Leadership Development Plan

Developing Leadership Competencies: A Comprehensive Approach Your name Subject and section Professor’s name Date Introduction Management is an unstable and complex activity that plays a crucial role in the effectiveness and the ability to function in organizations. It comprises numerous behaviors, skills, and modes, all of which are mutually essential in leading teams, attaining objectives, and promoting creativity. For clarity, the key leadership competencies explored in this paper include; participative leadership, coaching, employee empowerment, contingency models, and approaches to leadership that foster innovation (Amiri et al., 2020; Fischer & Sitkin, 2023; Vu, 2020). In reviewing these areas, their purpose is defined as seeking out the behaviors, skills, and strategies that are most effective for leadership, and by so doing, using them to chart a course of self-improvement. The discussion material consists of the background knowledge of leadership theories and models of the Michigan University Leadership Model and the situational factor of leadership models relevant to organizational case studies. Reviews of other analyses of companies, including Apple and a farm machinery organization demonstrate the practical relevancy of these theories for leadership, as well as show the strengths and weaknesses of their practical application. However, synthesizing these approaches, this paper evaluates both, the strengths and the limitations of the various leadership styles. Also, it creates a personal leadership action plan for guiding influence strategies, relevant to career-long leadership positions. Leadership Behavior and Leadership Styles Participative Leadership Tasks refer particularly to the democratic type of leadership where the leader involves subordinates in decision-making, which is well known for increasing staff motivation and organizational devotion. In the approach to leadership used in this manner, leaders encourage team participation in contributing to the decision-making processes (Khassawneh & Elrehail, 2022; Wang et al., 2022). This style also complements the key ideas of the Michigan University Leadership Model that focuses on the concept of putting workers' interests as well as their career advancement. Particularly when considering Apple as an organization, participative leadership has been a strength as well as a weakness. With Tim Cook at the helm, the company has come out of its closet and is now striving for more openness than in the time of Steve Jobs. Although these changes have been rather profound, Apple's leadership still experiences some challenges in matters concerning fostering an organizational culture in the firm that will encourage employees to report any matter of concern without being retaliated against. This goes to show that, therefore, while encouraging participative leadership, the participants should be appropriately briefed, and that some measures for handling conflict should be provided. On the other hand, from the case analysis of a firm specializing in the production of farm machinery, the managing director promoted participative leadership whereby he involved employees in organizational processes and motivated them to forward ideas on ways of improving production processes and service delivery. The integration brought about trust and synergism thus improving the team's cohesiveness and work problem-solving methods. However, according to the Michigan University Leadership Model, there is a danger of overemphasizing participative leadership to the neglect of structural and technical aspects of organizations implying that while participative leadership is good, structures and technical requirements must also be met to achieve organizational goals. Coaching and Empowerment Both coaching and empowering should form part of leadership practices as they help foster employee growth. Coaching is the offering of advice, helpful feedback, and the opportunity to learn by doing, while empowering colleagues' self-directing abilities as well as the chance to decide their work (Al Hilali et al., 2020; Susanto & Sawitri, 2022). Coaching has also been identified at Apple’s leadership level especially as the organization seeks to build the right human capital. Employees who work for Apple’s managers are expected to offer feedback constructively and offer chances for self-improvement including the more advanced training programs. Nevertheless, barriers still exist when it comes to integrating best practices of coaching in the behavior of a company, especially in relation to promoting a more supportive attitude when it is pressed for time and decision-making tends to be highly centralized. The case of coaching in managing director of a farm machinery company is a good example of how to develop employees on how they can perform better and giving them feedback often. The director encouraged employees to positively develop the agency through learning and innovations that contributed to the company’s success. Not only did it improve each person’s and the team’s efficiency, but also improved employees’ commitment and engagement. However, the director received difficulties in providing the employees with more autonomy without being less responsible, let alone the significance of aiming at and defining clear objectives and standards for measuring their performance. Contingency models of leadership means situations and circumstances that come with management, leadership tasks, and decision-making processes. The contingency approach to leadership entails the leadership to be adaptive in relation to circumstances that prevail in an organization with regard to the dynamics of the team, the strategic organizational goals, and some pressures from the outside world. The nature of these models dictates that no single set of leadership behaviors work for all situations and leaders must select appropriate ways of behaving based upon the circumstances of the groups and organizations they lead. Thus, the situational leadership framework proves the ideas on the variability of the leadership approaches. For instance, a period sometimes requires a task emphasis to achieve the set standard, and an individual focus may be appropriate in creating employee morale or even when carrying out an organizational culture activity. The managing director of the farm machinery company therefore used both the participative and the task approach in leadership where he or she encouraged a positive organizational culture as well as the achievement of operation goals and objectives. The contingency leadership principles must have been in operation when Steve Jobs handed over the reins to Tim Cook at Apple. Jobs has been more focused on imagination and the creative leadership part which has encouraged invention, while Cook has been more focused on operation that help make Apples’ policies to be more transparent and participative. Both reflect the role of leadership for matching the character of organizations and their leaders to current conditions. However, recent examples from Apple of the company’s continuous problems with discrimination at workplaces and retaining talents suggest that contingency leadership should be supported with effective communication and conflict management frameworks. Tactics of Power and Influence: Organizing for Power Power in Organizations It is true to say that power is a core component of leadership that defines the pattern of leadership influence over the team and organizational performance. Moreover, power can be authoritative; however, leaders have to know how to combine it with care to achieve cooperation. However, when power is exploited people may suffer many outcomes including reduced commitment, productivity, and overall impaired organizational performance. Particularly, power relations in Apple organization have attracted criticism concerning the leadership styles in managing discrimination cases and other organizational issues, especially at the workspace or HR segment. Poor outcomes regarding the employee’s complaints have demoralized the systems while revealing the lack of leadership responsibility. These challenges justify the call for leaders to embrace ethical power strategies in their leadership styles in that their approach does not marginalize people. For instance, there may be a need to bring into HR practices at Apple transparent grievance procedures, as well as, training in handling power relations-related conflicts. In solving power relations at the farm machinery company, the managing director promoted participation to yield power. Also, the director encouraged employees to participate in the processes of decision-making and provided them with appreciation, which helped to develop actual ownership. This was done with an aim of improving team cooperation and organizational productivity to show the efficiency of ethical power strategies. However, the biggest issue in practicing teamwork is implementing assertiveness as a counterpoint to actually compromising with the employees too much might lead to a lack of timely decision-making. Influence Strategies Empower Your Employees Solving Processes Converting employees to partners in solving problems was one of the most effective influence strategies exercise delineated by the managing director of the farm machinery company. In this approach, the workforce was involved in challenging discovery, solution generation, and implementation of challenge-solving processes in the organization. Measures of inclusiveness not only realized cost savings that enhanced productivity but also engendered staff ownership of organizational objectives and targets (Diana et al., 2021; Kalogiannidis, 2020; Tierney, 2024). The director’s approach promoted the company employees’ engagement by empowering employees to produce valuable work. This also helped the organization to lay the groundwork of a sound structure that would help support the organization in the long run. Moreover, by choosing open discussion and valuing the opinion and knowledge of a team member, the managing director achieved real trust and mutual respect. This strategy helped to make employees better and produce more because they felt appreciated and wanted in the company. For instance, the workers were free to share their views when making group discussions or presenting ideas on how to enhance the customer relations services or even provide suggestions on how to improve various operational procedures. This close cooperative work not only help to increase the team identity but also allow constructing unique strategies that promote the company, placing it among the industry leaders. Sharing Power between Authority and Collaboration Power in organizations should be well-balanced between authority and collaboration. Managers and executives alike should keep business personnel and professionalism high while making sure everyone is heard and included. At the farm machinery company, the position of the managing director was to balance above by allowing workers to make inputs while at the same time, he had the final say on most decisions. This approach included the idea of making employees feel valued and appreciated on the company’s side while at the same time eliminating the issues that accompany extra consent decision-making processes. The Responsibility of Training in Pow...