LEADERSHIP IN REFLECTION

Everyday forces you to learn something new. There were a couple of learning points at the end of the day. But how do I know the actions that are required to build on the learnings? It comes from reflection. Taking the feedback from your group members is really important in order to know how to adjust the leadership style. In a multi-cultural group, there might be different expectations from different people. As a leader, expect all to have different in opinions. All the members might not have a same style of working or might not be on the same page as you. It is very necessary to then reflect on your actions and try to improve them. This is not the first time in my life that I have received a very conflicting view on the way I should lead a team. My way is to expect the same amount of seriousness and commitment from the team members. But sometimes due to different personalities and cultures my team expects different things from me. Maybe they want their own space or they do not want to be convinced on what are my opinions. So what do I do as a leader? The first step I have established right now is to reflect. Reflect on your actions. Reflect on the impact that your actions are having on the group. Reflect on what are the necessary things to be done in order to achieve the goal. There might be instances where certain actions are necessary, and application of those actions might not make you a likeable personality. But the questions that a leader really needs to ask themselves while reflecting are that, Do I really want to be liked? Or do I really want to be respected? How do I manage the expectations of my group?

The point to consider here is that, when you as a leader have different expectations from what your group thinks, you as a leader have a different definition of "Right thing to do" in your dictionary. It might not be something very right in someone else's dictionary. Reflection will help to identify the necessary actions to be taken. If a leader can take feedback from the team, then they will be able to act better and develop the correct definition of "Doing the right thing".

To summarize, here is something that I have learned which can be applied differently in my leadership experiences -" The feedback mechanism is necessary to see your direction as a leader. The reflection will help you to keep on updating and improving your actions which will lead to a better end result." I am looking forward to explore more on managing people expectations and defining the right thing while leading, because I recognize that I cannot expect the same level of motivation from everyone because it is something that lies under individual's jurisdiction.

Saurabh Kukreja : 16 Jan 2019 01:22 |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem