LEADERSHIP STYLES AND SKILLS

Leadership skills may be natural or learned. Each is demonstrated through various leadership styles that suit a leader’s personality (Simic, Ristic, Milosevic, and Ristic, 2017, 196). My leadership skill reveals through democratic and coaching leadership styles. Both match my voice and personal approach to projects, teams, and people. Notably, Lipley (2004, 4) explains that a mix of two or more leadership styles is the best. In democratic and coaching, I have learned essential skills such as team building and collaboration, patience, reliability, active listening, honesty, positivity, and conflict resolution.

I appreciate the democratic leadership style, which allows teams and subordinates may take part in relevant decision making and contribute their suggestions (Cherry, 2020, par 1-2). Allowing the views of team members on the decision-making table enhances their feeling of inclusion. They tend to own the plan or project, which in turn leads to better performance (Baxter, 2017, par 17). Besides, democratic leadership facilitates the free flow of information, keeping all employees up to date. Such communication helps in the synthesis of information and details concerning projects. Besides, I love the power of positive change as is inherent in coaching leadership style. Through coaching, I impact the skills and knowledge I have on others. I have helped friends, teams, and colleagues, to grow and learn in various environments, such as organizations and sports through coaching.

However, I am challenged by the democratic style when decision making ought to be quick since not all members have a swift reaction time. Also, coaching is challenging when a member is defiant, or a coach is out of new skills (Gallo, 2015, 1). Therefore, I am excited by the opportunity to join the leadership program, where I will strengthen my leadership styles and increase the resilience of my skills. That way, I will combat challenges in leadership to lead teams, organizations, and the nation to succeed.

Bibliography

Baxter, R., 2017. Developing High-Performing Teams – Operational Excellence Society. [online] Operational Excellence Society. Available at: <https://opexsociety.or

g/body-of-knowledge/developing-high-performing-teams/> [Accessed 24 April 2020].

Cherry, K., 2020. Is Democratic Leadership The Best Style Of Leadership?. [online] Verywell Mind. Available at: <https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-democratic-leadership-2795315> [Accessed 24 April 2020].

Gallo, A., 2015. Overcoming The Toughest Common Coaching Challenges. [online] Harvard Business Review. Available at: <https://hbr.org/2015/04/overcoming-the-toughest-common-coaching-challenges> [Accessed 24 April 2020].

Lipley, N., 2004. Mix of leadership styles is best. Nursing Management, 10(9), pp.4-4.

Simic, J., Ristic, M., Milosevic, T. and Ristic, D., 2017. The Relationship Between Personality Traits and Managers` Leadership Styles. European Journal of Social Sciences Education and Research, 11(2), p.194.