Developing_the_Perfect_Position

Developing the Perfect Position As a veteran employee who is appreciated by the organization, has been presented with a unique opportunity to determine the perfect position that best fits my leadership style. This is a chance of a lifetime to define a role that highlights my strengths and skills as an effective leader. Developing a personal leadership style comes with its own set of challenges. Through a series of assessments, I will be able to determine what style of leadership best suits my character. Leadership is the process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it, and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives (Yukl, 2006). By taking several assessments, it made me aware of my leadership and behavioral style. Based on the results from the assessments, I am very close to being a balanced leader. The best leaders are ones that can balance their task/people orientation to various situations (DISC Assessment, 2010). Completing the DISC (Dominance, Interactive, Steadiness, and Cautious) Platinum Rule Behavioral Style Assessments provides me the tools to be successful. These assessments focus on goals instead of fears. DISC teaches one how to develop and use more of our natural strengths, while recognizing, improving upon, and modifying my limitations (DISC Assessment, 2010). DISC concentrates on my natural tendencies that influence my behavior. In the DISC assessment, I am considered to be the style of Steadiness. The Steadiness styles are warm, supportive, and nurturing individuals. Out of the four styles, Steadiness is considered the most people oriented. Within the four primary behavioral styles there are 16 substyles. I scored an Sd. Sd is predominantly a Steadiness Style or another name would be The Go-Getter. The style of Sd is somewhat indirect naturally but can be very direct in situations that are tasked focused (DISC Assessment, 2010). As an Sd, I focus on building relationships and building trust. Some of my strengths consist of listening, teamwork, reliability, follow-through, patient, and empathy. My weaknesses consist of being overly sensitive, slow to begin action, and poor at goal setting. I have always known about these limitations. Through the years I have been working on being more aggressive to begin action and keeping with the goal. I always go back and tweak the original goal. Contingency theories of leadership gained wide recognition through the years. The contingency theories focus on the situation and how it affects the basic approaches to leadership. The path-goal theory builds on Ohio State leadership research on initiating structure and consideration and how motivation is affected. The essence of path-goal theory is that it’s the leader’s job to provide followers with the information, support, or other resources necessary for them to achieve their goals (Robbins & Judge, 2007). Four leadership behaviors are identified with this theory. A brief description of each category will give us a better understanding of directive, supportive, participative, and achievement-oriented approaches. Path-goal theory descriptions of leadership behaviors are as followed: Directive leaders have set goals and a concrete plan. Everyone is supervised and given a task. Supportive leaders focus on the needs and well being of followers. A participative leader consults with followers and takes their opinions and suggestions into account (Yukl, 2006). Achievement-oriented leaders set challenging goals and expect followers to perform at the highest level (Robbins & Judge, 2007). The theory assumes that leaders are flexible between the different styles of behaviors depending on the situation. Although there is flexibility with using the various styles, From the assessments, supportive, and participative are my leadership behavior styles. The environment that a supportive leader would be most effective is in a highly structured tasks oriented organization. In this setting I would be able to provide emotional, informational, instrumental, and appraisal support to followers. A participative leadership style is successful when functioning as a facilitator involving all members on a team to develop their skills. In this style, I can encourage people to express their creativity and talents that may not be apparent otherwise. I acknowledge the fact that being a balanced leader will provide me with the tools to encourage people/task orientation. I prefer concentrating my skills on the supportive and participative side of leadership. Directive and achievement-oriented leaderships are styles that I tap into when it’s necessary. Managers today must not only guide subordinates in task accomplishments, but also address expectations that may play several other roles. These roles will include coaching, mentoring, educating, communicating, and problem solving. To encompass these roles will create the right culture and communal vision for my employees. The ideal position for my style would be in corporate financial management. This position deals with managing the working capital of the company. It includes issues such as cash management, inventory management, debtor’s management, and short term financing. In this environment building trust, engaging the team, and setting realistic goals would use all my talents to create a fun but challenging place to work. It’s important to have the personality attributes that make a good leader, but it takes experience to be an effective leader. Leaders must understand their strengths and weaknesses to handle each situation that may change their approach to what style of leadership would be appropriate. References Ken Blanchard Companies. (2010). DISC Assessment. Retrieved February 8, 2010 from the University of Phoenix LDR/531 Materials Robbins, S.P., and Judge, T.A. (2007). Organizational Behavior (12th ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Yukl, G. (2006). Leadership in organization (6th ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education