Self reflection for leadership by Anuj Kumar

Path for reliable and transformative leadership

anujkumar3 — 2022-12-10 23:39:12 UTC

In my opinion, Self-reflection among other things, is one of a leader's many essential traits. A leader becomes more self-aware and stands out from the crowd.

The first step on the road to reliable and transformative leadership is self-reflection. A powerful organisation results from a leader's daily self-reflection, which increases self-awareness. In addition, leaders need self-reflection because it is a strong tool that inspire humility among the individuals and aids in helping them to recognise their areas of strength, weakness, and progress.

As a formal notion, reflective leadership is something that I am still learning about. However, throughout the years, I have given some attention to my own personal leadership abilities. Perhaps in retrospect, I was being reflective.

Thus, the journey must begin with a series of self-evaluations. In my own experience, I frequently look forwards, look behind me, and ask, "Am I where I want to be?" If the response is beyond a doubt, you must be an excellent leader. But I have a feeling that, like with my journey, the answer and opinion indicated that I needed to do better.

Engagement, in my opinion, must begin with reflection simply so that both parties, or at the very least the conversation's leader, has the insight to recognize the discussion and listens without bias or preconception. He or she should also be aware of their responses and open to the process while being actively engaged and fully present in the conversation.

For me, one particular model created by (Taggart GL, 2005). Identifying an issue, challenge, or difficulty is one of the first steps in reflective thinking. After that, take a step back from the issue and consider it from other point of view in order to frame or reframe it.

Consider: How may a newcomer acted upon this situation. This second step entails observation, reflection, data collection and review of the moral principles. These elements aid in creating a mental image of our reasoning as we seek to represent the situation's context.

Reference:

Taggart, G. L., & wilson, A. P. (2005). promoting reflective thinking in teachers. thousand oak, CA corwin press. - references - scientific research publishing. Available at: https://www.scirp.org/(S(351jmbntvnsjt1aadkposzje))/reference/ReferencesPapers.aspx?ReferenceID=537834

Trusting is key

anujkumar3 — 2022-12-10 23:54:40 UTC

I personally would like to follow transformational leadership in community service industry as it encourages followers to make improvements in their own lives. Leaders who are transformational tend to dynamic, enthusiastic, and passionate. These leaders care about and participate in the process, but they are also committed to ensuring that each team member succeeds.

Transformational leadership can influence professions and improve the efficiency of teams. It is an excellent leadership approach for the community services industry. With it, we can improve performance outcomes and get to our intended action context (improved quality of care).

In order for a team to function well, everyone must contribute. When we collaborate, we create trustworthy bonds and a cohesive team that works well together. Improved patient care is a result of community services teams working well together.

Effective teamwork is centred on developing trusting relationships. Teamwork is successful when leaders and members have mutual trust. It needs cooperation for a team to operate effectively. This includes the patient's family as well as doctors, managers, nurses, and techs. Trust raises the standard of medical care.

Businesses that use the transformational leadership model have great success. The same techniques can be used in community services with equal success.

Reference:

Green, A.E., Miller, E.A. and Aarons, G.A. (2013) Transformational leadership moderates the relationship between emotional exhaustion and turnover intention among community mental health providers, Community mental health journal. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4209723/

Field work day

anujkumar3 — 2023-01-18 05:15:50 UTC

Mini Survey on the Thought of Leadership:

The following are the questions I asked the people I interviewed to learn about followership:

• What qualities should a team leader have? 

• Tell me about your approach to delegation.

• How do you respond to a suggestion or idea from team members?

• Who do you look up to as a team leader?

• Have you ever served in a mentoring role? (Simplilearn, 2023)

For this study, I interviewed 5 people who aren’t my peers or friends, and the things I learned from interviewing them comprise the following details:

• Most of them related to a more compassionate and empathetic leader who builds his team members and encourages them to develop better skills and work patterns.

• Two of the people related to the democratic style of leadership, and the rest of the three to the laissez-faire system, where they would like the delegation to be either democratic in a way that the team members feel involved and know they have a say in the decision or empowering, where the team members have full independence in taking their own decisions with guidance only when necessary or required.

• Most of the people were adherent and willing to take a positive and understanding approach when responding to suggestions from team members.

• The ideals of leadership are mostly comprised of their peers and teachers at the university who are more willing to change and are empathetic in approach while also being strong and rigid in decisions and reflective in behaviour.

• When I asked them if they ever served in a mentor role, most of them denied it and were found to be followers rather than leaders in their groups of study.

In the end, the things I learned from interviewing the people were that followers are the ones who make or break the leaders, that followers are the real reason a leader becomes a leader, and that I as a person am now more aware of the way people think about leadership, which has caused me to be more reflective and understanding towards followers.

Followership in total is the most important aspect to touch on when learning about leadership, as great leaders are only formed by great followers. Followership is important in the discussion of leadership for several reasons. Without followers, there are no leaders. For any project or organization to succeed, there must be people who wilfully and effectively follow, just as there must be those who wilfully and effectively lead.

Leadership and followership are fundamental roles that individuals shift into and out of under various conditions. Everyone—leaders included—is a follower at one time or another.
Indeed, most individuals, even those in positions of authority, have some kind of boss or supervisor. Individuals are more often followers than leaders. (Lawrence, n.d.)Hence, followership plays a crucial and significant role in leadership.

Reference:

Simplilearn. (2023, Jan 17). Top 20 Leadership Interview Questions and Answers: Simplilearn. Retrieved from Simplilearn.com: https://www.simplilearn.com/leadership-interview-questions-answers-article

Lawrence, S. (n.d.). Importance of Effective Followers - Project Management Institute. Retrieved from https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/importance-of-effective-followers-5887

Peer to Peer day in Education

anujkumar3 — 2023-01-18 06:04:56 UTC

Peer to peer learning is a great way for learning things and getting insight about ideas, and I started my peer-to-peer learning day by enlisting a great number of questions I wanted to ask from my peers so that I could learn about leadership and the skills required for leadership.

Peer-to-peer learning is a mutual learning and training strategy that involves participants of the same level engaging in collaborative learning. Simply put, peer-to-peer learning is when one or more learners teach other learners.

I always look forward to peer-to-peer day as it is an interesting way to connect with and learn from my peers, and as I am a very curious person, I am always on the lookout for knowledge. On this peer-to-peer day, I listed the following questions in mind for my peers: (Broers, 2022)

What do you think about leadership, and what is the ideal way of leading a team?
How should we approach the matter when conflict arises in the team?
Leadership requires many attributes, but do you think I possess all of them?
Is the democratic approach to leadership better than the autocratic approach to leadership?
Why is a leader required for a team?
Why is decision-making a leader’s responsibility?

One of my peers described leaders as the most vulnerable of all, because if they don’t do their jobs right, the followers themselves will replace the leaders with better people. Followers are crucial for the existence of leaders; once you lose the trust and connection with followers, you lose all the power.

Another peer’s insight was that if a team of people don’t have a leader, they shall be divided and will never reach a height of success, as a divide in opinions causes kingdoms to fall and a nation needs a leader or else will suffer from destruction; hence, a leader is the unifying factor and guide for a team.

The views of my friend on leadership styles were that the democratic approach to leadership builds strong teams as empathy and inclusivity are far greater than force and exclusivity.

Team members usually perform better under a democratic style of leadership, and the inclusive approach where they get to say their opinions builds trust and adds value to the goals and the leader.

I learned today that people were right in saying that with great power comes great responsibility, as does with leadership. For keeping a team focused and guide it to move in a single direction so the team can collectively achieve goals, it is required for a leader to be decisive, intuitive, quick to think, a problem solver, and a voice of conviction.

Hence, the responsibility lies with the leader, as the power he/she has is what needs to be exercised in his/her role for a team to successfully move in a certain direction, and that I wasn’t yet ready to be a leader, and was lacking an evident amount of skills required for a good leader, as a good leader is the one who leads with empathy and kindness, instils belief in his followers about his vision, can navigate through conflicts and failures, and always keeps everything and everyone on his team in sync.
Hence, this peer-to-peer learning workshop turned out to be immensely insightful and eye-opening. (Gupta, 2022)

Reference

Broers, N. (2022, November 09). What Is Peer-to-Peer Learning in the Workplace? (+Examples): Whatfix. Retrieved from The Whatfix Blog | Drive Digital Adoption: https://whatfix.com/blog/peer-to-peer-learning/#:~:text=Peer%2Dto%2Dpeer%20learning%20is,more%20learners%20teach%20other%20learners

Storytelling

anujkumar3 — 2023-01-19 00:01:33 UTC

A great leader is a great storyteller, and although I am not a person who can make a good story, I happen to be a believer in good story tales and folklore. As a leader, all I have ever wished to be is a leader of change for the better.
I believe in storytelling as it is an essential factor that drives a person’s mind and heart toward a perspective, and many thinkers are suggesting that storytelling is a key 21^st-century leadership skill.
Storytelling brings out relatability and emotions, which in turn foster cohesiveness and unity among the followers who follow their leaders in achieving great goals. The bonds stories create and the connections they form are solid.

A nice story will go through three stages to transform into a compelling story.

The journey
The problem
The solution

And you can decide which inspires you better: A farmer doing his job and earning his share, or a farmer who transformed himself into a Michelin-starred chef by using what he grew to build his own restaurant? Both of them have different stories to tell, yet a person solving a problem, coming from a subtle background, and finding a solution gives you inspiration. Stories are memorable and retell able because they transform information into something meaningful, understandable, and actionable for people.

A business and a leader both require a vision or a narrative to which the consumers and the followers can easily relate.
It can be anything:

A feeling of losing someone, nostalgia related to some childhood memories, wanting to make parents proud, failures and defeats in life, a call for peace, thinking about the betterment of this planet, wanting to save lives, providing food and shelter to the needy, or just bringing a positive change by being a positive thinker, a kind empath in the world of arrogance and selfishness.

The emotions behind a narrative or vision of the leader are what make him convincing and relatable.

Similarly, Talking about my four career turning points including moving out from state to state with parents as my father serving Indian army and being posted to different regions for every three year period. During all this, I learned how to overcome the fear of making new friends and improved my communication and was actively determined towards my goal in studies. I also found out about my leadership skills from taking the charge of my group in National cadet corps.

Hence, what I am trying to convey is that a good leader is taken seriously, but a great leader is remembered by the story he narrates through his words and actions. It has always been said that wars are won by the might of the sword, but wars won by words and stories create a way more peaceful and harmonious society. Stories told by historians, poets, and artists are acknowledged to this date and have kept their value in the minds and hearts of people. It is said that leaders are dreamers, and what they dream of accomplishing is what people rally around.

A leader of substance makes his own story, and the people who value it automatically join in his cause and make it possible.
Integrity and honesty about the truth that lies in the narrative can gain you thousands of followers because there is a need for leaders in this world, and with the right cause, you can make a change and then be remembered for your part.

In other words, all of us have the potential to inspire others about the future we can create by sharing our story; by connecting the hardships we’ve endured, the challenges we’ve risen above, and the successes we’ve achieved in order to create our collective story—of why we do what we do and why it matters.

Indeed, it’s that sense of commonality and community—of feeling like we are in fact a part of something bigger than ourselves—that inspires us to not only deliver our best, but to aim to become that better version of ourselves. (Naseer, 2020)

Reference:

Naseer, T. (2020, December 17). Why Storytelling Matters In Today's Leadership. Retrieved from Tanveer Naseer: https://tanveernaseer.com/understanding-the-power-of-storytelling-for-leadership/