College Essays-Leadership and Decision making Feedback and reflection
As simple observation will not capture the complexities of leadership, talk to the leader. Get feedback by asking your chosen leader to describe his/her leadership behaviors, traits and his/her use of power and influence tactics, whether and how he/she changes his/her leadership in various situations and see if his/her feedback can confirm your findings from your earlier observation. Using the ideas and knowledge you have gained from the course to guide you, but keeping your questions open ended. Also, ask them ‘what they think are the characteristics of a good and effective leader’.
Encourage them to be specific – a good way to do this is to ask, after their initial responses, that they give examples or share stories that illustrate when they felt they displayed good and effective leadership. Then try and get them to focus on the traits and behaviors that enabled them to be an effective leader. Also, ask them ‘what they think it takes to lead successfully based on their experience and what not to do’. Again, you must demonstrate your ability to critically analyze the theories, models, and concepts to support your conclusions from your interview.
- What have you learnt about the complexities of leadership (critically comparing what theory says and what you found i.e. do your findings support the theories covered in the course?)
- Given what you have found, how might your own leadership practice be improved as a result of undertaking this assessment?
- Based on your observation and feedback from your role model, what recommendations would you give him/her to improve their leadership effectiveness?
