3.2 Discussion

3.2 Discussion

According to the textbook, leadership is defined as “the process of influencing an organized group toward accomplishing its goals.” Also, Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy defined building blocks of leadership attributes in the book. The attributes are grouped as skills or competencies, knowledge, experience, intelligence, personality traits, and goals. The authors emphasize that some attributes are easier to change, and some are harder to change. The authors point out some of the key characteristics that a positive change leader will have. The characters are a mission, vision, goal, competency, strong team, communication skills,  a positive attitude, and inspirations. Leaders can single-handedly turn a failing company into a successful organization. Companies are searching for authentic, upright leaders. Most effective leaders have one element in common, and that is they can keep their teams engaged (Jones, 2015, p 1).  

I enhanced few key leadership characters from my professional experience. I had opportunities to work with good leaders in my current employer. I also attended a couple of key leadership courses to develop my skills in managing the IT team members effectively. An effective leadership training includes an interactive approach of role play and required practice (Kivland & King, 2015, p. 5). From the training that I attended, I was able to practice some of the learning and enhance my leadership skills.

                                        References

Jones, J. (2015). Effective Leadership in the 21st Century. Radiology Management, 37(6), 16-19.

Kivland, C., & King, N. (2015). Six Reasons Why Leadership Training Fails. (cover story). Leadership Excellence, 32(1), 5-8.

Andrea has highlighted key attributes of a successful leader.  She has pointed out honesty, commitment, communication, and inspiring as some of the positive leadership qualities. Being a leader is not an easy undertaking. To be a successful leader, a person should have to inspire and motivate team members (Elwell, 2015, p. 312). She also noted the importance of these leadership qualities to enable a leader for making positive changes in an organization. Andrea has referenced the textbook while discussing the leader’s influencing characters. She also pointed out the importance of self-determination which is a critical attribute of a leader. If she could have added a personal experience to support her message, it would have been a well-rounded discussion with facts.

In the last paragraph, Andrea has discussed her personal experience of her job change. She discussed that her manager helped her to feel comfortable in her new role. In this discussion, Andrea has pointed out the importance of being a leader who can make a successful change in an organization. According to Boaz & Fox (2014), organization will not change, people will change. In this example, Andrea has highlighted only one character of her manager. If she could have discussed additional characters of her manager and how the characters influenced her to perform the job better, that would have added more strength to her discussion.