In the current competitive world, leadership skills are vital in both professional and personal development. Leadership has been defined differently by several authors. However, leadership is commonly defined as the ability to influence people and motivate them to strive willingly and enthusiastically towards the attainment of set goals and objectives. In the context of professional development, Leadership is a significant management function which aids an individual in maximizing efficiency and achievement of goals. It incorporates influencing a wide range of activities involving either an informal or formal group in the goal setting and achievement task. Most leaders’ base their leadership on the bible teachings which are relevant in exercising effective leadership. Most researchers have set forth the distinction between leading and managing. Relevantly, leading involves having a group of people following you and abiding by your rules while managing involves having a group of people working for you. However, for successful leadership, a leader must incorporate both strong leadership and management skills to drive the team towards overall success.
For one to be the leader, he/she requires followers. As a leader, I would employ currently applied tactics in order to attract a large number of followers for the attainment of goals (Torres). These tactics include but not limited to; assertiveness, legitimacy, pressure, coalition, exchange, upward appeals, persuasion and inspirational appeals. Effective leadership demands the leader to embrace a certain level of motivation, technology, and technology which are vital in leading people towards success. Moreover, these factors are essential in attracting a wide range of followers. In addition, for successful leadership, a leader must be a strong team player who recognizes the roles, importance and the ability of the other team members. This means that every leader must recognize and develop the potentials of their team.
Ethical leadership refers to setting core values in building an employee-management relationship based on respect and trust. Successful leaders incorporate all ethical values such as fairness, integrity, justice, and honesty which result in sustainable results (Brown and Treviño, 2006, p. 605). As the leader, I will maintain a conducive environment for the workforce and provide equal opportunities and treatment for all employees to impact the productivity of the workforce positively. Ethical leadership would provide me with leverage in decision-making and in influencing other employees to perform their duties with a positive attitude. Additionally, I will incorporate ethical values and standards in creating and shaping a win-win situation where the organization achieves its goals and objectives with also the employees getting the anticipated job satisfaction.
Principles of management serve as the underlying factors of establishing a successful leadership (Carpenter, 2010). I would apply the management principles as they provide guidelines for effective decision making and define management course of action. Authority and responsibility is the first principle I would consider in making decisions. This principle guides the factor that, the management has the authority to issue instructions to employees. The next principle would be equity which incorporates the need for fair treatment of the entire workforce and that all employees have the responsibility to do the right thing.
In developing my leadership model, I will try to make success a team effort and develop a company culture which promotes team cohesion, problem-solving and innovation among employees. Information technology tools to be integrated will be cloud computing which involves sharing of data and resources on-demand, online conferencing systems which provides an online platform for discussing emerging issues with external shareholders and enterprise content management which stores and organizes information in chronological order.
Moral principles would also provide a basis for effective leadership. This is because the essence of ethical practice is necessary for balancing ethical consideration at all levels where professionals identify ethical, legal and professional standards in making judgments. Ethical principles are incorporated in all organization in the interpretation of ethical issues and making effective clinical decisions. Moral principles help leaders to have greater understanding and awareness of competent, ethical decision making. The primary and basic moral principles include justice, beneficence, non-maleficence, and respect for autonomy which are combined with secondary ethical principles of confidentiality, fidelity, and veracity in emphasizing ethical discrepancies ( Vaughn, 2012). These principles are the foundation for practical decision making on consideration of consequences of universal moral principles when coming up with clinical judgment.
Creating value-based ethics programs would help to instill the right values to the employees and help them to differentiate between what is right or wrong (Teoro, 2016, p. 69). If any organization desires to prevent the employees from wrong acts, then it must focus on building an ethical culture from ethical conduct rather than establishing ethical compliance. The national business survey confirms on the recognition of corporate culture in the achievement of progressive outcomes. Additionally, measuring the success of the programs is vital and involves tallying the workers involved in the ethics and compliance training as well as those that are aware of the code of conduct. However, understanding cultures are important in determining the success of the ethics programs in the workplace. This is because the clear understanding of values and behaviors is needed in meeting all ethical goals.
To be a successful leader, I would incorporate core ethical values of honesty, transparency, and fairness in order to make ethical decisions (Maxwell). This would be of relevance to the organization needs which are grouped into accountability, communication, alignment, system processes, financial sustenance and stability which are significant in the determination of ethical values. Designing and incorporating ethical values would be important in carrying out critical processes. Through these values, I would also be in a position to define how all team members should behave in the group context and how to deal with employees who are defiance.
Under my leadership, I would meet the organization’s obligation towards the community welfare and interests. (Matten & Moon, 2004, p. 324). The organizational obligation is also termed as an ethical theory through which organizations are required to fulfill their civic duty of ensuring that their actions and business operations are beneficial to the surrounding society as a whole. Corporate social responsibility involves through which all organizational actions and behaviors are embedded and ethically validated. I would ensure the regulation of all activities to avoid harming the society. Moreover, the activities which harm the surrounding environment will be corrected or eliminated to avoid the harm. Maintaining social and corporate responsibility depicts effective leadership traits and abilities.
I would also incorporate authentic leadership which will enable me to spiritually, intellectually, emotionally and physically drive both personal and professional achievement and as well inspires other people to follow (Caldwell and Atwijuka 2018). This is because authentic leaders integrate interpersonal skills and competencies to establish positive and fruitful relations with the employees and hence lead to success and peaceful co-existence. Moreover, authenticity will enable me as a leader to establish a healthy relationship within and outside the organization and in turn be able to deliver higher value and progress to the organization (Spencer). Interpersonal skills would also be significant in ensuring effective communication with the employees and hence establish a robust and professional bond with the team members.
In general, an authentic leader leads the employees toward performance. Therefore being a leader would require me to act as a role model in demonstrating accountability for the team to follow (Caldwell and Anderson 2011). I would lead the employees towards performance by training and developing them in order to ensure the set objectives and goals are realized. I would also ensure that the team members are rewarded and fairly compensated and set up plans for improving low performing members. Driving the organization towards achievement demonstrates that one is a strategic leader who invests efforts in developing her workforce. As an authentic and strategic leader, I would also inform the members of any anticipated changes, work policies and job expectations to reduce cases of conflicts and resistance.
Ultimately, as a Christian leader, I would lead on the basis of Jesus teachings on leadership which advocated for fairness, humility, and simplicity. For a particular cause, as a leader, Jesus led with charisma, virtue, authenticity, influence, and selflessness. Additionally, Philippians 2:4 urges leaders to be selfless and to look on the interests and needs of their followers (Silva). I would link this to my leadership by being authentic and more concerned about the welfare of the team members; this would be of relevance to the bible teachings on effective leadership. In conclusion, good leadership is important for personal and professional development. However desired leadership approaches, strategies, skills, and traits are significant in ensuring overall success. Essentially, authentic and strategic leadership is vital in attracting a large of followers and motivating them to work towards the achievement of the group goals.
References
Brown, M. E., & Treviño, L. K. (2006). Ethical leadership: A review and future directions. The leadership quarterly, 17(6), 595-616.
Carpenter, M. A., Bauer, T., Erdogan, B., & Short, J. (2010). Principles of management. Flat World Knowledge.
Clegg, Stewart, Martin Kornberger, and Carl Rhodes.(2007). “Business ethics as practice.” British Journal of Management18.2 107-122.
Griseri, Paul, and Nina Seppala, (2010). Business ethics and corporate social responsibility. Cengage Learning.
Armstrong, M., & Baron, A. (1998). Performance management: The new realities. State Mutual Book & Periodical Service.
Maxwell J, (10 Sept. 2013). ” Levels of Leadership.” YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPwXeg8ThWI.
Torres R, (19 Feb. 2014). “What It Takes to Be a Great Leader | Roselinde Torres.” YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUYSDEYdmzw.
Spencer H, (2 July 2013). “BEST LEADERSHIP VIDEO EVER!!!” YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-VjisHm4sw.
