Throughout the last eights weeks, this course has taught me several valuable tools and leadership styles that will be able to take with me and utilize in my professional career. 1. Autocratic Leadership
:
The importance of autocratic leadership is that it can be beneficial
in instances that require decisions to be made quickly and efficiently without consulting a large group. Also known as authoritarian leadership, this leadership style is characterized by individual control over all decisions with little to no input, advice, or guidance from group members (Malos, n.d., “Situational Theories: p. 4, para. 1).
This leadership style could come in handy if I find myself in a situation with poor organization and the inability to set or meet deadlines. By utilizing this style of leadership, I would be able to take charge of a disorganized situation, assign tasks to team members, establish solid deadlines, and ensure my company succeeds. 2. Leadership Traits, Competencies, and Skills
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In Week 2, we learned the value of leadership competencies. The importance of leadership competencies is that it can aid in an organization ability to better identify and fill influence, teamwork, and delegating gaps. Leadership competence is a mix of leadership skills and behaviors that lead to an increase in performance (UMGC, n.d., “Theme 1,” para. 1). Leadership traits such as accountability, adaptability, confidence, creativity, and empathy are essential people management skills and personal qualities that will help excel at my current job as well as advance my career. The most important leadership qualities involve soft skills rather than technical knowledge or industry-specific experience, making leadership traits critical in nearly every occupation (Indeed, 2023, “What are leadership traits?” para. 1)
3. Succession Planning
: Succession Planning is important as it is the only way to reduce the effect of lost leadership; a strong succession plan identifies and fosters the next generation of leaders through mentoring, training, and stretch assignments, so they are ready to take the lead
when the time comes (Fister-Gale, 2013, para. 2). A successful succession plan should link talent development with the strategic goals of the organization. Ultimately, HR is responsible for the implementation of a succession plan, however, a well-developed plan will align talent management with the vision of the company, ensure employees have development opportunities to hone their leadership skills, and guarantees that the organization has a leadership plan in place for success in the future (Fister-Gale, 2013, para. 4). 4. Innovation
: The most useful and practical definition of innovation is “
applied creativity that achieves business value
” (
Legrand & Weiss, 2011, “Defining innovation and innovative organizations,” para. 1). Innovation is important as it helps solve complex problems and achieve defined value for an organization. An organization’s senior leadership can ensure innovation extends beyond the generation of a couple of new ideas, turning it into a strategic and guiding principle through empowerment, risk taking, confidence, and strong decision-making skills (Brio, 2019, para. 1). Through the use of innovation, I can offer my organization new revenue stream ideas, explore additional marketing opportunities, and meet the evolving needs of consumers and the economy. 5. Emotional Intelligence
: Emotional Intelligence is important as it can be the key to building relationships, improved well-being, and stronger communication skills. Emotional intelligence (EI or EQ for ‘emotional quotient”) is how we perceive, evaluate, express, and
