Leading Organizations
Outcome: Evaluate different leadership contexts by integrating the knowledge of effective leadership practices and competencies for leading organizations.
Reflection:
Making sure that my leadership activities are effective is very essential to my daily activities, those who work with me in my company, as well as for the future advancement of my company. Like any other leader, I need to make sure that I do additional work for the better success of my employees and my organization. I will be able to do that by making sure that I professionally perform activities regularly to improve my proficiency and my ability to do my tasks efficiently; this relates to my daily work throughout my company. Besides, I will also make sure that I use concepts that will enable me to achieve the desired outcome instead of doing merely what I prefer to do. I will do everything in my power as a leader to make sure that my company’s commerce tasks and my ability to plan the future with wisdom, are well applied in my company. I will accomplish this by ensuring that my employees continue to be motivated and by making certain that people with an interest in business can rely on my leadership, as well as my company overall.
Developing Followers
The first artifact (LEAD 570) develops my duties as a leader to advance employees to guarantee that they have the skills which are essential for them to advance in their activities within the organization. I believe that if employees manage to become successful, this is a clear sign that a leader has also managed to become successful in leading them, and this mutual success automatically contributes to the company's success. As a leader, my goal is to make sure that my employees are always advancing, especially in their daily essential responsibilities within my organization. To do this, I will always make sure that I participate actively with my employees, especially when they are doing their professional activities. I will accomplish this by making sure that I teach and give advice to less-experienced employees, and I will support my employees by making sure that they achieve their professional goals. I will do this by teaching them particular skills and giving them advice with the goal of resolving problems, which they are facing in their daily responsibilities within the company. As a leader, giving advice, helping employees grow and move in the direction they want to go, and supporting them to become what they want to become are essential actions. This is because I am able to determine to what extent I am required to lead my employees professionally, especially in areas in which they do not have enough skills to perform their duties in the organization.
Knowledge Management
Artifact 2 (LEAD 565) clearly explains the essentials of advancing and confirming the process of creating, sharing, using, and managing the knowledge and information of an organization that permits knowledge to be effectively practical, overseen, and spread within the company. Technically, there are two kinds of knowledge. The first type is difficult to transfer to another person by means of writing it down or verbalizing it. The second type can be readily communicated easily and clearly, arranged according to a plan, accumulated for future use, retrieved, and easily transmitted to others. This distinction is essential for the advancement of the company. Additionally, this is an essential part of the company, because it gives assistance to the company’s existence, and it provides employees with proper information about where they need to head while guiding them in their daily responsibilities in the company. The best way for me to make sure that I am applying knowledge effectively will be to make sure that I have a proper method which will give me the opportunity to be able to gain control, arrange according to a plan, divide followers by what they have contributed, and spread factual information and skills which I have learned as a leader in my organization. Also, if a new source of knowledge is used now for the first time, there is a strong possibility that the company's plan of action can be influenced by an external factor. I have to decide if I must change my company's plan of action, and I will decide where my company is going from a leadership point of view.
Leading Change
The third artifact (LEAD 560) indicates how essential it is for a leader to initiate change in his company by doing things practically; in other words, by making sure that he is showing his followers how things should be done. Also, I believe the best way for me to be able to assist change within my organization effectively is to make sure that I and my followers have faith in our abilities to create change. Sometimes it is very difficult to prevent resistance from happening in a company. Like any other leader, I am aware of a map that depicts our human experience of each stage of change, whether it is a small or large change. Besides, I know dissimilar tools can take place in the company without being effective. As a leader, I will continue to insist that it is essential to continue to change our company because the product will be the advancement and achievement of our company goals. Ultimately, this may end up being a way of doing things that most people agree with our company.
Empowering Followers
In the fourth artifact (LEAD 510), I clearly explain how well I know the meaning of empowering followers in my company. Empowering followers is among the best methods to assist the advancement of leaders in the coming years. To my understanding, when I talk about empowerment, it not only means that allowing followers to make better decisions, but it also gives followers several essential things. These essential things consist of an instrument, fact, information and skills, and a way to express themselves that recommends change and becomes a viable part of the organization. This is also essential because it will give followers three important things which are motivation, job satisfaction, and a greater dedication to their company. Also, profiting from personal empowerment can improve my company in general. Empowerment can allow followers to be able to provide the introduction of new methods which will enable them to think properly and have advanced methods that will permit them to accomplish their responsibilities; this leads to the advancement of the follower's level of performance that uses the lowest amount of inputs to create the greatest amount of output and the degree to which followers are successful in producing the desired result of their activities.
Self-Awareness
The final artifact (LEAD 580) clearly explains the essence of self-awareness. I conclude that; it is essential for me to always know how my employees perceive the things that I am doing as well as how I behave while doing my daily tasks within my organization. Their perception can affect my capacity to lead in a way that is successful and achieve what I want. The fact that I am self-aware allows me to view things internally and be able to adjust what I am doing accordingly. It is important to be mindful of my behaviors, actions, and the language I use with my followers. I will benefit from being the kind of leader who practices conscious knowledge of my character, feelings, motives, and desires. In fact, I will achieve this by explaining in detail my principles of what is essential in my life as well as how I decide to be morally right within my organization. Lastly, I am the kind of leader who always makes sure that I give priority to self-awareness. This is extremely essential because my follower's perception is among the main factors which can enable me to be a successful or unsuccessful leader in my organization.
Conclusion
Just like any other organizational leader, I am aware that I have to give my employees a good environment for performing their daily activities whereby their advancement is given priority. If anyone gets the opportunity to read my artifact reflections, they will be able to know to what extent I know dissimilar leadership contexts. Besides, they will be able to know how essential it is for me as a leader to use better leadership methods which will enable me to successfully achieve what I want and the ability to do my leadership tasks efficiently within my organization. Readers will discover that I have managed to improve my leadership abilities to a large extent within and outside my organization. For me, to become an effective leader I am required to make sure that knowledge, tools, and skills are available to my employees because it will assist them in achieving their organizational goals. Also, I must make sure that I advance and give authority to my employees. I will be able to do this by making sure that I train and lead my employees while I continue to model positive behavior for them, this will continue to improve their perception of me and the company in general.
Future Learning Goals:
During my entire period of studies at Southwestern College, while majoring in Masters of Science in Leadership, I have managed to learn different leadership applications and abilities to do my leadership tasks efficiently; this has assisted me to a large extent to be more professional. For me to proceed and advance in my leadership skills and capabilities, I will make sure that I apply these skills and capabilities while I am doing my activities in my company. While I work in my moving company, I will concentrate on methods of communication and my character, which influence my colleagues. On the other hand, I will make sure that I give feedback to my employees by telling them how well they were able to fulfill their daily responsibilities. Just as I provide constructive criticism and praise, I will require my employees to provide feedback on my performance as a leader. My employee's feedback will be essential because it will allow me to discover my leadership shortcomings; this knowledge will allow me to improve my leadership abilities and practices in the future. Further, I will make personal efforts to actively listen to feedback which will assist me to overcome my leadership shortcomings and adjust my leadership style.