Effective Skills for Organizational Leadership

.....leader in an organization is affected by various factors including organizational structure, culture, and values. While organizational leaders need to possess professional/technical skills, they also need to develop social skills in order to enhance their effectiveness in their respective positions. The list of sociopolitical skills categories suitably reflects the required skills that help to promote the success of an organizational leader in his/her new role or position. The suitability of this list is attributable to the fact that they help promote the leader's smooth transition to the new role or position. Without these skill categories, a leader is more likely to experience challenges with regards to effectiveness in their new roles and responsibilities in the organization. According to Pagon, Banutai & Bizjak (2008), leaders require several competencies in order to be effective in their roles and positions including interpersonal skills, communication, technical skills, and people skills among others. These skill categories cover what is necessary to promote a leader's success in a new role/position because they cover various leadership competencies.

The additional skill categories I would add to these categories is conflict resolution or problem solving skills. According to Rounds (n.d.), the professional expertise and social skills of leaders should include problem solving skills and conflict resolution/negotiation skills. Problem solving and conflict negotiation/resolution skills are crucial in the organizational setting because problems or conflicts are inevitable in the working environment. These skills will help enhance the capabilities and competencies of leaders to ensure team building and create a suitable environment for all subordinates or employees. Through these skills, the leader will become effective in his/her new role or position because of improved capabilities to identify and resolve any arising issues in the organization.

Week 8 Discussion

A new leadership role or position is characterized by new demands and pressures in order for the leader to be effective and become successful. The complexities or difficulties associated with functioning in a new leadership role or position is attributable to several factors including organizational values, culture and structure as well as the nature of a working environment. Therefore, new leaders face the need to ensure that they utilize suitable approaches and initiatives that would promote their success and effectiveness in the new roles/positions. One of the most important aspect to the enduring success in the job are the early initiatives in a new leadership role/position. Early efforts are important because they establish the foundational practices that ultimately influence the leader's enduring success in the job. Watkins (2009) contends that the actions undertaken by leaders in a new role within the first few months have a major impact on the ultimate success or failure of the leader in the new role. In my view, early efforts and actions in a new role establish the foundation that influences future leadership practices that in turn determine success or failure.

I learned to practice the sociopolitical leadership skills through developing self-confidence and being a self-starter. This process involved taking responsibility for the well-being of my juniors and utilizing my professional competence to motivate them towards the achievement of the established objectives. Through this process, I realized that self-confidence and being a self-starter is crucial towards practicing leadership, especially with regards to the different leadership competencies and skills (Trikha, 2012). I also learned to practice these skill categories through adopting collaborative approaches in my leadership. In this regard, I focused on teamwork and encouraging others to be optimistic as they carry out their various roles and responsibilities in the organization.

This leadership course has played a crucial role in my journey to develop leaderships skills that will help me become effective in my job. One of the substantive topics in the course that I will utilize in my job in the future is organizational structure and design. The topic has enabled me to understand that the success of a leader is largely influenced by the organizational structure and design. While a leader may have necessary professional and social competencies for success, organizational structure and design could hinder his/her ability in the leadership role and position. The significance of this topic in my future job is attributable to the fact that organizational structure and design has tremendous effects on the ability to its members to execute its strategy. I will utilize knowledge from this topic to identify the most suitable organizational structure and design to ensure success in execution of strategy. In this case, I will examine the various ways to structure the organization to help ensure that work is arranged and coordinated to best fit the mission and objectives of the organization (Anand & Daft, 2007).

Based on the self-assessments conducted throughout the course, one of the changes I will make in my behavior in order to enhance my leadership/management skills is self-awareness. The assessments have enabled to understand that self-awareness is a crucial aspect towards developing leadership skills since it influences leadership style. In addition, awareness plays an important role in working effectively with people from different backgrounds (FMLink Group, n.d.). Self-awareness helps in identifying physical and personality attributes that influence leadership practice and the effectiveness of an individual in a leadership role or position. Therefore, self-awareness will enable me to make necessary changes and adjustments towards developing suitable leadership and management skills that in turn enhance my effectiveness as an organizational leader.

References

Anand, N. & Daft, R. L. (2007). What is the Right Organizational Design? Organizational Dynamics, 36, 329-344. Retrieved from http://faculty.cbpp.uaa.alaska.edu/afgjp/PADM610/What%20is%20the%20Right%20Organization%20Design.pdf

FMLink Group. (n.d.). Leadership Styles and Methods: Assessing and Improving Your Skills. Retrieved June 20, 2017, from http://fmlink.com/articles/leadership-styles-and-methods-assessing-and-improving-your-skills/

Pagon, M., Banutai, E. & Bizjak, U. (2008). Leadership Competencies for Successful Change Management. Retrieved June 20, 2017, from https://www.oeffentlicherdienst.gv.at/moderner_arbeitgeber/personalentwicklung/international/dokumente/leadership_competencies.pdf

Rounds, S.I.S. (n.d.). Professional Skills: Leadership. Retrieved June 20, 2017, from https://www.thoracic.org/members/assemblies/assemblies/rcmb/career-talk-book/resources/toolkit-general/professional-skills-leadership.pdf

Trikha, R. (2012, April 17). 7 Ways to Sharpen Your Leadership Skills. Retrieved June 20, 2017, from http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2012/04/17/7-ways-to-sharpen-your-leadership-skills-

Watkins, M.D. (2009, November 4). Seven Rules for Succeeding as a Brand-New Leader. Forbes. Retrieved June 20, 2017, from https://www.forbes.com/2009/11/04/new-job-success-leadership-ceonetwork-employment.html