Personal Leadership Philosophies. Many of us can think of leaders we have come to admire, be they historical figures, pillars of the industry we wo…
Personal Leadership Philosophies
Introduction
Assignment: Personal Leadership Philosophies
Many of us can think of leaders we have come to admire, be they historical figures, pillars of the industry we work in, or leaders we know personally. The leadership of individuals such as Abraham Lincoln and Margaret Thatcher has been studied and discussed repeatedly. However, you may have interacted with leaders you feel demonstrated equally competent leadership without ever having a book written about their approaches.
What makes great leaders great? Every leader is different, of course, but one area of commonality is the leadership philosophy that great leaders develop and practice. A leadership philosophy is basically an attitude held by leaders that acts as a guiding principle for their behavior. While formal theories on leadership continue to evolve over time, great leaders seem to adhere to an overarching philosophy that steers their actions.
What is your leadership philosophy? In this Assignment, you will explore what guides your own leadership.
To Prepare:
- Identify two to three scholarly resources, in addition to this Module’s readings, that evaluate the impact of leadership behaviors in creating healthy work environments.
- Reflect on the leadership behaviors presented in the three resources that you selected for review.
- Reflect on your results of the CliftonStrengths Assessment, and consider how the results relate to your leadership traits.
- Download your Signature Theme Report to submit for this Assignment.
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/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.
- Note: Be sure to attach your Signature Theme Report to your Assignment submission.
By Day 7 of Week 6
Submit your personal leadership philosophy.
Submission and Grading Information
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- If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database.
- Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.
- Due to the nature of this assignment, your instructor may require more than 7 days to provide you with quality feedback
Grading Criteria
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Personal Leadership Philosophies
Introduction
Contemporary organizations have a vision statement, a mission statement, core values, and organizational philosophies. These concise explanations of the organization’s way of conducting business and theory of operations act as a guide to the organization’s workforce. These elements also inform customers, partners, and other stakeholders where the organization is and where it wants to be.
Similarly, a personal leadership philosophy (PLP) serves a similar purpose by informing interested parties what the individual in context does, values, cares about, respects, and believes (Speranza & Pierce, 2019).
While there are as many definitions of PLPs as there are scholars, the definition adopted in this paper considers it a set of beliefs, values, and principles that significantly affect how individuals interpret reality and guide their understanding of influencing others. Through the PLP, one’s understanding and interpretation of leadership reflect how one reacts to people, events, and situations around oneself.
Consequently, this essay purposes of developing a PLP that mirrors what I think are the characteristics of a good leader. To achieve the goal, the subsections that follow outline my core values, a personal vision, mission statement, and an analysis of my Clifford Strengths Assessment, giving a summary of my profile results.
A description is given of two core behaviors I would wish to strengthen and develop a plan that explains how the two behaviors will be improved. The paper concludes by having the highlights of the essay.
A Description of My Core Values
Solution
Open-mindedness and integrity are my core values, with the former have helped me integrate other people’s thoughts in the decisions that I make and readily admit when I am on the wrong side (Leithwood & Azah, 2016). Nevertheless, I must declare that I only arrive at decisions based on the knowledge that I have instead of unverified statements of others.
The second core value is integrity and is closely linked to emotional intelligence. Competencies in emotional intelligence enable one to identify and manage their own emotions while simultaneously recognizing and respecting those of others.
It is instructive to note that enrolling in leadership training courses without incorporating emotional intelligence means one cannot be effective. With these two core values, I have managed to create long-lasting friendships and have been instrumental in resolving some societal problems.
A Personal Mission/Vision Statement
Based on a discussion of leadership theories, trends in the development of non-bureaucratic organizations, formative leadership experiences, and cultural identity, my mission statement is To serve as a leader by inspiring others to achieve great things that generate innovative healthcare solutions that improve others’ lives.
My vision statement is to continue working towards being a leader who makes people’s skills and capabilities effective. From these statements, I expect that my team will utilize their gifts to improve the self-worth of everyone we encounter and positively impact the lives of these individuals, whether they be patients, their families, and other stakeholders in general.
The rationale behind these statements is that if I can attain the goals that I have set through my mission and vision at an individual level, then I could also advise others to follow the specific course or take a path similar to mine to achieve their goals.
An Analysis of My Clifton strengths Assessment Summarizing the Results of My Profile.
The need to understand my leadership traits led me to take CliftonStrengths Assessment, whose results indicated the five primary themes that account for my talents in leadership. As an activator who’s The Strengths Finder Colors is Orange- Yellow means I have influencing talent themes. The creator in me comes to life any time I am creating momentum for others to affect a change in their way of doing things positively.
I derive great satisfaction when I help people understand the problem they face, identify a change opportunity, and then help them develop and effect a change in their lives. Over the years, I have realized that having a positive outlook in every situation leads one to a feasible solution because every problem carries a spark of its own solution. I get contented knowing very well that one attribute of an effective leader is their natural ability to spark change.
A Description of Two Key Behaviors That I Wish To Strengthen
Following the results of the CliftonStrengths Assessment, I have realized that there are many areas that I should strengthen, but the two are adaptability and communication. To become exceptionally talented in the adaptability theme means that I will go with the flow and target to effect the desired change from within the flow more often than not.
I have also managed to have some insights that alerted me that I am poor at responding to feedback, mainly due to a lack of creativity, as effective communication will come in handy. Strengthening my communication would mean handling unreasonable demands without offending since they will express their anger towards the leadership.
Communication skills also help me decide on the most appropriate way to respond to feedback, whether positive or negative.
A Development Plan That Explains How My Plan to Improve Upon the Two Key Behaviors That Incorporates My Colleagues Feedback
I have to strengthen my responses to feedback by having a plan that prioritizes all the issues I have to address and how best to handle the information received. According to Han et al. (2019), a responsible leader should engage all the stakeholders through effective communication and ensure participative decision-making is the norm within the team.
Through communication, negative feedback is resolved so that it does not harm the turnover or their performance. Instead, every feedback is viewed as an opportunity for improvement.
Conclusion
In conclusion, by PLP can be summed as whether I am leading myself or leading others, a little time to account for why a long way goes. This is because a good and effective leader has a clear mission, vision, purpose, and core values for themselves and the organization where they are leaders.
Using the why one can inspire others and influence them to join forces with the leader and be passionate about effecting the change desired. As a leader, I have learned that being aware of why helps one connect with the rest of the team and use the feedback to correct areas in need of improvement.
References
Leithwood, K., & Azah, V. N. (2016). Characteristics of effective leadership networks. Journal of Educational Administration.
Speranza, C. R., & Pierce, A. (2019). Development of a Personal Leadership Philosophy: An Experiential and Reflective Opportunity in the Graduate Classroom. Journal of Leadership Education, 18(3).
