Leading and change

Leading is one of the many tasks that many assume to be simple but in real sense it is a very hard task to accomplish. One must be able to possess leadership qualities in order to be able to lead others in the right way, and using the right leadership approaches required. If poor leadership choices are employed, then this consequently means that the type of leadership being expressed is likely to be faced with a lot of opposition from its subjects (Glamuzina, 2015). This therefore results to problems in execution of tasks by the subjects due to the opposition that they will be offering to the leadership. Change, is also another issue which comes with a lot of responsibilities and determination in order to be achieved. If one is determined to change the operation of a certain kind of an organization, then he will be able to do so, simply because of the effort that the person will put in. I realized this while working at Freexe Mills, where I was a team leader of the accounting department (Bérard, 2013). I was supposed to change the way of thinking of my colleagues, and making them into understanding that we were going to be able to, achieve the company’s goals which seemed unachievable. Being the team leader, I was given the mandate to make sure that the goal was achieved after a period of two weeks. The manager of the company believed that I was going to steer the team into reaching the goal within the shortest time span which was two weeks (Dekker, 2013). I was therefore in charge of a team which consisted of the head of different departments in the organization, who believed they could not be able to achieve the given goal within two weeks.

Due to the negative mind-set that the team hard, it was therefore necessary to come up with ways of making the team members to believe that they could achieve the goal easily. I was therefore required to motivate the members and make to have a positive mind-set, thus being able to work towards reaching the required goal within the given timeline (Glamuzina, 2015). Self-leadership was therefore needed in this situation, since I was the only person who believed we had the potential to work towards achieving the goal (Lemons, & Stevenson, 2015). I therefore become much focused and decided to lead by example. Leading by example and being focused really helped in making the members to understand that whatever they thought was impossible could be easily achieved. In most cases, if a leader is focused, then his or her subjects are likely to do the same, simply because the leader is leading by example. This therefore changed the way the team members approached the goal, thus they also became focused. In a situation where everyone had given up, and after becoming focused things really changed, this really boosted my working morale and I was able to understand why leading by example is very significant (Dekker, 2013).

 Changing the mind-set of the members was one of my main goals, since it could really enable the team to work towards achieving the goal, rather than giving up (Bérard, 2013). Due to the effort that I had put in, the members became convinced that we could achieve the goal. I basically considered the change necessary, simply because when one’s self-talk is negative, then it means that the person will not be able to achieve what he or she is supposed to achieve. This consequently means that team members had a negative self-talk, which made it very hard for the goal to be easily achieved. A person with a positive mind-set can be able to put in the required effort in order to be able to reach the desired goal, moreover, a positive mind-set boosts the working morale of a person (Glamuzina, 2015). My main goal was to change the view of the team members, in order to be able to achieve the given goal. I therefore had to convince the members, on how we could easily achieve the goal.  I decided to make the team members to only look at the positive side, since I could not get any support from the management of the company. Each and every morning, before commencing with work, I would give the team success stories, in order to change their thinking (Dekker, 2013). This approach really helped, since most of the members were able to change their way of thinking, thus they were able to view things in a very different way thus making it easy to achieve the goal. Furthermore, I also decided to work with all members of the team in setting our working goals, this therefore meant that all members were equal, hence being able to come up with ideas on how to better achieve the goal. This approach also impacted the team positively, thus making all the team members to work together in achieving the goal (Bérard, 2013).

The approaches that I used were very successful, as they enabled me to be able to change the mind-set of the team members (Dekker, 2013). This therefore saw the team achieving the goal three days earlier than the deadline. To me, this was an achievement, which I had not dreamt of achieving. The manager of the company was very happy with, and he rewarded me for my work. I therefore realized that I had good self-leadership skills, which enabled me to be a good example to the team members, thus making them to work hard too (Glamuzina, 2015). Moreover, I was realized I possessed ethical leadership skills, which made me to empower the team members, thus making them to change their mind-set. I have therefore learnt that, in order to be a good leader, one should act as an example, and he or she should also respect his or her subjects.

A leadership development plan should be capable of spearheading a person into achieving his or her own goals (Lemons, & Stevenson, 2015). This plan therefore focuses on the key competencies which enable a person to be able to focus on the best leadership qualities. Thus, a person can therefore be able to effectively lead others in the right way, and in the appropriate means hence impacting his or her own subjects positively (Glamuzina, 2015).

	Preparing	Transitioning	Sustained Success	Transitioning again
Self-efficacy	Line both experience and the skills of development	Leadership traits, that is, the job campaign skills (Bérard, 2013).	Distributed power and leadership integrity	Rapid learning curve
Political Savvy	Broaden organizational perspectives	Visibility and credibility	Effective use of power; environment scanning	Progression planning; flexibility grace
Personal and professional growth	Self-promotion; strategic career management	Clarify goals; due diligence for job fit	Prioritizing time for self-care and reflection	Making meaning of the transition
Communities of practice	Create link reciprocity	Elaborating networks and prioritizing goals	Maintaining relationships and priorities	Linking personal and professional networks.

 

Reference

Glamuzina, M. (2015). LEVELS OF LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND TOP MANAGEMENT'S EFFECTIVENESS: IS THERE A CLEAR-CUT RELATIONSHIP?. Management: Journal Of Contemporary Management Issues, 20(1), 89-131.

Dekker, W. d. (2013). Global Mindset and Leadership Effectiveness. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Bérard, J. (2013). Accelerating Leadership Development : Practical Solutions for Building Your Organization's Potential. Mississauga, Ont: Jossey-Bass.

Lemons, R. W., & Stevenson, I. (2015). Turn Effective Practice into Common Practice: Successful Districts Create Systems of Leadership Talent Development. Journal Of Staff Development, 36(5), 18-21.