Leadership Skills and Implementations
The idea of leadership¬—and plugging myself into the equation—has always been a precarious matter. I have experienced vast work situations and I have also been in positions of authority, yet, I have never felt like a leader. Before starting this course I believed that to be a leader is one who enjoys and thrives on office politics; I thoroughly lack this “quality.” To me, leadership sounded like an adjective for one who manipulates others to either do jobs that they did not want to do or at least in ways that that they did not want to do it. Although I know this to be a cynical view, there is a lot of truth within these words. Of all of the various jobs and professions that I have worked, two things …show more content…
After I was promoted twice, I became a professional Marine. I enjoyed this rank. All that I had to do was do my job well and I was left alone, for the most part. When I was promoted again, I began to have people placed in my charge. It was no longer enough to do my job well; eventually, it became my major task to ensure that other people did their job, too. I despised this. Some people in my charge did what they were supposed to do, yet there were others that I had to check their work once they claimed it was complete. There were others that I would have to punish in order to get them to fulfill their duties (Bolman & Deal, 2013). Mosley, Mosley, and Pietri (2011) would have call me an over controlling supervisor. The later punishment usually came in the form of unofficial extra duties or a severe dressing down; the alternative would be for me to have them officially lose their rights and their money taken away by the battalion commander (enlisted people cannot be fired, placed under arrest yes, but not fired). When I was promoted for the fifth time, I was now faced with decisions of who would be sent into harm’s way. It is from this viewpoint of leadership that I began Social Work …show more content…
Of these qualities that I possess, I genuinely want to harness them so that I may become better equipped to influence people and lead effectively. In keeping with my above leadership experiences, I want to focus my leadership style so that I may become one who is a trusted follower (Kelley, 1988), who maximizes my followers skills (Northouse, 2016; Rath & Conchie, 2008), and who gains competence in the skills that I lack.
Strengths Based Leadership Findings According to Rath and Conchie’s (2008) Strengths Based Leadership (SBL) Guide, my five strongest leadership attributes are input, ideation, intellection, achiever, and learner. It should be noted that all of these attributes, except for achiever, fall under the category of Strategic Thinking (Rath & Conchie, 2008). Rath and Conchie’s (2008) idea of Strategic Thinking appears to be rather similar to Mosley, Mosley, and Pietri’s (2011) explanation of Conceptual skills. Mosley, Mosley, and Pietri (2011) defines conceptual skills as “involve[ing] the ability to acquire, analyze and interpret information in a logical manner” (p. 16). This ability can be interpreted as understanding the “big picture” (Mosley, Mosley, & Pietri, 2011, p. 16) and it is a highly prized attribute by supervisory
The idea of leadership¬—and plugging myself into the equation—has always been a precarious matter. I have experienced vast work situations and I have also been in positions of authority, yet, I have never felt like a leader. Before starting this course I believed that to be a leader is one who enjoys and thrives on office politics; I thoroughly lack this “quality.” To me, leadership sounded like an adjective for one who manipulates others to either do jobs that they did not want to do or at least in ways that that they did not want to do it. Although I know this to be a cynical view, there is a lot of truth within these words. Of all of the various jobs and professions that I have worked, two things …show more content…
After I was promoted twice, I became a professional Marine. I enjoyed this rank. All that I had to do was do my job well and I was left alone, for the most part. When I was promoted again, I began to have people placed in my charge. It was no longer enough to do my job well; eventually, it became my major task to ensure that other people did their job, too. I despised this. Some people in my charge did what they were supposed to do, yet there were others that I had to check their work once they claimed it was complete. There were others that I would have to punish in order to get them to fulfill their duties (Bolman & Deal, 2013). Mosley, Mosley, and Pietri (2011) would have call me an over controlling supervisor. The later punishment usually came in the form of unofficial extra duties or a severe dressing down; the alternative would be for me to have them officially lose their rights and their money taken away by the battalion commander (enlisted people cannot be fired, placed under arrest yes, but not fired). When I was promoted for the fifth time, I was now faced with decisions of who would be sent into harm’s way. It is from this viewpoint of leadership that I began Social Work …show more content…
Of these qualities that I possess, I genuinely want to harness them so that I may become better equipped to influence people and lead effectively. In keeping with my above leadership experiences, I want to focus my leadership style so that I may become one who is a trusted follower (Kelley, 1988), who maximizes my followers skills (Northouse, 2016; Rath & Conchie, 2008), and who gains competence in the skills that I lack.
Strengths Based Leadership Findings According to Rath and Conchie’s (2008) Strengths Based Leadership (SBL) Guide, my five strongest leadership attributes are input, ideation, intellection, achiever, and learner. It should be noted that all of these attributes, except for achiever, fall under the category of Strategic Thinking (Rath & Conchie, 2008). Rath and Conchie’s (2008) idea of Strategic Thinking appears to be rather similar to Mosley, Mosley, and Pietri’s (2011) explanation of Conceptual skills. Mosley, Mosley, and Pietri (2011) defines conceptual skills as “involve[ing] the ability to acquire, analyze and interpret information in a logical manner” (p. 16). This ability can be interpreted as understanding the “big picture” (Mosley, Mosley, & Pietri, 2011, p. 16) and it is a highly prized attribute by supervisory