Why is effective leadership so integral to career (and overall life) success? Be sure to share important “take-aways” from this week’s leader interview.Please see attached file of interviewPleas

Exemplary Leadership

Vernetta Rucker

Grand Canyon University

PSY 693

January 9th 2019

The individual that I interviewed is a manager from an organization that I worked with as an intern. He is a leader that is respected in the organization and has been the general manager for seven years now. His leadership style has enabled him to be successful both as a leader and in his career. He has been able to transform the organization greatly since the performance of the company has improved in his period of leadership. The leader has a degree in business management and administration and his expertise is among the things that have contributed to his success.

The leader wants to achieve self-motivation not only to attain organizational performance but also for personal excellence. The leader believes that having self-motivation is the only way to get his way around his followers and therefore considers it an important aspect of being a leader. He considers leadership as having a need for excellence and that is what he believes motivates a leader. He wants to ensure he is not authoritative a leader since leadership has never been linked to authority but the ability to mobilize followers to handle even the tasks that seem the hardest to them. The leader has developed customer eccentric, clear, shared meaning and employee oriented values which ensure his leadership skills give direction to the organization and improve the performance of the organization. He has to ensure that the decisions that he makes do not compromise his values and are not against his ethics. In decision making, he recognizes the significance of ethical behavior. He has identified his ethics and values and this makes the decision-making practice very easy. With the identified ethic and values, he has gained the trust of all the people around him especially in the workplace and they trust that the decisions he makes are the best.

According to the leader, good relationships between employees and managers are a vital factor in improving the satisfaction and motivation of employees. Managers should show that they care by building trust with employees. Managers that possess good relationships with the people they manager show that they are concerned and aware of the difficulties that the employees go through. Managers should help employees solve problems that are related to the job and communicate with them effectively. Employees always want to have a say in decisions that regard the issues associated with them directly. They also want to feel that they are important and appreciated.

When it comes to the elements that every leader should possess, self-leadership is the most significant aspect that any leader can have according to him. It is the most significant practice that any leader can build. It is import to first lead you to be able to impact the world and make a difference in others in a way that is positive. Leading yourself first enables others to act. Self-leadership involves knowing how to delegate. When a leader knows how to delegate, he or she is able to give permission to others to do some tasks and this is enabling them to act. People cannot follow a leader that has not succeeded in leading himself, they can only act when they know their actions will take them somewhere and they can only know this from the success of their leader.

There are various strategies of acquiring positional power and using rewards is one of them. The interviewed leader beliefs rewards work best in this situation. A manager can provide employees with rewards in order to get them to act. Any form of reward can be used; tangible or intangible rewards. They are both effective ways to acquire power if they are used effectively. Using rewards influences the behavior of employees. When employees know that they are bound to be rewarded after doing a certain task or performing to a certain level, they are likely to increase their effort. Therefore, managers can use positional power to persuade the employees to achieve whatever he wants. On the other hand personal power can be gained using expertise. An individual can use the skills and knowledge that he or she possesses as a form of power. Power can even be used by subordinates on their leaders too. For instance, an employee can use accomplishments facts and logic to persuade a manager that granting a certain request will bring an advantage to the department.

Emotion is one strategy that can be used to influence people; be it colleagues or even the subordinates. One does not have to be a leader to influence others in a conversation. Understanding the other people’s perspective and being able to sense their feelings can enable an individual to use emotions to influence them. A person that uses emotions can be able to express his or her ideas in a manner that can appeal to others while being empathic, positive and adaptable. Using emotions makes an individual gather support from colleagues with ease. Such people are in a position to lead a team that is mobilized, engaged and ready to do whatever the leader asks with emotion.

In conclusion, there is no style of leadership that is perfect. It depends on the situation and circumstances. The styles that have worked for this leader may not work for someone else. Leaders should understand their organizational culture and subordinates and know what works best for them.