Essay: Innovative Leadership – what it takes to be an effective leader

According to Landis and Harvey, “great leaders were important in the development of civilized societies.” Why do we need leaders? One of the reasons is simply because “leaders  keep individuals focused on a common goal, provide direction and motivate others, to help assign meaning to tasks, and to provide an example for others to follow.” (Nahavandi, A., 2015).
This week, we learnt about leaders and what it takes to be an effective leader in Innovative Leadership. We became aware that each individual has different strengths and weaknesses, and there will be many obstacles for us to tackle as we learn how to excel in leadership positions. We also learnt how to differentiate between leadership roles and management roles. Knowning the difference between the roles and understanding how, with our personal leadership assessment results, to be the most successful leaders we can be.
Robert M. Galford and Regina Fazio Maruca (2011) wrote a book titled Your Leadership Legacy to help managers and leaders become better at their performance in the workforce and assist them to positively impact their employees. Galford and Maruca created an online survey -The Leadership Legacy Assessment, to assist managers and leaders determine what specifically their leadership style is, and to advise on what to do after one knows what their leadership style is in order to improve their performance. When I took the assessment, I felt my scores were quite accurate. I have always considered myself to be a good leader when given the opportunity and my scores prove that. Galford and Maruca demonstrated examples and explanations for six different types of leaders: ambassadors, advocates, people movers, truth-seekers, creative builders, and experienced guides; I scored very high in each listed category.
The first two types of leadership characteristics that I earned the lowest scores are People mover and Truth-Seeker, in both of these I still had high scores with 21 out of 25 points. Carrying qualities of people movers means that I tend to be the “mother” of the group. I place high value on positive career relationships. These characteristic shares similarities with truth-seeking. My Truth Seeking qualities are mainly found in my desire for everyone to get an equal voice. I often try to get to the heart of most problems. I truly believe these are qualities that are just roles of leaders and not that of managers. Managers are tasked more with networking and improving numbers. Being a People Mover means worrying about the people earning those numbers and also about protecting them.
With scores ranking at 22 out of 25, the next two types of characteristics I have are those of ambassadors and creative builder. I am always the one who is trying to end a conflict. I try to help suggesting with compromises that will make as many people happy as possible. Which makes knot into wanting to try new things as an example of creative building. I work very carefully and thoroughly with my manager to help creating new policies or procedures to help boosting the operations of our location. I think that carrying these traits will help me be good at gaining trust from employees by being that ambassador that helps explain the need for changes and makes people feel more comfortable with new policies.
My highest scores were in being an experienced guide, 23 out of 25 points, and advocacy, 24 out of 25 points. I was a bit surprised earning such high scores in being and experienced guide. I do not have many years of experience in any field so it felt a little incorrect. When reading and getting a better understanding of the definition, I realized it may not be too far “off.” I am a drama therapist in my department. Everyday I’ve got another person laying their life story out at my feet and asking for advice. I really enjoyed the description in the results that said, “The person, outside of the family, who knew (and kept) all the family secrets, and was often sought for advice” (Galford, Maruca, 2011). I am that person who knows all the secrets, but no one expects to. People just naturally open up to me. My advocacy results were not surprising at all. I’m always acting as a spokesperson in meetings and I’m constantly suggesting ideas to make employees happy and help improve the business.
Differentiate between leadership and management
Learning the differences in management roles and leadership roles is essential. It is the only way to make sure one is utilizing their leadership skills appropriately. Not all events call for a leader, some require management skills instead. Michael Maccoby states, “…managers are principally administrators—they write business plans, set budgets, and monitor progress. Leaders on the other hand, get organization, and people to change” (2000. p. 57). Change is very needed in the growth of every business. Change is what keeps business going for decades. Without the managers to watch the numbers and propose with new moves for the company, then there would be no need for leaders to motivate the employees. Managers and leaders should closely work together to excel a business. Based on my Leadership Legacy Assessment scores, I certainly believe that I have the necessary traits to become a great leader.