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Leadership Reflection

A jtoeda the Journey to leadership is not as easy as one may think it is. One has to be dedicated in learning from the successful leaders on some of the essentials of a leader. Learning is said to be a long time process, which cannot be learnt at once, we keep on learning new things from interacting with different leaders and attending various events. The attitude of a person towards learning is what dictates a person success towards successful leadership journey. I recently attended a leadership training organized by company for all assistant managers in our company. It is from this training that I got a new insight concerning leadership. From the training, I learned that a leader is a person appointed by individuals or a person to guide and control a given group of individuals. I also learned the qualities that a good leader should have so as to function effectively and achieve his/her goals. These qualities include a trustworthy, accountable, respectful good speaker, flexible and confident.

First, a leader should be trustworthy (Matthew 20). In this training for leaders, which took us five hours, one of the things we were enlightened on is the ability of the leader to win the trust of the people or group he/she is leading (Matthew 6). Many groups of people prefer a leader whom they can trust with everything. When dealing with people and employees, it is important for one to ensure that he/she means what they say and act in the same way. This includes even keeping of promises.

A leader should also be accountable (Matthew 16). In the training, I learned that a leader should always be in a position to account for anything that occurs in the institution or the organization he/she is given a responsibility to lead. An accountable leader means that one is serious with the task mandated him/her and this translates to a fact that such a leader keeps track of everything that is taking place around them, the organization and the people in the organization (Matthew 17). For example, in the case of employees strike and destroy properties, the leader should be in a position to take full responsibility for accounting for such an act in detail.

I also learned that a leader should be respectful (Matthew 20). This includes respecting oneself, the duty/ task and the people they lead. Respect begins by oneself and thus respect for oneself is important because it gives indicators to the people being led on how they should relate with a person. Respect for oneself ranges from dressing to how a person speaks. These things give a bad or good impression of a leader (Matthew 22). Again, a leader should have respect for those under him despite their position and age. Anybody in a given group or organization helps a leader to do his/her work perfectly and so this makes everybody under a leader valuable and to deserve respect. A respectful leader respects people for who they are and what they do. Such a leader finds his/her leadership enjoyable because one is in harmony with all the people under him/her.

In addition, I learned that a leader should be a good speaker (Matthew 4). This is one of the must-have traits of a leader. a leader should be able to communicate effectively with people of all levels. Leaders with poor communication skills find it hard to relate with people effectively because it is hard to pass their intended message effectively (Matthew 10). However, a good speaker finds the task mandated to him enjoyable because they can communicate with the people around them effectively regardless of their level. Such a leader can give instructions clearly and address their teams effectively without any barrier.

The training also helped me learn that a leader should be flexible. All my lifetime, I grew up knowing that a leader should be final in what they say, however, the training helped me do away with this perception (Matthew 8). I learned that a leader should be flexible in decision-making, and what they do. A leader should be able to listen to other people’s views and learn more or get a different view of a given issue. This helps the person change his/her stand for better or even create a new idea maybe to a problem at hand (Matthew 6). This is because leadership in the form of a learning process since one has to learn something new from different people.

Lastly, I learned that a leader should be confident. Leaders at some point are required to give instructions to the group that they are guiding and ensure that the instructions are taken and obeyed (Matthew 6). It takes a confident person to give commands and instructions for people to obey. Leadership and confidence are intertwined and this is why it is very rare for people to obey timid leaders. A confident leader will have a commanding voice that should see those they lead obey them. Thus, a leader should be confident.

In conclusion, leadership training helped me gain new insights into what is expected of me as an individual and as an aspiring leader. I learned that the journey to successful leadership requires one’s commitment and practice to acquire a given leadership quality. A leader should be trustworthy to gain trust from the people around them, be accountable to account for anything regarding his/her area of work. Should also be respectful to respect his/herself and those under them, be flexible not to stick to one decision. A leader should also be confident to make people obey them and take their instructions. The training exercise was therefore of much importance to me as a leader aspiring for a successful leadership journey.

Work cited

Matthew R. Fairholm, Ph.D. Defining Leadership: A Review of Past, Present, and Future Ideas