usually misinformed and only include personal thoughts and perspectives. I do not involve other members in the decision-making process. I also have poor problem-solving skills. This is due to the unwillingness to seek opinions and different perspectives from other people. The notion that I am the leader prevents me from accepting apparent limitations. Therefore, the inflated ego prevents me from seeking assistance from people with more experience and expertise. Finally, I have poor communication skills. Poor communication comprises the inability to communicate goals and visions to employees, and the presence of frequent conflicts due to misunderstandings.

Without proper communication, a leader cannot manage employees effectively for the achievement of organizational goals. To develop my leadership capability, it is imperative to eradicate these weaknesses by acquiring skills to replace them. The development of strong decision-making and problem-solving skills will involve seeking alternatives to problems, seeking assistance, soliciting feedback and criticism, and developing contingency plans. On the other hand, it will be important to weigh the benefits and costs of each decision through a thorough evaluation process. It is important to consider the anticipated outcome of a decision or an action in order to determine its viability. Taking on more responsibilities and challenges will also improve these skills. To improve my communication skills, I intend to undertake a short training program on communication skills. The program will equip me with knowledge on the dos and don’ts of proper and effective communication. In addition, I will learn to listen more, speak clearly, and improve pronunciation. Finally, I intend to improve my charisma to be able to motivate and inspire employees. This will involve learning to be compassionate, cooperative, and open to new ideas. In addition, it will involve improving my confidence and self-esteem by embracing more responsibilities and challenges. Looking at things positively and learning how to be persuasive are also important aspects of developing my charisma. Acquiring strong persuasion skills is the most important aspect of developing charisma as a leader.

Leadership Skill to ImproveGrowth Objective(s) for each SkillActivitiesPeople who can HelpIndicators of SuccessTimeline
Set goalsHave all employees set personal goals in addition to organizational goalsDevelop goals that are different from organizational goalsCoaches and motivational speakersEmployees requesting for additional resources to attain their goalsAfter every performance appraisal
Seek feedbackReceive honest feedback from employeesCollect opinions and ideas regarding organizational activitiesTeam leadersCriticism of organizational processes and functionsFeedback after completion of every task
Plan effectivelyHave employees complete tasks in timeAttend a training programPerformance coachCompletion of tasks before the expected timeAt the start of every workday
Assess performanceAchieve short-term and long-term goalsCompletion of performance appraisal questionnairesHR personnel
Supervisors
Attainment of expected outcomes e.g. earningsAt the end of each project
Conduct effective meetingsConduct meetings that all employees attendDaily meetingsDepartmental headsMore than 80% of employees attend meetingsAfter completion of a training program
Coach
others
Improve performance and productivityAttend a training programPerformance coaches
HR personnel
Less time used completing tasksAfter successful completion of a performance enhancement program
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