Social influence on leadership styles

Leadership
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Introduction
Leadership is basically the social influence that one person can have over the rest in a bid to accomplish specific tasks that are common to the group. Whichever the school of thought, the bottom line is that some of the leadership skills have to be acquired and practiced over a long time and over different scenarios to master the edges. Different styles exist today as it’s evident with the several philosophies that can be realized from different leaders all over the world. There is not one shoe that fits all the feet, and the same case applies to the leadership styles. Different scenarios call for varying tactics in the leadership frontier. It is upon the leader to possess or acquire the ability to depict clearly which of the styles they need to use in the approach of the different scenarios to bring out the best results in the situation, after weighing out the positive and the negative aspects.
Leadership style assessment
Majority of the leaders do not have the full picture of how their decisions and leadership styles affect the kind of performance that the employees can deliver as well as the satisfaction that the said employees have from the leadership. Aspects such as the motivation, performance, attitude and the overall behaviour reflected from the employees, is directly linked to the style of leadership that they work with. The style of leadership at the workplace dictates the kind of working climate, peer relations and the growth opportunities employees are exposed to, which in turn alters the satisfaction and the performance.
Transformational leadership
Majority of the leaders in history have been transformational, from the times of Jesus to Bill Gates’. They span from business, political, military to religious. These are all the leaders that continually transform themselves and the world around them. Using their transformational abilities they turn around the dire situations in their specialty such as business and make the best out of it. When Steve Jobs came back to apple, it was on its knees but it sprang back to life, when he took over. Every leader is required to have qualities such as motivating the employees, cost tracking, planning and scheduling. These qualities are most crucial when an organisation is restructuring (Kramer, 2012). Close scrutiny of the lower rank employees such as the foremen may reveal one that has all this qualities as compared to the current manager. Due to his/her work style, communication and the goals orientation, the foreman then rises to the position of the president of operations.
Transactional leadership
While this is one of the oldest concepts of leadership, it is based on the give-to-get system, where the employees, are rewarded for their efforts. One of the main examples throughout history is that of a French general during the Second World War named Charles Andre Joseph Marie de Gaulle. Other than the general there was an American politician in 1947 as a senator and a republican, named Joseph Raymond McCarthy, who served until 1957 at the time of his death (Kozoduj, 2013).
Leadership Style Assessment & Jung Typology
According to the human metrics results from the Jung Typology Test, the score was at; sensing 12% introvert 22%, feeling 38%, and judging came in at 44%, while ISFJ are the four letters (University of Kent, 2013).
In the past, much of the style that I have used in my entire nursing practise has skewed towards the Laissez-faire. In most of the decisions that I have made in the past, I would let the staff that were under me decide but then I would take the responsibility. As such I would always be another team member to the group. After transferring to a new medical institution, all that does not seem to work as the staff that I have in my department are much sloppier, thus it is very hard to trust them with the crucial decisions. Jung Topology traits of a leader, who is participative, cuts out and influences the kind of a leader that I would aspire to be. Like Nelson Mandela would advocate, the decisions are run through the team for input, such that rather than pressuring the team to conform to my demands, they can make decisions with confidence. Respect will not be forced, but will develop from the kind of cordial relationship that I have with them.
Leadership Competency Development
My desire is to change my approach as the previous style of leadership is risky in this institution and may cost lives. Since it may take some time before the team can be fine-tuned to the best performance, I aspire to develop even further the participative style of leadership, where I seek out the team’s input but, I make the final decisions. Given the fact that my sense of judgement is quite high as indicated by the Jung Topology Test, this is going to be one of my most valued assets. In addition to the good judgement, I also have the ability to attach feeling to the work that I do. While I am much of an introvert, this will not hinder me from connecting with the team and as much as I will not take the centre stage, it will give the team members the space and chance to contribute to the decisions.
Some of the traits that will help acquire and strengthen this style of leadership and the competency that I want to develop, is that of teamwork, where everyone’s input is valued. There is also the aspect of value based goals and the consistency that comes with service delivery.
Summary
As a participative leader, it is crucial that the relationship with the staff is cordial. This way, the staffs learn to respect the decisions that are made as they all run by them, and their inputs are valued. Although this style of leadership cannot be applied to all the scenarios such as the patients’ emergencies it forms a good foundation for the staff to exploit their creativity and grow in their careers.
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