Reflection

Taking this class was very interesting because it taught me about different types of leaders and characteristics about each. We learned the theories and perspectives of different authors by doing research and making our own conclusion about the things we like and are functional for the present leaders.  

Moreover, doing my leadership portal gave me the freedom to look up for things of my own interest and choose the ones I liked the most according to my values and principles.  For the theory segment I had to look up for things like books or websites that had all the information in a simple way in order to go back to it every time without trouble. I also added a few links that continuously post leadership conferences, so people can have a more interactive way of learning and see what other leaders are doing in order to continue improving themselves.

The narrative was also a really interesting assignment because it makes you think about where you see yourself in the future. Most of us might think that we still have a lot of time to choose the place where we want to be, but the ones that are graduating in May have to really take some time and try to picture themselves in a place where they can see themselves as leaders. 

What do servant leaders do?

One of the most popular leadership theories is the servant leadership theory. This type of leadership was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf and supported by many leadership and management writers. I found really interesting that Greenleaf never specifically defined servant leadership because it is not a concept or a principle. Servant leadership is an inner standard of living which requires a spiritual understanding of identity, mission, vision and environment.

Servant leaders devote themselves to serving the needs of organization members, focus on meeting the needs of those they lead, develop employees to bring out the best in them, coach others, facilitate personal growth in all who work with them and listen well to build a sense of community. A strength of this way of looking at leadership is that it forces us away from self-serving, dominant leadership and makes those in charge think harder about how to respect, value and motivate people reporting to them.

Unlike leadership approaches with a top-down hierarchical style, servant leadership instead emphasizes collaboration, trust, empathy, and the ethical use of power. At heart, the individual is a servant first, making the decision to lead in order to better serve others, not to increase their own power. The objective is to enhance the growth of individuals in the organization and increase teamwork and personal involvement.

At the beginning I wanted to talk about autocratic leadership, but I realized that that type of leadership is starting to be left behind, at least in the hospitality industry because everyone in this industry should be focusing on serving others, trying to help the employees to be a better person and making sure the guests have the best experience.

In order to get all the information about this theory I started by looking at websites such as Wikipedia in order to get a general idea of what the theory is about. After that, I searched for more information in websites that had specific information about servant leaders like the website of Robert L. Greenleaf’s organization that not only has great information, but shows all the Greenleaf conferences and programs they offer. Finally, I looked at leadership blogs of different people that wrote about that theory to see the point of view of real people that have had the opportunity to be a servant leader or follower of one.  Reading all this information convinced me that we definitely need more servant leaders in our country and we all should learn from those that apply the servant leadership theory.

No arms, no legs - No worries!

This video demonstrates how a person can motivate others by sharing his/her experiences. Nick Vujicic's way of living has helped people overcome challenges and see a new perspective in life, dream big and never give up. That's what real leaders do!

Leadership Reflection

As soon as I started learning more about the leadership theories I started applying all my knowledge at work and I could easily identify the different types of leaders and how they change in each situation. I was able to recognize who were the effective leaders and who only wanted to be noticed or had an authoritative attitude with the employees. With all the different actions I observed from each person with a high position, I realized that not all of them should be having the title of leader since they only perform as a manager or director of a department, but they don’t necessarily act as a leader in the company. To my surprise I noticed that leaders are not only on manager positions, a good leader can be any employee from any department.  The employees that I considered leaders are the ones that are always paying attention to their coworkers, making sure everyone is feeling ok, trying to find new ways to make things easier for everyone, helping them reach their goals and supporting the co-workers that are going through a difficult situation. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of managers that take the time to do all of that.

Moreover, I feel like now I have a clearer idea of the leader that I would like to be in the future, I have been able to recognize what followers appreciate from their leader and what attitudes or actions discourage them at work. As time passes by, people want more from a leader and not only to be telling everyone what to do. The concept of leadership is constantly evolving; therefore we have to be aware that we need to be continuously updating our leadership strategies depending on the followers’ attitude and circumstances. At the beginning of the semester I posted that three of the most important values a leader should have are to be honest, enthusiastic, and well oriented and I still believe that every leader should have this values to create more leaders. These values will keep everyone in the group with their feet on the ground and optimistic at the same time.

What did I learn from leadership theories?

After taking the midterm, I realized that my concept of leadership changed due to all the things that I have learned in this class. I have learned from different theories that there different types of leaders. However, some of these theories have limited our opinions because they tend to categorize people in groups without realizing that leaders don’t act the same way all the time. I believe that one of the most significant things I have learned this semester is that a leader is constantly changing. I used to think that a person needed to have a number of specific characteristics in order to be a leader, but fortunately that is not true. After all the leadership theories that I have studied, I learned that theories such as the trait based leadership theory and the archetype theory are a good reference for people that is looking for specific skills or traits in a person for a specific position in a group, organization or company, but we should not let those theories label people with a permanent tag.

Furthermore, taking the PMAI assessment proved me that a person changes depending on the situation they are facing. My results in the PMAI said that I was a sage, but I know that I'm not a sage all the time because I tend to be a jester and magician in some circumstances and I am sure that the same happen with the rest of the people that took this test. Therefore, I believe that we have certain traits that stand out among the rest, but as I mentioned before, that is not a reason to label people. On the contrary, it should be a way to learn from the people we are working with in order to find the best way to communicate with them and have a better relationship. Another test that made me learn new things about my leadership skills is Leadership Practices Inventory test because it showed me that the perspective that people have from you as a leader might not be the same as the one you have from yourself. And that is the reason why a leader needs to communicate with its followers with the intention of finding out what they think and what they expect from their leaders.

Besides learning the new theories and learning about myself by taking the assessments, I learned how to apply all my knowledge to fictitious and real life situations. First, by identifying the different phases of the LMX theory in the serie LOST and then by figuring out what leadership theory fitted each character in the movie A Knight’s Tale. I’m proud to say that now I am able to identify the different types of leaders by their actions, attitudes, and skills, but I also learned that leaders change constantly so I have to be open minded all the time and not fall in the tramp of locking up someone in a category that they don’t belong to.

A Knight's Tale and Leadership Theories

We were witnesses of this transformation