A personal reflection on leadership
Purpose: This journal should be written in the first person and should be critically reflective. As such, you
will discuss the most important concepts that you have learned throughout the week and how those
concepts may be applied to your leadership career.
Assignment Description: Your Leadership Reflection Journal should exhibit personal reflection of your
present leadership competencies and also possible adjustments that could be made to your leadership
approach. Importantly, your Journal entry should be in light of the various concepts that have in covered
each week in the course. Also of importance, the Leadership Reflection Journal should be far beyond a
mere casual discussion. It should demonstrate a high level of understanding and should also provide
adequate integration of authoritative sources as assigned for reading each week.
The key term to is in the assignment are
Interpersonal skills
Organizing
Management functions
Leading
Management roles
Controlling
Organization
Workforce diversity
Planning
Workplace environment
Interpersonal skills
Leadership
Management functions
Organization
Organizational behavior
During the past week there are several important lessons and insights I have got with respect to
leadership. I have got to learn about specific concepts that actually make the leader more
effective in achieving his goals and those of the larger group. While we learnt several concepts,
three stood out for me and I see myself applying them in my leadership career. The three
management concepts are not taken independently but rather with elements of other concepts
that we discussed. The Three main ideas I took were workforce diversity, the importance of
planning and also interpersonal skills.
I value these three aspects of leadership because I believe they are the key to resolving the
problems that the world is facing today as well as in the distant future. I have come to appreciate
the importance of a diverse workforce because it brings in new ideas and also provides a wealth
of experience based on different problem solving strategies. Furthermore, having a diverse
workforce gives the organization I am leading an edge when it comes to the reach it has
(Wrench, 2008).
Planning, especially in its proactive sense is an important thing for any serious leader. I like
achieving the goals that I have set and this cannot happen by chance. It means that I have to
consider the goal and relate it to the team I have at hand, making arrangements that maximize on
the strengths we have towards the achievement of goals (Anderson et al, 2008).
Interpersonal skills are important to me because they come into play in the planning and
diversification aspects of leadership. I need to form quality working relationships with the people
I am leading. At the same time, interpersonal skills will help me to develop functional teams that
are properly coordinated and well-structured for the tasks at hand (Martin and Dowson, 2009).
References
Anderson, D. W., Krajewski, H. T., Goffin, R. D., & Jackson, D. N. (2008). A leadership self-
efficacy taxonomy and its relation to effective leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 19(5), 595-
608.
Martin, A. J., & Dowson, M. (2009). Interpersonal relationships, motivation, engagement, and
achievement: Yields for theory, current issues, and educational practice. Review of educational
research, 79(1), 327-365.
Wrench, J. (2008). Diversity management and discrimination: Immigrants and ethnic minorities
in the EU. Human Resource Management International Digest, 16(4).
