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

Next step, below in the comments of this discussion, share
1. Are leaders born or made?

Leaders are made through a positive and unusual response to adversity.

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

Warmth, emotional intelligence, and tact.

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?
Ask for what each team member wants and fears - use collective intelligence to find the best possible solution.

1. Are leaders born or made?

Leaders are mostly made. People are born with natural potentials, but everyone still has to train, gain experience, and hone their skills in order to actualize that potential. And people who don't feel like they are "naturally" good at leadership are able to learn or become more comfortable with it over time.

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

Of the skills listed in the original post, I feel like the three I probably am worst at would be:

Resilience - being able to not feel too shaken or personally affected if something goes wrong

Adaptability - I've noticed that sometimes an initial plan will be very well fleshed out, but something will occur that requires revamping the entire thing. Something I hope to learn from experience is to be able to sense/anticipate how much work is actually useful at different stages of a project. (Like, maybe early on just start with a sketch, wait for everything to get ruined and change directions multiple times, and only start making definite plans or meticulously sculpting details once the dust has settled.)

Clear vision - I have a tendency to sometimes get very fascinated by details that are genuinely interesting and enjoyable but for which the effort and attention don't necessary have a good "return on investment" (i.e. I might spend hours working on perfecting something that is really a very small detail that doesn't matter very much in the grand scheme).

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'm going to assume that the "responsibility share" problem is that two people are working on a team together and one of them feels like they're doing an unfair/excessive amount while the other person isn't carrying their weight or doing enough.

Something I'd try very much to do is to understand and empathize with both sides, but especially the person who has raised the concern.

I'd check whether there are any existing/agreed-upon standards or rules that can serve as an objective benchmark for what is acceptable or not.

If someone is not meeting the standards, then I'd point this out but then try to approach it with empathy as a challenge to be figured out together with that person and try to come up with a solution.

If everyone is meeting the standards or no standard exists, then I'd try to encourage open discussion and invite everyone to share what their thoughts/feelings are about the situation. And again, it would just become an interesting problem that is understandably difficult (and so possible to empathize with and be compassionate about) where we want to see if we're able to come up with a solution that feels comfortable/workable.

@Heather225

1. Are leaders born or made?

Some are born leaders and some are made. People who are born with the ability, underlying leadership skills as well as the ambition of being a leader are the born ones who do not require too much training but with just basic learning - they excel in being a leader. Such people show leadership skills from their childhood itself.

People who have little or no skills or show zero interest related to leadership but they have to become a leader - either due to some requirement or maybe because of their interest that they develop in the later stage of life are the made leaders. They might require intensive training & knowledge.

​​​​

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

Numeracy Skill

Emotion Regulation Skill

Presentation Skill

I have all these skills but like I said there is always room for improvement. Therefore, I believe in improving myself with each passing day.

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 like to talk to each one of them separately to understand their perspective individually. Also, to learn what exactly caused the problem. Later, I would propose they all have a meeting with me where they all would get a chance to talk about their viewpoint over shared responsibility so that we all could come to a final decision regarding the same.

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

Done

@Heather225

1. Are leaders born or made?

I believe everyone is a born leader. At the least, we’re a leader to ourselves. The quality is a different story. A good and skilled leader is made, a result of a continuous circle of learning, training, doing, and failing.

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

stick to priority scale, problem-solving, clear vision

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?

Observe the situation - identify what’s the issue/s with responsibility share that resulted in a conflict

Prepare/ list some possible alternatives solutions.

Call up a team meeting to brainstorm the alternatives solutions to come up with an agreed solution.

1. Are leaders born or made?

They are made, people can learn how to be leaders, one step at time and the willingness and desire to learn to lead.

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

I would like to work on having less self-doubt, being able to balance having warmth and expectations, and not waiting to have crucial conversations.

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 schedule a meeting and ask everyone to discuss what they see the issue/s are and what ideas they have to resolve the issue. Ask people to discuss what needs to be done, how to divide it fairly. Would also be good at discussing people’s strengths and who would be best to tackle what task due to the persons strengths.

@Heather225

1. Are leaders born or made? They are made. Anyone can work on the skills needed to be a leader to become a leader. Some people might more naturally feel comfortable in a leadership position and not everyone wants to be a leader, but it is possible for anyone to be a successful leader.

2. Identify 3 skills that you need to work upon? Decision-making is probably the biggest one from the list, definitely need to improve on that. Communication is another one that I'm sure I could improve on. Possibly adaptability as well, I can adjust decently, but it definitely throws me off emotionally which I think I need to work on.

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 chat with everyone to see where their points of view came into play and see why the conflict had been made into something so large. I might talk to everyone separately first to get them all in a calm state and then organise a group meeting so we could talk out the issue. In said meeting, I'd try to get them to come up with some sort of solution that would work best for everyone.

1. Are leaders born or made?

Leaders are definitely made as leadership qualities can be acquired by constantly learning and improving on the skills that we already have!

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

-Decision-making

-Patience

-Communication

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 call a team meeting and discuss the matter with team members. I would also encourage them and ask for their perspectives and solutions so that everyone gets a chance to speak.

1 I think some people are born leader and some people it takes time to learn how to be a leader.

2. I need to work on how I handle things with conflict comes up. I need to work on recognizing when I need to take self care. I need to be able to get out of my comfort zone more.

3 I would call a t team to first to let people know what is required of them. I would also let the other team mates tell what going on so we can get to root of problem so we can fix it.

1 one thing would be recognizing when need self care. It happens when somethings goes wrong or feel overstimulated. Or overwhelmed it hard me to recognizei need self care.

@Heather225

.........

1. Are leaders born or made?

I think that leaders are made. Leaders are shaped into who they become.

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

i) Time management skills

ii) Communication skills

iii)Recognising when a self-care break is needed

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 make sure that I get everyone point of views before sitting them all together and discussing the issue.

.........