Course 4. Foundational Leadership Principles: (Discussion #2) Learning Leadership Skills
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Hello everyone,
Welcome back to the second discussion of the course!
John C Maxwell defines leadership as, a leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.
Effective Leadership starts with utilizing skills to guide your team. There are different research and studies that show that to be a good leader, one would require a blend of some key skills like communication, problem-solving, decision making, conflict resolution, clear vision, integrity, emotional intelligence, listening, empathy, adaptability, resilience, etc.
Behavioral Theories believe that people can become leaders through the process of teaching, learning, and observation. Leadership is a set of skills that can be learned by training, perception, practice, and experience over time. Leadership learning is a lifetime activity.
Everyone holds his fortune in his own hands, like a sculptor the raw material he will fashion into a figure. But it is the same with that type of artistic activity as with all others: we are merely born with the capability to do it. The skill to mold the material into what we want must be learned and attentively cultivated. -- J.W.V. Goethe
The same is true with leadership. You may or may not have all the required ingredients of becoming an effective leader. And, thats totally okay. You can acquire them by learning. Taking small steps every day. That is how one learns, practices, and masters skills.
Next step, below in the comments of this discussion, share
1. Are leaders born or made?
2. Identify 3 skills that you need to work upon?
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?
4. Please reply to 3 of your peers in the thread!
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@Heather225
1. Definitely leaders are made. By learning, observing, practicing and having experience helps them in growing to become a good leader.
2. 1) Problem solving
2) Clear vision
3) Focus on development of others
3. I would organize a special meeting to discuss about it. I would listen to everyone's thoughts, interests and perspectives. Everyone has different interests and choices. According to their interests and capabilities, I would provide them options to choose or moreover for same interests they can cooperate with each other.
@LovetoGod
i like your way of resolving the conflicts.
@shallowWater7547
Thank you. Wish you good luck for the program❤
@Heather225
1. Are leaders born or made?
Some people are born into leadership positions. That does not make them a leader. Leaders neither are made. A person has to go through certain self-development and then they become a leader.
2. Identify 3 skills that you need to work upon?
The balancing of work and leisure, handling duality, self-care
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?
Discuss the situation with them, find out solution and then delegate tasks.
4. Please reply to 3 of your peers in the thread!
Ok
@peacefulIris56
👍
I agree with you that a person has to go through certain self development then they become a leader.
Are leaders born or made?
Some were born to be leaders while others work hard on themselves to become one. But in both scenarios, leaders are always learning and improving.
Identify 3 skills that you need to work upon?
3 skills I need to work upon are:
- Communication - I’m very blunt and direct in my communication style. This can come off as me being harsh and possibly cold when I’m giving feedback.
- Decision making- I’m an over thinker and doubt myself too much. As a result of this, I become very indecisive and often rely on others to make difficult decisions for me.
- Boundaries - I’m known to be an overachiever and tend to over do things. So I will need to work on this to make sure I don’t burn out.
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. During the meeting, I will remind everyone that we’re here to work together not against each other because collaboration is crucial to moving forward. Then ask how the team can work together to get the task / project done, and work towards finding a solution in which everyone is involved and onboard with.
@richuyulin
nice answer 👍
collaboration is really the key to moving forward.
@Heather225
1. Are leaders born or made?
Leaders are made no one is a born leader leadership is a skill that needs to be worked upon and improved
2. Identify 3 skills that you need to work upon?
1)Communication
2) 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?
I think the best thing to do would be to talk about it take everyone's opinions into account and give the members responsibilities according to what work for them and their strengths
Every winner was once a loser who got up and gave it one more shot
@mamtasha22 Yes. I agree that leadership is something that is worked upon and improved. In those ways, it is also something that is earned.
@mamtasha22 I think that's a great way to help solve the conflict, mam! Really taking into account what works best for each team member.
I like it when badges and leadership positions are earned and then rewarded for being earned. I think that this is a great way to promote and implement leadership because then people are actually doing leadership work versus just going through the minimum academic steps and getting good grades.
@peacefulIris56
I agree, it is great when leadership positions are earned and you also tend to get rewards for it. It surely promotes great leadership! I think rewards can be very important for helping people realize that the work they do matters and isn't just to lead them to a particular endpoint. You are appreciating them for all the efforts they are putting in! Thank you for sharing, Iris. I hope I understood it right, but in any case, a great point!
You can't give your life more time, so give the time you have, more life.
@lueurspace Yes. Thank you and welcome. I am appreciating this.
1. Are leaders born or made ?
Leaders aren't born they are made by experience, empathy and through practice. Leadership is a skill, it's an experience that prepares us to deal with success and failure.
2. Identify 3 skills that you need to work upon?
Communication skills, agility, and empathy.
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 will try to resolve it by listening to the both parties and by organizing a discussion between them to find solution.
@shallowWater7547
I really love how you say leaders are made by experience, empathy, and practice, that is so true! I hope you can work on the skills you mentioned! They definitely are very important for a leader and I am sure you'd be able to master them! Organizing a discussion to resolve and look for a solution seems like a great idea, it is important to make everyone feel heard! Thank you for sharing, Water!
You can't give your life more time, so give the time you have, more life.
1. Are leaders born or made?
Leaders are definitely made, but I do think for some people, a few things can come naturally. For me, it's like one of those quotes - "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard" as quoted by Tim Notke.
2. Identify 3 skills that you need to work upon?
i. Decision Making - I think I am not the best at deciding on one thing and sticking with it. I tend to see a lot of possibilities at times which makes me hard to be fixated on one thing.
ii. Listening and Empathy (*boundaries*) - I tend to get overly involved and as a leader, I feel like it's my responsibility to take care of my team members, but it's more than okay to have boundaries and only be as understanding as hoping they will be alright.
iii. Communication - As a leader, I may feel the need to be doing everything and trying my best to not make things seem like work, but oftentimes, this may mean keeping my own needs on the side which is not helpful so I should be aware of sharing my own needs when they are needed to be known by others.
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 will hear out my team members, ask them what they feel about their current roles, what they want to be changed, what they think they will truly be able to manage - explain if sometimes they need to work with another team member. Encourage all to work as a team and try to do some team-building exercises with everyone. If needed, creatively divide the task so all can do the things they want and contribute equally.
You can't give your life more time, so give the time you have, more life.
@lueurspace Great approach on the problem !
1. Are leaders born or made?
It's true that some people have a natural knack for leadership. But I believe leaders are made. It's a continued learning process. Some people may be a little ahead in the race but that does not mean that you don't need to work hard to get where you want.
2. Identify 3 skills that you need to work upon?
Three skills that I need to work upon are:
-Not taking on too much.
-Effective communication
-Conflict Resolution
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 think I would start by having a deeper understanding of problem at the hand. Then, I would take the team's advice on what their strengths are. Then i would clearly communicate to them the responsibility based on the feedback I have received.
@helpfuldipper I agree about not taking on too many projects/tasks and delegating more. We need time for ourselves for self-care and personal growth.
@helpfuldipper @IcedEthan I agree with this.
1. Are leaders born or made?
I believe leaders are made. All the key skills required to be an effective leader can be learnt, such as confidence, listening, people management skills, conflict resolution, etc.
2. Identify 3 skills that you need to work upon?
I think I need to be able to delegate tasks to others more, to allow myself time for self-care and personal growth
I think I need to be more assertive. There can sometimes be times where I may be timid and quiet, and not share my thoughts and let my voice be heard
I think I need to learn to be more patient as everybody works at their own pace, and everybody has other needs outside of their work such as self-care, or other personal matters.
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 first identify the problem area and then give both team members the chance to share their thoughts. As the conflict is a result of a responsibility share, I would take my time to redefine each team member's roles and responsibilities, taking into account their thoughts as well as their skills.
@IcedEthan
Hello!
I also agree with you that leaders are definitely made! Also, I really liked the way you would handle the situation as a leader. I think that would definitely be really helpful in order to help the team succeed.
1) I think leaders are made 100% because you don’t need to be born a leader to be a leader. People acquire new skills throughout their lives and learn how to be effective leaders. 2) 3 skills I need to works on are: - not doubting my own capabilities - not procrastinating - standing up for myself 3) As a leader, I would talk to all individuals involved in the conflict separately to figure out the source of the problem. Then we would all work together to come to a mutual agreement .
@positiveTurtles I think leaders are made as well, great answers btw !
@positiveTurtles
Hello!
I am very glad that you think that you don't need to be born a leader in order to become one. I actually was scared of becoming one before because I thought it would not work out for me since I was "not born as a leader." I ended up proving myself wrong and here I am!