Leadership

Effective leaders are rare. They are created through the trials and tribulations of managing or working with people in a variety of settings. Most good leaders have had their fair share of hard knocks that awakened them to the greater potential within their scope of influence. Effective leaders are excellent communicators, able to speak the many languages of the individuals within the groups they lead. Oftentimes the individual perspectives may appear different simply from the type of language they use. A good leader pays attention to the facts and then makes decisions based on objective analysis of those facts.

Effective leaders naturally motive people from their actions, which include showing respect, listening, reflecting, and negotiating through conflict. Leaders encourage and empower people to achieve success rather than place blame. Leaders have solid vision and unshakeable persistence in achieving a goal. Their efforts are empowered by their ability to manage and organize both activities and time in their busy schedules.

A good leader is courageous, able to make decisions without hesitation, and maintains integrity of word and deed. Dependability is also a key trait for a leader must always be there for their group. Sound judgment and sensibility are also features of a leader, with loyalty, enthusiasm, endurance, and initiative rounding out the ever expanding list. These characteristics manifest in a variety of presentations and situations, especially for project managers in process.

The assignment given to us is to look at our own abilities and critique the effectiveness of our leadership. My professional career has obviously been brief being only 24 years old, but I have some ability to effectively interact with co-workers. I haven't ever held a position where I was to be managing or supervising a group of people so I lack perspective from the viewpoint of legitimate power but I do have other experience. I will start out by evaluating abilities and skills as are listed in part five of our text book. I will begin with evaluating my ability to perform what are called basic leadership skills. The first skill listed is learning from experience. I believe that is one of my strongest skills. Being in the earliest stages of my career I found that I spend most of my time learning. Some of my time is spent learning how to accomplish new tasks but a great deal of time is invested into observing my co-workers and allowing them