Leadership

Introduction

The leadership and its style have a direct connection with collaboration. The key factor that determines leadership style is relational or team leadership approach. At the same time, the diversity of group members adds additional values and increases the chance of new ideas and possible solutions generation (Kezar, Carducci, & Contreras-McGavin, 2006). The concept of leadership is a phenomenon in the modern society, while its origins come from centuries ago (Grint, 2004). Undoubtedly, leadership is about ‘leading’ people, but not due to the fact that an individual holds certain authority over others because of his or her position within a company. Moreover, it includes the ability to engage people into cooperation, and encourage, motivate, and help them to share new ideas. It is about being a person who helps others to grow and to overcome the challenges. It is actually a ‘process’ of social influence and impact, but it aims to maximize the potential and input of other individuals by empowering them to become leaders as well. Additionally, the globalization and the society one lives in require leaders to be more flexible since ‘global leadership’ is important to every organization all over the world. Thereafter, the objective of the following paper is to discuss a person who has the influential leadership style as well as to make the analysis of his/her specific leadership traits.

Professional History

The following paper will consider a person whose leadership style is rather successful and who deserves to be a mentor for others because of all the great pieces of advice she can share. The woman’s name is Helen P., and she works for an international company as a procurement manager. Actually, she has dedicated all her life to this organization. Previously, she worked as a logistics manager for 10 years having both higher and lower positions. She has been promoted many times, but there were also situations when she was moved back to low positions; however, she has never given up on herself and tried as hard as possible to overcome those challenges. Helen has always been a leader within her environment, even if she was not officially a manager; people have been following her and listening to her directions. Naturally, her decisions might not be always right, but the woman is open for feedback and ready to improve once necessary. Now, Helen is in charge of huge procurement department with big warehouse and more than 350 subordinates.

Accomplishments

Helen has always been using the democratic leadership style. Apparently, she used to work on the junior positions in the procurement and economic departments, where she gave many valid pieces of advice to her boss; thus, the latter looked well while reporting about the results of the work of the whole department. Moreover, Helen has established herself a strong positive image within all the offices in big corporation, and her recommendation matters much more than the one of others. Additionally, even people from other departments who do not work with the woman directly come to her for consultation and assistance. Helen knows that there are certain situations where she can help, and sometimes, she is just a good listener, so people can rely on her by sharing some secrets.    

Leadership Competencies

To start with, Helen has such a competency as the ability to collaborate with others; consequently, she can create a synergy within her department and her subordinates so that they generate more ideas and are happy to take the challenging tasks. Moreover, she is a risk-taker as she is not afraid to stand for other people if they need her support, while the managers of other departments might not always approve it. Additionally, the leader under consideration has a high level of social intelligence since she has a good insight of social situations and dynamics around her and is sensitive to some changes as well. Furthermore, the woman has great interpersonal skills; she is an active listener and works on her personal relations with colleagues, friends and relatives. One should also mention that Helen is a prudent, wise and open-minded person who always considers a variety of options before making the final decision. It is necessary to outline that the decisions she takes are usually very effective, and she allows her subordinates to make their own ones. Interestingly, even if the decisions that are made by them turn out to be wrong, Helen never reprimands people, but helps the individual to understand what has gone wrong and encourages them to try again. In addition, she helps her co-workers not only to resolve personal conflicts, but also to prevent them from occurring as she has good conflict management skills. Finally, the leader under analysis is very influential, and this is one of her strongest competencies. For example, when she takes part in the discussion and disputes, she tends to have well-reasoned arguments that are always presented in fair and calm manner.

Critique

I would like to state that there are many leadership concepts, but according to the observation that I have made in my life, servant leadership is the best for me. It is very important for our society as many people tend to avoid a big number of responsibilities and not many of them want to be leaders, while servant leaders are ever more rare to meet. Servant type of behavior is the nature of the real leader as it is not assumed and cannot be taken away (Spears & Lawrence, 2004). Definitely, I would like to help people to grow and to become independent and strong.

If to compare my personal leadership traits to the ones that Helen has, they turn out to be rather similar.. In my opinion, I possess such an important trait as authentic listening as I try to ask individuals what their will is, and I am always open to what they tell me.