MY STYLE OF LEADERSHIP

 

“It is one thing for a leader to see a vision but this is dismissed or laid off unless the vision is managed so it becomes real achievement” Dearlove (2001:538). Leadership is the way to lead an organization and it can be seen that each leadership styles have its own advantages. Regardless of the fact that there are different leadership styles between some great leaders like Steve Jobs to Richard Branson they have both been able to lead and motivate their employees towards achieving their goals and objectives. These two great leaders made use of their own leadership style, which they felt was suitable for the situations they found themselves.

         There are several personalities that I feel is important to ones success in which being Democratic is one of them. My understanding of leadership is to listen and to learn from other people. I have been privileged to gain some business and leadership experience from my tutor Carol Still that has brought me opportunities to lead my team effectively during presentations and also get their own ideas and views. This experience has made realize that my style of leadership is democratic because I always want to hear other people’s opinion and discuss issues together. An example was during the JC penny case study presentation, which I was appointed the group leader, I made sure every one contributed by discussing together and also reviewing some slides, which was one of the reasons we did well. After gaining so much experience from great leaders of organizations, articles and books I understood that performance is not only the goal of a leader, listening and carrying employees along by studying them and considering their views before making decisions. According to Mullins (2010:434) he described management as “Getting work done through the efforts of others”. Thus a leader needs to listen as well as motivate his employees in other to get the best of them. In the case of JC Penny Ullman displayed a democratic style of leadership who believed in empowering, listening and making his employees comfortable in their work place in other to get good performances from them. His first assignment was to make his employees have a sense of belonging in his new management. Mullins further explains that what makes a perfect team includes the following

 1. A belief in shared aims and objectives            

2. A sense of belonging to the group

3. Full consensus in decisions

4. Free flow of communication and information 

These were some of the ideas Ullman had in mind, he was able to put more light on what effective leadership means, he successfully turned over the rigid culture and structure of JC Penny. He also demonstrated how leadership could involve the people around you. Ullman achieved his goals and objectives through the efforts of his employees despite the resistance, challenges and its 100 years rigid culture. He has inspired my understanding on effective leadership, his visions were turned into reality. A leader should be able to turn his goals into reality despite the circumstances that might surround it (Warren Bennis). Kurt lewin describes the democratic leadership as the most effective because it because employees are motivated to put their all in what they do. In the lights of becoming a leader I would rather learn how to listen to people and understand their needs. And from the few times I had to successfully lead my team into success I made sure we put into consideration the 5 practices of exemplary leadership by Kouzes, Posner (2006) which are                                                                                                         

 

MODEL                                   

INSPIRE

CHALLENGE

ENABLE

ENCOURAGE

 

                         

 

These five practices have enlightened me more on how to lead and not only how to manage them. These exemplary practices talks about self awareness as a leader getting to know yourself first which is actually one of the best ways to truly lead others. It also elaborates on inspiring a shared vision has a leader, challenging the process, enabling others to act giving them a chance to participate, communication, motivating others and also celebrating victories. In my first term of my masters I remember when I was asked to lead the group on a marketing debate which was new to me being my first time schooling outside my country. The team was made up of students from different background, culture and beliefs. I knew it was going to be challenging for me so I decided to involve everyone in bringing ideas and their decisions, which made it easier for me to listen and understand what they were contributing. Although it was quite challenging being our very first debate I was able to lead the team to success at the end of it with the efforts of each team member. I was commended for a job well done and how I included everyone’s ideas through listening and encouraged everyone. My encouraging everyone was helpful, bringing all our ideas together and reviewing them together helped the teamwork effectively.

 

REFERENCES

Bloomberg BusinessWeek (2013) “JC Penny rehires Myron Ullman to clean up Ron Johnsons Mess” {online} Available from http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013

 

Business Mate. Org (2013) “Kurt Lewins Leadership Styles” {online} Available from < http://www.businessmate.org/article.phd

 

Harvard Business Review (2012) “The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs” {online} Available from< http://www.hbr.otg

 

 

HR (2010) “Sir Richard Branson Talks to HR Magazine About Leadership” {online} Available from < http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk

 

Kouzes, J,. M, Posner, B. (2006)  “The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership” {online} Available from < http://culcmoodle.coventry.ac.uk/course/view

 

Mullins, L. (2010) Management and Organizational Behavior. 9^th edn. London: Prentice Hall

 

Warren, G., B. (2010) “Learning to Lead: A work on becoming a leader”. 4^th edn. Publisher: Basic Books.