Essay Sample on Leadership Gap Analysis

Different individuals have different ideas with regard to leadership. Maxwell defines leadership in the view of a leader who knows the way and follows that way and also shows the rest of his followers the same way (Maxwell, 2007). A leader depicts success or failure to the people under their rule. Leaders have visions that they endeavor to turn into real-world situations. A leader's success or failure is dependent on the leadership qualities that they possess.

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Qualities of a Good Leader

Honesty and Integrity

According to Eisenhower, the true virtue of a leader is unquestionable integrity. Without integrity, then no real success can be achieved in any field (Eisenhower, 2014). Leaders who show honesty and stick to their core values and beliefs are in a better position to take control of their subjects.

Confidence

A good leader should demonstrate confidence to ensure that those under him can follow their commands. If a leader shows uncertainties in the choices they make, their subjects cannot gain trust in their leader and most cases, result in a loss of respect (Eisenhower, 2014). It is, however, critical to demonstrate a standard degree of confidence to ensure that even the subordinates win your trust as a leader.

Inspiring

A good leader is one with the skills to persuade others to follow, even in the face of uncertainties. He can inspire his subjects to make choices, even when it seems hopeless. A leader can inspire people through their actions to become better people (Maxwell, 2007). With this, it becomes possible to overcome any challenges that they might face.

Passion and Commitment

A leader is one who is passionate and committed to their roles. With such skills, it is possible to lead by example, and the subjects follow (Eisenhower, 2014). When a leader can get to the ground level of his subjects, they are encouraged and put all their efforts for the general good of the people.

Good Communication

A good leader possesses excellent communication skills. It is through such abilities that a leader can effectively communicate their ideas and visions to their subjects and demonstrate the ways to achieve such goals (Maxwell, 2007). Words can motivate people and enable them each even of unthinkable heights. When a leader can communicate effectively, he is in a position to achieve better results.

Good Decision-Maker

A leader may have outstanding visions and ideas, but without a sound decision making skill, all this can crumble down to nothing. A leader should internalize concepts and take some time to discern them before making a decision. It is because leaders are the ones subject to suffer from the choices they make.

Accountable

A leader should be accountable for the choices they make and should acquire full responsibility for the results of their decisions. A good leader would appreciate the right efforts of their subordinates. They would also show them their mistakes and direct them on how to work and improve on their mistakes (Eisenhower, 2014). He can instill a sense of responsibility making their subordinates realize that they should also be accountable for their actions.

Empowerment and Delegation

A good leader can focus on significant responsibilities that aim at empowering their followers. A leader delegates some tasks to the juniors while working on more critical issues. With this, it is possible to win the trust of the subjects, which contributes to overall success.

Highly Creative and Innovative

The outlying difference between a follower and a leader is the ability to innovate and come up with new skills that are not common to the ordinary person (Maxwell, 2007). A leader has to have both innovative and creative skills, and this is what makes him and his followers stand out.

Show Empathy

A true leader should show empathy by getting down to the bottom line of his followers. He should be able to understand the problems and grievances of his followers (Eisenhower, 2014). With this skill, a leader is in a better position to offer a solution to the issues surrounding their subjects.

Strengths and Weaknesses

I learned that one can identify their strengths and weaknesses based on the things they love doing and feel comfortable with. Weaknesses could also be identified on the things one hated and never seemed to interest them (Mumford et al,. 2000). Based on this idea, I identified a few of my strengths and weaknesses. I also took a test at 123test.com on a free personality test, and after carefully answering 120 test questions, I got the results with the average scores for strengths and weaknesses. Among the list of my strengths were honesty, humility, teamwork, positivity, self-regulation, creativity, and social. These were determined by the survey questions and the response that I gave back. I have a weakness for anxiety, worry, and negative emotions.

The results were automatically analyzed, and the results are given based on the response received. The survey maximized on the possible activities and traits one engaged in and gave a score based on how agreeing or disagreeing one was regarding that trait. With this survey, it was possible to detect my weaknesses and strengths and also tell the degree of these skills. I compared the degrees of my skill rank against the skill rank of a good leader and wrote them down in a table.

Ranking of My Leadership Skills

On a scale of 0-1-10 Good leader

Gap Analysis

The personality test comprised 120 questions, which I took my time to complete and effectively answered the entire questions taking time to discern the requirement of each question. It gave me a positive score for leadership skills passionate and commitment. I also answered the questions with honesty and integrity, even for questions that negatively impacted my score. It is because I was dedicated to learning and understanding more about myself.

I effectively completed the survey and fully understood what was required of me. It was easy to interpret the questions, and this gave me a positive score for communication skills. The rank of a good leader was ten while my score in communication skills was also 10

From my test analysis, I had quite a gap in decision-making. A true leader is swift and fast to make decisions. However, I noted that I was always slow and largish in making decisions. To add to this, I always postponed matters, even those that need urgent attention, and for this reason, the test result gave me a negative score.

As part of the test, I noted that I was always ready to listen and readily offered physical affection and help. I was also reluctant to judge others, and this demonstrates my skills for empathy. However, I was not always ready to open up to others about me, and for this, I could not get a full score. It also contributed to my low score in empowerment as I did not actively participate in social works that required me to lead other people. I, however, had a positive rating for socialism as I always found it easy to make new friends.

References

Eisenhower, D. (2014). What is leadership? Eisenhower website http://www. eisenhower. archives. gov/all_about_ike/quotes.

Maxwell, J. C. (2007). The 21 irrefutable laws of leadership: Follow them and people will follow you. HarperCollins Leadership.

Mumford, M. D., Zaccaro, S. J., Harding, F. D., Jacobs, T. O., & Fleishman, E. A. (2000). Leadership skills for a changing world: Solving complex social problems. The Leadership Quarterly, 11(1), 11-35.