Finding My Ideal Leadership Role Using Theory and Self-Assessment

Introduction

The ideal leadership position for me would be working as a director at Jewish Vocational Services (JVS). JVS is a nonprofit organization that helps transform people's lives by building skills and finding jobs, thereby helping clients achieve self-sufficiency. While JVS services are open to all, they are especially strong in working with young people and adults with disabilities, members of the transgender community, older workers, and members of the Jewish community (JVS, 2010). By considering relevant leadership theories alongside my self-assessment scores, I believe a position at this organization would be ideal for me — one where I could be an effective, competent, and successful leader.

Evaluating Leadership Theories

Reviewing leadership theories gives me insight into my leadership style and helps me determine my perfect position. Behavioral theories that focus on task and people orientation are helpful because they make it easy to identify types of jobs in which I could be successful. While I possess some of the core traits that trait theory identifies — such as charisma, self-confidence, and flexibility — trait theory seems too generic and subjective to provide a well-defined leadership model. Given the ongoing disagreement over which traits are most important for effective leadership, I find other theories more useful for determining which traits I should work to develop and which I should apply based on existing strengths.

Fiedler's contingency theory is also not as valuable or relevant to my leadership approach. Fiedler's theory argues that effective leadership depends not just on the style of leading, but also on control over a situation. It further contends that for a leader to be successful, there must be a good relationship between the leader and group members, tasks must be clearly defined with specific goals and procedures, and the leader must be able to distribute rewards and punishments. Shortcomings with the Fiedler theory include the subjectivity of its least-preferred co-worker scale, and it offers limited guidance when a task is not well defined (Leadership-Central.com, 2012). Cognitive resource theory is also not particularly relevant to me, because it depends heavily on the definition of intelligence and on how one defines and measures stress.

Path-Goal and Charismatic Leadership

Intuitively, path-goal leadership makes more sense and resonates with my leadership style. I believe a good leader understands that people are motivated when they know what is in it for them. A good leader lays out a clear path for their people to achieve goals and actively facilitates their success. The most relevant leadership style for me, however, is the charismatic approach. My experience has been that people follow those they personally admire, as opposed to following someone solely because of external power or authority. Charismatic leaders are skilled at reading their environment, understanding the concerns of individuals, and adapting their actions and words to suit the situation — and this adaptability is the basis for their success.

Self-Assessment Results

The self-assessment instrument scored my leadership style as 9 for people-orientation and 9 for task-orientation. These scores are accurate in describing how I relate to both people and tasks. I enjoy working with people and helping bring out their best efforts. When necessary, I can also focus on getting specific tasks accomplished so that everyone I work with becomes more productive and successful.

Conclusion

My self-assessment score also shows that I would be willing to make changes. This flexibility would be important in achieving JVS's goal of repairing the world — tikkun olam (JVS, 2010). JVS is committed to making the world a better place by providing opportunities to job seekers. Because I am people-oriented and share so many of their values, a position at JVS is an ideal fit for me.