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My Personal Plan to Enhance My Leadership Effectiveness Karen Philips University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

My Personal Plan to Enhance My Leadership Effectiveness Leadership can be defined in many ways; Google defines leadership as the action of leading a group or an organization. Leadership is a process that persuades people to do the right thing for a better future. Leadership is a process in which one person encourages, inspires and motivates others to work for the betterment of society or an organization. Edi Kurnik describes leadership as a process that influences other people to achieve an objective or goal. When I take a retrospective look at my career, the positions I held were in supervisory or management roles. Even though I was serving in management positions I believe I was in leadership positions. I felt this way because I was in charge of people and had the authority and power to enforce the agencies rules and policies. As Nolan, 1996; states managers are given authority through formal job descriptions. I was given a handbook, some guidelines and agency goals and was told to make sure the staff I supervised completed their assigned jobs and achieved the desired goals and benchmarks. At no point did I take part in building the agencies environment, vision or direction, I just did what I was instructed to do. When I entered the field of child care I still had the management mind set and style of interacting with my staff. I rarely dealt with issues without my employee handbook near by. The decisions I made were dictated by the guidelines of the handbook. Nolan states; managers make decisions within the power and purview of the organization and within a legal context within the organization is functioning. In other words managers influence others by using rewards and punishments. What makes a good leader? There is no one right answer for this question. But one can determine what makes one leader more effective then another. In the book Primal Leadership, the authors state, Great leadership works through the emotions; if leaders fail to drive emotions in the right direction, nothing they do will work as well as it could or should (Goleman2002,p.2). Knowing oneself is being able to identify areas of strength and areas that need to be developed or improved. To improve and enhance my leadership skills I must first take a really close look at myself. Self awareness means that the leader knows their abilities, their limits and what they value and why they are doing what they are doing. A person that is self aware is honest with themselves and with those they are leading (Goleman 2002, p 39). I need to develop myself in this area because I have the tendency to take on more then I can handle. When I take on more then I can handle I get short tempered, shut people out and get unfocused. I need to learn how to say No and ask for assistance when needed. I have the tendency to think I am a superwoman because there is so much to be done a daily basis and dont trust others will do the job right.

My Personal Plan to Enhance My Leadership Effectiveness Another area that I must develop is self-management, the focused drive that all leaders need to achieve their goals (Goleman 2002). Without knowing what I am feeling I am at a loss to manage my feelings. Ive noticed that when I get angry, frustrated and stressed out the atmosphere at the center changes. When Im unable to manage my stress level, my ability to focus and communicate effectively with staff, children and parents causes the staff to become unfocused, they become tense and start complaining thus fostering an environment that is uninviting. As a leader I find it difficult to be open with my emotions. I need to develop my ability to be transparent. Goleman; states that transparency is a competence that is displayed by authentic openness to ones feeling, beliefs, and actions. As a person and a leader I find it very difficult to be open with my emotions. I am a person that puts on a strong faade in public and when around family and friend. I am the person that would rather drown then ask for help; asking for help is the last resort for me. When individuals ask to help out I will turn them away, and say; thanks but no thanks. Nolan (2000), states that an effective leader must be creative; to continue in my quest to become an effective leader I must develop this leadership skill. I am creative when I look at ways to solve problems for myself, but I need to help my staff develop creative solutions for the problems they encounter in their classrooms, with parents and with their co-workers. If I continue to solve the problems for them I am creating an atmosphere of dependence, which puts more pressure and responsibility on me. If I can help staff develop problem solving skills and help build their self confidence they wont have to come to me everytime a problem arises. By doing this I will also be creating and atmosphere of trust between myself and my staff. This will also help bring potential leaders to the forefront by me showing and telling my staff that I trust them to handle more responsibilities. The ability to maintain focus is another area that I must develop and develop quickly if I am to truly become an effective leader. Because I have so much to do on a daily basis it is very easy for me to get distracted and unfocused. I can get a phone call and be off task for the rest of the day. I believe a big part of this is the fact that I despise paperwork. I am the person who gets focused at the eleventh hour, by doing this I cause my team to loose interest. Then when the deadline is approaching I drop everything to get the job done and I expect my team to do the same thing. This approach has worked so far, but I know this is not good for the staff and the environment of the center. I need to learn how to delegate, if I began to delegate I will not only be telling my staff that I trust them I will be showing them that I trust that they are capable and important members of the team. As our center is growing and moving towards accreditation and expansion I need to develop a way to share my vision with my sister. We both have a vision for the center to grow and

My Personal Plan to Enhance My Leadership Effectiveness become a better place for children and their families, but we need to come together and develop a shared vision and develop a plan on how we plan to accomplish our goal. Both views are vital to the continued success of the center but we need to be able to mesh both sets of goals into one shared vision. A shared vision is the way by which a group of people will achieve their goal or mission. Shared vision means that no one persons view is more important than anyone elses. Sharing values and visions between leaders and staff is a practice in two way communication that facilitates a strong community and a commitment to the betterment of the community. The skill of relationship building in invaluable in any organization. (Goleman, 255256). In order to do this I must learn how to communicate my dreams to her in away that she understands. I must also convey to her that I understand her dreams but we must work together to achieve our ultimate goal in our pursuit for excellence. In other words I need to enlist her input and develop and atmosphere of collaboration. I need to help her understand that she is a vital part in the growth of the organization. The skills and experience that she brings to the table I am lacking. Through open honest communication and self-awareness we can achieve our dream. I need to be open to constructive criticism and job performance evaluation. I need to develop my ability to admit I was wrong without looking at my mistake as a failure and look at the mistake as a learning experience. As I read the materials realize that I am doing a lot of things good, but I can do better. I also understand that I have a lot to learn as I develop my skills in becoming an effective leader. I know it will take time and a conscience effort on my behalf. Ive learned that leadership roles change from situation to situation and from goal to goal, but the skills necessary to facilitate growth and a shared vision remain the same.

My Person Plan to Enhance My Leadership Effectiveness

References Goleman, D. (2000). Primal Leadership. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Kouzes, J. & Posner, B. (2008). Leadership Challenge 4th edition. Hoboken NJ. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Kurnik, E. edhurnik.hubpages.com/hub/ Nolan, T. (2000). The Leadership Handbook. New Berlin, WI: Nolan Communications.

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