The lessons I have learned from the leadership course

Introduction 

When thinking about leadership, I think of the individuals in my community, my country or the world in general who have managed to accomplish a great deal in efforts of impacting other people’s lives. However, different disciplines have different definitions of leadership, but all the definitions have managed to depict the concept of leadership as being a representation of the good or the bad in a person. Personally, I believe that being a leader is more than holding a leadership position in an organization or community, but it is the ability to lead people towards achieving better lives or set goals. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to define leadership and describe three leadership theories including which have a significant influence on my thinking of a leader or leadership. Also, the I will describe democratic leadership style and the element of fellowship which is important in all practices involving leadership. Although everyone has the capability of being a leader, not everyone who has the potential to exercise his or her leadership abilities. 

Leadership Definition 

People have different ideas when it comes to the concept of leaders and leadership. My understanding of the concept has developed over time and occupying various, leadership positions have played a significant role in the definition. My definition of leadership is having the capability to effect change by leading by example, encouraging others and taking initiatives. Different things and people have affected my definition of leadership. Some of the things that have affected my definition of leadership are my values. Firstly, my personal values have influenced my definition where I believe as a leader, it is important to take responsibility and respect as some major attributes in all the decisions being made. As a leader, I believe I have a responsibility for not just me, but also for all my followers. Therefore, once I have respect for myself, other people will respect me, hence I will be leading as a good example meaning my actions can be emulated others (Northouse, 2013) . 

Responsibility is an important element of leadership and important part of my definition of leadership. I believe that as a leader, I have the responsibility to work towards addressing the needs of other people including encouraging and motivating them. In my definition of leadership, it is clear that leaders are elected or selected to take specific responsibilities, and failing on responsibilities is one of the major ways of showing lack of appropriate leadership style. According to Northouse (2013), respect and responsibility are some of the actions that show that a leader cares about the followers. For example, leaders can demonstrate how they care by encouraging the followers and offering them guidance whenever needed. Also, the value of humility influenced my definition of leadership, where it helps understand that regardless of being a leader, it does not mean I am better than other team members. When considering the value of humility and leadership I treat being a leader as being able to learn from followers every day as they learn from me. 

According to Maxwell (2011), “ If you are a starter, you should be sure to honor the people on the bench and acknowledge the value they bring to the team”. Having humility help a leader understands that he or she did not accomplish everything by his or her own but by contributions made by the entire team undertaking the project or an activity. 

So many people have also influenced my definition of leadership. for example, the head of my senior year has influenced my definition where he once called me and told me regardless of the role is taking as a leader, whether in academic groups or in my community, I should make sure I affect people’s lives because that what leaders are supposed to do. His world encouraged me to always look for issues among my group members and find ways of helping them address their personal needs ( Bailey, 2013 ). Through offering such assistance, I have grown into a leader who does not expect people to solve his problems, but a leader who solves people’s problems because that what leaders are supposed to do. 

Leadership Theories 

Over the years, the concept of leadership has elicited major debate to an extent of formation of a body of literature and research that investigate and address the issue. The emergence of theories trying to address the issue of leadership has been increasingly dominating the economic researches, but major ideas have been generated over the years (Yukl, 2012). Through contemporary theory, students develop an enhanced understanding of the human beings using paradigms of some of the most common theorists and theories, which are applied when coming up with ideas and decisions as a leader. Contemporary theories have generated major concerns on the leading influence in politics, academic, military, government, and organizations. The three theories that have influenced major influence on my thinking on leadership and leaders including behavior theory, servant theory, and transitional theory. According to the behavior theory, successful management is based on learnable and definable behaviors. The theory claim that leaders are supposed to give major importance to interpersonal relationships and satisfaction to the employees (Halaychik, 2016) . On the other hand, the transitional leader has a major influence on my understanding of leadership, and this is seen where it is about influencing people even though a leader lacks direct control in driving positive change. The theory has played a major role due to its emphasis on inspiring others. According to Uhl-Bien et. al. (2014), leaders are supposed to be clear about their mission. This is highly supported by the Transformational Theory where it help leaders understand the mission that inspires them and pursues their career with a goal of achieving the mission. Also, the theory emphasis on having the courage to powerfully express your opinions and voice as a leader. Lastly, servant leadership theory has influenced my understanding of leadership and leaders, where it claims that the main role of leaders is to help others. The theory which was developed by Robert Greenleaf claims that leaders should not do things to benefit themselves but other (Davis, 2017) s. The theory has made me believe that it is my obligation as a leader to help others, and not because there are returns associated with involvement in helping the process, but because it is my obligation. 

Leadership Styles 

Effective decision making is my greatest strength as a leader. This is because, before making any decision I look at all my options. Being cautious on people’s emotions and the impact my decision will have on the people following me or surrounding me has helped me remain in different positions as a leader (Sagor, 2012) . I am not a person who will allow everyone persuade me in my decision-making process because compromising my moral is an essential element in my decision-making process. on the other hand, although decision making is my strength, my leadership style is democratic because of my concern on hearing what other people think relating to finding solutions for problems. When thinking of leadership, I think about having a position where you will help combine people’s ideas, and use your effectiveness in decision making in leading them to make the most appropriate decision ( Uhl-Bien et. al., 2014), . Therefore, for leaders who want to be effective in their roles, it is important to have adequate knowledge on decision making, because teamwork is one of the main duties of every leader, and being unable to leader into making the most appropriate decision will result into poor results hence failures as a leader. Looking at my qualities and characteristics, it is clear that my mission being to help other people will play a significant role towards achieving my goals of becoming an effective leader, because whenever a leader dedicate his or her efforts into transformation of people’s lives, it becomes easy to succeed, as compared to leaders whose objective is to satisfy their personal needs. 

Followership 

Followership is the willingness or capacity of a given group of people or an individual to follow a given leader. For a leader to effectively achieve his goals, his or her relationship with followers is critical. In the last few years, major research has been conducted to understand the importance of followers on leadership. According to the majority of the studies, followers are the people who do the work of a leader in order to help reach the goals of a team ( Jackson, & Uhl-Bien, 2016 ). According to the leader-member exchange theory which is one of the theories offering the clearest description of the concept of fellowship, interactions between leaders and followers are essential, and it is through these interactions that leader manages to address related issues including trustworthiness, motivation, and competence required in assuming greater responsibilities. 

In the modern business world, leaders are looking for followers with the high leader-follower relationship. This is because, although the servant leadership theory emphasis is mostly on the needs of the followers, it might be challenging a leader to address needs of people who he or she does not trust (Maxwell, 2011) . However, whenever leaders manage to create an effective relationship with his or her followers highly achieved through interactions, they end up producing a high leader-follower exchange which is essential for effectiveness in leadership. 

Reflective Analysis 

The lesson has offered different lessons, with each lesson having a different influence and value. First, I have learned that leadership is not a thing for only leaders and managers, but it is an essential element for employees who want to further their careers. However, for an individual to build an effective leadership, they are supposed to first have a plan. The ability to have a plan is guided by the leadership competence skills. From this lesson, it was clear that the first step into personal leadership plan is ensuring you have identified the right goals. For example, for an individual who needs to seek a leadership position in a healthcare sector need to first come up with a plan, and understand how he or she will complete a master program or any other goals because of the changes in leadership demands in the 21 st Century (Halaychik, 2016) . This lesson had significant value to me, where it means that in whichever field I would like to launch my leadership career in, I will need to first come up with a plan of things I need to accomplish, and set a goal achieving the essential elements. Most of the leadership competencies or skills are achieved through work experience and training. This means that I must access proficiency. 

Therefore, the second lesson I learned about leadership in this course is the importance of identification of a learning experience. This can be achieved mostly by developing a learning contract with the immediate supervisor or mentor. According to the course, this step is essential in building an effective career in leadership, where it offers learning and experience opportunities from real issues. The supervisor is there to offer guideline and support in some of the learning processes which will have an impact on individual career. Also, the interaction helps an individual in acquiring the right leadership skills mostly when an assignment is assigned by a supervisor (Lapierre, 2014) . Therefore, for those who intend to pursue a career in any field, it is important to first direct experience on some of the things which take place in this field, and the best lesson is learned when an individual first joins the field as a follower rather than a leader. Starting as a follower help shape individual’s decision making and thinking ability regarding how different issues are addressed. The lesson had enormous value to me personally, where it showed me that I should have a mentor in the field I would like to launch my leadership career in. the purpose of a mentor is to help a learner in his learning process and they are supposed to demonstrate some of the most important things that an individual should learn in a given environment (Davis, 2017) . 

The other lesson on leadership that I have learned in this course is on the importance of communication. According to the course, communication is one of the most important values, where lack of effective communication skills would result in a poor relationship with the followers. Communication refers to the process of passing a message from the sender to the listeners, and lack of effective skills to pass this message will result in inaccurate information or misrepresentation of interests. According to Jackson, & Uhl-Bien (2016), it is useless for a leader to fake sincerity because people will eventually know you are not honest with them. From the lesson, I learned that having open communication with followers is one of the most effective ways of having a successful career in leadership. Effective communication skills help a transformational leader pay close attention to the people he or she wants to communicate with, because of the importance of having a clear message delivered to the people. Leaders who have good communication skills will play a significant role in helping others understand key issues that should be focused on. Also, having such skills help leaders create an environment where followers can come and ask for assistance or even offer an opinion regarding different elements of the team or organization that need to be addressed. Regarding this lesson, it was clear that a leader who depict to their followers their willingness to discuss issues relating to the individual employees and even the organization ( Weiss, & Tappen, 2015 ). The information relating to the importance of communication was valuable, where it demonstrated the importance of being able to pass a message effectively as a leader. Leaders are supposed to communicate ideas and offer an opinion regarding various activities in the organization. 

The lessons I have learned from the course have a significant impact on my thinking and behavior. From the lessons, it is clear that being a leader required first understanding ways of looking at things in followers’ perspective before making decisions, and this can be achieved by being involved in direct tasks in the field I want to launch my leadership career. The two specific actions I will take to enhance my leadership effectiveness including improving my communication skills and coming up with a plan to help me set goals which will help address the issue of learning experiences. Effective communication will help me create a healthy relationship with my followers. This is because, the message and information I will be delivering, as a leader will be clear and accurate, and no conflict will arise within the organization or the team. On the other hand, having adequate experience in leadership through learning will help in decision making. Making effective decision entail understanding the people who will be affected by the decision. 

References 

Bailey, C. (2013).   Why every great leader is also a great follower [Web log message].  Retrieved from http://danblackonleadership.info/archives/3997 

Bligh, M. (2011). Followership and follower-centered approaches. In A. Bryman, D. Collinson, K. Grint, B. Jackson, & Uhl-Bien, M (2016). The Sage Handbook of Leadership (pp. 425–436). London: Sage 

Brewer, A. M. (2014). Leadership, Followership, and Coaching: Asking the Questions. In Leadership, Coaching, and Followership (pp. 1-14). Springer, Dordrecht. 

Davis, C. J. (2017). Servant Leadership and Followership: Examining the Impact on Workplace Behavior . 

DeRue, S., & Ashford, S. (2010). Who will lead and who will follow? A social process of leadership identity construction in organizations. Academy of Management Review , 35(4), 627–647 

Halaychik, C. S. (2016). Lessons in library leadership . Place of publication not identified: Chandos Pub (Oxford) Ltd. 

Lapierre, L., & In Carsten, M. K. (2014). Followership: What is it and why do people follow? Bingley, UK: Emerald 

Maxwell, John C. (2011). The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork . Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers 

Northouse, P.G.  (2013).  Leadership Theory and Practice (6th ed.).   Los Angeles: Sage Publications. 

Sagor, R., & Rickey, D. (2012). The relentless pursuit of excellence: Lessons from a transformational leader . Thousand Oaks, Calif: Corwin. 

Uhl-Bien, M., Riggio, R. E., Lowe, K. B., & Carsten, M. K. (2014). Followership theory: A review and research agenda. The Leadership Quarterly , 25 (1), 83-104. 

Weiss, S. A., & Tappen, R. M. (2015). Essentials of nursing leadership and management . Philadelphia: F.A. Davis 

Yukl, G. (2012). Leadership In Organizations (8th ed.). New York: Prentice Hall.