leadership qualities

The leadership skills displayed by a team or organization’s leader throughout his interactions with members impact the amount of involvement and productivity, which can influence success (Smith and Imbine, 2007). In essence, leadership has several tasks, including inspiring, leading, and rewarding personnel, building morale, and establishing goals (Sarbapriya & Ishita Aditya, 2011). There are various leadership styles, and their effectiveness and suitability vary depending on the organization or mission. Personally, I have been exposed to a variety of leadership styles while working for several bosses. Although I have experienced several leadership styles, charismatic leadership is the one I have felt the most effective in the projects that I have participated because leader’s attractive personalities and achievements inspired the team members towards overcoming challenges to achieve the set goals.

Leadership styles I have experienced include transactional and charismatic leadership styles. Transactional leadership involves an agreement between leaders and employees or team members on ultimate commitment and obedience and in return, they obtain financial gains. For example, a transactional leader may pledge bonuses for their employees upon successful completion of a project. In consequence, employees remain obedient, performing and productive. Charismatic leadership focuses on inspiring, energizing, and motivating their subjects (Ibarra, 2015). According to Smith and Imbine (2007), leaders in this category use their personal allure to keep others focused. John F Kennedy is considered the most charismatic president of the US for he used his personal advantages such as good look and family reputation. As a result, the Kennedy White House became popular and named as Camelot. Although these two leadership styles were effective in their given time and situations, one was more effective than the other.

The most effective leadership style was charismatic. The leader was a renowned investor and philanthropist and therefore took it upon team members to emulate his character and implement his ideas. Team members demonstrated a high level of attraction to the supervisor based on how easily they obeyed orders and asked for clarifications when stuck on a task. More importantly, the communication strategies were clear and efficient something that facilitated change and improvements.

Charismatic leadership was effective in the success of the project in some ways. For example during the project, members remained motivated and inspired to overcome challenges encountered. More importantly, the members received guiding instructions to every task assigned, and errors were collected without any negative implications because as the study by Ibarra (2015) explains, charismatic leadership has no link to any rules. As a result, activities were completed timely if not before the deadline and cooperation between members were of a high level. Pappas (2016) reveals that the imagery aspect of this leadership takes the organization to the height of success through collaboration, education or guidance during the task, confidence in the followers and both self-actualization and enhancement. Also, the supervisor was open to suggestions and need for changes.

In conclusion, the supervisor I find most influential towards success is a charismatic leader for their desirable images inspires the members towards increased performance and productivity. They guide and encourage people to remain creative, innovative and determined. As a result, members stay focused and are never afraid of corrections. The importance of key traits in this kind of leadership is that unlike others such as people-oriented, task-oriented, transactional, democratic and transformational, charismatic leadership focus on the creating excitements and enthusiasm within team members. Moreover, this leadership achieves stellar results by making team members believe in themselves.

References

Ibarra, H. (2015). The Most Productive Way to Develop as a Leader. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved 14 May 2017, from https://hbr.org/2015/03/the-most-productive-way-to-develop-as-a-leader

Pappas, T. (2016). Are Populist Leaders “Charismatic”? The Evidence from Europe. Constellations, 23(3), 378-390. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-8675.12233

Ray, Sarbapriya, & Ray, Ishita Aditya. (2011). An Insight into the Vision of Charismatic Leadership: Evidence from Recent Administrative Change in West Bengal Province of India. The International Institute for Science, Technology, and Education (IISTE.

Smith, K. A & Imbine, PK. (2007). Teamwork and project management. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. ISBN 978-0-07-310367-9