Results And Feedback In Leadership

It has been identified that I have moderate level of self-confidence. As a result, it is expected that my leadership skills would also be average. In other words, it might not be possible for me to emerge as an extra ordinary leader in the long run, but I would not be a poor leader as well. This indicates that I have the leadership quality, but it requires further enhancement. I have deduced from many journal articles and books that a direct relationship exists between self-confidence and leadership. There are two key types of leaders- transactional and transformational (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013). Self confidence is a common characteristic of both types of leaders (Day, 2014). On one hand, self-confidence enables the transactional leaders like Bill Gates to take appropriate reactive measures to effectively compensate the loss incurred due to an event. On the other hand, self-confidence allows the transformational leaders like Warren Buffet to take precautionary measures to prepare the organisation for facing expected barriers in future. Although I am certain that there is a requirement for enhancing my self confidence, I am not sure about the extent to which my self-confidence should increase. This is because high level of self-confidence often makes individuals arrogant as they start believing that nothing is impossible for them that make them feel superior. My biggest strength is my focus on own performance that would contribute significantly in proving myself an efficient leader. However, being a leader I would be required to focus majorly on the performance of the team members.

My tendency to give top priority to task completion was reflected in the result of the task-oriented personality test, where I scored eight out of ten. I have been asked ten separate questions, out of which I agreed with eight. It points towards my focus on completing a given task by any means rather than identifying the one responsible for doing the task. It further indicates my biggest weakness, i.e. doing organisational tasks on my own rather than making others work on it to complete the task on time. This, in turn, increases work pressure and thereby, affecting my leadership quality. This is because delegation of responsibilities holds prime importance in the context of leadership. I disagreed with only two questions that show, I have strong behavioural orientation. It points towards my ability to keep coordination among the team members, clarity of purpose behind undertaking a project and adhere to the set schedule to avoid delay in task completion. However, it indicates my inclination towards avoiding taking suggestions from the team members, which is one of my weaknesses. This is because such propensity is an integral part of autocratic leadership style, which often has a negative impact on the morale and motivation level of the team members as it restricts them from developing a sense of belongingness. My task-oriented personality might restrict me from developing creative ideas for offering innovative products and services. At the same time, it may restrict my professional growth since this type of personality is not suitable in every professional field. It is best suited for project management, where completing the project within deadline is the first priority. As a result, I might obtain limited employment opportunities.

Varun’s Feedback

In the context of effective leadership, it is essential to give equal focus on staying task focused and self-confidence. In order to emerge as an excellent, leader taking feedback from others is important, irrespective of their hierarchical position. Two-way communication plays an important role in this context. Providing work flexibility and inspiring team members to meet targets is more important than giving instructions for enhancing staff morale, which is an important requirement to be met to become a transformational leader. Varun believes that taking feedback from others would help me in identifying the barriers for my professional growth especially in the context of leadership. He further explained that I have autocratic leadership style that would be both beneficial and disadvantageous for me and thus, requires my attention. At the same time, I was suggested to develop an effective leadership development plan and implement it efficiently as there is a huge scope for developing a strong professional career as a leader.

References

Avolio, B., & Yammarino, F. (2013). Transformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing.

Day, D. (2014). The Oxford Handbook of Leadership and Organizations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.