Real Life Leadership Role Incident

LEADERSHIP
Name
Course
Professor
Institution
Due Date
Leadership
Part 1
In 2019, I was a member of a committee in church that organized a group trip for 30 members of the youth church to travel from Lagos, Nigeria to South Africa. The aim of this trip was to evangelize and spread the word of God to the underprivileged youth in the local community of Soweto in South Africa. As the youth church, we have always felt the need to spread our sphere of influence far and beyond, and this was a perfect opportunity for us to meet this particular goal. Many members of the youth church volunteered in different ways to be a part of the program, and we were able to meet the expectations of the trip. While in the trip, it felt like everyone was in the right place at the right time because everyone took part in the activities and at times, it felt a tad lighter to spearhead the mission. Our mission was quite expansive in that it entailed interacting with our target audience and make sure that they understand the purpose for which we are proclaiming the word of God. We had many interactions with the youth in Soweto, and got to hear a lot of inspiring stories that often moved us to tears. Saying that the trip was a success would be an understatement. For me, the trip was an eye-opening, fulfilling, and permanent experience that reminded me of my sole purpose on earth. I believe that everyone’s purpose is tied to touching lives. The focus for all humanity should be on making a life and not making a living, and this trip became a reminder for me that I need to continually give myself to being used of God and his purpose.
Why the Incident or Situation is Leadership
This particular experience was an introduction to leadership for me since during the trip I was put in charge of 15 younger students over the course of seven days. I believe that this was the first time that I was put in charge of many people and it proved to be a challenge and a period that allowed me to learn as I lead. As a leader of this group, there were expectations bestowed upon me that I had to fulfil and deliver a report on the group’s performance. For me, the entire experience was full of pitfalls and challenges that made the entire mission quite hectic for me. However, towards the end of the experience, I was happy to say that I got to learn and deliver on all the areas that I was expected to deliver.
While on the mission, one thing that became a constant throughout the period was the aspect of modeling the way for others. According to Kouzes and Posner (2003), one of the most important thing a leader must showcase is personal credibility. The position one holds as a leader does not guarantee one respect and reverence. However, these have to come from one’s ability to show that they can lead, and not the fact that they have been given a position. Kouzes and Posner (2003, p. 1) note that leaders “model the way by finding their voice and setting an example.” Therefore, as a leader, one must find a way to lead by example. While at the mission, I started by giving out instructions to my team hoping that they will follow as instructed. Every morning, we were given instructions as leaders and expected to channel the same to our teams. However, many of us experienced a lot of challenges because we expected the teams we were leading to follow the instructions given. In my mind, we were doing God’s work, and therefore, there wasn’t much instructions needed other than the fact that we were doing what God asked us to do in Mathew 28:18-20 (New International Version Bible, 2011). However, every leader realized that it took more than simply issuing instructions for the team members to align with what we were expected to deliver. For me, it took the approach of me going out and doing what we had been asked to do, and modeling the way for the team members to start doing the same. In doing this, I was communicating to my team albeit non-verbally. As Sharma and Jain (2013) indicate, leaders lead through two-way communication. The researchers continue to indicate that when a leader models the way for their followers by doing whichever task there is to do, they send a message that they are willing to do anything for the team. This communication is key, and I can attest that it helped me to inspire action from my team during the mission to South Africa.
Leading young students can be a major problem if one is not willing to be patient and follow through everything that is happening. Throughout the trip, I learned what it meant to be a servant leader. In the Bible and in Church, it is often taught that Jesus was a servant leader. From the Bible, several examples are given starting with the time Jesus Christ washed the feet of his disciples to him coming down on earth and winning souls for God while forfeiting his position. In Philippians Chapter 2, the Bible speaks of Jesus being in the very nature as God and having to let go of all that to come to earth to take the shame of dying on a cross. From these examples, Jesus did indeed make himself the least and managed to empower those around him so that they were able to do more than he did during his time on earth. While in the mission, I this particular aspect of leadership became increasingly evident. Jesus focused on those around him and did everything that he asked his disciples to do first. During my leadership tenure, I had to learn how to be a servant leader, and empower everyone in the team so they could go out and do what we were expected to do. According to Spears (2005), a servant-leader has to be a servant first. One must take leadership as a service and not as a privilege. Further, Spears continues to note that one must inspire those around to grow as individuals and to embrace the aspect of serving. In the entire time that we were in South Africa, I felt like my group grew to levels I had not seen before. I saw them follow me into evangelizing and even teaching each other the right approach. We would have discussions every evening where we would compare notes, and encourage each other while sharing the approaches that worked and the ones that did not. For me, I felt like we achieved what we set out to do. Langhof and Guldenberg (2020) note that servant leadership seeks to develop and benefit the followers, and in this trip, I felt that my team did grow.
Assessment of People’s Behaviors and their Impact on Leadership Effectiveness
Every approach to leadership attracts supporters and dissenters, and my leadership attracted an equal share of the same. One of the things that worked to my advantage was the fact that the trip was an evangelism trip, and therefore, people were naturally calm rather than the usual rowdy and rebellious nature of young people. I felt like this worked greatly, and helped ensure that all the leaders had a relatively easier time while leading their groups. For me, the team was incredibly in tune with what we were expected to achieve throughout the time. It felt like everyone knew what were expected to do and achieve at the end of the trip, and they remained positive and committed to the same. I felt like the mission and vision of the trip was communicated well enough, and the fact that we reiterated it every morning, meant that everyone was well aware of our goal. Cartwright and Baldwin (2007) offer some advice here noting that leadership must ensure that every communication offered is made to seem like their most important attempt at having people understand their vision. For the people to respond the way they did, I believe that the communication and emphasis on the vision proved successful.
Aside from the above, there were also people who volunteered to help make it easier to run the team. Some friends decided to be part of the leadership team by voluntary means. These individuals would coordinate their friends and inspire action whenever it felt like communication was breaking down. These individuals showcased great transformational leadership skills through their quest to motivate and move their friends to act. According to Garcia-Morales et al. (2008), transformational leaders help to enhance the performance of individuals, and this positively lead to higher organizational performance. I saw the voluntary leaders propel the group forward as they saw the potential in some members and pushed them to do better. In the end, I got to learn a lot from this crop of individuals who made the work of leaders much easier. It became clear to me that leadership is not limited to one’s position but one’s commitment to the vision and mission set out for them.
However, as is always the case there were individuals who made things difficult and impacted the effectiveness of my leadership at the time. Visiting a new country is exciting, and people want to visit places and interact with the natives. Well, while in South Africa, some students who were part of my team would wander off out of curiosity every day. This presented a major challenge for me because I was in charge of their safety while in S...