Course 4. Foundational Leadership Principles: (Discussion #2) Learning Leadership Skills

1. Are leaders born or made?

I've heard both that leaders are born as well as self made. There is somuch to a person like the experiences, socio-economic conditions, education, exposure that makes one a leader. So i think leaders are made!!

2. Identify 3 skills that you need to work upon?

Emotions / Handling stress / Priotising things between those that are important but not urgent and those that are urgent but not important

3. Imagine, you are a project lead and there is a conflict among your team members over responsibility share. As a leader, how will you approach the situation to resolve the concern?

Firstly communicate and ensure things don't escalate. Try to resolve things between the concerned people and intervene only if necessary. Guide them to not take too much or little work so that nither person is not under working or overworking.

4. Please reply to 3 of your peers in the thread!

1. Are leaders born or made?

I searched this up a bit, and it did mention that psychologists found that 1/3 are born and 2/3 are made (Source). I am going to first start of with the born idea of being a leader. I think most of us have met people that are just naturally confident, especially those at a young age. It really is their words, their manner of speaking that really catches on to us and we often might think that they would make an excellent leader. Part of it stems from biology; confident parents often have confident children although it may also be due to the way they are raised in such a family. I am sure that there are other studies in specific about adoptive children, whose genetics are those of leaders. Nevertheless, the main factor of being a leader is really the environment; the socioeconomic status we are born into, the opportunities we are given, the people we are around, how we are raised, how others treat us, and a lot of other factors.

2. Identify 3 skills that you need to work upon?

• Confidence: Or more of lack of. I am the kind of person that is kind of insecure and almost always overthink. I don't think I express in any way that I overthink almost everything, but it is a pretty not-that-good-trait. Because of these things, I really need to work on boosting my confidence with my skills and everything else.
• Not being too flexible: I pride myself for being flexible, but recently, I realized being too flexible is not good, especially as a leader when there is a point where guidelines and things won't be accomplished effectively if I were to be flexible.
• Do not be too empathetic: Being empathetic is a good thing in most senses; however, I am the kind of person that is a bit too empathetic and let's things go if it is not done well/not done at all and the person has a reasonable excuse. It really gets nowhere with too much empathy. For example, someone might not have completed something on the agreed deadline but mentioned they had school exams, and I am the kind of person that would be like it is alright since exams are super important. However, after some reflection, I realized that I really have to be firm about these things and not be as empathetic because they should have prioritized this task as well.

3. Imagine, you are a project lead and there is a conflict among your team members over responsibility share. As a leader, how will you approach the situation to resolve the concern?

1. Take a look at both sides. Most of the time, both members all have their reasoning that is almost always, well, reasonable. This is a time when we want to analyze the situation, understand what exactly is going on, and empathize.
2. If it is a conflict visible in the forum, I find that sticking with a particular way to write out the forum is pretty good. I would first start off with an overall statement of the whole situation, list out the reasoning behind both sides and team members, emphasize the goals and visions we have as a team, find a compromise that might be viable (that could be more towards one side or not, depending on the situation), state the reasoning behind it, and most importantly, ask how the team members think about the approach.
3. If someone disagrees, we could always brainstorm together, and find something that works out for all of us. It is critical that each team member understands the reason behind the ending decision on responsibility share as we want everyone to work the best they can and not to feel frustrated and unheard of at any point.
4. If needed, sending out private messages to get the feel of the conflict might be beneficial too!

1: Leaders are made through education, experience, and obversation. We as people can grow into roles as we learn to do things and lead other people.

2: Communication, management, and trust.

3: I would sit them down seprately and talk about the issues with them each so that I can hear their side of the story. From there I would have them talk together to come up with a solution together so that we can come to an understanding of what is going on.

@Heather225

1. Although certain people are born with leadership skills, those skills can also be lost or acquired through environmental influences and latter learning, therefore leaders are mostly made.

2. Assertiveness, communication, confidence.

3. I would take a look at the different skills of each of my team members, then talk to them individually.

@Heather225

1. Are leaders born or made?

Leaders are made and can continuosly improve by working on new skills and progressing with skills they already have.

2. Identify 3 skills that you need to work upon?

Conflict reolution, decision making, adaptability.

3. Imagine, you are a project lead and there is a conflict among your team members over responsibility share. As a leader, how will you approach the situation to resolve the concern?

I would listen to everyones ideas and concerns to make sure that I know exactly what it is that is causing conflict with responsibility share. I would then help everyone come to a solution that we can all agree (and compromise!) on so that everyone has something to do.

1. Are leaders born or made?

Both, some people are naturally born with traits that help with leadership. Skills need to be learned regardless of the personality traits one has, some really struggle with it whereas for others they fit well wieht their natural strengths.

2. Identify 3 skills that you need to work upon?

Technology, I'm not up to date on a lot of fairly common software

Patience

Flexibility

3. Imagine, you are a project lead and there is a conflict among your team members over responsibility share. As a leader, how will you approach the situation to resolve the concern?

- Determine the issue, sometimes it can just be that a description or something of that nature wasn't clear that's independent of the team members. If it's not something simple like that to sort out, give the various team members time to speak. Acknowledge what people have said. Problem solve, including the others as much as possible in the process.

1. Are leaders born or made?

- Leaders are made. Leadership is a skill that is not always born with. It can be learnt and practised.

2. Identify 3 skills that you need to work upon?

- (i) Stress management, (ii) Accuracy, (iii) Decision making

3. Imagine, you are a project lead and there is a conflict among your team members over responsibility share. As a leader, how will you approach the situation to resolve the concern?

- First, I would speak to the team to understand what is the challenge or what is it that is causing them to behave this way. May be the task is too complicated or has some flaws in them which is why it is being pushed away by them. If so, then I'll try to do a brainstorming session if necessary to find out how to make the process simpler and more meaningful. Second, if I see the task is not adding value to the team members or is too boring, I will try to explain to the team the importance of maintaining a smooth basic process, because if the basics start falling and disintegrating then the whole system will fall. I would try to make them feel proud to take up responsibilities of such tasks that doesn't look too exciting but without it the whole system crashes. So they are superheroes in their own way. Thirdly, if I see that the issue is because of personal ego or personal rudges and conflicts, then I will try to address that to some level till the time I can see it working. If not, I will try to remember, it is not possible to change the mindset of everyone. The tasks needs to get done in time. Any will issue can be addressed later through one to one conversation. There may be n number of other reasons behind a conflict. The resolution would change accordingly.

Are leaders born or made? Leadership qualities can be inborn but leaders are made by cultivating skills and confidence

2. Identify 3 skills that you need to work upon?

Communication, positivity, managing anger/stress

3. Imagine, you are a project lead and there is a conflict among your team members over responsibility share. As a leader, how will you approach the situation to resolve the concern?

Look at both sides of the argument and try to communicate and figure out each perspective. Try to guide them towards their own resolutions and contribute towards peaceful interactions. Come up with a compromise and a way to work together for the future

@Heather225

1. Are leaders born or made?

Leaders are made, not born. Experiences shape a person and that's how we acquire skills.

2. Identify 3 skills that you need to work upon?

Being assertive, delegation, confidence

3. Imagine, you are a project lead and there is a conflict among your team members over responsibility share. As a leader, how will you approach the situation to resolve the concern?

For any conflict to be resolved, communication is important. So, the first step would be to make sure that we as a group communicate with each other. Then, finding the root of the issue would be a good idea. Each issue must be tackled with the project goal and ethics in mind.

1. Are leaders born or made?

Like everything else in life, there are some things within people that are 'natural' and some things that are 'learnt'. When a person decides that 'pottery' is their profession, are they born with it or have they learnt it? If the act of pottery touches their soul, and then they learn the steps to make pots, then they were both born with it as well as learnt the steps. Leadership is very similar.

Some basics come naturally to some people, and some steps are learnt. In leadership, the basic act of taking initiative, believing in the aspiration/goal and making others believe in it, and then having the intellect to take steps towards the goal and carry teams with you, these are 'natural' abilities. The actual steps towards a goal, the communication skills, the listening skills can all be learnt. So it will always be a combination of what one is born with plus the additional skills one can learn.

2. Identify 3 skills that you need to work upon?

Stubbornness - Once I have a goal or aspiration, I am stubborn beyond belief. This helps sometimes, when people give up and I keep persisting, but sometimes it is simply logical to change the goal and not puts one's life in danger, for example.

Emotional involvement - when one take the emotional quotient out of a task or goal, one can think with a very clear mind about strategies, else judgement most certainly is either clouded or the cause of additional stress. I sometimes struggle on the thin line between 'caring about the goal' and 'not getting so emotionally involved that it clouds judgement'.

Patience - One of the key things I have learnt in leadership over the years is that each team member has their own speed. A leader may sometimes think full speed and move ahead, but carrying each member of the team is extremely important in leadership. If you reach the goal, but half your team is left behind, then even though the goal is achieved, leadership is not achieved, and the 'intent' or 'meaning' in the goal becomes diluted, as you have failed to provide leadership to those you have left behind.

3. Imagine, you are a project lead and there is a conflict among your team members over responsibility share. As a leader, how will you approach the situation to resolve the concern?

I would try to resolve this situation constructively, taking inputs from each member as to why they want responsibility in this case, and what they would bring to the table if they were given that responsibility. Once I have these inputs, I would make a decision, and also explain that decision to the team. I would then make a mental note to ensure that the person/people who did not get that responsibility are given something else of responsibility, so they do not harbor the feeling of 'having lost', as this is not a game, every task and every goal is important to the team and to each valued member of the team.

In a conflict resolution situation, being fair is very important, this can make or break a team or 'team spirit' in the real sense of the word.