Goal Setting

Leadership self-analysis journal

Leading people is not just a responsibility, there has been increased recognition of how people are managed. How a manager, leads his or her followers can affect the retention of employees, productivity, health, and even their creativity. Being a good manager by setting the right goals can be very important in managing people. Leaders must understand their followers by mentoring, facilitating and coaching their workers.  Employees can view their leaders as either superheroes or villains depending on their method of leading and managing people. In this paper, I will look at self-assessment as a leader who will help me to discover my traits, skills, abilities, experience, and competencies (Day, 2008, 3). According to different scholars, successful leadership starts with self-assessment. However, to expand the potential of an organization, goal-setting is very important (Bolman, and Deal, 2017, 10). In this paper, I will look at the development of a vision and personal goal setting to achieve better performance in the organization.

Goal setting

Making resolutions and setting goals is something which is very important in leadership. Every leader should write down their values, mission and also their vision to successfully lead their workers. Personal mission and vision encapsulate everything that a leader desires to do or have in his or her career.  They define own weaknesses and weaknesses which involves critical self-analysis. The concept is fundamental because it predicts your position in the future besides reflecting on personal values, purpose, and goals.  The mission expresses your intent as a leader and guides you on how to achieve the desired goals (Gurley et al., 2015, 220). Let now look at my vision, mission, and values.

Mission

The mission describes what I want to achieve as a leader and how I am going to attain my goals (Cappelli et al., 2015, 12). The mission is all about what you are doing and how it will get you to a better future. The purpose can either be in the form of a quote or a daily mantra which helps you in returning during tough times. As a leader, I intend to apply ethical values, live a life which is balanced and makes a difference in my organization. The goal is vital to me because it helps me in realizing that leading others requires an understanding of myself and my role as a leader. As a leader, having a life which is stable means that I should nurture my physical, spiritual and academic aspects so that I can have a sense of self-esteem and well-being.

Mission

Vision

As described earlier in this paper, the view gives a prediction of my position in the future and also reflects on personal values, purpose, and goals (Zhu, May, and Avolio, 2004, 18). Developing a vision is not an easy task because I have to think of what I would like to achieve as a manager, and how I want my followers to perceive me. I would like to be accountable and enhance communication with my followers to create a friendly working environment. My vision as a leader is to lead consistently with fairness, humility, integrity, and honest and transparent communication. I also plan to develop and mentor my team while creating an enjoyable, professional and respectful working environment (Mayfield, Mayfield, and Sharbrough, 2015, 98). Through this vision, I can achieve my goals by becoming a good leader who understands what employees want.

Values

Values are described as the guiding doctrines, and as a leader, I understand my ethics very well. I know my weaknesses and strengths, and I even recognize the essence of having good ethical behaviors. I must exhibit my ethics and core values in my actions and my leadership style. Subordinates should see the ethics and ethics because you have to act by the morals all the time. As a leader, I have my standards which include improving the quality of work and life ethics of my subordinates and also influence my followers to become great co-workers or great people in life. I want my followers to evolve in the workplace and also find it fun while working. I will try to become the best leader, be kind, create happiness among my followers and also share my skills with others so that they can become better than me.

Leadership practices

Leaders must have a clear mission, vision and values to help in the development of an organization. However, as a leader, I have my weaknesses that may hinder my success, and I also have strengths which help me to succeed (Kouzes, and Posner, 2016, 323). I can achieve all that I want in the organization because I can effectively communicate with my followers although sometimes I find it difficult to give constructive feedback to the followers. But I can improve in such an area by consulting those who are close to me, and this will improve my success. I will lead by example by having all the qualities of leadership, and this will help me in increasing my strengths and eliminating my weaknesses.

Vision

First I will enhance my communication so that my followers can understand my objectives, mission, and vision (Maxwell, 2007, 122). Through a contact, I can be able to give a specific goal which all workers can understand. As a manager, I will also delegate my duties so that I can be able to focus on the crucial areas and also use the available time and resources adequately. As the manager, I can measure the performance of my company by evaluating how everyone performs their duties. I will also be more creative by giving relevant solutions to my subordinates in case any issues emerge (Shamir, House, and Arthur, 2013, 578). Creativity helps in turning goals into realities because as the leader I will view everything as possible by creating room for invention and innovation (David, 2016, 13). Lastly, I will become more accountable by taking responsibility for any performance and creating solutions if any issues arise. Through accountability, I can achieve my goals easily because I will always work on the required time and employees will continuously be motivated to achieve my goals (Rothaermel, 2015, 34). By having these traits, I can become a better leader because I will reduce my weaknesses and increase my strengths.

Multiple goals and strategies to improve leadership competence

How a leader drives, his or her results affect business growth and the productivity of an organization. It is essential to drive results as a core competency in leadership because leaders must ensure that everything is done correctly (Bovend’Eerdt, Botell, and Wade, 2009, 360). As the leader, I have to ensure that goals are attained, initiatives get accomplished, and business development is achieved. Leaders should always make decisions that are dependent on possible risks and the available facts. Leaders have to focus on decision making asking right questions and accountability to enhance core competency. Sometimes people find it difficult to set goals regarding SMART, but this is the best to use when developing goals. It is the strategies used by a leader in advancing their goals that measure their competencies, judgment, and skills as practicing professionals (Prussia, Anderson, and Manz, 2008, 536). I will look at some specific strategies and multiple goals which can help me to improve leadership competence regarding SMART.

The achievement and setting of goals determine the success of a leader. Goals exist in all our endeavors including our accomplishments at work and our relationship with others. Goal setting using SMART brings trackability and structure into your objectives and goals. SMART goals stand for; specific meaning that you should know what you would like to achieve, measurable denoting that the success of the goal should be easy to measure, attainable which indicates whether the goal is acceptable, Relevant which shows whether the achievement of that goal is remarkable, and timely which involves the installation of deadlines (Gebert, Heinitz, and Buengeler, 2016, 98). As a manager, I should ensure that I get support from my team and my coach in setting goals so that I can improve my competence.

Values

My goals and strategies are to facilitate communication, motivate my workers, proper planning and tracking progress. As a leader, I have to enhance communication with my teams so that I can be able to deal with the leadership challenge. Communication is essential because it eliminates problems which may arise such as defects and increased production time. I also plan to motivate workers to ensure that the group works towards achieving a common goal. I can reflect on my personalities and consider involving my subordinates in the setting of goals (Christensen, Mackey, and Whetten, 2014, 164). Employees also feel motivated when they are given the required resources such as assistance, information, and materials. Another strategy to employ is proper planning to help me in the achievement of my goals. I can plan adequately by involving my followers in brainstorming sessions so that I can be able to align my thoughts with those of the group. I can even delegate the responsibilities to workers according to their talents and skills.

My last goal is tracking the progress of my goals. Leaders have to monitor the progress of their projects and every team member so that they can measure the success of their projects. It is always important to evaluate the success of an organization at different stages of the plan to make sure that the goal is achieved within the required budget and time. Tracking the aim also helps in making sure that employees are doing the right thing (Grossman, and Valiga, 2016, 2). Every leader would like a goal which is linked to their reflections and leadership challenge. The goal should be able to solve the problems which are experienced by the leader in his or her daily activities. The goals set should also pass the SMART test to make sure that they are easily achieved and at the desired time frame.   

Theoretical and practical justifications of goals to leadership outcomes

The goals and the results of a target depending on the leadership style applied by a leader. All the techniques used in leadership refer to particular social behaviors, and this also determines the leadership outcomes. There are many theories which try to explain the practice and concept of leadership. I will give an overview of some of the commonly known assumptions to help me in providing justifications of goals to leadership outcomes. Most of these theories will view the administration as based regarding specific behaviors, a combination of particular characteristics or traits and as a relationship or a process. Most theorists believe that leadership involves the influence of a certain group to achieve a set of goals. Management is a process which is complex and dynamic, but some theories tend to simplify these processes (Schriesheim et al., 2009, 21). I will provide an overview of leadership theories so that I can get practical justifications of goal outcomes in leadership.

Leadership Practices

One of the theories is the trait theory which suggests that leaders have some inherited qualities lie cognitive ability and personality which underlies effective administration. Researchers argue that leaders are born intelligent, social, and determined. The other theory is the skills theory which suggests that leadership is acquired through acquired skills and learned knowledge. Skills theory does not connect inherited traits with governance. The assumption suggests that acquired knowledge, developed styles, and learned skills determine the leadership traits. A leader who has adequate training in management will always have the desired skills to lead people and communicate on the set goals. Then we have a situational theory which argues that the leadership style depends on the present situation. For the leader to make good decisions, he or she should have the ability to adapt to different environments (Jung, 2011, 186). The next theory is the contingency theory which suggests that the effectiveness of a leader is dependent on how the style used by a leader matches a particular situation or setting.

Another assumption is the transformational theory which suggests that the administration is a process where leaders connect with their subordinates and create a connection which increases morality and motivation. Transformational approach espouses leaders as extroversion, confident and also have their values which help them to motivate their followers. Lastly, I will look at Path-goal theory which talks about the way managers motivate their followers so that they can achieve some set objectives. The theory postulates that leaders have the potential to enhance the motivation of subordinates by removing obstacles and giving a clarification on the paths to be followed. Leaders believe that their performance and their efforts will help them in achieving their desired results. Path-goal theory focusses on how managers motivate their followers so that they can attain their set goals. The main aim of this assumption is to improve the satisfaction of followers and employees performance by focusing on motivation. Path-goal theory stresses the relationship between a leader and the follower. The leader can motivate workers to work towards a common goal by providing relevant resources and information to the employee.

Comments

Choosing the appropriate style of leadership can improve the expectation of followers, and this increases satisfaction and the success of a leader. According to the information provided in this paper, it is evident that leaders are born with some traits, but some acquire the habits through learning. It is evident that all these theories stress on the motivation of employees to achieve the success of an organization. However, there are some factors which determine how the leader behaves, such as the behavior of employees. Some workers who authoritarians and dogmatic will require a directive leadership due to the provision of task clarity and a psychological structure.  All these theories have different suggestions on how leaders evolve and different strategies used by leaders. But it is important to note that the arguments can determine the outcomes of a goal (Lee, 2010, 744). For instance, transactional leadership is preoccupied with position and power, perks and politics while transformational leadership is preoccupied with values and purposes, ethics and morals. It will, therefore, be more comfortable to achieve the goals of a company using the transformational leadership than transactional leadership.

Multiple Goals and Strategies to Improve Leadership Competence

Conclusion

The paper has a discussion on self-analysis as a leader which is very important for any leader. Leaders must lead their followers well by giving them the required motivation so that the organization can improve its performance. But to improve the performance of a company, leaders need to have a goal which will guide them. Leaders should also have the desired qualities such as enhanced communication so that they can be able to communicate their intentions to workers in an understandable manner. Leaders should also have a vision and a mission statement to understand their purpose and to predict what is expected of them in the future. I would like to become a better leader by applying the best leadership style so that I can deliver the best to my followers and my organization. 

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