Groomed for Leadership: Developing Self-Awareness for Success - Essay Sample

Introduction

Leadership is a task that can be bestowed upon a person at any stage of their life. Sometimes, this does naturally, and one may not realize that they are getting into a leadership position (Frieder et al., 2018). Even though it may seem ordinary to be a leader, people should engage in self-awareness to understand themselves better so that in return, they can effectively lead others (Frieder et al., 2018). In my organization, my boss has been very keen on grooming me to become the manager when he retires from the company. He has done this by encouraging me to engage in activities that will enable me to know myself better and further improve on my weaknesses. Self-assessment will give me better understanding of myself and interviewing others would let me see how other people view me. This paper will look at how BetterUp self-assessment and coaching can improve my self-awareness and advance my leadership ability. Also, I will ask my friends and my colleagues at work questions about myself, know at what time I am always at my best, and articulate my key strengths to identify an appropriate person to coach me for leadership positions.

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After taking BetterUP assessment and also conducting sessions with my friends and colleagues to know more about myself, I was able to identify my key strengths as; guiding and developing other people's skills through coaching. I also realized that I had a growth mindset and am always ready and willing to learn for continual growth. Another skill about me that people identified was the ease of interacting with others at my workplace and building a strong relationship with my colleagues and even the leadership. BetterUp and interviews greatly assisted me in doing the self-assessment and developing these points about myself to improve on them to become a better leader. I did realize that I am always at my best during morning hours and when I am left alone to plan for a project.

The best way to improve my skills was to get a leadership coach who is well conversant with these qualities. Through the help of my boss, I was able to identify a one brilliant coach who guided me meticulously. After the session, I emerged as a leader, well equipped to assume a managerial role. Without attending these lessons, I would not be the leader that I am today, and it is something that I would recommend for other people.

Now, back to my strengths, I want to explore how these strengths can effectively help me manage resources at the company to spur this organization to greater heights of developments. Additionally, human resources is a very key component of an organization, and my skills should assist me in a way that I can develop others, leading them effectively and attend to their needs. Also, identifying and come up with plans to improve my skills each day. This will not only have a direct impact on me but to the company as well. The strengths that I was able to identify are as follows.

Coaching Other People

As I have mentioned above, human resources is a very important part of my organization, and developing their ability through coaching would be my number one priority. Additionally, when the skills of employees are developed, the manager's work becomes easy since these employees will not need constant supervision to undertake their duties (Frieder et al., 2018). Furthermore, through coaching, the employees will feel appreciated hence improved productivity. This is an area that, if explored well can greatly increase the turnover of this organization. I believe that I will be able to use this strength to coach others. Also, I will engage other senior professionals to sharpen my skills frequently. The company can benefit from this skill if we invite people from other organizations to come and get trained at a fee as it would generate additional revenue.

Building Strong Relationships

Being the manager, everyone would view me as a unifying factor, and therefore I should not be hostile and keep other people away from making key decisions in this organization. Oneness is another major pillar of an organization's growth, and this is something that I must strive to achieve in this institute. I believe that when there is oneness, people can easily interact, share their experiences and ways that can be explored to improve the productivity of the employees. Moreover, everyone is unique in one way or another, and a favorable environment should be created so that these views are freely expressed (Frieder et al., 2018). Sometimes, employees may be facing challenges even from home, which can affect them at work. If this is not addressed, it can reduce productivity (Rao, 2016). I believe, relating with them well and developing a strong relationship would enable these employees to confide in me willingly. The ability to build strong relationships would be instrumental in propelling me towards achieving this goal. However, I should practice this with absolute caution so that the respect between the other staff members and me is maintained. While attending the coaching session, I learned that some employees could misunderstand this gesture and become defiant when given an order. Therefore there should be a balance.

Growth Mindset

Organizations normally experience challenges that need critical thinking to develop solutions (Frieder et al., 2018). Also, the problems are always unique, and constant learning can be the only weapon to understanding these encounters as they come (Frieder et al., 2018). Further, continuous learning would enable me to know the basics in every department to develop ways of improving operations. Without this urge, it would not be easy to lead. Further continuous learning would make me more aware of the developments in the external environment and align the organization's vision according to the emerging trends. For instance, it will be important to study market trends, fluctuation in prices, and innovations to remain competitive in the market.

Nonetheless, these strengths are not cast on stone, and I should strive to improve on them daily and acquire new abilities to be a better leader. For instance, running an organization requires honesty, resilience, and the ability to navigate challenges (Frieder et al., 2018). These are some of the strengths that I would wish to develop to be more useful in this organization. Moreover, to realize this, I must redefine my purpose in life in line with the organization's vision and strategic plan, develop values, and set measurable goals. I stand to take my leadership ability to the next level if I explore these avenues and devise ways of achieving such. While doing this, I will make realistic goals so that I do not get disappointed every day. The discussion below would give an insight into how I plan to realize these objectives.

Purpose

Understanding my purpose in life, knowing where I want to be in the next three or four years, and considering the organization's strategic plan, I would devise various methods to make the company more productive by accelerating growth. More often than not, my performance will be measured on the company's success for the period I will be at the helm. Also, to live a purpose-driven life, I must try and align myself to the vision of the organization to avoid getting frustrated due to conflicting interests. Furthermore, this opportunity to lead will enable me to positively impact other people's lives as it has always been my desire.

Goals

I have decided that for me to be an effective leader, I must endeavor to be honest, appreciate hard work, and value others more. As the manager, my honesty will have a major bearing on how the organization's resources are managed. Additionally, taking good care of the available resources would lead to the availability of operational capital, thus ease of operation otherwise embezzlement of funds would warrant an abrupt closure. I believe this is achievable.

Also, I want to make sure that I value everybody in the company, listen to their views, and skillfully analyze them and develop some of the best ways of solving problems. After developing proper rules and regulations, I would allow employees to work freely to build on their trust and increase productivity. Mostly, preserving employees’ dignity can boost their morale.

Moreover, I aim to consistently undertake self-assessment to identify my new strengths, engage several coaches to polish these abilities. Also, doing this would be useful in identifying my weaknesses and address such accordingly. Sometimes, people become rigid while in a leadership position and are not willing to make corrections. Behaving this way can hurt the growth of an organization. I want to be open to criticism to learn and improve my leadership skills daily.

Another thing that I want to achieve is to build more leaders by allowing junior employees to lead in various departments. This will help them sharpen their skills and learn gradually. Moreover, it will impact a sense of responsibility, thus improving efficiency in the organization. I will feel satisfied if I achieve this goal.

Conclusion

Everyone has unique strengths that, if sharpened, can result in enormous productivity; therefore, every person should be self -aware of their strengths and deploy these strengths wisely, in daily interaction with others. Additionally, factors like coaching or engaging others to know more about you are very effective since coaches sharpen people’s skills and assist people in seeing themselves from a different perspective, thus widening their scope. Personal development is not an individual effort; the people around you greatly contribute a large percentage; therefore, it is necessary to value others' opinions. Besides, nearly every leadership trait has its negative side, and one should be cautious while exercising these capabilities to benefit from such. I believe that the step that I have taken will enable me to lead better, improve others' lives, and enhance productivity in this organization. I would recommend these steps to those people who want to enhance their leadership skills because the plan has worked well for me.

Reference

Frieder, R. E., Wang, G., & Oh, I. S. (2018). Linking job-relevant personality traits, transformational leadership, and job performance via perceived meaningfulness at work: A moderated mediation model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103(3), 324. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-45569-001

Rao, T. V. (2016). IIMA-Managers Who Make A Difference: Sharpening Your Management Skills (Vol. 1). Random House India.https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=wjr9TWvCGPsC&oi=fnd&pg=PT4&dq=sharpening+leadership+skills&ots=