Vision of Leadership

My Vision of Leadership

Throughout 5 years of working experiences in conjunction with leadership module taken in part time MBA under Coventry University (CU) had given me an insightful knowledge about the development of leadership. First of all, to be a great leader, I must set the direction with my followers of where we will going to. Engagement with followers in my leadership journey is important to reach organisational goals. To live out a vision, the most persistence matters are inspiration. An effective leader must be able to foster collaboration and build spiritual teams by inspiring followers to achieve goals (Hurduzeu 2015). This involves pulling followers out from status quo. Under this circumstance, a leader could paint a compelling and inspiring picture of what the future will look like to followers in order to convince them to progress towards a shared vision.

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Leadership models and theories that I want to achieve

The 10 weeks leadership’s modules act as career ladder to becoming a leader in my future. Among all the leadership styles, I would choose transformational and charismatic leaderships because these leadership styles inspire me the most as the visions are achieved together by leader and followers. This is supported by Khatri, Templer and Budhwar (2012) as they identified charisma and vision is the two basic components of transformational leadership. On the other hand, charismatic leadership contained three core components such as envisioning, empathy and empowerment (Choi 2016). Therefore, values abstracted from this two leadership styles form parts of my vision of leadership.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Maslow 1943) and Herzberg’s motivational-hygiene theory (Herzberg, Mausner and Snyderman 1959) are also part of my vision of leadership. As stated in Figure 1, the factors act as powerful tools to motivate followers. By satisfying the deficiency and growth needs, followers felt the sense of ‘belongingness’ and motivated to work. The same goes to Herzberg’s motivational-hygiene theory (Figure 2), motivation can be done through elimination of job dissatisfaction’s factors followed by create conditions for job satisfaction. I believe failure to apply this two factors may cause followers demotivated and job dissatisfaction in workplace. Video 1 shows the motivation exist in workplace.

Figure 1: An interpretation of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, represented as a pyramid with the more basic needs at the bottom (Maslow 1943)

Figure 2: Herzberg’s two-factors theory (1959)

Video 1: Motivation in Workplace (Youtube 2017)

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Leader who Inspired Me

Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin – charismatic and visionary leader (Figure 3)

He is a chairman of EcoWorld Development Group Bhd and he is simply known as a charismatic and visionary leader by his employees. Under his leadership DNA initiatives, he had demonstrated keen foresight and entrepreneurial quality of vision. One of his remarkable engagement activities with employees is the CEO dialogue section held in every morning (Ng 2013). The open feedback and discussion given empowerment to employees to propose workable ideas that would helps improve operations and systems of organisation. The two-way communication assists him in building up a strong team of dedicated people who are willing to work with him. Besides that, the cultural diversity established in his teams works well and further strengthened the engagement between leaders and employees. I was truly inspired by his way in living up to vision, fostering teamwork and inculcate motivation among employees.  His style of leadership is compatible with my vision of leadership as described in first paragraph.

Figure 3: Tan Sri  Liew Kee Sin, chairman of Eco World Development Group Bhd

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Feedback from Colleagues and Personality Test

Feedback collected from my colleagues shows that I am good in team working. They mentioned that I able to communicate and mix well with them. As a leader, communication is a tool to deliver ideas to followers moving towards the organisational goals (Husain 2013). Language barrier could be occurred during communication with culturally diverse people, however this would not be the obstacle to deliver ideas to followers.

Analysis from the personalities test (Figure 4) shows that I am an extraverted person. I prefer group activity and get energised by social interaction. This personality is important to interact with people confidently and take up challenges easily especially in ever changing business world.

Figure 4: Personality Test to know own strengths (16 personalities 2017)

Leadership Skills that I would like to Develop and How do I Develop It

Throughout my MBA module under CU, I would like to develop delegation and motivation skills. These skills are important in building up a trustworthiness team work with followers to achieve organisational goals. Delegation can be developed through empowerment of followers (Lyons 2016). Empowerment emphasise freedom and re-distribution power at which followers responsible for outcome thus making each follower feel capable and powerful. Effective delegation enhances motivation and creates an atmosphere of mutual respect that make followers’ willingness to contribute to the team.

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Conclusions

In conclusion, the module of ‘Leading in a Changing World’ provides a holistic learning platform for me to develop leadership skills that can be implemented at workplace and learnt to leverage on my own strengths. Therefore, to lead in the changing world, a leader must embrace the challenges and changes in order to drive business successful in future.

(738 words)

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References

Choi, J. (2016) ‘A Motivational Theory of Charismatic Leadership: Envisioning, Empathy and Empowerment’. Journal of Leadership and Organisational Studies 13(1), 24-43

Herzberg, F., Mausner, B. and Snyderman, B.B. (1959) The Motivation to Work. New York: John Wiley & Sons

Hurduzeu, R. (2015) ‘The Impact of Leadership on Organisational Performance’. SEA: Practical Application of Science 3(1), 289-293

Husain, Z. (2013) ‘Effective Communication Brings Successful Organisational Change’. The Business & Management Review 3(2), 43-50

Khatri, N., Templer, K.J. and Budhwar, P.S. (2012) ‘Great (Transformational) Leadership = Charisma + Vision

Lyons, P.R. (2016) ‘Making the Case for Manager Delegation of Authority’. Human Resource Management International Digest 24(5), 1-3

Maslow, A. H. (1943) ‘A Theory of Human Motivation’. Psychological Review 50(4), 370-396

Ng, A. (2013) ‘For S P Setia Employees, Loyalty Comes Naturally’. My Start Job [online] 11 May. available from <http://mystarjob.com/articles/story.aspx?file=/2013/5/11/mystarjob_careerguide/13068272&sec=mystarjob_careerguide&gt; [22 March 2017]