Your Vision of Leadership

Blog 5

Introduction

In this blog I will explain about my own leadership style, how different leaders have persuaded me along the way, the comment I have received from my colleagues regarding my own leadership style and explain how this has facilitated me to improve my leadership skills within the banking industry. At the end of this blog I will discuss the skills I wish to acquire to enable myself to become a more successful leader.

My Motivation for Effective Leadership

Successful leadership can be seen in many part of life such as from politics to business. In my blog 3 (Culcgwaskara 2016: Blog 3) I have explained about the different style of leadership approaches. I would now desire to share my thoughts about the leaders those have been my inspiration for successful leadership. One of the most inspirational leader is the businessman Sir Richard Branson. He is the founder of Virgin Group and is famous for his rule breaking leadership approach. He motivates every employee to be an innovative thinker, who can add value to organization in their own way. He has constantly played an active role in the selection of applicants with leadership skills, recognizing the value of having the right person at the helm (Half, 2015). This exhibited an incredible level of ethical and motivational leadership.

Shivaji Maharaj was the founder of Maratha Kingdom, which lasted until 1818. He headed a battle to free Maratha people from the Adilshahi Sultanate of Bijapur and the Mughal Empire and established Hindavi Swarajya which mean “self-rule of hindu people”. He encouraged people to prosper against irresistible chances. He safeguarded women’s self-respect, particularly against those in power, by promptly and severely punishing those found to be guilty of such crime (Shenai, 2012).

Both the leaders used vision and solid ethical morals to emphasize their purpose for success, which supports my considerations that “the ethical approach of businesses can be persuaded by the morals demonstrated by its leaders” (Culcgwaskara 2016: blog 1)

Image on my Personal Leadership Style

During my career as a student in Coventry University London Campus, my personal leadership style developed over time, for module “Change in Leading World”, I got chance of becoming a leader for my group. In that team work, when I was holding a leader position I transformed from being a “Laissez faire” leader delegating task to everyone and leaving them on their on to “Democratic” leader discussing about task and asking my colleagues for their opinion as well (Goleman 2016 cited in Culcgwaskara 2016: blog 3). This has assisted me to convert into more ethical and aware of my influence on others (Culcgwaskara 2016: blog 1).

In my career I have studied and worked with people from different countries and have adjusted my approach accordingly. Though not conscious of Hofstede’s work on cultural impacts, I identify my style transformed according to where the people I was studying and working with were from. The chart below demonstrates the cultural changes recognized by Hofstede, between the United Kingdom, India and Indonesia.

(Hofstede, 2016)

one component on the chart that shows power distance, is comparatively low in UK, which means their cultures believe in power distance should be reduced in society and individuals should be treated as equals (Hofstede, 2016). In India and Indonesia, it is contradictory. I discovered that with teammate from Indonesia and India I was respected for my position and they wanted me to make the decisions and give task directly. While giving criticism as well I had to be careful about the sentiments of individuals from Indian and Indonesia as compared to UK.

Feedback as a Benefit to Personal Development

The most interesting part about feedback is it differs from one individual to another, depending on the countries culture. As an intern in an organisation, there was a style of laissez faire leadership style which made me feel demoralised for my success. The feedback my new manager gave me, who was authoritative and coercive influence, was not accepted as it was in contrast to my democratic beliefs. He struggled to get legitimate power (Yukl , cited by Culcgwaskara 2016: blog 3), still he did not respected the requirement of understanding employee job satisfaction by implementing this approach. (Mullins 2013: 277)

In comparison, working as an administrative assistant in London, I received repeated feedback from my colleagues and manager. Her style was supportive and democratic when making conclusions. She trained me when essential, allowing me to come to my own decisions which will eventually help me and the organisation in the longer term.

Leadership Skills I Target to Acquire through the Progression of my MBA

In finding which skill I need to improve, I refer back to Goleman (Culcgwaskara 2016: blog 3) and his research on the leadership style. I must to ensure that I am pro-active and take charge for my actions, I develop my team work skills by creating collaboration and sharpen observation skills by interacting with different people. I trust in the words of Mahatma Gandhi that “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will” (Gandhi, 2016). Naturally, my accomplishment will be measured by achieving a high score for my MBA studies and receiving feedback from my colleagues. The video below may give you a better vision of a true leader.

Reference

1. Gandhi, M. (2016). Mahatma Gandhi Quotes at BrainyQuote.com. [online] BrainyQuote. Available at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/mahatmagan122084.html [Accessed 30 Mar. 2016].
2. Half, R. (2015). 9 leadership skills Richard Branson can teach you. [Blog] Management and Leadership. Available at: https://www.roberthalf.co.uk/blog/9-leadership-skills-richard-branson-can-teach-you [Accessed 30 Mar. 2016].
3. Hofstede, G. (2016). United Kingdom – Geert Hofstede. [online] Geert-hofstede.com. Available at: http://geert-hofstede.com/united-kingdom.html [Accessed 30 Mar. 2016].
4. Mullins, L. (2013). Management & Organisational Behaviour. 10th ed. London: Pearson Education Limited, p.277.
5. Shenai, R. (2012). Shivaji Maharaj- My favourite Leader. [Blog] Badly Blogging Bambardekar. Available at: http://badlybloggingbambardekar.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/shivaji-maharaj-my-favourite-leader.html [Accessed 30 Mar. 2016].