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Leadership Development

Section One

One of the ways that I have demonstrated leadership in my life is as a student leader. During this leadership role, I was responsible for assisting the facilitation and smooth running of the school event, contributing viewpoints on the whole school pertaining issues of the school leader p team together with the school council, and being a role model for other leaders. I was also responsible for facilitating and learning some of the school assemblies, representing the school in out-of-school student events, and solving conflicts among students. I also have experienced leadership personally, taking charge of my life and responsibilities. I have set goals in my life that I wanted to accomplish within a specific timeline. For me to achieve my goals, I had to take a leadership role in my life by taking responsibility, persistence, determination, and establishing a strategy to accomplish them. One leader who has made a significant positive impact in my life is the formal United States president, Barack Obama. Several things make me look up to Barack Obama as my role model. One of the things is that he was a culturally sensitive leader, which is evident in the diverse team in different leadership roles. Secondly, he was good at motivating other individuals and remaining calm under pressure. President Obama always motivated persons around him and was always calm when supporters heckled him in numerous situations. Lastly, Obama embraced diversity, where he protected the rights of the LGBTQ community (Brettschneider et al., 2017). He made several historic efforts to expand and advance equality for all United States citizens, including Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Americans.

Section Two

Trust is important in leadership because it is a glue that holds together leaders and their followers, and it offers the capacity for organizational and leadership success. Trust in leadership helps drive success among employees and team members, allows them to be at ease, and ensures that the leaders have their interests at heart. It helps the followers of the leader fulfill their responsibilities since it will eliminate doubt (Karatepe et al., 2019). Trust is also a critical issue in leadership because it provides a sense of safety and allows team members to feel safe and comfortable opening up, taking appropriate risks, and exposing their vulnerabilities. The key points that are important and relate to my leadership development are building trust in virtual teams. I will build trust in virtual teams by setting clear expectations, using effective communication, and being open to vulnerability. My current leadership events include self-awareness, situational awareness, and excellent communication skills. However, the areas that I need to improve my trust are being open, honest, and proving I am reliable.

Section Three

The skill which I selected for this project is effective listening. Effective listening entails an individual actively abusing information that a speaker is communicating, showing that one is interested, and giving feedback to the speaker to let them know that the message there is sharing has been received. The first key point is the exploration of methods that are important for choosing the best paraphrasing response in different situations and taking into account mental filters and how they can affect assumptions. This point is related to my leadership development by helping me understand what is being communicated by other persons and ensuring that I consider their concerns and needs. The second key point is exploring what happens when I am distracted when an individual is communicating and the importance of asking for clarification. This key point will help me develop my leadership by overcoming distractions that might negatively impact my communication skills. One of my current strengths of ineffective listening is understanding the information being shared. Leaders are expected to hear the information which is being shared (Baker et al., 2019). Leaders need to receive, understand, evaluate, remember and respond to shared information. The other strength that I have is acknowledging and validating experiences and perspectives. However, I have to improve my attentiveness and my feedback skills.

Section Four

Developing Trust as a Leader

Action Step One. The first step of developing trust as a leader is being honest and telling the truth at all times. I want to improve my honesty from 11th February to 2nd March. I will ensure I am honest and truthful daily regardless of how difficult the situation I am facing is. I will get feedback from my friends daily. I will be getting this feedback at the school when we provide feedback on our short-term goals.

Action Step Two. Taking responsibility for my failures by the end of the year. I have a weakness in blaming others for my failures which often ruins the trust between other people and me. I will ensure that I take responsibility for my failures weekly and ensure I have achieved complete responsibility by December 2022. I will get feedback from my peers every week.

Additional Skill for the Project

Action Step Three. My first action step is to improve my attentiveness. I will aim to improve my attentiveness by 28th March 2022. I will use different strategies to enhance my attentiveness daily. I will get feedback from the mentor, who will teach me how to be attentive at my house every week.

Action Step Four. My final action step is to learn how to pick up key points from a speaker. I will achieve this goal by enlisting the help of my peers every week. I also aim to learn how to take key points from the speaker by 8th August 2022. I will also get feedback from my peers about my progress on a monthly basis. This progress will be provided at one of the meeting venues where we are supposed to be providing feedback from my peers.

References

Baker, E. L., Dunne-Moses, A., Calarco, A. J., & Gilkey, R. (2019). Listening to understand: a core leadership skill. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 25(5), 508-510.

Brettschneider, M., Burgess, S., & Keating, C. (Eds.). (2017). LGBTQ Politics: A critical reader (Vol. 3). NYU Press.

Karatepe, O. M., Ozturk, A., & Kim, T. T. (2019). Servant leadership, organisational trust, and bank employee outcomes. The Service Industries Journal, 39(2), 86-108.