Why is a systematic understanding of leadership theories and organizations beneficial for aspiring leaders?
- Fundamental questions that leaders need to ask themselves
- What are we trying to achieve?
This establishes a shared benchmark for the organization to compare itself.
- Why should we change?
It creates a sense of urgency and develops the appetite for action from different leaders and teams.
B.Leadership Aspects
Among the key aspects of leadership includes
- Having a common vision -The final goal should not focus on achieving what the leader wants but should be centered towards meeting the needs of the teams. Good leaders structure their productivity in a linear direction and instill communal goal desires, which necessitate individuals’ efforts to realize the goal.
- Being adept-Great leaders are always prepared and flexible for change. They are capable of thinking and making quick decisions, and they also know how to influence their teams to achieve the desired change.
b.Leadership theory /style definition
A leadership theory refers to a school of thought that helps in explaining how and why different people become leaders. The theories seek to unravel what makes successful leaders excel in their leadership styles and what can be done to boost their leadership abilities n.
- VUCA Leadership styles
The 21st Century leaders are faced with rapid, intense, and diversified changes in the business environment, which eventually cause volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, thus creating the need for adaptive leadership styles. Thus, servant and democratic leadership styles can work better in a VUCA environment.
- Why aspiring leaders need an in-depth understanding of leadership styles
Leadership styles define individuals’ perspectives and values, and being aware of it can help aspiring leaders in communicating effectively with those they work with. Also by understanding different leadership styles, aspiring leaders can become aware of their leadership strengths and weaknesses which can make them more effective and proactive by using their strengths strategically as well as countering their areas of weaknesses
Q2 Why is an ability to evaluate the contribution that individuals, leaders, and stakeholders make in creating and executing the mission and vision of an organization important for aspiring leaders?
- Organizational mission and vision definition
Vision – Refers to the dream of the organization or why it exists. The key question is “what.”
Mission – A statement showing the organization’s contributions towards realizing the dream. Answers “how.”
- b. Individuals roles in executing the mission and vision
The employees are very crucial in accomplishing a company’s mission and vision since they have an in-depth understanding of different strengths and weaknesses of the organization and also understand what factors that can help in achieving the predetermined vision and mission and have first-hand information on what it takes to realize the vision. In a nutshell, they are the action doers who implement the organization’s strategies operations and tactics geared towards achieving the mission and vision.
- c. Leaders contribution in executing the mission and vision
The leaders are the main developers of the organization’s mission, vision, and strategies. They also facilitate the execution of the strategy geared towards realizing the mission and vision.
- Stakeholders contribution to executing the mission and vision
Stakeholders are individuals interested in the company’s operations, including customers and investors. External stakeholders share insights on the understanding of the business operating environment and the organization’s mission and vision. They can also serve as a source of financial support. Customers, on the other hand, help in consuming the organization’s goods and services.
- Why aspiring leaders need to be able to evaluate the contributions of the above
Stakeholder evaluation refers to a feedback mechanism for promoting an organization’s continuous improvement. It helps identify aspects that need change while a project is in progress and measure the accomplishments a project achieves in regards to stakeholders
Q3 Why is an ability to apply appropriate leadership strategies (including change management) in order to maximize organizational potential in a variety of different business contexts important for aspiring leaders?
- Leadership strategy definition
This refers to the approach used by a leader to voluntarily influence others to make decisions that promote the organization’s long term success prospect while still sustaining short term financial stability.
- What is change leadership?
This refers to the ability of leaders to enthuse and influence others through vision and drive, personal advocacy in order to access resources for building solid change platforms.
- Organizational potential
This refers to the ability of an organization to sense and grab future market opportunities. This requires emotional intelligence, intellectual intelligence, spiritual intelligence, and physical fitness.
- Business context definition
This refers to the understanding of the different factors that affect business in different perspectives encompassing how the company makes its decisions what it intends to achieve. It helps firms in identifying strategic initiatives execution implications.
- e. Why aspiring leaders need to understand a broad range of leadership strategies that can be applied in a variety of different business contexts?
Leaders need to understand a broad range of leadership strategies since different business contexts require different leadership strategies.
Q4 Why is an ability to evaluate a range of motivational critically) theories (employee engagement) within a specific organizational context important for aspiring leaders?
. a. Motivation theory Definition
This refers to a rational abstract which helps identify what drives people to work towards a certain goal or outcome.
- Categories of motivational theories
Motivational theories are categorized into intrinsic and extrinsic motivators.
- What is the contemporary term for employee motivation
This refers to the level of commitment, creativity, and energy that an employee invests in their work.
- Appreciative inquiry technique
This refers to a change management approach that seeks to discover what works well and analyzes the reasons behind its function ability and so on. The underlying assumption of the approach is that the firm will grow regardless of the direction chosen.
- Why aspiring leaders need to be able to critically evaluate a range of motivational theories within a specific organizational context.
Understanding different motivational theories provide leaders with an in-depth understanding of what makes different employees work better, thus helping them with an understanding of how they should manage different employees as well as identifying y the most appropriate motivation strategies for different employees.
Q5 Complete the ‘Potential Leadership Style’ Questionnaire and present the following on the PowerPoint presentation
slides provided
- My leadership style
Coaching is my potential leadership skill. Contrary to autocratic leadership, which is characterized by self-decision making and delegation, I always like taking the lead in any situation to get the best out of my team members.
- My key strengths
Among my key strengths include leading by example through facilitating open communication while trying to make the best out of every person. I also lead through delegation in order to make others better and excel in my strengths. My main goal in leadership is to coach individuals and groups so that they can realize their potential and eventually realize identified goals.
- My key challenges
Among the key challenges that I experience in coaching is distinguishing between my coaching roles from managerial roles and cultivating an open and trusting relationship with the coaches.
- Personal development do I need to undertake in order to develop your leadership ability.
In order to improve my coaching leadership abilities, I will need to learn how to differentiate when I serve as a manager and when to be a coach. I will achieve this through providing cues or setting boundaries that differentiate between my managerial and coaching roles so that the coachees can understand when I’m shifting the roles. To foster trust with the coaches, I will cultivate the spirit of effective active listening in order to grasp the concerns of the coaches accordingly.