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Leadership Style

Leadership Style

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Leadership could be defined as the act of providing direction and guidance for a particular group of people who have a common interest or goal to achieve their targets. Any group has a leader with a set of leadership and personality skills that would make other interested parties follow them. The approach and manner in which a leader provides direction and guidance to implement plans and motivate people under his guidance are the leadership styles. There are different leadership styles in the world today but according to Kurt Lewin study in 1939 they established three major styles of leadership (Cherry,2006) which are;

Autocratic leadership is a practice whereby the leader has absolute power to direct his people without getting feedback or advice. This kind of leadership is also known as authoritarian and most people view this kind of leadership as a path to fueling yelling and a way to lead using threats as the leaders do not expect feedback from the people. This style is often associated with demeaning and abusive as most people call this kind of leadership ‘Bossing around’. It is although a convenient form of leadership when the leader in most circumstances has all he needs to complete and accomplish the target or even solve a problem. It is time-saving and also not involving thus does not give people motivation reducing their flexibility and dedication to the course (Cherry,2006).

Democratic leadership is a style of leadership that often include other players in the process of decision making (Cherry,2006). This allows the employees or people involved to freely air their opinions although the final decision making relies on the leader. This type of leadership develops people’s skills as there is often a lot of flexibility offered encouraging creativity hence improved productivity. This form of leadership is often concerned with the welfare of the people. Although being viewed as the best form of leadership, democratic otherwise known as participative leadership is time-consuming leading to delays in the making of decisions

Laissez-fair leadership style is also known as delegative style which involves the passing of authority to other people to make decisions on behalf of the leader. It is often applied in instances where the people can analyze interpret and be able to make decisions on what ought to be done. In this kind of leadership, the leader is held accountable for the decisions made on his behalf (Cherry,2006). It is practiced when the leader full trusts his people rather than having a blame game when things go wrong.

Paternalistic leadership style, based on authority is a form of leadership whereby the leader guide, help, protect and keep the followers working happily as a big family where the leader is considered the head of the family. Out of gratitude in this form of leadership the followers work harder to provide results. It is applied in Japan due to the cultural background in the region.

Charismatic leadership style is a leadership style whereby the leader can inspire others to follow him/her through the power of influence to reflect the goals of the institution to reflect the individual’s vision. In this type of leadership, the leader is able to transform the attitudes and beliefs of their followers.

From an assessment of personality traits, Donald Trump is said to be an ambiguous man who is often seen to be self-assured, bold and competitive. He is able to direct the public, engage them and even arouse them with his character. He has been considered as an active and yet positive present thus his leadership style can be described as a charismatic leadership style whereby, he has a high dominance and great foreign policy influence (Immelman,2017).

Nancy Pelosi on the other hand with her efforts to keep build consensus in her party has demonstrated democracy style of leadership by building consensus. Despite being called upon by the party to call for impeachment motion she chose not to until new evidence was produced showing the president acting on how own partisan interests (Immelman,2017). She was not influenced easily give in to pressure of her party but rather to have fair and just processes in the house. She is a good leader with strong instincts measure with confidence in her decision-making processes that often include the input of others. Hence the demonstration of the democratic type of leadership by House of Representatives’ Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Depending on the situation, a good leader would apply the use of all leadership styles.

References

Cherry, K. (2006). Leadership styles. Retrieved from.

Immelman, A. (2017). The Leadership Style of US President Donald J. Trump.

leadership_teamwork_consultant

Leadership teamwork consultant

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Leadership teamwork consultant

Introduction

In different organizations, teamwork training is the best resource in assessing and defining the needs and requirements to be implemented. Additionally, teamwork training that is effective and especially on project management usually present techniques and tools which bridge communication gaps and weaknesses across various organizational departments. Effective teamwork training ensure that success is reflected through the organization’s performance. Approaching organizations project through cohesive teamwork therefore results to a sure success.

1. Suggest two (2) key ways in which the proposed teamwork project would affect organizational performance.

Teamwork has a number of impacts on organizational performance. One of the major impacts is improving the performance through the production of quality products and services. When employees work in a team, they tend to offer outstanding performance compared to when an individual performs the task. The job is divided into simpler portions that can be handled by various persons. In most cases, teamwork results in the allocation of tasks to individuals in areas they are most specialized in. Specialization enables the team members to act in accordance with their knowledge and skills hence resulting to quality production (Ghorbanhosseini, 2013). The proposed teamwork project would, therefore, enable the employees to work in areas they are most specialized in, and as a result, improve the quality of their work.

Another way through which teamwork project would affect organizational performance is by increasing the speed at which tasks are performed. Tasks within the organizational setting have timelines through which they have to be accomplished. When individuals work alone, it is often difficult to work within the strict task deadlines, however, when tackled in groups, the work is disintegrated into smaller manageable pieces that enable the employees to work faster and accomplish within the required time. By improving quality and speed at which tasks are to be performed, the teamwork project is likely to have a huge impact on organizational performance (Ghorbanhosseini, 2013).

The proposed teamwork project would, therefore, instill vital teamwork skills that are necessary for any given work setting. Skills such as the distribution of labor are a common element in group work. The development of such skills by group members can translate to better performance in the organization. In addition, group membership revolves around the development of new skills by the members. In the course of their interactions, the group members interchange certain relevant skills that are applicable in the organizational setting. Motivation is another primary element of teamwork. With the leader constantly communicating with the members, they get motivated and become aligned to the organizational goals (Ghorbanhosseini, 2013). Alignment to the goals implies working towards the attainment of a particular course. They members would, therefore, become motivated towards working in the organization and in the long run become productive and instrumental in attaining organizational goals.

2. Recommend where the company should set limits on spending and on using company assets for socially responsible projects. Predict the main effect that socially responsible projects could have on the company’s overall bottom line.

Social responsibility constitutes an ethical framework that suggests that an organization is ethically obliged to act for the benefit of the social members within which it operates. The process of corporate social responsibility involves the use of company resources to benefit the society. At other times, the CSR involves the provision of services such as employments, medical treatments, and sports sponsorship. Most social responsibilities are often voluntary acts by the organization in a bid to benefit the business. In cases where the organization engages in environmental sustenance, or provision of a free medical camp, the resources utilized often belong to the organization (Carroll, 2015).

Certain limits can be set on the use of organizational resources in fulfillment of the social responsibility. One such limit can be incorporated when the expenditure exceeds the likely impact. Generally, organizations utilize social responsibilities to market their products and create awareness of their product existence in the market. The resources allocated in making the contribution needs to moderate to ensure that organization does not spend way beyond its ability.

Limits should also be set on socially responsible assets in cases where the assets do not perform as per the business expectations. For instance, in cases where business sponsors a free medical camp to members of a community, and the turn up is low, it is prudent that the resources used in managing such be reduced. Limitation of the resources in such a scenario would help in minimizing the maintenance and wage expenses for the personnel involved in the project management process. When making decisions on whether to utilize a given amount of resources, it is important that a company determine the levels of benefit as well as the levels of need of the project (Carroll, 2015). The socially responsible action must yield the target action to be effective.

Finally, the social responsibility action must represent and reflect the organizational values (Carroll, 2015). Within an organizational culture dwell values that are held by the members of the organization. Such values are often attached to the products and services offered by the organization. In case a social responsibility function or action does not depict or represent the company values, it may be prudent to limit or withdraw resources used in such cases. Continuous injection of resources in such projects may lead to massive losses and in the end lead to company collapse.

3. Propose two (2) approaches geared toward introducing the topic of ethics or ethical behavior in the teamwork-training project.

Ethics primarily concern with a person’s moral judgments of good and evil. Organizational culture tends to have certain ethics, which are adopted by members. The ethics define the values that each employee is expected to adhere to. Within a group setting, ethics play a significant role in the actions of members towards one another. Certain principles of ethics dictate that employees must be fair and honest towards one another. In introducing ethics to a team, one of the approaches is training them on the personality differences and cultural diversity. Employees tend to emanate from different cultural backgrounds. This makes them perceive and treat each other differently. Ethics dictates the behavior of individuals within the workplace and enables them to treat each other in a fair manner (Durie, 2013). By training the team members on ethics and its significance, the members learn to accept persons from other cultures and appreciate their ways of doing things.

Fairness in the workplace is another significant element of ethics. The members must learn to be fair to each other. In this perceptive, work needs to be divided equally and the management and team members need not to show any form of favoritism to the members. Such equal treatment of all members helps in ensuring that proper work ethics are upheld within the organizational setting (Durie, 2013). The ethics may dictate the reporting time as well as the amount of responsibilities an individual needs to perform. Ethical judgments must be aligned with the societal expectations and the organizational values that must be adhered to.

4. Examine two (2) aspects of teamwork training that change a person into a transformational leader. Justify your response.

Transformational leaders work with the subordinates in identifying areas that need change and coming up with structures to implement the changes. Transformational leaders tend to involve the group in decision making hence resulting in logical solutions to problems. One of the major advantages is the team spirit developed by the transformational leader (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013).

Teamwork training encompasses various aspects that can transform an individual into a transformational leader. One of the aspects is the team spirit. Team spirit encompasses engaging in activities as a team. The members make decisions collectively and implement the solutions to the problems encountered. Team spirit also involves the distribution of tasks and responsibilities. Group members tend to divide work according to areas of specialization. In the process, the group members develop skills that are essential for performance. Team spirit constitutes a key element of transformational leadership. The transformational leader works together with other team members to come up with solutions to various problems. Transformational leadership involves the leader pulling the subordinates and supporting them into becoming relevant within the social setting (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013). The element of team spirit can, therefore, transform a person into a transformational leader.

Another key element of a team is working towards a common purpose. In team building, the members often work towards achieving a common objective. The leader communicates the team objective, which is then taken over by the members. The same concept is demonstrated in transformational leadership where the leader communicates the objectives or vision and makes the other members work towards achieving it (Braun, Peus, Weisweiler, & Frey, 2013). By having a common purpose in mind both the team members and transformational leader’s group tend to emulate similar character (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013). A team member that has experienced similar aspects can easily suite in the context of transformational leadership since they have similar attributes in regards to working together.

5. Predict your possible reaction to a team member’s suggestion of another theme that does not relate in any way to the theme that you have proposed. Provide a rationale for your response.

Suggestions from team members tend to be distinct. The ideological difference within a team helps in coming up with new ways and approaches to tackling issues within the work setting. One of the likely suggestions that may be postulated by members includes approaches to conflict resolution. Members have different approaches to resolving conflicts; such approaches may emanate from social and cultural setup. Given one’s cultural background, they may choose to be introverted and therefore ignore the basic conflict resolution standards. On a differing opinion, I would opt to use the conflict resolution method, which entails the use of a mediator. Mediators are often neutral persons that are appointed by both parties to listen to complaints from both sides and help to determine the bone of contention between them.

Given the two separate suggestions, conflicts are bound to arise within the group setting resulting in disintegration. To solve the conflicting suggestions, the group leader needs to communicate the importance of group decision (Masclet & Puppe, 2015). The members should thus sit down and come up with decisions that would fit both parties. Group actions tend to be involving all members and therefore requiring them to engage in decision making. The team leader acts to coordinates the decision-making process and assists the members in formulating solutions to the problems emanating within the team.

Another possible reaction is seeking a unifying conclusion between the two conflicting parties. As the other member does not agree to my theme and vise verse, it is important to co e up with an approach that would favor both the groups. The team would investigate on the best approaches to such problems, and then each member gives a recommendation of their opinion. Such a reaction would help in uniting the team activities and enable members to formulate problem tailored solutions.

References

Avolio, B. J., & Yammarino, F. J. (Eds.). (2013). Introduction to, and overview of, transformational and charismatic leadership. In Transformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead 10th Anniversary Edition (pp. xxvii-xxxiii). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Braun, S., Peus, C., Weisweiler, S., & Frey, D. (2013). Transformational leadership, job satisfaction, and team performance: A multilevel mediation model of trust. The Leadership Quarterly, 24(1), 270-283.

Carroll, A. B. (2015). Corporate social responsibility. Organizational Dynamics, 44(2), 87-96.

Durie, E. T. (2013). Ethics and values in Maori research. He pukenga korero, 4(1).

Ghorbanhosseini, M. (2013). The effect of organizational culture, teamwork and organizational development on organizational commitment: the mediating role of human capital. Tehnički vjesnik, 20(6), 1019-1025.

Masclet, D., & Puppe, C. (2015). Introduction to the special issue “Experiments on conflicts and conflict resolution”.

LVT Rewording

Leadership

Being a leader means accepting vulnerability. Contrary to popular belief, my individual experience as a competent leader in almost every area of my life has shown that successful leaders are required to be openly vulnerable to those the followers.

Being a leader on campus has enabled me to oversee and orchestrate a number of cultural, voluntary, and informative ventures together with subordinates and members. In a get-together, I made sure not to use technical devices, trickery, psychology, clever words in a debate to ensure that others agree with me. Instead, I talked to them in a child-like manner. This does not translate to immature or disorder, rather, a mental state. I would consider what I wanted to pass across and searched internally whether I cared about my speech and whether I believed in what I expressed. After such actions of internal analysis, I was ready for communication with my followers using simple and honest language that openly revealed truthfulness and inner emotions. Whenever I was before a crowd, I used great force to speak and led with complete self-assurance not due to my use of a impeccable language or because of the many books I have read regarding leadership days before my announcement for a money-raising campaign, but due to the knowledge of those around me and their belief in me.

The strategy I apply as a leader is an approach of never using technicalities. I openly express my fears, insecurities, expectations, and joy to my colleagues and those near me. I remain vulnerable, always, as a a way of inviting my followers to see my life as an open book and provide constructive criticism regarding my decisions, plans, and thoughts all the time keeping my ears open proactively for the silent and verbal messages. I make sure that I do not use manipulative or charming actions. I reveal my true self to those that are under my leadership, the true individual, and I move on from there reaching a level playing field to acquire understanding, and ultimately, the support of my followers. I lead and live in this manner, whether at school or my workplace.

Volunteerism

Prometheus is a benchmark and symbol regarding how I intend to act in relation to humanity. In contrast to the beliefs held by other gods, Prometheus was aware of the necessity of the knowledge in making strives within their universe, and that even the misuse of that understanding could not take away their right to it. In my personal life, I have worked diligently to share knowledge and to use my position as a way of improving the lives of the people around me.

Teaching the disadvantaged in a volunteering endeavor is one of the social responsibilities that I have held dear, and it is a vital move in my personal pursuit of wisdom. I was able to mentor a young Tibetan girl, Diki, aged 8 years old, in a collaborative effort. At the time she was illiterate. Despite lacking the right resources to acquire a decent education, I found out that she held deep desire, intelligence, and passion. After being a part of her journey in reading and writing, I persuaded her to be journaling. She readily took my suggestion and recorded a number of interesting and original ideas and plans. Additionally, I passed on the message that while dreaming was good, learning how to fail was important. I achieved this through allowing her to see me openly, being vulnerable, and recounting my personal experiences. I shared with her how I took on a challenge in high school to participate in a college-level English unit and was able to manage a C. I told her how I accepted my shortcomings and ultimately attained an A when I redid the course in college.

Knowledge stimulates the mind. By stimulating Diki’s desire to learn, I pushed her to follow her own dreams. There are many others like her who have the capacity to attain great accomplishments if only they could get the right resources. I feel a certain obligation to work with the disadvantaged in the society so that they may have the required resources to follow their own dreams and goals. Despite having assisted Diki in her journey, I am sure that in the end, she will use her strengths to ignite the spark that will positively impact the world. I have the role of providing her with the necessary support to success.

Talent

Photo editing has metamorphosized into an independent art. Whether one is viewing an image on Facebook, on a magazine, or on Instagram, it is likely that a form of editing has been performed on the photograph. The ability to execute superior editing capability is a valuable skill that will become advantageous and vital as time goes by. Numerous hours doing research, copying experts, and hours of practice enabled me to self-learn professional photoshopping and was instrumental in making the dreams of others come true.

Forms of art that necessitate physical kinds of material, such as canvas for painting, offer a number of limitations that the digital form of art does not. Digital creation continues to change how the society should see art as a whole. Being a digital artist, I engage with different art forms such as editing, painting, and shadowing only using the click of a few buttons. Digital art form makes the process of correcting mistakes a little easier. It allows me to edit, draw, and create without much concern for the errors made. This gives some level of creativity and freedom that enables me to thoroughly interact and indulge with my artistic goals and ideas. In my position as a club founder and in a restaurant. My abilities led to a role in designing different posters for extracurricular activities and information seminars in brochures, restaurant menus, or promotional literature. I was able to impress people at my workplace with my keen eye for graphic design and initiative. I was able to complete every project given from its commencement to the end. I was able to see all of my ideas and thoughts come to fruition on paper in a process that was very rewarding and helped me in developing confidence and self-belief.

I was able to turn my growing inquisitiveness for Photoshop into a routine, and now it has become a strength and talent. It gives me the capacity to translate different creations into reality. It has also given me several opportunities to see ideas become useful pieces. In the future, digital editing will be a beneficial tool that will be required for millions of people and organizations and I desire to be a part of its growth in the future. As a driven Photoshop artist, I have the assurance that I can make a notable difference in the society.

Leadership experience

Leadership experience

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Leadership circumstance is simply the situation where a person is leading, or is in charge of a group of people. It can be the situation of someone who has been appointed to lead something, or the situation that that person is working for an authority figure. What I led was a or rather group with whom I was entrusted to lead. I became the leader of this group through the circumstances of being a higher class than the other group members (Suryani, 2021). For that reason, I had a new born mentality of leading something towards a certain direction, as in either way, it was for the better or for the worse.

I motivated or encouraged them to do their very best in many ways. Among these things were instilling a sense of responsibility and duty to one’s self and others on fulfilling goals within my group. As an example: If my group was supposed to be responsible for taking care of the school grounds then we were supposed to take care of it well with little effort on our part, but at the same time we would have to work hard on maintaining it well. How I felt about being a leader was I really did not know. I just knew that I was supposed to do it. It was an undisputed fact that I had to lead the group, this being so because it simply came down to the fact that I was a higher class than the other members and therefore had control over them.

I can say for sure that our leaders were oriented towards making sure we were all doing well in school, because our school work became easier under those conditions. In doing so, we were successful in our studies at school. It came down to the fact that we worked together as one united group in a much more effective way than if any of us did their own thing alone.

The task/ goals that were to be accomplished were to: Build the team for survival, organize supplies and equipment for efficiency and, create a workable schedule that matches up with the needs of the group. Along with this, I would have to tell each member their role and their timeframes for completing it. The procedure that we used was to read and discuss the individual roles. Because every member of the team would have two different roles, they had to take in order for their jobs to be completed.

The process that I employed was to: First, have a meeting of what I called “Announcement Meeting” in which everyone would get an idea of what they were going to do and how long it was going to take them. Secondly, set up job descriptions on Mondays so everyone knew what they were doing on Tuesday. And finally, we would meet every Friday to go over each week’s schedule.

I observed people I led became more open to me and did not hesitate to share their thoughts with me. It was a good change in the people’s responses, until one day I noticed the change. I was confused about the sudden change of my relationship with my subordinates. They were treating me differently and seemed to be avoiding eye contact until they had to, when they know that something needed to be done immediately.

I carefully observed them through their behaviors and found that once I became their leader, I no longer had control over what they did or said. They didn’t seem like they wanted anything from me anymore which was sad because it saddened me as well.

The primary ways I used to communicate with my subordinates were emails and meetings. I would say, on average, I communicated with my subordinates on a weekly basis. The communication channel I used was written channel.

In terms of effectiveness, I believe that the communication channel I used was effective. It was effective for a number of reasons. One, my subordinates and I knew how to communicate effectively in the written form. We were able to understand each other’s ideas and write an equally good reply. Second, the written channel allowed us to achieve something through interaction. I received feedback from my subordinates in a way that made me think differently about things as opposed to solely relying on my own thoughts and reflection. To improve the effectiveness of the communication channel, I could have implemented a forum which allows for better discussion and brainstorming since not everyone is comfortable with writing or speaking (Suryani, 2021).

The outcome from my leadership was positive and success. My team developed critical thinking skills. We achieved the objectives we had set for ourselves and enabled team members to reach their full potential. With the right intention and leadership, I helped my team grow. The team’s success has allowed me to surpass my personal expectations in the workplace. The reason for this success is because my team and I set out a goal and broke it down into achievable tasks. We used constant communication and individualized coaching to help reach our objective.

What I have learnt about myself being a leader basically is that being a leader is hard work and rewarding. It’s also hard to know what your leadership style should be or which type of leader you should be. But as I’ve gone through my journey in leadership and have learnt more about myself, I can now better understand why I am the type of leader that I am and know how to improve my leadership skills both at home and at school.

Leadership is an important attribute that makes up a person. I have learnt being a leader isn’t easy and shouldn’t be taken lightly. It’s also looked down on if you aren’t willing to take the extra step in making sure others are aware of your capabilities in leadership which sometimes it can get annoying because people assume that when someone younger than them doesn’t want to be a leader then they’re not capable of it. I’ve also learnt you should never judge people by their appearance or if they are older or younger than you that doesn’t mean they can’t do the same thing as what you can (Soria,Werner, & Nath, 2019).

It was a good experience for certain, and to me it was amazing. I learned many valuable lessons that I will take with me through this life. One of the most crucial lessons I learned was how to deal with people in power and how to work with them. Personally, leadership is being able to inspire people towards a better future or in my case, towards a better outcome than they would have had if you were not their leader (Deng, Li, Wu, & Xu, 2020). There are two types of leaders there are; leaders who lead by fear and leaders who lead by example. Fear is a significant factor in the success of the person fact that they become successful in what they do because they want to avoid punishment or harm from whatever might be involved within the situation at hand.

In conclusion, the most important thing I have come to realize is that a leader must be able to involve his/her team, listen to them and try to improve from there. I think it’s also very important that a leader should be able to communicate his thoughts and ideas clearly and that this communication should be done in an organized way as well as chart out clear objectives of the team which is only achievable if leaders are honest with themselves in terms of their ability to do so. It is important that leaders’ focus on those who are truly willing to contribute and not just rattle off the job titles of their more senior members.

As for this leadership experience, I learned about myself and about aspects of leadership. As a leader, I was in control of everyone in the group, but only as long as they were willing to follow my orders and ideas. It is important that you remember that your group members are their own people (Deng, Li, Wu, & Xu, 2020). Leaders are only responsible for making sure their group members do what they plan to do by giving them goals and instructions on how to accomplish those goals because if you don’t give your team members clear instructions then it will be hard for them to perform well.

References

Deng, W., Li, X., Wu, H., & Xu, G. (2020). Student leadership and academic performance. China Economic Review, 60, 101389.

Soria, K. M., Werner, L., & Nath, C. (2019). Leadership experiences and perspective taking among college students. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 56(2), 138-152.

Suryani, A.(2021).Being Students, Being Leaders Student Leadership Experiences and Facilitation of Student Leadership Development in Higher Education. Eti Setiawati, et al. (Eds.), 11.

Leadership in Early Childhood Education Professional Leadership and Professionalism Advocacy

Leadership in Early Childhood Education: Professional Leadership and Professionalism Advocacy

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Contents

TOC o “1-3” h z u 1. Introduction PAGEREF _Toc70812391 h 32. Professional Leadership in Early Childhood Education PAGEREF _Toc70812392 h 33. Impact on Leadership in Relation to Personal Values PAGEREF _Toc70812393 h 54. Leadership Issues Relating to ECE Leadership PAGEREF _Toc70812394 h 75. Approaches to Leading Change and Advocacy PAGEREF _Toc70812395 h 86. Conclusion and Recommendations PAGEREF _Toc70812396 h 9References PAGEREF _Toc70812397 h 11

1. IntroductionPart A answered the question of who a professional leader is and who is expected to advocate on issues of professionalism in early childhood education. It identified professional educators as among the critical pillars of the early childhood sector expected to play the role of leadership. Part A also identified a leader using Waniganayake et al. (2012) definition as any individual in the capacity of influencing others and the decisions they make in a given field. By this definition, the management of educational organizations, made up of early childhood professionals are leaders and are, as such, expected to advocate on issues of professionalism. The focus of this Part B is to develop on the understanding of professional leadership and to better define who is expected to advocate for issues of professionalism in early childhood education (ECE). While professional leadership in ECE is yet to be fully explored in academic realms, the changing role of teaching and learning for early education sees it as the exhibition of personal and professional characteristics relating to skills and knowledge necessary to offer strategies that facilitate learning for children and creates an avenue for other professionals to achieve the same through leadership.

The overall aim of this report is to answer the question of who a professional leader in the field of ECE is and who is expected, by industry standards, to advocate on issues of professionalism. The report will draw a number of theories relating to the field of ECE to provide a detailed analysis of professional leadership in ECE, showing the impact of leadership to the field of ECE, providing an impact of these perspectives on professional leadership, presenting the issues emerging in professional ECE leadership, and offer approaches to leading change and advocacy for the issue. Finally, the report will conclude by providing recommendations for future studies and for the ECE sector in Australia.

2. Professional Leadership in Early Childhood EducationProfessional ECE teachers bridge the gap of knowledge and professionalism between other important individuals in the life of early childhood leaners such as parents and community leaders. They are directly involved in the development of young children, employing their experiences and skills to ensure that young learners can begin the process of learning without major hiccups. However, they do not automatically become leaders just because of their role in guiding and imparting learning to young children. The diverse sectors in ECE profession challenges and creates leaders that understand the importance of collaborating with other service types to create variant policies for the benefit of the children and a better system. In ECE, leaders enter the field with love of children as an extra skill. It adds on to their experiences and skills in other key elements such as flexibility, openness to challenges, patience, and organization (Bøe & Hognestad, 2017). Such individuals embrace the diversity that comes with ECE and are able to communicate effectively with their colleagues and children, as well as other community leaders and parents. Ideally, besides being excellent teachers to ECE learners, these leaders endeavor to improve the overall quality of the teaching and learning processes. Apart from dealing with institutional challenges in their role as professional educators, they also have a responsibility as leaders to mentor others to leadership positions, ensure that they utilize individual strengths of others to benefit ECE learners, make time and opportunities for growth, and use their position to influence the best outcome for ECE learners in terms of curriculum implementation and other key learning objectives.

In any profession, leadership is ideally described in terms of how professionals in various fields are able to intersect character attributes, skills, knowledge and their individual traits to motivate other people in their organization to work towards meeting a common goal. In ECE, the same description is used by Haslip & Gullo (2018) to define professional ECE professionals who move past being mere educators to become leaders. They not only show competency in terms of their skills, knowledge and character attributes, but are also able to pass these important personality traits to others in a way that motivates them towards meeting goals for ECE learners. In addition to having acquired skills and expertise in specific areas of ECE education, including understanding children development and learning, working with their families, and supervising other staff members, ECE leaders understand the system itself and are able to shape policies to influence better qualities of services available to learners, their families, and the community (Muijs et al., 2004). The basic tenets of an ECE leader is ne who evaluates how others in the field, for example preschool teachers, understand early care and the ECE system, reflects regularly to analyze change in different knowledge areas, and determines how the understanding and knowledge can continuously be developed to improve learner outcomes. Therefore, one of the important elements of being a leader in the field of ECE is to combine the knowledge, skills and experiences gathered throughout the years as a professional in different capacities, to include leadership qualities such as motivating other people to work towards a common agenda, and ensuring positive growth and better quality of services available to ECE learners. Basically, professional leadership in ECE is as in any other field, with the exception of the main stakeholders being children in their ECE stages and their families as well as the entire community.

3. Impact on Leadership in Relation to Personal ValuesIn line with Part A of this assignment, professional leadership in ECE is all about enabling different levels of change in a way that helps those under leadership to contribute towards the realization of objectives. Liu & Hallinger (2018) observed this definition of leadership as important in the field of ECE as it creates an environment where every professional educator works to become an effective agent of positive change. Yet, not every educator is a leader. According to Fairchild (2019), so many people in managerial roles are not able to be effective leaders because they do not have the capacity to influence others to be a better versions of their professional selves. In my point of view, defining leadership in this manner makes it clear that professional leadership in ECE is all about ensuring the successful implementation of policies, changes, and any other relevant elements to any education organization, including an ability to make other people in the field better by motivating them to perform as their roles and positions demand. Alameen, Male, & Palaiologou (2015) agree that leadership makes the difference between the failure and successful implementation of organizational goals. The same is applicable to the field of ECE. Therefore, it is important to redefine the role and description of a true leader in the ECE profession in a way that allows further research into it, with an intention to make it better for learners.

It is important to note that leadership in the field of ECE is fairly young (Waniganayake et al., 2012). However, it is a field in scholarship that is expanding as reflected in the nature of the changes that have occurred to curriculum and the understanding of leadership, as well as literature in the sector. Fairchild (2019) found that common leadership theories such as transformational and transactional leadership are not acceptable in the sector as the strategies fail to mirror the collaborative nature of approaches in leadership practiced in ECE. Conversely, new approaches have been advanced that apply to other areas in the education sector, including distributed leadership and pedagogical forms of management.

In distributed leadership theory, Haslip & Gullo (2018) report that leaders in a learning environment need to have the opportunity and the autonomy to define policies and make decisions in areas of responsibilities that touch on teaching and learning. The autonomy mentioned is key to attaining the objectives of empowering the leader and providing them with an opportunity to own their work and decisions. In this approach, leadership is largely seen and defined in terms of context. Heikka (2014) defines leadership in the confines of distributed leadership approach as a social and situated process that meets the key elements of a learning situation, followers, and leaders. Therefore, every member of an ECE team has an opportunity to practice leadership, with the full support of others and taking responsibility of policies and directions. In this approach, it is likely that ECE leaders would base their decisions on personal values in response to situations relating to the teaching and learning process. Because of the autonomy that the distributed leadership style suggests, there is a high likelihood that personal values would influence their educational leadership (Radinger, 2014). For example, it is likely that one’s values on matters relating to faith or belief would direct their actions and decisions on whether to have religious education in the teaching and learning process. Heikka & Waniganayake (2011) present a point that every leader will unconsciously, and sometimes intentionally, apply personal values to determine appropriate policies and actions. Therefore, personal values are intertwined in the distributed leadership approach, one of the main strategies applied in ECE today.

In the pedagogical leadership approach, leadership is all about supporting the processes of teaching and learning. According to Fairchild (2019), pedagogical leadership includes instructional leadership a concept that sees the support of classroom teachers in the central role of curriculum implementation. For example, the pedagogical approach impacts the teaching and learning activities through establishing norms, organizational culture, and quality improvement expectations. A pedagogical leadership approach demands working together with learning communities, defining the vision, applying values that are required in a program, and implementing changes where necessary (Alameen, Male, & Palaiologou, 2015). Although the impact of personal values are reduced in this approach, pedagogical leaders still retain an element of individual decision making based on personal values. For example, leadership in the pedagogical approach challenges and empowers all educators to implement a curriculum structure to the best of one’s standards. To create a culture that turns every educator into a curriculum implementer, school leaders must first decide on which values to apply. Here, it is likely that leaders in the ECE field transfer their individual values into leadership activities and practices. Self-awareness becomes an important element of this leadership style because it allows a leader to merge their personal values and leadership goals and practices without creating a conflict of interest.

4. Leadership Issues Relating to ECE LeadershipEarly childhood education has a major problem embedded in the clear lack of an independent leadership structure despite the field of ECE being a self-regulating entity in the larger education sector. Therefore, a major leadership issue is that leaders in ECE are dependent on the structures and frameworks that are applied in other areas of education (Miller & Cable, 2010). School leaders, for example classroom teachers, are confined to use of curriculums and leadership approaches that are a part of the education sector. While Denee & Thornton (2017) identify that the integration of ECE to the general education curriculum is important in preparing young learners for the future, it limits just how well ECE leaders are able to formulate and implement effective polices and decisions. The problem, according to Waniganayake et al. (2012), translates to other areas of ECE including teaching, earning, interactions with members of the ECE community, supervisory role of leaders, motivating educators, defining the curriculum, and other issues relevant to leadership in the ECE field. Therefore, the dependence that the ECE shows with regard to the general education sector translates to leadership issues because it limits the reach of a leader and what is required for them to employee the best possible solution to solve an internal problem in their institution.

ECE leadership suffers from a poor definition of functions and roles. Douglass (2019) posits that there is an interplay and a clash of roles between administrative and pedagogical leadership in ECE leadership. Due to the first problem identified above as a dependence on structures used in general education, often ECE leadership sees the interaction of pedagogical and administrative roles where the former leaders are required to perform both roles. The unclear definition and implementation of functions and roles is an issue because of how it is likely to bring about a conflict in execution. As a result, Klevering & McNae (2018) talk about the challenges facing ECE leadership to include tensions surrounding their broad scope in terms of their role. The reason why this large scope of their role is an issue of conflict is because of how it creates competing demands between the pedagogical and administrative requirements. Even for the pedagogical leader, the roles are unclear and unsupported by research (Muijs et al., 2004). Pedagogical leaders do not have dedicated leadership roles and positions, and are also supposed to perform other functions such as teaching and maintaining order in classroom as well as being curriculum implementers. These other roles limits the time to perform an added role. Therefore, poor definition of functions and roles in ECE is a major issue that limits the extent to which a leader is effective in attaining the goals in their role and functions.

5. Approaches to Leading Change and Advocacy

To lead change and advocacy in ECE leadership, there is a need to redefine the leadership role in a way that incorporates global changes to the educational scene, the shifting role of educators, the influence of leadership on learning, and on other issues such as management that are important to leadership. Denee and Thornton (2017) suggests that ECE leaders focus on creating a structure of leadership that takes on the problems and issues facing the sector as an independent field in the general education scene. ECE suffers from a traditional definition of leadership in a context of hierarchical management framework where there are leaders and followers. ECE lacks leaders at the top of an organization structure. In this case, Strehmel (2016) is convinced that alternative leadership frameworks, specifically the distributed leadership approach, would lead to positive change.

Distributed leadership approach will lead to change and advocacy in ECE leadership. Kivunja (2015) explains that distributed leadership is concerned with enabling multiple parties to have a stake on leadership, changing the definition of leadership into the actions of people enacting changes to influence positive change and improvements. Thus, distributed leadership is a divergent approach in relation to the traditional view of leadership as a job title held by a few people in a given environment. Distributed leadership also corresponds to what Ho (2012) terms as collective leadership in reference to how resources are combined in a given setting to facilitate meeting of desired goals and objectives. Teacher leadership, a concept that is unique to ECE leadership, would benefit greatly from the use of distributed leadership approach. Teacher/pedagogical leadership also means that the teaching staff takes on other administrative roles. Because of how the traditional approach to leadership is ineffective in ECE due to its focus on positional roles (for example, supervisors, managers, head teachers, and head of departments), the distributed approach allows e meaningful distribution of opportunities and roles relating to leadership, where ECE staff members would have some power to make decisions and implement self-management in executing the role as leaders.

Distributed leadership approach would enable effective change and improvements to ECE leadership. The distributed strategy is termed by Thornton et al. (2009) as a shift in perspective of leadership from the traditional focus on people to maintaining attention on practice. Leadership, therefore, ceases to be a position and takes on a new view where everyone has a role to effect positive change, meet goals and objectives, and be implementers of curriculum at their level. Hujala (2013) describes one of the major advantages of distributed leadership use in ECE as the fact that it is not bound by positions, which are constraints in ECE leadership. It is expected that the ECE sector would reap the benefits of distributed leadership, documented to include better staff engagement and retention, improved learner outcomes, and the development of effective learning in educational teams (Klevering & McNae, 2018). Therefore, distributed leadership would work well in changing how the ECE sector meets its teaching and learning goals because of how it is based on set behavior for teachers to develop and practice. Additionally, distributed leadership conforms to the widely used pedagogical leadership in ECE, where the influences and interactions of teachers, rather than their authority and power, would spearhead leadership in a school. While positional leaders are important in the management aspect of leadership, they are irrelevant in the changing ECE sector, requiring a focus on behavior and practices as opposed to the positional aspect of management and leadership.

6. Conclusion and RecommendationsIn this report, the questions of who a professional leader is and who is expected to advocate on issues of professionalism in early childhood education are explored. Leaders are defined as any individuals in the capacity of influencing others and the decisions they make in a given field. Therefore, the management of educational organizations, made up of early childhood professionals are leaders and are, as such, expected to advocate on issues of professionalism. While professional leadership in ECE is yet to be fully explored in academic realms, the changing role of teaching and learning for early education sees it as the exhibition of personal and professional characteristics relating to skills and knowledge necessary to offer strategies that facilitate learning for children and creates an avenue for other professionals to achieve the same through leadership. Professional ECE teachers are directly involved in the development of young children, employing their experiences and skills to ensure that young learners can begin the process of learning without major hiccups, yet they do not automatically become leaders just because of their role in guiding and imparting learning to young children. Apart from dealing with institutional challenges in their role as professional educators, they also have a responsibility as leaders to mentor others to leadership positions, ensure that they utilize individual strengths of others to benefit ECE learners, make time and opportunities for growth, and use their position to influence the best outcome for ECE learners in terms of curriculum implementation and other key learning objectives. They face problems relating to lack of an independent leadership structure despite the field of ECE being a self-regulating entity in the larger education sector and poor definition of functions and roles. The study recommends that the leadership role be redefined in a way that incorporates global changes to the educational scene, the shifting role of educators, the influence of leadership on learning, and on other issues such as management that are important to leadership. It is also recommended that alternative leadership frameworks be implemented.

ReferencesAlameen, L., Male, T., & Palaiologou, I. (2015). Exploring pedagogical leadership in early years education in Saudi Arabia. School Leadership & Management, 35(2), 121-139.

Bøe, M., & Hognestad, K. (2017). Directing and facilitating distributed pedagogical leadership: Best practices in early childhood education. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 20(2), 133-148.

Denee, R., & Thornton, K. (2017). Effective leadership practices leading to distributed leadership. Journal of Educational Leadership, Policy and Practice, 32(2), 33.

Douglass, A. L. (2019). Leadership for quality early childhood education and care. Available at https://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocumentpdf/?cote=EDU/WKP(2019)19&docLanguage=EnFairchild, N. (2019). The micropolitics of posthuman early years leadership assemblages: Exploring more-than-human relationality. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 20(1), 53-64.

Haslip, M. J., & Gullo, D. F. (2018). The changing landscape of early childhood education: Implications for policy and practice. Early Childhood Education Journal, 46(3), 249-264.

Heikka, J. (2014). Distributed pedagogical leadership in early childhood education. Tampere University Press.

Heikka, J., & Waniganayake, M. (2011). Pedagogical leadership from a distributed perspective within the context of early childhood education. International journal of leadership in education, 14(4), 499-512.

Ho, D. (2012). The paradox of power in leadership in early childhood education. Peabody Journal of Education, 87(2), 253-266.

Hujala, E. (2013). Contextually defined leadership. Researching leadership in early childhood education, 47-60.

Kivunja, C. (2015). Leadership in early childhood education contexts: Looks, roles, and functions. Creative Education, 6(16), 1710.

Klevering, N., & McNae, R. (2018). Making sense of leadership in early childhood education: Tensions and complexities between concepts and practices. Journal of Educational Leadership, Policy and Practice, 33(1), 5-17.

Liu, S., & Hallinger, P. (2018). Principal instructional leadership, teacher self-efficacy, and teacher professional learning in China: Testing a mediated-effects model. Educational Administration Quarterly, 54(4), 501-528.

Miller, L., & Cable, C. (Eds.). (2010). Professionalization, leadership and management in the early years. Sage.

Muijs, D., Aubrey, C., Harris, A., & Briggs, M. (2004). How do they manage? A review of the research on leadership in early childhood. Journal of early childhood research, 2(2), 157-169.

Radinger, T. (2014). School Leader Appraisal—A Tool to Strengthen School Leaders’ Pedagogical Leadership and Skills for Teacher Management?. European Journal of Education, 49(3), 378-394.

Strehmel, P. (2016). Leadership in early childhood education–Theoretical and empirical approaches. Journal of early childhood education research, 5(2), 344-355.

Thornton, K., Wansbrough, D., Clarkin-Phillips, J., Aitken, H., & Tamati, A. (2009). Conceptualising leadership in early childhood education in Aotearoa New Zealand. https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199756810/obo-9780199756810-0257.xml

Waniganayake, M., Cheeseman, S., Fenech, M., Hadley, F., & Shepherd, W. (2012). Leadership: Contexts and complexities in early childhood education. Oxford University Press.

Leadership Interventions in Invictus

Leadership Interventions in InvictusStudent name

Leadership Interventions in InvictusIn the movie Invictus, Nelson Mandela’s early days and his leadership in South Africa are presented as a part of a larger plan to unite a divided country. Precisely, his view on the country’s rugby national team, the Springboks, and how he saw the global event, World Cup, being hosted in the country, as an opportunity to unite the people. Leading by example is one of the major leadership interventions Nelson Mandela uses in his governance (Arora, Teeschi, & Rovenpor, 2028). Mandela recognizes that if the national team win would be an excellent opportunity to unite the blacks and white. Leading by example, a leader expects more from himself other than waiting for others to do. Nelson Mandela instills this form of leadership to the team that everyone should do his best and not to expect others to do or blame them. This is demonstrated through his commitment to lead the way, personal connection with every person he meets, and his confidence in reflection.

In South Africa, the white cheered for the national team enthusiastically, whereas the black cheered any team as they viewed the national team springboks, and the competition to represent the whites and oppression they were experiencing in the country. The springbok’s captain, in his first meeting with the president, was uncertain about the reason for the meeting, but the warm greeting and respect and appreciation treatment he receives from the president makes him realize the importance of the meeting. Through the meeting, he shares the importance of a win to South Africa with the captain. He is also leading by example by challenging his staff to have a different perspective concerning issues and perspectives. He challenges his security staff to work together with the white colleagues as they have more experience. Additionally, the president memorizes names for the team players in order to give them personalized appreciation. The occasion leads by example in trying to build a good relationship and to call everyone to appreciate the national team.

In the desire to unite the country Nelson Mandela using the team to win the competition is faced with the challenge that only the whites support the national team while the blacks do not like to be associated with the team. The nation is widely divided in terms of racial discrimination is a big challenge. Mandela communicates to different people on his goal of transforming his country to manage this challenge. Resistance from personal guards is also a challenge to his vision of leading by example to unite the nation. To overcome the challenges, Nelson Mandela had led by example to unify the racially divided nation. To ensure he is able to execute his plan, he uses different opportunities that arise to unify the country. The national team was participating in the event not because it had qualified but the fact that the competition was held in the country and takes the opportunity to achieve his goal of uniting the country. He also uses the opportunity where employees of the past government were resigning, he asks those who shared his vision to remain in their job as he had forgiven them and believed the whites could change. Motivating people by leading them by example and inspiring them helped the president in achieving his goal. Nelson Mandela uses the opportunity of being the president to exercise power as it reinforces his impacts as a leader in a positive way.

If I was in such a situation where a country is divided in terms of racial discrimination, people are struggling due to the impacts of unemployment, and the arrival of a new black government has changed the balance of political dominance. Staying silent on the issue of racial discrimination has created these deadly effects. Solving the main challenge of racial discrimination would help in attaining the goal of uniting the country. Acknowledging the challenge that injustices caused by discrimination like unemployment of the black community and land ownership discrimination and make commitments to do better on the issues. Through recognition of the challenge, the environment will make it easy for everyone to speak up on the issue’s racial discrimination. Also, this will help in leveraging the opportunities that arise. Building a better culture that is dependent on core values that are not discriminative. This will be done by ensuring all those people I work with are diverse. All races are included in my workforce and retaining past employees. Spreading awareness on the issue of racial discrimination will help in addressing the challenge. When opportunities such as the rugby event arise, the event will be fully utilized in uniting people since the majority of citizens are aware it is a challenge they face. Finally, tackling a situation where racial discrimination arises, for instance, encompassing other races in the department where they are not employed.

References

Arora, P., Tedeschi, G. A., & Rovenpor, J. L. (2018). Broadening the frame around

sustainability with holistic language: Mandela and Invictus. Humanistic Management Journal, 3(2), 233-251.

Leadership is all about taking on unexpected challenges and meeting the moment. One particular moment stands out for me when

Leadership is all about taking on unexpected challenges and meeting the moment. One particular moment stands out for me when I think of a moment I was unexpectedly called upon to be a leader. I had been working at a new company for roughly one month and felt that I still had much to learn. I had enjoyed my time there as all of my supervisors and coworkers were nothing but supportive. Everyone was ready to help me with anything I needed, and within a month, I had settled into the rhythm of my job. I was confident that I was doing well at my job, but not enough to lead a new project. When my immediate boss informed me that I would be taking charge of a new project during our weekly meetings, I was quite surprised.

I had no warning of what was to come; my boss simply turned to me and told me that she would like to see how I performed on the task. There was no way I could turn this down in front of all my colleagues and other members of management. I almost panicked, but I remained calm as I knew I had to do my best. Once the meeting was over, my boss told me to meet her in her office to go over the details of the new project. It turned out that this was a form of baptism by fire that all of my coworkers had gone through. The company maintained a tradition of initiating new employees by assigning them a major task to gauge their suitability to their position and the company as a whole.

The company was taking on a new client who would bring in a lot of money if they were satisfied with our work. My boss gave me all the details, assigned a few people to work with me, and said that she trusted me to make her proud. My immediate reaction was the fear that I would fail, embarrassing myself and the company. Despite these fears, I convinced myself that I only had to do my best. Given all that I had learned in the previous month, I convinced myself that I would do well. Sure enough, all of my team members went out of their way to support me, and so did my boss. At the end of it, we did a remarkable job, and I was delighted with myself.

The experience taught me quite a few lessons about myself. The first of these is that I can perform well under pressure. The task was unexpected, but I rallied myself quickly and rose to the occasion. I had a lot of help from my colleagues, but I never faltered or lost hope in myself. Another lesson I learned is that I am a quick learner who can adapt to any situation. I had spent only a month at my new workplace, but the task showed me that I had a good grasp of the company’s traditions and its way of doing things. My boss told me that I had done an excellent job representing the company and maintained its good reputation. I was proud of myself for this achievement.

Third, I also learned that I value the support of the people who help me achieve my goals. My boss and team members all helped me get through the project, and I appreciated their efforts. I learned the value of having a strong team, and I respected their input immensely. I believe that I work well with others due to these values of respect for others and a willingness to listen and learn. The experience taught me a lot about myself and also boosted my self-confidence. It taught me that I can rise to any challenge, no matter how daunting it might seem.

Leadership Style

Leadership Style

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Institution

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Leadership could be defined as the act of providing direction and guidance for a particular group of people who have a common interest or goal to achieve their targets. Any group has a leader with a set of leadership and personality skills that would make other interested parties follow them. The approach and manner in which a leader provides direction and guidance to implement plans and motivate people under his guidance are the leadership styles. There are different leadership styles in the world today but according to Kurt Lewin study in 1939 they established three major styles of leadership (Cherry,2006) which are;

Autocratic leadership is a practice whereby the leader has absolute power to direct his people without getting feedback or advice. This kind of leadership is also known as authoritarian and most people view this kind of leadership as a path to fueling yelling and a way to lead using threats as the leaders do not expect feedback from the people. This style is often associated with demeaning and abusive as most people call this kind of leadership ‘Bossing around’. It is although a convenient form of leadership when the leader in most circumstances has all he needs to complete and accomplish the target or even solve a problem. It is time-saving and also not involving thus does not give people motivation reducing their flexibility and dedication to the course (Cherry,2006).

Democratic leadership is a style of leadership that often include other players in the process of decision making (Cherry,2006). This allows the employees or people involved to freely air their opinions although the final decision making relies on the leader. This type of leadership develops people’s skills as there is often a lot of flexibility offered encouraging creativity hence improved productivity. This form of leadership is often concerned with the welfare of the people. Although being viewed as the best form of leadership, democratic otherwise known as participative leadership is time-consuming leading to delays in the making of decisions

Laissez-fair leadership style is also known as delegative style which involves the passing of authority to other people to make decisions on behalf of the leader. It is often applied in instances where the people can analyze interpret and be able to make decisions on what ought to be done. In this kind of leadership, the leader is held accountable for the decisions made on his behalf (Cherry,2006). It is practiced when the leader full trusts his people rather than having a blame game when things go wrong.

Paternalistic leadership style, based on authority is a form of leadership whereby the leader guide, help, protect and keep the followers working happily as a big family where the leader is considered the head of the family. Out of gratitude in this form of leadership the followers work harder to provide results. It is applied in Japan due to the cultural background in the region.

Charismatic leadership style is a leadership style whereby the leader can inspire others to follow him/her through the power of influence to reflect the goals of the institution to reflect the individual’s vision. In this type of leadership, the leader is able to transform the attitudes and beliefs of their followers.

From an assessment of personality traits, Donald Trump is said to be an ambiguous man who is often seen to be self-assured, bold and competitive. He is able to direct the public, engage them and even arouse them with his character. He has been considered as an active and yet positive present thus his leadership style can be described as a charismatic leadership style whereby, he has a high dominance and great foreign policy influence (Immelman,2017).

Nancy Pelosi on the other hand with her efforts to keep build consensus in her party has demonstrated democracy style of leadership by building consensus. Despite being called upon by the party to call for impeachment motion she chose not to until new evidence was produced showing the president acting on how own partisan interests (Immelman,2017). She was not influenced easily give in to pressure of her party but rather to have fair and just processes in the house. She is a good leader with strong instincts measure with confidence in her decision-making processes that often include the input of others. Hence the demonstration of the democratic type of leadership by House of Representatives’ Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Depending on the situation, a good leader would apply the use of all leadership styles.

References

Cherry, K. (2006). Leadership styles. Retrieved from.

Immelman, A. (2017). The Leadership Style of US President Donald J. Trump.

LVT Rewording

Leadership

Being a leader means accepting vulnerability. Contrary to popular belief, my individual experience as a competent leader in almost every area of my life has shown that successful leaders are required to be openly vulnerable to those the followers.

Being a leader on campus has enabled me to oversee and orchestrate a number of cultural, voluntary, and informative ventures together with subordinates and members. In a get-together, I made sure not to use technical devices, trickery, psychology, clever words in a debate to ensure that others agree with me. Instead, I talked to them in a child-like manner. This does not translate to immature or disorder, rather, a mental state. I would consider what I wanted to pass across and searched internally whether I cared about my speech and whether I believed in what I expressed. After such actions of internal analysis, I was ready for communication with my followers using simple and honest language that openly revealed truthfulness and inner emotions. Whenever I was before a crowd, I used great force to speak and led with complete self-assurance not due to my use of a impeccable language or because of the many books I have read regarding leadership days before my announcement for a money-raising campaign, but due to the knowledge of those around me and their belief in me.

The strategy I apply as a leader is an approach of never using technicalities. I openly express my fears, insecurities, expectations, and joy to my colleagues and those near me. I remain vulnerable, always, as a a way of inviting my followers to see my life as an open book and provide constructive criticism regarding my decisions, plans, and thoughts all the time keeping my ears open proactively for the silent and verbal messages. I make sure that I do not use manipulative or charming actions. I reveal my true self to those that are under my leadership, the true individual, and I move on from there reaching a level playing field to acquire understanding, and ultimately, the support of my followers. I lead and live in this manner, whether at school or my workplace.

Volunteerism

Prometheus is a benchmark and symbol regarding how I intend to act in relation to humanity. In contrast to the beliefs held by other gods, Prometheus was aware of the necessity of the knowledge in making strives within their universe, and that even the misuse of that understanding could not take away their right to it. In my personal life, I have worked diligently to share knowledge and to use my position as a way of improving the lives of the people around me.

Teaching the disadvantaged in a volunteering endeavor is one of the social responsibilities that I have held dear, and it is a vital move in my personal pursuit of wisdom. I was able to mentor a young Tibetan girl, Diki, aged 8 years old, in a collaborative effort. At the time she was illiterate. Despite lacking the right resources to acquire a decent education, I found out that she held deep desire, intelligence, and passion. After being a part of her journey in reading and writing, I persuaded her to be journaling. She readily took my suggestion and recorded a number of interesting and original ideas and plans. Additionally, I passed on the message that while dreaming was good, learning how to fail was important. I achieved this through allowing her to see me openly, being vulnerable, and recounting my personal experiences. I shared with her how I took on a challenge in high school to participate in a college-level English unit and was able to manage a C. I told her how I accepted my shortcomings and ultimately attained an A when I redid the course in college.

Knowledge stimulates the mind. By stimulating Diki’s desire to learn, I pushed her to follow her own dreams. There are many others like her who have the capacity to attain great accomplishments if only they could get the right resources. I feel a certain obligation to work with the disadvantaged in the society so that they may have the required resources to follow their own dreams and goals. Despite having assisted Diki in her journey, I am sure that in the end, she will use her strengths to ignite the spark that will positively impact the world. I have the role of providing her with the necessary support to success.

Talent

Photo editing has metamorphosized into an independent art. Whether one is viewing an image on Facebook, on a magazine, or on Instagram, it is likely that a form of editing has been performed on the photograph. The ability to execute superior editing capability is a valuable skill that will become advantageous and vital as time goes by. Numerous hours doing research, copying experts, and hours of practice enabled me to self-learn professional photoshopping and was instrumental in making the dreams of others come true.

Forms of art that necessitate physical kinds of material, such as canvas for painting, offer a number of limitations that the digital form of art does not. Digital creation continues to change how the society should see art as a whole. Being a digital artist, I engage with different art forms such as editing, painting, and shadowing only using the click of a few buttons. Digital art form makes the process of correcting mistakes a little easier. It allows me to edit, draw, and create without much concern for the errors made. This gives some level of creativity and freedom that enables me to thoroughly interact and indulge with my artistic goals and ideas. In my position as a club founder and in a restaurant. My abilities led to a role in designing different posters for extracurricular activities and information seminars in brochures, restaurant menus, or promotional literature. I was able to impress people at my workplace with my keen eye for graphic design and initiative. I was able to complete every project given from its commencement to the end. I was able to see all of my ideas and thoughts come to fruition on paper in a process that was very rewarding and helped me in developing confidence and self-belief.

I was able to turn my growing inquisitiveness for Photoshop into a routine, and now it has become a strength and talent. It gives me the capacity to translate different creations into reality. It has also given me several opportunities to see ideas become useful pieces. In the future, digital editing will be a beneficial tool that will be required for millions of people and organizations and I desire to be a part of its growth in the future. As a driven Photoshop artist, I have the assurance that I can make a notable difference in the society.

Leading Change An Action Plan from the World’s Foremost Expert on Business Leadership by John P. Kotter

Leading Change: An Action Plan from the World’s Foremost Expert on Business Leadership by John P. Kotter

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As suggested by the book’s title, the dominant theme in John Kotter’s book ‘Leading Change’ is change. Change is one of the inevitable processes that we have to go through, but the process is often met with resistance. The reason for this resistance is that change in one aspect of life tends to affect changes in many other areas; hence people are afraid of change. They often prefer the comfort zone where they know what happens next (Kotter 2012). This is also the case in any business or organization. ‘Leading Change’ follows eight steps that are prerequisites to change and some of the reasons as to why many change programs fail, giving insight to business leaders on the steps to take to drive change in their areas of leadership.

To begin, the book first examines the main reasons as to why change programs fail. One of these reasons is being contented with a situation (Kotter 2012), which happens to both leaders and employees in an organization. Most of the time, it is upon management to keep pushing their teams to embrace change, but if everyone gets comfortable, they will go back to their old ways. The author also emphasizes how a lack of vision and a powerful guiding coalition can hinder change within an organization. From this point, the reader gets a clear picture of how essential vision is towards driving change and leaders are encouraged to come up with a sharp image of change to inspire those that they lead (Veling et al). Leaders must also come up with practical ways to communicate this vision to inspire others to embrace change.

Other factors that hinder change include declaring victory too soon. As happens with any situation in life, any goal takes time and hard work to achieve hence claiming victory within a short time can lead to reverting to old habits (Kotter 2012). With this in mind, it is also vital to make milestones as they are achieved in the short term so that employees are motivated to do better. Change should also be incorporated into the corporate culture (Veling et al 2018). The author makes this point that leaders should make employees aware that change is healthy and essential; it leads to growth; hence there is no need to fear change. This is a necessary mindset to keep not just for business leaders but also in embracing change in the daily life of any individual.

Kotter stresses the point that people within an organization should feel that change is a necessary path towards growth. To counter the cynicism that comes with whether a change will have a positive impact, leaders must be prepared. They should recognize that new ideas will often face opposition and hence all the employees must be encouraged to be a part of the change. The process of change will meet resistance; covert, overt or unconscious (Kotter 2012). These points made by the author as to why change fails very relevant to all audiences. While reading through them, the reader can understand and relate it to their own experience hence can be better prepared to counter any negative attitudes towards change.

The author outlines eight steps that drive change, the first being the establishment of a sense of urgency within the organization. Change should be viewed as necessary and urgent for success. Employees should be able to clearly express any issues that they have honestly and openly. It is also important to engage those who are dissatisfied such as customers, employees and other stakeholders. The second step is to create a guiding coalition which is the responsibility of the management (Kotter 2012). The leadership team’s work is merely to inspire others; all the employees need to know that they are essential to change. This is a crucial point related to any real-life situation; success is more likely to be achieved with a team effort.

The third step is to have a clear vision and strategy, and the next step is to communicate it to all members of the organization so that they know what they are working to achieve. The fifth step is to empower employees to take action necessary for change. Some of the things that are disempowering include old systems of leadership, lack of skills, and values. The sixth step is to generate short term wins to keep employees motivated. The seventh step is to consolidate gains to produce more change, and the final step is to instil the culture of change within the organization (Kotter 2012).

While reading this book, I learnt many things that are not only confined to corporate culture but also to real life situations that we face every day. Change is a common feature in our lives, and hence we must be ready to embrace it. Many times we are afraid of change, and the reasons for this are some of those given by Kotter including the fact that we are scared to move out of our comfort zone. To counter this, we can come up with visions and strategies that can motivate us to change.

The primary audience for which this book was intended is business and organizational leaders, and the author does a splendid job of breaking down the change process into three parts. The first is the hindrances to change, the need for change and the eight steps necessary to effect change within the organization. While some of these may seem pretty obvious, how they are categorized and solutions to problems suggested will make it an easy and informative read for leaders. They are given essential pointers on how to deal with resistance and cynicism towards change which is a common thing in all organizations. The author makes his points very precisely to the audience.

The book reinforced my opinions regarding a change. I have often had a problem with change, the biggest one being a fear of the unknown as a result of making changes. This is a challenge that many people experience, and employees or many organizations are no different. The book has therefore given me clarity on some of the reasons as to why change is so complicated and what can be done to make the process more exciting.

In conclusion, I agree with the author on the points on what organizational leadership needs to do to promote change as a tool of growth and progress. The creation of vision and strategy are essential for driving change. Employees are a significant part of the process of change; hence they must be encouraged to communicate honestly on their fears and concerns (Doppelt 2017). Short term gains should be rewarded to keep them motivated. Change should be a part of the corporate culture of any organization and the steps outlined by Kotter will be sure to see any organization embrace change towards thriving operations.

References

Doppelt, B. (2017). Leading change toward sustainability: A change-management guide for business, government and civil society. Routledge.Kotter, J. P. (2012). Leading change. Harvard business press.

Veling, L., Crowley, C., Russell, A., Cullen, J. G., McQuillan, L., Gorman, P., … & MacHale, J. (2018). Organizational Change Management (OCM): Preliminary position paper.