Leadership Essay Rough Draft

Nathan Ponwith

PAF 311: Leadership and Change

Viola Fuentes

Arizona State University

Leadership is an extremely unique characteristic that can be found in all types of people.

Leadership is fundamental to a group or organization achieving goals and creating change in the

world. This change can come at a personal or group level, without any form of leadership

change and accomplishing goals becomes very difficult. Leadership is made up of many

different personality traits and skills. These traits and skills are used differently by each leader in

all types of situations. Leaders can be born with these traits and skills as part of their

personality, or they can be learned and practiced. Each leader has their unique perspective to

how they go about bringing a group together and achieving a common goal and it is common

that effective leaders often have different skills but many traits are similar between most

leaders. I have had leadership experience in my life in sports, school group work, and within my

friend groups. Sports is the primary aspect of my life where my skills and traits of leadership

have been showcased the most prominently. Throughout all of the assessments and discussions

in this class, my leadership traits and skills have been clearly defined into strengths and

weaknesses and demonstrated how I can improve my weaknesses so my leadership in general

can be more effective. Leadership is especially important when trying to facilitate change.

Typically, change starts with small measures and grows with more momentum and people

behind the movement supporting it.

Assessments:
 There were many self-assessments that I completed to attain a better understanding of

my leadership skills and traits. Some of the assessments surprised me with the results while

others were in line with what I believed my traits would turn out to be. The first self-

assessment was focused on determining my orientation towards change. The questions

consisted of asking questions like “Do you find change invigorating or stressful?” and “Do you

like to go with the flow or make things happen?” Many of these questions I found myself

feeling I could go both ways. I determined that I am more inclined to change in specific

environments and settings, and sometimes I am reluctant to change in different environments

and circumstances. On this self-assessment of my orientation to change, I scored average and

placed me in the middle area of my orientation to change. I have not always been the most

open to change, and sometimes find it incredibly stressful and gives me anxiety. But I have

learned to be more open to it and develop a mindset that benefits me in a changing

environment. For the results of this assessment, I found that they were pretty accurate and I

am not the most willing or open to change. This is an area I definitely need to improve in,

because in order to be a leader it is essential that change becomes the usual and an effective

leader needs to be able to adapt and overcome in situations filled with change. One way I

believe I can practice becoming more comfortable with change is making a conscious effort to

be more comfortable when unexpected change comes at me. I can be aware of the thoughts

that come to me and what makes me uncomfortable and sort those thoughts out until I am no

longer uncomfortable.

The second self-assessment was determining my personality style and preferences that I

have. After completing the assessment my scores showed that I scored high on traits of
introversion, intuition, perceiving, and thinking. These results were very interesting to me and I

agreed with them for the most part. One aspect that I saw differently is results of introversion,

while I definitely agree I am most of the time an introvert, there are times that I am extraverted

and show this in my personality. People who are introverted make decisions based off of more

independent reasons and are not directly influenced by the environment, culture, and people

around them. My intuition levels are high and allows me to prefer theories, possibilities and can

get bored with data and facts. A byproduct of this is that I am a good problem solver, but

sometimes I can make errors due to lack of consideration for the numbers and statistics that

are needed to be taken into account. A strength of mine is my ability to use my imagination, my

level of intuition is directly correlated to this. The next trait I scored high on is perceiving, which

basically means I prefer to gather more information before making a decision. This makes me

open to new ideas and nonjudgmental. The downfall of this is that I can be slow to act and

indecisive. The next trait I scored high on is that I am a thinker, which allows me to make

judgements regarding my life based on logic and evidence. I agreed with this very much so,

because I often times find myself avoiding irrational thinking and I do my best to find the logical

solution in most situations. The strengths of this is that I am objective and logical, but the

downsides are that I can misunderstand other’s values and cannot display feelings at times. I

agree with this assessment and can improve on these personality traits by making an effort to

work with others better, be more organization in my discussions regarding decision making, and

to practice this in real life I can make sure I back my theories up with real data and numbers.

The next self-assessment was designed to score my listening skills. I scored low on this

and that does not surprise me. I often times find myself thinking about my own thoughts and
not listening very carefully to people when they are trying to tell me something. This is probably

because I am a deep thinker and after they tell me their initial thought, I analyze it and think

about it. Basically, tuning out from hearing them, while they are discussing their idea and its

details further. This is absolutely a skill I need to work on and improve dramatically. It is a

primary leadership skill to be able to listen effectively. By demonstrating proper listening skills,

followers are happier because they are being heard, but more important better work is going to

get done. A leader that is able to effectively listen to others, more collaboration and

communication is being offered and people come together more to achieve their goals.

The following self-assessment identified my style as a team player. This assessment gave

my strengths and weaknesses and provided the ways I can contribute to create a more effective

team. My results indicated that I fit in the collaboration part of team players. Meaning that I am

a goal oriented team member that sees the vision or goal clearly and I am open to new ideas of

how to best achieve this goal. The downside to this trait is that I can become fixated on the goal

and not be open to reevaluating the goal or change the vision of the group. I was not surprised

with this result as I can see this trait very much in my group interactions.

The last self-assessment was assessing my ability to create a vision for a group. The

assessment asked questions regarding values, goals, and vision guidelines. I scored very high on

this which indicates that I have the ability to formulate a vision for a group. This does not

surprise me at all and I believe this to be perhaps my strongest leadership trait. I believe the

two most important components to obtaining the ability to create a vision is charisma and

values. Without charisma, it is common for the followers not to be motivated and dedicated to

participating in the work to achieve the vision or goal. Without values, it is common that there
are differences in opinions and arguments can occur because it is not clear on how the group

should go about achieving their goals. This is a strong point in my leadership traits and is

something that I have practiced in all of my leadership roles, especially on my sports teams that

I have played on throughout my life.

Discussion Board Assignments

Each discussion board assignment really helped me get a better understanding of each

of the concepts discussed. It challenged me to think about how these concepts relate to my

own experiences and how I can improve and put these concepts into play in my everyday life

and leadership roles. Perhaps the most beneficial part of these discussion board assignments is

that I was able to learn and read the experiences from my fellow classmates! Each time I read

the work of my classmate, I learned something new and was able to draw on other peoples’

experiences and learn from them. Sometimes their experiences, ideas, and opinions were

similar to mine, and sometimes they were different. When they were similar I was able to relate

to them, and when they were different I was able to see a different perspective that benefits

me immensely. Two particular discussions that I learned a lot from were the ones about vision

and values. To start, the discussion about values was extremely helpful to me to get a better

understanding of how important core values are to the individual person and the world. Some

people and organizations have vastly different core values than others. Also, it is extremely

important for a group or organization to give a clear definition to what a core value is, because

it is common that people think about values differently and without identifying what the value

means it can lead to disagreements and confusion. From this discussion, the Harvard Business
article that discussed core values says; “core values are values that are deeply ingrained values

that drive a company’s actions whereas aspirational values are values that a company needs to

succeed in the future and currently lacks.” After learning about core values, I determined that

mine were being ethical, responsible and gracious to others. The next really important

discussion board topic is vision. Vision is incredibly important for a group or organization. A

clear vision demonstrates the goal wanting to be achieved while also implementing the core

values that are aligned with the group to go about achieving the goal or vision. Without a clear

vision, the group can become unmotivated to complete the work, disengaged in the work they

are doing, and can disagree about what is important for them to do. Without a proper vision,

there is not a clear direction for the group and it is difficult to be the most effective like this.

Core values are also an important part of a vision, without them there can be disagreement

among group members about how to go about things and what is most important. All in all,

core values and vision are extremely important for a group or organization and are needed for

maximum effectiveness.

Vision

Vision is extremely important for an individual, group, or organization to have in order

to achieve their goals. The vision questionnaire informed me that I scored high in the capability

to create a vision. I believe that I scored high on this because I am a goal-oriented person when

it comes to doing work and working with a group or organization. This is a key factor when

creating a vision, clear goals need to be identified so that there is a clear direction to work

towards. Another reason why I scored highly on this is because I have charisma, and charisma is

needed to deliver an effective vision to followers. Without charisma, when the vision is shared
with the group it is likely they will not buy into the vision and may not be engaged in doing the

work. Core values are very necessary when creating a vision, without them there can be

disagreements about what is important and how the group members can act and operate.

Goals is another important part of a vision, goals need to be included so there is a clear image

and direction for what the group is working towards. Core values are values that are deeply

ingrained into the group and aspirational values are values that the group or organization

wishes to have in the future. Goals need to be challenging, but not too challenging so that they

are out of reach. The leader also needs to have the confidence that the goals can be achieved, a

proper plan is also needed so that the goals can be achieved. The degree of challenge the goals

should have is not too high where it is impossible, and not too low so that the work is boring,

but it should be in the middle where it works the best. My personal vision is to work the

hardest I can with high regards to ethics while performing the best I can in classes and to my

maximum potential in tennis. My core values are to be ethical, and hardworking in school and

tennis. Whereas my aspirational values are to be a tremendous tennis player and have vast

wisdom once I graduate from college.

Understanding Leadership

My understanding of leadership has changed a great deal during the duration of this

course. I have learned many different skills and traits that attribute to advancing excellence in

leading change. The most important elements and ideas that I think are essential for successful

leadership is vision, for the leader to be a good listener, and for the group or organization to

have a proper environment of collaboration. The reasons for these important elements is that
to start, vision is necessary for a group because it gives direction and goals for them to achieve.

Charisma and values are necessary to instill a proper vision within a group so they all get the

same message about what they are trying to achieve and how they are going to do it. The next

element is that the leader must be a good listener. This element seems simple, but I think it is

incredibly important. If the leader is a good listener, then people throughout the group are not

afraid of sharing their ideas and some can turn out to work really well and help the group.

Lastly, collaboration is essential in the group. It was demonstrated that collaboration was more

effective than compromise and competition in the workplace. By creating the environment

where collaboration is prioritized, more quantity and quality work gets completed. All of these

elements are essential and will best serve myself and others in advancing excellence in leading

change. The next aspect that I learned from the textbook “Leadership for a Better World”

(Komives, Wagner) that will serve me tremendously well is the methods and five key principles

of collaborative problem solving from Straus (2002) which lead to successful collaborations.

Collaboration is something that happens in work inside organizations, and is definitely

something I should understand and implement the effective ways to complete successful

collaborations. The first key principle is that collaborations should be inclusive and involve all of

the relevant stakeholders. The second principle is that decisions should be made by consensus.

The third key principle is that groups should design a process map or a visual representation of

the collaboration process that is ahead of them, I think this principle is especially important

because it demonstrates a clear image and vision for the group. The fourth principle is that

groups should designate a facilitator who will lead the process, this facilitator should not have

positional power over the other members of the group but merely facilitate the process of
collaboration. Lastly, the fifth and final key principle is that groups should create a visual record

of what is said and the events that occur during meetings so that information is constantly

being updated and recorded for all members of the group. These five principles are very

important to understand for me, because collaboration in organizations is inevitable and is

extremely important to know how to participate in effectively.

Leadership Development

How I can enhance my own leadership development is to actively practice being a better

listener, and make an effort to take other peoples’ ideas and implement them. I scored very low

on the listening assessment and it is something I need to work on. The ways I can work on this

is by paying greater attention to people when they are talking, I can practice this all the time

and especially in group projects and everyday life. The next thing I need to practice is to

implement other peoples’ ideas more often. Sometimes I can get fixated on my own ideas and

think that it is my way or the highway, when other people may have it more figured out than I

do and their ideas could work better. I can do this by every once in a while, when I am unsure of

what to do, just to listen to someone else and take their idea. Another aspect in my leadership

development that I need is essential and extremely important for me to expand on it the ability

to create trust in the workplace or group I will end up working in for my career. From the

textbook Leadership for a Better World (Komives and Wagner), Kouzes and Posner (1987)

identified many different approached and tactics to bring trust into an organization. To start, by

simply using the word we goes along way, whenever goals and work aspirations are being

talked about using the word we unifies the group and makes it the group’s goal and not the
individual’s goal. The second tactic is to encourage interactions with all group members. When

group members feel alone and isolated from the group, trust becomes difficult to build. The

third tactic is establishing an environment of predictability, this helps group members follow up

on their commitments and rewards honestly even when it is bad news. The fourth tactic is to

involve everyone in the group while creating planning and conducting problem solving

discussions, this is pretty self-explanatory and common sense but making decisions behind

peoples’ backs should be avoided. Along with these tactics, promoting a positive and

hardworking mindset is encouraged to all employees to benefit everyone and maximize

productivity and effectiveness.

Career Aspirations

My career aspirations are to play professional tennis and then work in business after my

career is completed. I can use the skills I just mentioned in my leadership development in both

of these career goals that I have. Starting with professional tennis, it is essential for me to be a

better listener and implement other people’s ideas while playing tennis, especially my coaches.

Sometimes on the tennis court I can get very stubborn and want to keep doing things my way,

and be reluctant to change when my coaches are telling me something. By listening better and

hearing other people’s perspectives and implementing their ideas, it will benefit me in tennis

and business.

Conclusion
 In conclusion, I learned many things from my leadership assessments and discussions. I

learned about what my strengths and weaknesses are, what constitutes effective leadership,

and how I can improve and identity my own personality traits. My strengths were the ability to

create a vision, charisma, thinking, perceiving, and intuition. These all play into my ability to

formulate abstract ideas and theories, while connecting to people on a personal level while

achieving a goal. Some of my weaknesses are listening, being reluctant to change, and not

backing up my theories with concrete data and numbers. The ways I am planning on working on

my weaknesses are to actively listen better to others, be more open minded to change and

figure out what makes me uncomfortable when change arises, and to think more about the

data and numbers when coming up with a solution to a problem. All in all, my leadership skills

have already improved throughout this course and I intend to keep practicing them.

References:
Komives, S. R., & Wagner, W. (2017). Leadership for a Better World (Second ed.). San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.

Self-Assessments from class, (did not copy my previous work)

Discussion Board Posts