Leadership_Styles

Factors Influencing Leadership Styles Leadership style is the manner & approach of providing direction, implementing plans & motivating people, choosing the appropriate style of communication, identifying objectives, empowering others to achieve & giving support. Selecting the correct style may lead to greater motivation & production from my team. I have to perform many roles & how I handle various situations will depend on my style of leadership. My personality & characteristics will influence the type of style I adopt. A good leader will use various styles depending on what is involved. There are many factors that can influence the behavior of a leader using aspects of leadership style. The behavior & situations in the workplace will ultimately identify the choice of response. Certain jobs require time restraints that require leadership to ensure that deadlines are met. Time restraints that are not correctly managed and over run may result in a decrease in motivation, it might lower commitment and effect employee satisfaction. Numerous studies have shown that a transformational leadership can significantly increase performance by working as a role model. They inspire employees to perform and put the organisational needs first. Time restraints may also have an effect on another important factor that might influence the style of leadership, stress levels. A transformational leader behaves to express confidence and talk optimistically and enthusiastically to help alleviate and develop confidence to avoid stress and enhance well being. Rewards may also be an antidote of the transformational leader when performance levels are met to provide focus to avoid stress. Although leadership style studies have shown that it is an important factor for organization functionality we must not forget the humanistic element of the working environment. Based on the Maslow’s theory of hierarchy of needs, although effective leadership and management is an important aspect of the organization functionality we must first consider the basic needs and requirements of our employees. Maslow’s theory of needs provides a framework of needs. The first, the biological and physiological needs ensures that the basic life needs, air, food and drink, shelter, warmth and sleep are met. Although as an organization much of these needs are out of the parameters of the organization it is in the best interests of the organization to ensure that while at least in the working environment the basic biological and physiological needs are encouraged and met. A good leader and trait of a transformational style will gain the trust and respect of others to help initiate or provide support and promote well being. Working relationships can be an important tool to motivate and stimulate productivity and can also influence the style of leadership. Relationships can be based on respect trust or disrespect, using a leadership style effectively or ineffectively may have completely opposite results. When adopting a new style, for example a transformational style at first may take time to be fully adopted or reap rewards. Transformational leaders get employees to challenge old assumptions and to think about problems in new ways. Change can lead to different opinions and some may be susceptible to change at first. Transformational leadership promotes the employee to trust in management and organizational behaviors and to be a good role model. The rewards experienced by employees from the transformational leadership suggest that the relationship will eventually flourish in organizational harmony. Maslow’s theory pyramid of needs suggests to us that belongingness and love needs are an important aspect of our lives. Being happy at work and developing productive working relationships will help improve performance of individuals. Belongingness and love needs are promoted and encouraged through transformational leadership by promoting and instilling pride and celebrating achievement. A transformational leader will set tasks & give employees freedom to complete the task but will be there to answer questions, supply information but allow staff to develop responsibility which may lead to improved motivation & give a sense of achievement. Review of own Leadership behavior In my team meetings I believe I can communicate with the group and use questions & answers to check understanding effectively. The feedback I obtain from asking questions allows me to assess & then support individuals who may require extra support. I think I have built a good rapport using this technique & in the past have helped individuals. This I believe has also helped boost morale or job satisfaction and helped to increase the performance of my team. Comparing how a transformational leader behaves with my own behaviors in this instance there are similarities in that I seek different perspectives and feedback when I communicate to help improve and solve problems. I also ask questions to challenge assumptions and help the team consider problems in new ways. My leadership behaviours in this type of scenario can also help me develop knowledge and access others so that I can identify where I need to spend time teaching or coaching. As part of the program I carried out a 360 Feedback which has helped me to understand my behavior and how I can improve as a Leader. I also received feedback from appraisals and ask other colleagues questions to help me understand and reflect to develop an action plan for development. From the feedback that I have obtained on my ability to communicate with others I have learnt that my team feels that I communicate well. Communication is very important part of my role because of the differences and levels of knowledge of English. One member feels that I could communicate more effectively with my Managers. Having a good relationship and communication with the management I believe will help me develop my transformational leadership style. Mangers may typically control activities telling others what, when and how to do each task. A transformational leader trusts their team and provides space to breathe and grow. Improving my communication with the management I believe may help me develop my communication with my team to increase trust in management and organisational behaviours. Another action point has been identified from the feedback I obtained relating to my communications skills. The feedback identified that I need to be more confident when dealing with problems with members of my team. As a transformational leader resolving any problems quickly and effectively is important to maintain an effective transformational style. Leaving or avoiding problems may increase employee stress and lower well being and moral. Reflecting on the transformational leadership style I need to action point this and possibly review it with my manager in my next review. I will also action point a review of how I instill and use techniques from the transformational leadership style. Using the behaviors from the transformational leadership style more effectively could help resolve conflicts by reducing stress and enhancing employee satisfaction. Understanding the benefits that an effective transformational style can have to the organization and my team, I try to use the transformational style in my everyday working practice. Some examples include. Our workload varies throughout the week & when it increases I motivate my team by given them the incentive that if targets are met their monthly bonus will increase. I try to keep my team informed of what can be achieved and what cannot. I try to communicate a sense of purpose and make sure my team has the correct tools and knowledge to perform in their role. I also try to consider individual needs and abilities when allocating work and to share work appropriately between them. I provide my team with different priorities, for example task with an urgent turnaround times which means I have to re plan my schedules when necessary. I have to be flexible to changes made by my Manager. Changes have to be made for my team and this is where I try to motivate and encourage them. Now that I am more aware of my leadership style and the fundamentals of the transformational leadership style it has helped me reflect on my actions in the workplace. I now keep a small log of my actions and try and review it every week to seek new ways to improve my actions.