Leadership and Professionalism

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I believe that an affective supply chain leader should have the ability to look at the big picture and make people follow that vision. This quality allows the leader to keep positive at all times, knowing that failing is part of the process and is necessary in order to arrive to the final destination. Having the ability to see the significance of each step, beyond the obvious and keep going overcoming every block in the way. It’s equally important that the leader is able to share that vision with all of his/her group by inspiring them and being influential.

In order for a leader to share their vision, they need to be able to positively motivate people. For me, this is one of the most important aspects of good leadership; however, the only way to motivate others is by being motivated oneself. So to become a great leader, he/she must learn how to stay motivated and show that positivism all the time by keeping in mind the big picture. To keep the group motivated, the leader must learn that the greatest asset he/she possesses is the people in the team, and he/she needs to understand what motivates each individual as we are all very different. Having the ability to motivate different people with different personalities and under different circumstances make a leader a great asset for any company.

Another important attribute is the ability to develop, manage and grow positive and dynamic internal and external relationships.  This positive characteristic is made up of various steps, for this attribute is important to have effective communication skills, the group (either internal or external) needs to feel like they are being taken into account whenever a big decision that will affect the group is made. Also, the leader needs to know how to carefully use his/her words and knowing to effectively articulate the message; this way confusion and mistakes will be avoided. Furthermore, in order to develop, manage and grow positive relationships, it’s very important that the leader develops mutual respect, this is achieved by appreciating the contributions that these people make, letting them know that their work is important.

In addition to the three important characteristics mentioned, a great supply chain leader should also be honest; this allows the leader to have self-confidence as they always act with the best interest at heart. Honest people trust themselves and this creates a bond of trust between those around them. This also helps with stress; dishonesty requires a great deal of work to maintain it, and it’s easy to spot a person that’s being dishonest. A group will not follow a leader who they believe is being deceitful. It’s important for the leader, and people in general, to have integrity and morality at all times. Honest people are usually better able to relax and to take things in a positive manner. This attribute shows great as a leader because people listen better to those who are calm and use honesty to encourage rather than to criticize.

Furthermore, a good supply chain leader should be knowledgeable about his/her job and have a reasonable level of expertise so that those around follow his/her lead.  The leader should not only be competent about supply chain tactics; but he/she should also have a good understanding of how the company works and the organization’s business. The leader should understand the purpose of his department and have a clear long-term and short term plans to clearly direct his/her group.

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The leadership characteristic that needs the most improvement for me is the ability to motivate others. I find this sometimes comes easy to me and sometimes it’s very difficult. I recently realized that what motivates me doesn’t necessarily motivate others. It’s important to take into account different personalities and try as much as possible to personalize the way I motivate each individual.  This course also helped me see that we all have different traits, for example, he DISC model explains that there are four different behaviours: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness. Understanding this allows me to better use my qualities and those of my team to inspire positive action. This also helps me understand how to better communicate with them by understanding what they put emphasis on. For example, I appreciate direct conversations and value challenges; this doesn’t mean that all of my coworkers will appreciate the same values. I think I needed to understand that.  I will work on my skill set that allows me to motivate others by patiently evaluating people’s characteristics and using them in my favour.