Abstract
In my life, I have been a follower to many different styles of leaders in many different situations and I have learned my leadership from them. That leadership style is adaptable to the situation that I am in. It depends on if I am in a small group that needs more hands on guidance, or a large group that can use a larger directional inspiration. Whatever situation I find myself in, there are certain traits that are required from me; some that I consider to be strengths, others that I consider to be weaknesses. I am constantly striving to improve both my strengths and weaknesses, and with them, my overall leadership style.
My Idea of Leadership
In order to understand my leadership characteristics and which traits, principles, and theories are most important to me, it is most important to first mention my understanding of a leader. A leader is someone who gets a group of people to work towards a common goal. With that very basic baseline laid, the definition of a good leader could be written as someone who is able to effectively get a group of people to complete a common goal. The best leader is then highly dependent on the situation.
As a member of the Air Force, I see many different situations for leadership, in each situation, the leader fills a different role. A squadron commander, in charge of over 200 people, the ideal leadership style may be that of a visionary leader; able to set long term goals, inspire their followers to work as a team, and foster a culture that breeds success. A shop leader, in charge of less than a dozen people, may have an ideal style of coaching or as a servant leader. A coaching leader would provide the insight and more hands-on approach to assist in the team’s completion of a goal. A servant leader would have a more hands-off approach, providing the team with the means to complete the goal, without necessarily guiding them through it (Indeed Editorial Team, 2023). Between these two leadership styles, it would depend on the technical expertise of the team, and the technical expertise of the leader. Especially in the military, it is not uncommon for a leader to be in charge of a team of technical experts without any prior training in the field that their team is working on.
The idea that the optimal leader changes depending on the situation is a version of the contingency theory, which states that effective leadership is contingent upon the situation at hand (Western Governors University, 2021). For the previously mentioned situations, a perfect leader in one role may not be optimal in the other, but a bad leader is wrong for all roles. There are a handful of traits that are common amongst different styles of leaders that I strive to embody, like self-motivation, empathy, organizational skills, vision, and communication skills.
My Preferred Style to Follow
In my experience, the best leaders that I have had were two of the previously mentioned styles, visionary leader and coaching leader. That visionary leader’s most notable traits were, his self-motivation, his empathy, his ability to set goals, and most importantly his ability to effectively communicate those goals to the entire team. The reason that I most liked to follow his lead, was because I was able to trust him to be able to understand what was best for the team, as well as his ability to get us to understand how the larger goal would benefit us, bringing us together as a team. The coaching leader’s most notable traits were his ability to form relationships, his technical expertise, his communication skills, and his empathy. He was able to not only teach me how to effectively execute my job, but also was a good mentor and was somebody that I trusted for every kind of advice.
My Preferred Style to Employ
I have seen the value of the two aforementioned great leaders’ styles and traits, and I have tried to adapt my personal leadership to emulate them. When working with a small group of people, especially when I have the technical expertise to guide them, I prefer the coaching style. Through this, I am able to build up the skills of people I was tasked to lead, as well as bring them together as a team to complete the mission. In a larger setting, where leadership is more hands off, the coaching style would be less accessible. Trying to emulate the visionary leader, I envision a worthwhile target, then foster a culture that breeds the motivation that would bring the team together to complete that goal. The challenging part for the visionary leader is empathizing to understand what that motivation might be, then using it to inspire them and bring them together.
Ways to Improve my Skills and Style
My leadership is an everchanging, ever-evolving skill. My largest shortcomings are my lack of self-motivation at times and my lack of organization. I find that my strengths lie in my ability to form good relationships with people, and my ability to empathize and understand how people are feeling. Though they are my strengths, those two skills are two that I am constantly working on, as every person is different, and some are harder to understand than others. My weaker skills, that I believe to be essential in any good leader, are also two that I am constantly striving to improve. A method to improve self-motivation is to identify a goal or target that is worth working towards. During times that I lose that motivation, I often find that the goal is lost in the monotony of everyday work. A daily review of both short term and long-term goals is proven to improve motivation and is something that I try to implement into my daily life. For organization, having somebody who can hold me accountable for keeping things in proper order is crucial. At home, my wife keeps me in check, but at work, I find it more challenging. To improve on this skill, having a daily calendar and going over the itinerary before a day begins is a good method to keep a day organized from the beginning. This is a strategy used by former President Obama that I believe every leader should utilize and take advantage of (Cortese, 2019). Through the improvement of both my strong and weak points, I can further develop my leadership skills and become better at employing the leadership styles that best fit the leadership situation I am tasked with.
References
Cortese, Claire (2019) 10 examples of great leaders and their number one daily habit, Tampa Inbound Marketing Agency. Available at: https://www.bluleadz.com/blog/successful-leaders-and-their-daily-habits
Indeed Editorial Team. (2023, February 6). 8 Common Leadership Styles (Plus How to Find your Own). Indeed. Retrieved February 11, 2023, from https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/10-common-leadership-styles
Western Governors University. (2021, March 23). Leadership Theories and Styles. Western Governors University. Retrieved February 10, 2023, from https://www.wgu.edu/blog/leadership-theories-styles2004.html