Development and Strengths of Leadership

Leadership Strengths and Development

Introduction

This paper is about my strengths in leadership and development. I shall cover my skills, strengths, and other positives about myself as a leader revealed from the assessments I took from my friends, family, and colleagues. The report further explains my values, goals, and leadership strengths, and the personality I desire to have as a leader. The report also contains areas I discovered to be growth opportunities, particularly areas where I did not perform well. The conclusion part of the report shall include a summary of what the paper contains.

My Strengths

My strengths as a leader include self-awareness, which I consider my crucial leadership strength. Self-awareness involves knowing myself as a leader and knowing my strengths and weaknesses as a leader. Self-assessment is a leadership skill I possess also allows me to assess myself and know what style to implement in different situations. Situational awareness is another leadership skill I have, and it involves being aware of what is going on around me. I consider this important since I must become aware of the events around the business organization and the whole business environment (Adair, 2007). I also discovered excellent communication skills, including writing, speaking, and listening skills, from the assessments I conducted. This helps me to take charge of different situations and handle them appropriately. Most importantly, it helps me avoid possible conflicts.

Another skill I possess and consider of great importance is effective negotiation skills. Negotiation skills are significant since it enables me to negotiate business terms effectively thereby increasing my chances of getting the desired outcomes and creating a situation in which everyone wins. Conflict resolution skills are another essential leadership skill that I believe I have. This entails coming up with peaceful and practical solutions that are mutually acceptable to the involved parties. This skill is significant when it comes to saving personal and professional relationships in the business organization. I also have intercultural sensitivity and collaboration skills, as evidenced by my ability to work with others harmoniously to generate positive outcomes and lead to achieving the set goals. I can also work with people regardless of their age, gender, and cultural backgrounds, as long as we all stay within the professional lanes and everyone does what they are correctly assigned and timely (Adair, 2007).

Leadership Statement

This entails the personality I aspire to have as a leader or my leadership goals. First, I desire to become an active listener as a leader, skill, or character that would help me facilitate clear cultural communication and listen actively to what my team members or the people I work with collaboratively have to say. Possessing these skills means going into every conversation to listen to my team members, insights and being open to receiving either negative or positive information. I would also want to grow my ability to adapt to change. This entails setting a goal of being adaptable to any situation and the openness to learn new things rather than assuming that I know everything and being rigid or not ready to embrace change (Mumford, Campion & Morgeson, 2007). I aspire to grow this aspect in me as a leader. Such new situations include the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, something that no one anticipated. In such cases, I must possess skills that should allow me to adapt effectively without compromising my personal goals and organization.

Growth Opportunities

This entails areas in which I did not do so well and see an opportunity for growth and the plan I have of achieving the growth. One of the main areas I see as an opportunity for me to grow is showing appreciation, empathy, and recognition to my team. If I can achieve this, then my team members will, in turn, feel appreciated and recognized, and this will go a step further into motivating them to be better and do better to achieve the collective goals of the team and the organization in general. I plan to accomplish this by expressing gratitude and appreciation to my team members when they record small wins, especially when they get to a new milestone, and show appreciation for every effort to achieve the set goals. Doing this should help boost their productivity since they feel appreciated and valued (Mumford et al., 2000). Acknowledging that the work they do is not by any chance taken for granted can provide a perfect opportunity for them to feel motivated.

Another growth opportunity I identified is the ability to become a mentor to my team members. This means that I will be in a position where my team members look up to me and are comfortable coming to me for guidance, counseling, and coaching. I plan to achieve this by developing a plan to help every team member grow personally and professionally. This will be achieved by meeting each team member and help them explore their goals and working with them to help them develop ways of achieving their set goals. Showing them that I also care about them will establish mutual trust and give them regular feedback along the way. Listening to them and exploring new opportunities with them as far as their goals are concerned will provide them with the confidence to develop and come to me to help with such matters. This will help to create a good working relationship (Mumford et al., 2000).