a leadership project

Business executives are also recouping from the shifting world events that define environmental complexities. Members are now attempting to understand and come to grips with the long-term consequences of global uncertainties, mass migration, and financial instability. Because of the exponential advances in social media and emerging technologies, those issues impact the media sector to the same or greater extent (Denyer and Turnbull James 2017, p. 28). As technology advances, traditional methods of disseminating knowledge become obsolete, necessitating the need for leaders to rethink and redesign new methods of mass communication. In such an environment, leaders must embrace collective action and rapid change marked with highly participative leadership and cross-functional collaboration. This paper is based on organizational leadership in ABN Media Company. It incorporates my leadership insights of the organization, my leadership capabilities and a plan for CPD as well as how my understanding of ‘Leadership’ has evolved because of the readings in the unit. Notably, the success of any business depends on the competencies of its leadership, and as such, leadership is a fundamental component of organizational growth and determines the degree at which a company attains its set mission.

My Personal Leadership Insights in the Organization

In the era of fundamental transformation in the media industry, finding effective and right leadership mindset is not an easy task. Different individuals working in media organization often try to have grips of leadership traits that foster positive mindset. It is worth noting that leadership mindsets have the greatest impact on leadership outcomes. Even if one tries to do everything in the organization, it is practically difficult to achieve such as a goal unless he or she spends every hour awake and working. Therefore, having the right leadership mindset is key to achieving set goals and objectives. One must have a clear thinking and know what to do as well as not what to do since based on the rule of thumb, 20% of an action drives 80% of results.

Through adequate analysis of the organization, there exists a range of leadership mindsets that help the journalists, media personalities, leaders, and other employees to uphold positive traits necessary for achieving organizational goals in the industry. Such leadership mindsets include positive attitude, coaching, accepting failure, exercising imperfection, embracing change, thinking big, and execution of planned activities (Kennedy, Carroll and Francoeur 2013, p. 12).

Through the analysis of these traits, it is evident that individuals and groups within the organization uphold them to have productive leadership traits that aid in solving the current problems facing the media organizations. The assessment shows that employees in the company have a positive attitude towards works and other colleagues and as such show empathy and listening skills (Leatherman and Leatherman 2008, p. 23). The leaders promote learning in groups and teams, accepting failure as lessons to their mistakes, attributes that are fundamental to the modern business problems. The leaders in the organization also exercise imperfection by attuning to meaning, authenticity, and immediacy. The leaders also embrace change by influencing employees to foster and accept change and think big when executing planned activities. Based on such assessment, these leadership traits fit my capabilities and characterize my leadership style.

There exist series of leadership traits that characterize the above leadership mindsets. The traits determine the type of leadership employed in running an organization. The traits include those that help leaders fashion a shared vision among organizational members as such enhance an atmosphere of learning. They also help in developing a culture of learning and create followers rather than subordinates. Therefore, the leadership traits include inclusive, motivating, communicative, approachable, focused and transparent. Communicative traits help leaders to channel the scope of tasks in an organization to maintain collaborative engagement. On the other hand, transparency builds trust among teams, and motivating qualities promotes achievement of organizational goals and objectives by fostering respect and equal rewards (Bass et al. 2003, p. 207). Besides, leadership focus ensures an ability to cultivate fundamental components of emotional intelligence that aid in formulating strategy and innovation.

The theory depicts the mindset that one should have while undertaking the leadership of an organization. It entails a simple idea of foster achievement and success in organizations. It makes the difference evident in various organizational leadership styles (Kennedy, Carroll and Francoeur 2013, p. 12). In the team that I am a part of, various members display varied mindset based on the exploration of the mindset theory. As such, while others’ mindsets incorporate thinking and planning about big ideas, being proactive, not delving into tactics, fostering courage and brevity, the mindsets of others include readiness to prepare for change and embrace it when it comes, dealing with complexities and being communicative.

Assessing My Leadership Capabilities and a Plan for CPD

My leadership mindsets foster a participative style of leadership, which based on its democratic orientation, tends to motivate and encourage every individual to participate in enhancing service delivery and professional journalism. Specifically, the leadership style is vital to the success of the organization given the dynamic nature of the industry hence leaders involve individuals and teams in sharing ideas and decision-making (Denyer and Turnbull James 2017, p. 28).

My leadership capabilities include effective communication, openness, having a clear vision, motivation, collaboration and ethical behavior. Ethical behavior helps me in making moral decisions for the greatest benefit of the organizational stakeholders. Openness makes me allow criticism and challenges from others while being visionary helps me sets the agenda for my team members. Effective communication skills are key to channeling such vision to individuals and promote teamwork through collaboration.

Personal development plan/ CPD Plan NAME: NUMBER: COVERING THE PERIOD FROM: TO:

Planned outcome

This CPD leadership plan outlines where I want to be by the end of the period indicated above. The plan shows the leadership capabilities that I need to develop over the period.

Table 1

CPD Leadership Plan

What I need to learn? (Areas of Improvement and growth) What I will do to achieve the goal. The resources or support I need. The dates targeted for reviews and completion Values

I will take time to articulate and understand my core values as well as how my capabilities relate to them. I will also strive for excellence. I will need support from team members and the company’s leadership. 4 weeks Innovation I will learn to embrace changes in techniques that other individuals employ in solving problems while also offering my perspectives. Besides, I will go beyond the boundaries of the company to monitor the environment for innovative ideas. I will need support from the company and financial resources to improve the innovative ideas. 1.5 months Multi-cultural growth and inclusiveness I will improve achieve this goal by encouraging teamwork and communicating ideas and intended plans effectively. I will also ensure I serve every individual in the organization without looking at their racial, religious orientation, position or gender Collaborative support from colleagues N/A Risk taking Take risk analysis courses; learn to view conflict as an avenue to growth. Financial resources and personal commitment 2 months

My participative leadership style aligns with the leadership concepts and competencies that the organization promotes to achieve its goals and objectives. The extent of alignment is positive and grounded on mutual respect and fostering a clear vision of the company. The organization has a keen interest in creating a conducive environment where employees can work and achieve organizations’ and their personal development goals. Furthermore, the leadership style is typical to my organization since being a media company; innovation is a key component of competitive advantage, which in turn requires an organization to embrace participative activities and sharing of ideas and information (Somech 2006, 132). It becomes effective when management enhances collaboration between them and the employees.

There is a high likelihood that my participative leadership style will support organizational change and as such, make the company become a key leading 21st Century business. Organizational change is one of the major challenges that many companies around the world face. Most employees in such organizations find it difficult to embrace change due to a number of reasons including the fear of the unknown, loss of jobs, need for status quo and change in organizational culture among others. Luckily, employing participative leadership in an organization is one of the surest ways of managing organizational change. The leadership style fosters sharing of ideas, information, and collaborative decision-making promotes adequate communication systems and allows employees to take responsibility for their actions (Dinh et al. 2014, p. 36). As a result, the leaders responsibly for change management have the opportunity and desire to engage the whole teams in making deliberations about anticipated change, reasons why the need is needs, the possible additional training requirements and the effect of the change, both positive and negative. Such engagements, in turn, create an active level of commitment as well as determination among employees hence increasing their interests in organizational change. Once the organizational employees and leaders embrace change, it will achieve its needs for the change, increase efficiency, become more competitive and as such, become a leading media company in the modern corporate world.

How My Understanding of ‘Leadership’ Has Evolved as a result of the Readings Given in the Unit

Over the years, leadership has been a subject of interest given its important role in the management of organisations and achievement of goals and objectives. Management and leadership studies have taken shape through studies and research works (Koryak at al. 2015, p. 91). Although recent studies have changed the manner individuals look at leadership, many scholars have since rejected the conventional notion that leadership involves exercising control, power, and force as well as the possession of analytical skills. The leadership notions characterize views of different individuals on the best leadership styles organizations should employ to achieve success. All issues withstanding, the current leadership aspect of organizations also incorporate many concepts that individuals should understand to foster their applications.

Reading and analyzing the unit has made my understanding of leadership evolved to appreciate the existing types of leadership styles and the best areas of their application. It has also improved my knowledge of the importance of leadership, especially to the media organization. The leadership styles include Participative, Situational, Contingency, Transactional, Transformational, Charismatic, Servant leadership (Ogbonna and Harris 2000, p. 766). Participative leadership incorporates the inherent ability of a leader to advocate for consultations on organizational issues before making critical decisions. Situational leadership is based on the extent of understanding and maturity of individuals to enable delegation of responsibility and offering direction and support. While contingency leadership entails leading based on prevailing circumstances, transactional leadership fosters interactions between followers and their leaders and on the other hand, transformational stresses such interactions to be between individuals and other team members and the society (Ogbonna and Harris 2000, p. 766). Besides, charismatic leadership is based on inherent abilities of leaders with the primary emphasis being the devotion as well as an exceptional character such a leader. Servant leaders emphasize the importance of their subjects in achieving the success of a goal and autocratic leaders look at the ability of a leader to make quick decisions that other individuals cannot challenge.

From the unit and the project, my understanding of leadership has thus incorporated an accomplishment of a goal or objective through the directions of individuals’ assistance. Besides, long before the unit, I viewed successful leaders as those who have found their ways to the top executive levels or ensure a company maximizes profits. This sphere of knowledge or belief has changed to incorporate a person who understands the motivation of employees and enlist participation that relates their interests and needs to the purpose of a group.

Furthermore, the knowledge on leadership has also evolved to incorporate the existing problems and illusions surrounding leadership. Such problems include ineffective leadership application and causes of success in organizations. As such, ineffective leadership styles employ single sources of satisfaction to lure employees to carry out certain tasks that would lead to the realization of organizational success.

Conclusion

Global Business leaders continue to recover from world-changing events that characterize environmental dynamics hence trying to come to terms and comprehend long-term ramifications of world challenges, mass migration, and financial turbulence. The issues affect the media industry in the same or higher magnitude due to the rapid developments that take place in social media and digital technology. As aforementioned, the era of fundamental transformation in the media industry makes finding effective and right leadership mindset a difficult task. Different individuals working in media organization often try to have grips of leadership traits that foster positive mindset. While there exist series of leadership traits that characterize different leadership mindsets, incorporating the right traits that would ensure organizational success is a problem.

My traits include promoting learning in groups and teams, accepting failure as lessons to their mistakes, attributes that are fundamental to the modern business problems. Others include exercising imperfection by attuning to meaning, authenticity, and immediacy, embracing change by influencing employees to foster ad accept change and think big when executing planned activities. On the other hand, leadership mindsets outlined in this project include thinking and planning about big ideas, being proactive, not delving into tactics, fostering courage and brevity, readiness to prepare for change and embracing it when it comes, dealing with complexities and being communicative among others.

The analysis above shows my CPD plan hence my leadership capabilities and incompetence. The incompetence needs improvements based on the outlined plan. Additionally, this project and the unit have changed my opinion about leadership in the contemporary business world such as the media industry.

References

Bass, B. M., Avolio, B. J., Jung, D. I., and Berson, Y., 2003. Predicting unit performance by assessing transformational and transactional leadership, Journal of applied psychology, vol. 88, no. 2, pp. 207.

Denyer, D., and Turnbull J. K., 2017. Helping leaders do leadership in an uncertain world, Granfield CERES, no. 26, pp. 28-34.

Dinh, J. E., Lord, R. G., Gardner, W. L., Meuser, J. D., Liden, R. C., and Hu, J., 2014. Leadership theory and research in the new millennium: Current theoretical trends and changing perspectives, The Leadership Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 36-62.

Kennedy, F., Carroll, B., and Francoeur, J., 2013. Mindset not skill set: Evaluating in new paradigms of leadership development, Advances in Developing Human Resources, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 10-26.

Koryak, O., Mole, K. F., Lockett, A., Hayton, J. C., Ucbasaran, D., and Hodgkinson, G. P., 2015. Entrepreneurial leadership, capabilities and firm growth, International Small Business Journal, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 89-105.

Leatherman, R. W., and Leatherman, D., 2008. Quality leadership skills: standards of leadership behavior. Berlin: Human Resource Development.

Ogbonna, E., and Harris, L. C., 2000. Leadership style, organizational culture and performance: empirical evidence from UK companies, International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 766-788.

Somech, A., 2006. The effects of leadership style and team process on performance and innovation in functionally heterogeneous teams, Journal of management, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 132-157.