In this report various experiences have been described over the period. The experience where leadership skills were shown. In the school as a class coordinator, the skills that were depicted are responsible, equal treatment to everyone and an efficient worker. From the NGO experience the skills that came in were the management of the team, dividing the task, knowing the strength of the team members and coordinating accordingly. After that through an organization experience the learning was to be a learner throughout and take responsibilities and guide properly. From the Gallup strength test certain qualities that were addressed formed a model of dynamic leadership. Thus there are various qualities that were found through Gallup strength test and with respect to feedback this is the model of leadership with respect to my personality traits.

Introduction

The following report gives a reflection on my journey and the understanding which I have developed over the years about leadership. The understanding which I have developed is through my experience of being a student and holding various positions of responsibility in my college days. With that for a brief period, I have also worked at an NGO with a team of 5 members and worked as a group leader. Also, at a point in time I have worked in an organization where I came across various complexities and evolved from them. Through this report I will describe the challenges and the method I adopted to overcome that.

Leadership or a leader is someone who creates a vision for the future that is inspiring. A leader motivates and inspires the people around him to get engage towards a common goal and trains a team for attaining that goal.

Student Life

In the life of a student the chances of showcasing and taking up the responsibilities come at a time when the class representative for various subjects is being chosen. I was being selected as class coordinator of the accounts subject. The various responsibilities include being a chain of communication between the teacher and my classmates. Other than that I have to coordinate about the presentations, curriculum and all the information was transferred through me to my classmates and I was the one reaching out to the teacher if someone has any issues regarding the subject. This was the first time I was owing to a responsibility and over time I managed it well. Various issues coped up in between. My classmates start believing that I am partial towards my friends, which I was not and I have to deal with the situation. For that I made sure that everyone gets a fair chance. If my friends are not submitting a presentation on time then they go through the same penalty which others would have gone through. In the beginning, things were not easy as I was walking on a steep line but I made sure that whatever I do is for all the people. I consistently followed the principle of no discrimination and over the time everyone understood that I was not favoring anyone. These were the first key point of leadership where a person needs to be responsible and should treat everyone with the same respect and dignity. Discrimination should not be done among the mates as this helped me in getting the respect from all.

NGO work

For a brief period 10 people that includes me joined an NGO to work. I was appointed as the team lead to manage the functioning of the team. At the NGO we have to take classes for the kids. As a team leader I have to manage the things and report to the head every day. The responsibilities that fall under were making a team of 2 and assigning them classes’ every day. To make sure that people get that class where they have a command of the subject. This brought certain challenges as to bring in the team at one point was a task and making sure that everyone gives their best while they work was also not an easy thing to manage. It requires planning, knowing the strengths of the team and also manage it in a way where they don't feel like they are being forced. For avoiding these conflicts I made sure that I get to know my team and create plans for classes as per their strengths. This taught me that a leader needs to have patience and know the capabilities of their people so that work can be managed efficiently.

Organization experience

For a brief period I worked at a restaurant where I joined as an accountant. I used to generate the bills, make sure that payment is received and return the extra amount to the customers. In the beginning there were a lot of problems and mistakes I did as I was not habitual of doing multitasking. I used to send wrong bills to the table due to which the people serving were getting into trouble. After that I made sure that nothing like this happens and took the responsibility of guiding the right bill and directing the person correctly. This made me learn that a leader should be multitasking too. At points they have to observe various projects at a time and also should learn from their mistakes as I did. This made me learn about various qualities of leadership.

Key aspects of leadership journey

Over the period I have always been in awe of my Dean in the college. He is one person I have seen been respected by all. I have always looked up to him. Even in the period of crisis, he is always there and managed things well. The way he handles the problem is commendable. When I was chosen as a class coordinator I wanted to present my class as he represents the university. From observing him I learned that it is important that you treat everyone with respect and not discriminate among anyone. He, being the head has lots of power and is friends with certain department heads. If he wants he can give them extra leverage for various things. But I have never seen him giving any kind of leverage to anyone. If one thing is applied then it is applied to all. This created a huge impact and made me analyze the qualities of a leader. By observing him I created a path for myself for developing myself as a leader. When I got an opportunity of being a class coordinator I opted for it and then made sure that I follow the method I have observed. This made me a better coordinator as I was able to manage well and most importantly I was able to treat everyone equally which is an important aspect of a leader.

Results of Gallup Strengths finder

Gallup strength finder helped me in analyzing my various strengths. It helped me in finding my capabilities and with that it helped me gain more knowledge about myself. Five attributes came out as a result of my inner strengths. The very first one was a responsible person. I have taken very responsibilities by far but I have never known that it can be a strength which will help me develop in the future course of time. Being responsible will help me in becoming a better leader where I will be able to take the responsibility of the task and lead the group according to the requirements. The next quality that I possess was honesty and loyalty. This is one thing that every leader should have as leader leads by an example and these qualities will make the team dedicated towards the organization on the lead of their leader (Swart et al, 2019). Another trait that was discovered was a learner. Learning is something which should be carried out all through life and for a leader he must learn as new things arrive ( Moskovitz, 2019). When the leader will learn from his mistakes or the worthy people then only he will grow and with his growth all the team members will grow. I have that in me and I demonstrated it in my organizational experience where I learned from my mistakes and made changes. I was unaware but with this test I was able to recognize it. The other trait was of harmony. Leaders require that as at times there are situations when a leader needs to be calm and hear everything out. I did that when there was an argument between my classmates. I heard both of them and then helped them in resolving the issue which was the need of the hour. The other traits include the consistency and focus (Lavrentiev, Krylov & Korotkov, 2018). This was new for me too as I am not a person who is consistent with anything. The Gallup strength test made me realize that. I am consistent with treating people equally which is also a trait for leadership. Leaders should treat everyone equally. This is something I have also learned through my Dean as mentioned above. In this manner this test helped me analyze my strengths and showed me a path of developing them in the right direction. The leadership style that came out of it was Dynamic leadership.

Leadership style with respect to feedback from colleagues

Dynamic leadership refers to the leadership where the person is not defined by the term leader for creating influence in their area of ownership. The person following dynamic leadership can empower others (Shaikh & Shaikh, 2019). Dynamic leadership focuses on the positive change. This is something that I have been told by various colleagues that I am the person who always finds positivity even when the situation is not so. I try to improve. This contributes more towards the leadership style whose qualities I already inculcate. The other key feature of dynamic leadership is being efficient in an effective manner and that includes being effective towards the goal, focus on overall development and accomplish the task (Farh & Chen, 2018). I have always tried to make sure that the task allocated to me are completed efficiently. When I completed my term as a class coordinator, my teacher told me that I have done an efficient job and performed my duties well in coordinating between the two. Another feature of the dynamic leadership involves that a dynamic leader should keep learning. The daily actions define the leader rather than a tittle on the door. The dynamic leader grows by learning from every conversation that happens, interactions or experiences (Al Rahbi, Khalid & Khan, 2017). The results of the Gallup strength test shows that I have this quality in me. This all shows that over the years by refining my qualities and with continuous learning I can become a dynamic leader and be a visionary rather than being stuck at a position.

Implications of the feedback and reflection

The feedback that is received from my colleagues and my teacher was that I am a responsible person and do my task efficiently. With that they also think that I am a person who keeps on learning and is never afraid of the challenges. My friends have noticed me over the time and they have realized that I am a person who makes sure that everyone walks together and I am the person who finds positivity even in the worst scenario. These are the qualities that a leader must have in themselves. Leader is the one who takes up responsibility of the various project and while completing the project, a leader needs to ensure that everyone is motivated and positive. These are the qualities that I have and with time I should develop them.

Dynamic leadership model

This type of leadership model is not defined by the title, it is defined by the ownership. Over the period the various qualities that I have demonstrated take me toward this kind of leadership (Peters, Reed & Kingsberry, 2018). When I was a class coordinator I showed the quality of being equal towards everybody and made sure that the functioning was smooth between the teacher and students. I was successful in that. It made me a responsible person too. After that when I joined the NGO I learned management and the art of knowing the person and then dividing the jobs appropriately. Then after in the organizational experience I learned how to do multitasking and get the right job done. I learned from the mistakes. This is the type of attributes that are demonstrated by the dynamic leader. Also, through the Gallup strength test the results were the same. The feedback received from the teacher and classmates states that I am a positive person and I can do the task effectively and efficiently. Hence, dynamic leadership was the type of leadership that I can further develop. This is the best model as compared to autocratic and democratic model. In autocratic people have no say in the organization while in democratic gives a chance to speak but the authority lies in the hands of head. Dynamic leaders hear all of them and treat them equally, that means their opinion is of same importance as of a leader. Thus, Dynamic being the best model for leadership.

Conclusion

Leadership is an art that is developed over some time by certain inner traits and experiences. There were certain responsibilities which were taken by me and then afterward from the learnings I developed some qualities. I developed experiences when I was chosen as the class coordinator and then worked in the NGO and organization. I developed qualities like being responsible, treating everyone equally and also how to manage a team. With that from the traits which I never knew were there was highlighted through Gallup strength test. With my experiences and the results from the test. The type of leadership model that is formed is of Dynamic leadership. Overall, with certain practices I will develop the qualities and become a better leader.

References

Al Rahbi, D., Khalid, K., & Khan, M. (2017). The effects of leadership styles on team motivation. Academy of Strategic Management Journal. Retrieved from: https://www.abacademies.org/articles/the-effects-of-leadership-styles-on-team-motivation-6793.html

Farh, C. I., & Chen, G. (2018). Leadership and member voice in action teams: Test of a dynamic phase model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103(1), 97.

Lavrentiev, S. Y., Krylov, D. A., & Korotkov, S. G. (2018, May). Conceptual theories of forming leadership qualities of a competitive university student. In Issues and Trends in Interdisciplinary Behavior and Social Science: proceedings of the 6th International Congress on Interdisciplinary Behavior and Social Sciences, ICIBSoS (No. 2017, p. 231).

Moskovitz, J. (2019). Choice, Traits, and Leadership: The Effect of Decision-Making Strategy on Effective Leadership Qualities (Doctoral dissertation).

Peters-Hawkins, A. L., Reed, L. C., & Kingsberry, F. (2018). Dynamic leadership succession: Strengthening urban principal succession planning. Urban Education, 53(1), 26-54.

Shaikh, S., & Shaikh, R. (2019). Modeling of Dynamic/situational Leadership For Effective Entrepreneurship Development. Journal of Model-Based Research, 1(1), 1.

Swart, W., O'Dor, R., Siguaw, J. A., & Karriker, J. H. (2019). Contextualized Leadership Development: The Concurrent Enhancement of Leadership Qualities and Subject Matter Expertise. International Leadership Journal, 11(3).