Leadership is the ability to influence and guide others. It is easy to recognize leadership by evaluating an individual’s qualities, values, and ability to delegate duties to others (Nayak, 2018). The common notion that leaders are passive and rest on inherent abilities is not valid. Some leaders are born to be leaders, while others become leaders by learning how to be influential leaders. Leadership skills are fundamental in any leader. Leadership is not only influencing others but identifying oneself to be one. Personal traits are critical factors in determining a person’s ability to influence others.
I employed some leadership assessment tools to measure my qualities and personality. The personality of a leader is the qualities that reflect the stable behavior approach of a person in response to people, ideas, or objects. A leader’s effectiveness is influenced by their personality and the ability to comprehend the personalities of those they lead. Testing leadership skills are fundamental in identifying my weaknesses and strengths. Identification of strengths and weaknesses will enable me to choose the best leadership style that suits me.
Meyers-Briggs Personality Test
I used the Meyers-Briggs personality test tool to measure my personality. It is a self-report inventory designed to identify a person’s type personality, weaknesses, and strengths. The Meyers-Biggs tool has different personalities built on four psychological functions: sensation, intuition, thinking, and feeling (Weiner & Greene, 2017). The key to discovering my type of leadership style is learning about my personality. I found that I am an extroverted person who enjoys social interactions. I use my senses because I pay attention to reality. I am mainly concerned with facts and obtaining experiencing things by doing them.
Emotional Intelligence Assessment
I conducted an emotional intelligence assessment by measuring my IQ. Emotional review is essential because a good leader must be emotionally stable. The emotional quotient involves the ability to identify one’s feelings and that of others. The ability not to act on emotions as a leader guides one to make sound decisions. I discovered that I am emotionally unstable regarding some topics, such as issues affecting children. An emotional intelligence assessment will enable me to identify my emotional status and the emotional makeup of those I may lead. Emotional stability in all topics is critical in making rational decisions.
My leadership qualities
Leadership skills are knowledge and competencies that enable a leader to achieve desired goals and objectives (Nayak, 2018). The assessment tools helped me discover my qualities to know the best leadership style that suits me.
Self-Confident and Determined
The results from my leadership self-assessment show that I have absolute certainties in my decision-making, judgments, abilities, and ideas. I trust my opinions and choices to be the right ones in a situation without any arrogance or doubt. I possess a positive attitude towards myself and believe in man is to error. I have high self-esteem; I do not look down upon myself or anyone else. I have the determination to achieve great things in life. I am tenacious, persistent, and initiative when a goal that I need to complete. I always see all my projects through, no matter any obstacles that may come with it.
Personal Integrity
The assessment results show that I have personal values that I strictly follow in all my activities. Ethics is a vital aspect of my life because I am guided by the concept of “do unto others what you would wish to be done unto you.” Honesty and being trustworthy form the integrity of a good leader because good leaders must walk their talks. My integrity has made me earn admiration and respect from my peers. My integrity has enabled me to live by the rules that I consider to be ethical.
Leadership Skills
I have good leadership skills. The skills are good communication, the ability to capture people’s attention, interpersonal skills, and liveliness. These traits show that I can be a good leader. I can influence my mates to do something useful in my school. However, my weakness is emotional instability. My emotions fluctuate; sometimes, I am thrilled and extroverted, and sometimes I want to be left alone. I am working towards stabilizing my feelings so that I may make a good leader in the future.
My Leadership Style
A research carried out by scientists in 1904 that qualities differentiated leaders from others. Early leadership studies identified that personal attributes are innate and inherent in leaders (Gandolfi & Stone, 2017). The qualities can be identified and assessed using assessment tools to determine the skills, behavior, and leadership styles.
Transformational Leadership Style
Transformational leadership style leads to changes in social systems. It makes leaders create a positive change and develop desirable goals that will be beneficial to everyone. Transformational leadership enhances morale, motivates and increases the performance of those being led. It challenges and encourages those being led to own their work, understand their strengths and weaknesses to make leadership easier. The leader plays the role of aligning practical tasks to increase performance.
My qualities and personality define my style of leadership as transformational. I am mentally stimulated by positive change through change in attitudes and behavior. Creating an environment and changing systems to bring better outcomes is usually my main priority. The transformational leadership style suits me because I like motivating and challenging people to be the better version of themselves. Dictating to people what they should or should not do creates a negative attitude. Creating reforms that suit the needs of every person makes the working environment more friendly, which in turn increases performance. My leadership style is transformational because of the following reasons:
Individual Consideration
My leadership style focuses on attending to individual needs rather than in masses. I am empathetic and supportive, making it easier for people to approach me if there are issues. I prefer listening to individuals and acting as a mentor or a role model to them. I am inclined to open communication where anyone can air their views and concerns to make everyone comfortable. Respect for every person is paramount, and everyone’s contribution is appreciated in my leadership.
Intellectual Stimulation
I like stimulating people intellectually. I do this by questioning and challenging their ideas to enable them to think critically. Mental stimulation creates creativity and independent thinking. I like stimulating people mentally to enhance critical thinking and to learn from others.
Motivation
I like motivating people to do better rather than dictating to them what they need to do. Motivation inspires people to use positive communication and giving people a purpose (Fiaz et al., 2017). Motivating people has a significant intrinsic value which creates a driving force to achieve goals. Motivation makes a strong sense of purpose which enables a person to improve in performance.
Conclusion
Leadership is the ability that a person has to influence others. A person’s qualities and personalities determine the type of leadership style that they are most inclined to. The results from the assessments tools show that my personality and qualities are mostly inclined to transformational leadership. I prefer the transformational leadership style because it leads to reforms in attitudes and systems, which increase performance.
References
Fiaz, M., Su, Q., & Saqib, A. (2017). Leadership Styles and Employees’ Motivation: Perspective From An Emerging Economy. The Journal of Developing Areas, 51(4), 143-156.
Gandolfi, F., & Stone, S. (2017). The Emergence of Leadership Styles: A Clarified Categorization. Revista De Management Comparat International, 18(1), 18.
Nayak, A. K. (2018). Effective Leadership Traits from Bhagavad Gita. International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 16(1), 1-18.
Weiner, I. B., & Greene, R. L. (2017). Handbook of Personality Assessment. John Wiley & Sons.