A personal leadership philosophy describes the principles and ideologies that individuals use to assess information and give feedback to people and situations. It allows everyone who perceives it to gain an understanding of one’s priorities, values, actions, decision-making approach, self-expectations, and what you expect from other people. Formal articulation of leadership style and philosophy gives other people a chance to know what to expect from a person as their leader. An individual’s leadership philosophy is essential in establishing an organization’s vision and achieving its goals ( Speranza & Pierce 2019). The paper will outline my personal leadership approach and philosophy based on my core values and believes and how they correlate with leadership theories presented in the class reading from "The Fifth Discipline."
Every person has their inherent basic values and believes. These components take on new characterizations and importance when applied in leadership philosophy. My leadership philosophy comprises of my intrinsic theories, attitude, guiding values, and behavior. Theories form the basis for my actions, while attitude is my mind-set. As a leader, my mind-set positively influences other people towards achieving meaningful results. Guiding values are the principles and beliefs that I hold close, and that keeps me grounded in my style of leadership. Behavior, on the other hand, is where my words match my actions, and actions come together to match the words. Behavior determines whether people can trust their leader or not. As a leader, I depend on my inherent leadership philosophy to remain focused and steady when confronted with making tough decisions, and when interacting with other people. A well-established set of believes, principles, and core values give me more confidence which I often transfer to people working under me.
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An important value that I hold is team learning and development to full potential. I believe that team learning and group-based skilled development is integral to the success of the organization. This correlates to the class reading as the author opines that team learning through dialogue is critical in building a successful organization. The author defines dialogue as the ability of team members to suspend assumptions and engage in genuine collective rationale. Another value that informs my philosophy is critical thinking, which denotes an all-round thinking system with the ability to view an action in its holistic sense with a live consciousness. This value is influenced by the theory of personal mastery in The Fifth Discipline. The theory relates to a discipline of continuous clarification, deep personal vision, and objective perception of reality ( Senge, 2006 ).
Collective aspiration is also a value that I hold which guides my personal leadership philosophy, which is similar to the concept of building a shared vision to promote honest commitment, acceptance, and ownership of rules rather than submission as outlined in the class reading. Treating people with respect is another essential value that I hold. I have realized that establishing a healthy relationship with team members is the foundation for an organization's growth. If people fail to respect or like their leader, they will not care to do their best to achieve the set goals. I also place great value in trust, credibility, honesty, quality, knowledge, and communication. My core values and interpersonal relationship skills build on each other to create healthy interactions with people within the organization, which, in turn, foster the organization's growth.
Believes and attitudes are also critical elements in personal leadership approach and philosophy. I believe that truthful and respectful teamwork can unravel any problem in an organization. This belief relates to the theory of building a shared vision in “The Fifth Discipline” ( Senge, 2006 ). I also believe that excuses and justifications are acts of laziness. My leadership philosophy disapproves of the negligence of duties that would jeopardize the performance of the whole team. Besides, I criticize lying to cover blunders, disrespect, and misuse of power for personal gains and exploitation of the organization's resources.
My thoughts as a leader focus on making things possible even when they seem impossible. I carefully select my diction to encourage team members to put forth their best effort and trigger a laugh whenever possible and appropriate. On the receiving end, I expect my team members to hold a "can do" attitude even during difficult situations. In addition, I expect that members work collectively as a team to complete tasks and achieve the company goals while respecting each other. I also expect that team members brainstorm ideas and resolve conflicts with the utmost professionalism. These expectations are influenced by the disciplines of dialogue and team learning, as outlined in the class reading ( Senge, 2006 ).
With the core values, believes, and attitudes in mind, certain leadership actions must be applied to yield success for all within the organization. My mastery leadership behavior encompasses listening to other people empathetically, encouraging feedback from all people, accepting positive criticism, addressing concerns, making and keeping commitments, responding rather than reacting to difficult situations, focusing on comprehending a situation and bringing transformation amid difficult circumstances.
My personal leadership philosophy stresses on earning credibility by putting utmost efforts towards achieving my company's goals and reaching the assigned targets. I also set SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound) goals for members of my team. Besides, I acknowledge and express appreciation for individual efforts that contribute to the success of the entire team. I lead by example, ensuring that all my actions are in line with the organization's prerequisite values. Moreover, I applaud integrity and loyalty by rewarding team members who play significant roles in steering the organization towards success.
My leadership approach and philosophy are grounded on creating a mutual trust with team members to achieve the goals of the organization. Given my inherent values, believes ant attitude, my team has an understanding of what to expect from me, and I also know what to expect from them. I believe that through my leadership philosophy, I can bring a positive impact to the organization and influence people around me positively.
The bottom line concerning my personal leadership approach and philosophy is that it forms the foundation for my leadership. It determines the values, principles, behavior, and actions that I hold on to for my leadership style. Besides, it allows me to make the right decisions, give the right responses, and take the right actions in addressing different work situations that I encounter. My leadership philosophy is influenced by the disciplines of personal mastery, dialogues, team learning, systematic thinking, mental representations, and establishing a shared vision as outlined in "The Fifth Discipline."
References
Senge, P. M. (2006). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization . Broadway Business.
Speranza, C. R., & Pierce, A. (2019). Development of a Personal Leadership Philosophy: An Experiential and Reflective Opportunity in the Graduate Classroom You are here. Development , 18 (3).
