The processes of socio-economic and cultural transformations developing in modern society and their dynamism affect the increase in requirements for the individual, who must be creative, responsible, self-developing, independent and self-improving. Society needs young people who are able to look at the solution of pressing problems in a new and fresh way, to lead. In this regard, the development of leadership qualities is of particular importance.
Self-Assessment
The question of whether leaders are born or become was considered in psychology through leadership theory. Supporters of the charismatic concept believe that a person is given a certain “charisma” from birth, due to which he becomes a leader. However, supporters of the transformational theory are sure that charisma is not the decisive factor, and anyone can become a leader if they have certain qualities and competencies. In addition, leadership implies not just a certain position in society, but the process of involving other people in common activities (Naguib & Naem, 2018). I believe that I have some leadership qualities inherent in me from the very beginning. In addition, they have evolved through my environment, and I will continue to improve them in the future.
I consider extraversion as my greatest strength. It allows me to work with interdisciplinary teams and lead for professional success. I am advanced in technical skills and human skills and moderate in conceptual skills, while being both task-and-relationship oriented. Additionally, my strength is balanced processing as I take into account and value all the options before making a decision. I also value people around me because it is important for me to work within a community and involve my team in the endeavors. Moreover, my strengths include independent thinking, active engagement, the ability to recognize strong leadership traits in others, and agreeableness.
I see myself as a leader who takes the initiative and likes to get things done as per the expectations. However, sometimes I tend to project expectations onto others in a negative way, and that’s an area for improvement. Additionally, I may make decisions that are impulsive due to my emotional state, which explains my low results in relational transparency. This is also another skill I would like to improve. Moreover, servant leadership behaviors are still a little challenging for me. Furthermore, I would like to further develop the ability to build confidence in a team and support them externally.
Impact of Followers, Peers, and Supervisors
The impact of people around, including peers and teachers, is significant for personal development. The personality of an individual, while developing, interacts with persons who play certain roles in his life (Northouse, 2019). When the environment changes, changes take place in a person’s life as well. The environment affects the overall worldview, goals, habits, attitudes, priorities of a person, as well as the development of leadership qualities. In the upbringing of students, the role of the teacher is consistently important. This is a period of active formation of the foundations of the worldview. In the course of the moral and patriotic education of students, they develop an active life position, which allows them to make choices in the future.
To be successful in educating students, it is very important for the teacher to gain trust and respect from the students, and these characteristics are present in my classes. The development of leadership qualities is a process of transforming the natural qualities of a student, inclinations, the upbringing of those qualities that were not previously manifested or were weak. It is possible to develop certain abilities through the involvement of a student in various activities. A properly organized system of extracurricular activities can maximally develop or form the cognitive needs and abilities of each student, which will ensure the upbringing of a strong personality (Daniels et al., 2019). Extracurricular activities are organized to meet my and my peers’ needs in meaningful leisure, participation in self-government and socially useful activities.
Leadership Development Goals
The development of professional and technical skills is essential for a successful career. However, hard skills alone are not enough to reach the level of a top manager or an effective leader in any other area of business (AbuJbara & Worley, 2018). I need to learn to lead people, take responsibility for the work of the team, and be proactive. For this, a number of goals were set, which will be further developed into a detailed plan.
The goals include:
- Study my own strengths and weaknesses
- Learn to apply learned strengths
- Learn to work on and improve the learned weaknesses
- Learn productivity and work for results
- Learn planning and goal setting
- Learn to be innovative and bring the change
- Learn to take responsibility
- Learn to attract and charm people
- Learn to demonstrate moderate self-confidence
- Learn to effectively and efficiently delegate responsibilities and tasks
- Constantly learn, improve skills and knowledge, keep-to-date
- Develop the ability to convince and inspire
Detailed Leadership Development Plan
Study Myself
Before I can lead, I should learn to acknowledge my strengths and weaknesses. Confidence, which is a key trait for leaders, comes with this understanding. After the analysis, I know for sure which tasks I can definitely complete and which ones are better to delegate. Knowing my shortcomings, I will be able to build my own trajectory for the development of the corresponding skills. I have compiled a list of my strengths and weaknesses and decided what helps to achieve the set goals and what, on the contrary, hinders, and defined the competencies that need to be worked on first.
Productivity and Work for Results
In order to overcome my impulsiveness, I will work on the basis of well-defined goals and objectives. The leader must show the best results personally and through his team. It is necessary to strive for productivity and work for results through the development of leadership qualities with the help of the habit of focusing only on the results of actions. In my work, I consider it important to focus not on what has been done in the process but on the achieved desired result of actions as a fulfillment or over fulfillment of the plan.
Bring Changes
Development is impossible without change and innovation. Therefore, the leader must generate and subsequently implement new ideas, together with the team, initiate knowledge sharing and creativity (Kremer et al., 2019). This requires further development of my creative and critical thinking. Creative thinking will help to question existing patterns of work and the critical to think about how they can be improved. I will constantly look for new solutions and approaches to the standard and long-practiced processes in order to develop these qualities in myself.
Take Responsibility
A leader knows how to take responsibility not only for himself but also for others. This is essential for building and maintaining the team spirit and reliability of the leader (AbuJbara & Worley, 2018). Before proposing an idea, making a decision and changing anything, I will take responsibility for this. I will be the main person in making some decisions, and if they fail, I cannot blame the team or one of the performers since I, as a leader, approved it.
Learn to Attract and Charm People
Not every great leader has the ability to please people, but most people are more likely to follow someone who knows how to win over to their side. I will be polite and respectful to my interlocutors during a conversation as one of the ways to develop friendliness in myself and be able to get the sympathy of others. Body language also plays a big role in how attractive I am to other people. Therefore, the goal is to smile and maintain eye contact.
Learn to Demonstrate Moderate Self-confidence
Confidence is the foundation on which leadership is built. The confidence lies in the basement of most management and leadership principles. Confidence is essential both for making the right decisions and performing well in front of an audience. This is essential for building and maintaining the team spirit and reliability of the leader (AbuJbara & Worley, 2018). I will practice this skill outside of work and school, learn to speak in public, confidently present my own and other people’s thoughts, and demonstrate confidence through verbal and non-verbal signs.
Delegate
Delegation isn’t just about handing over tasks. An effective leader analyzes the situation before delegating, as it is important for him to make sure that the subordinate has the necessary skills and capabilities to solve the problem. The leader must not only prove himself but also allow his team members to do so (Turaga, 2017). Therefore, I will train the skill of delegation, I will look for the right people and create situations in which they can show themselves.
Adhere to the Concept of Continuous Development
Nowadays, leaders understand that success is now possible only through continuous learning. An effective leader engages in introspection, examines his strengths and weaknesses, develops the right skills, and constantly looks for ways to become more effective. I begin to constantly study, sign up for additional courses, try to keep up-to-date and be the first to learn and implement new and interesting solutions.
Ability to Convince and Inspire
The ability to convince and inspire is one of the key qualities of a leader. I will learn to inspire the team and convince them that they can achieve any goal, focus on the problem and its solution, and not be distracted by any other issues. Additionally, I will develop my ability to listen, hear, and interact with the team. This way, I can support my team in achieving a common goal, which should lead to increased productivity.
In conclusion, the main components of leadership competence are communication skills, contact ability, willingness and ability to resolve conflicts, attention to a partner, listening skills, a sense of responsibility, emotional stability, motivation, the desire to learn, the ability to self-analyze, and a sense of justice. Having these qualities, I, as a leader, will be able to solve the tasks facing me. The development of these qualities will take place through the use of strengths and the improvement of weaknesses and the development of new characteristics in relation to the established plan.
References
AbuJbara, N. A. K., & Worley, J. A. (2018). Leading toward new horizons with soft skills. On The Horizon-The Strategic Planning Resource for Education Professionals, 26(3), 247-259.
Daniels, E., Hondeghem, A., & Dochy, F. (2019). A review on leadership and leadership development in educational settings. Educational Research Review, 27, 110-125.
Kremer, H., Villamor, I., & Aguinis, H. (2019). Innovation leadership: Best-practice recommendations for promoting employee creativity, voice, and knowledge sharing. Business Horizons, 62(1), 65-74.
Naguib, H. M., & Naem, A. E. H. M. A. (2018). The impact of transformational leadership on the organizational innovation. The International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Invention, 5(1), 4337-4343.
Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership theory and practice (9th ed.). SAGE Publishing: Los Angeles, CA.
Turaga, R. (2017). What maketh an effective leader?. IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 11(4), 65-75.
