Reflection Of Leadership

I started this course with the belief that the leadership is a conventional concept that assumes a top-down, role-based view of leadership and that traditionally refers to how a one manages people and makes decisions. My understanding of leadership includes specific characteristics that leaders are regarded as having control and power, that leaders are followed because of personal loyalty to the position, not to the individual, and that power is conferred on the leader. In the traditional autocratic/ bureaucratic style of leadership, leaders make the decision and dictate work methods and process and followers are rarely trusted with decisions or important tasks. The decisions taken are in mostly accordance to the book of rules, and there is

Leaders in positions of authority pride themselves on being able to fix the problems that other people can’t resolve. Facing an adaptive challenge, it’s tough for leaders to acknowledge that the problem is beyond their expertise. They can deal with it by framing right context, identifying the key issues that need to be dealt with, and then challenging people to take responsibility for addressing those problems. A leader has to say that s/he don’t know rather than taking a wrong decision, which is contrary to my earlier belief that leader has to know everything and take decision action in all situation in order to gain the trust of others. Adaptive problems allow leaders to change their values, priorities and ways of doing things and helps comprehend that adaptive work is conservative and progressive. Adaptive leaders need to demonstrate experimental mindset rather than an “I’ve got the answers” mindset. Having a vision for the future isn’t enough, one has to identify a critical path for moving forward. Adaptive leaders understand that current plan is simply the best bet. It is essential for them to deviate from that plan and discover realities that others haven 't anticipated. The initial level on anxiety among team members arising out of adaptive problem situation is countered by the steady progress on the issues which raises the level of trust

Clearly managing these challenges is not easy for a leader operating in a complex and volatile environment, keeping cultural consideration in sight. The challenge in developing relevant skills such as time management, prioritization, strategic thinking, decision making is essential to be effective at work. Through this course, I have learnt that though these issues are hard to be tackled but not impossible. The disunion between task and relationship oriented leadership is that leaders should focus on creation, as well as demonstrate behaviors that address interpersonal concerns. And that is why leaders need to build and maintain relations by inspiring, developing, and leading others. I can corroborate this by quoting my personal experience when I was leading a team of sales and engineering executives while working on tight deadlines with my team during financial year end there were often instances when my subordinates missed prior important engagements. My relation with subordinates was built on dependability, honesty, and openness. However at few