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The Importance of Reflective Leadership in Business

• 05 Sep 2023

Effective leadership is essential to business success. As an organizational leader , you not only guide decision-making but create your company’s culture, retain its talent, and move it toward bigger, better things.

Your leadership style —the behavioral patterns consistent across your decision-making—influences your impact on your organization and team. One of the most beneficial styles to adopt is reflective leadership.

If you want to learn more about reflective leadership’s role in business, here’s an overview of its components, why it’s effective, and how to become a reflective leader.

Access your free e-book today.

What Is Reflective Leadership?

Reflective leadership involves self-awareness, introspection, and continuous learning and growth to make better decisions, enhance leadership skills , and improve team performance .

“Reflective leadership requires the continuous practice of reflection over time,” says Harvard Business School Professor Nien-hê Hsieh in the online course Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability . “This allows you to regularly examine and re-evaluate your decisions and responsibilities to practice, broaden, and deepen your skills, and to apply this knowledge when analyzing present situations.”

Reflective leadership also enables you to help your team grow.

“Reflective leadership is about helping others on your team or in your organization,” Hsieh says. “It’s about helping them develop their own skills in awareness, judgment, and action.”

In Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability , Hsieh delves into the reflective leadership model , a framework for conceptualizing your responsibilities as an ethical leader.

The model has four components:

• Awareness: Recognize your legal, economic, and ethical responsibilities to stakeholders.
• Judgment: Consider biases and shared concepts that influence your decision-making.
• Action: Act on your decisions in an accountable, consistent way.
• Reflection: Reflect on all three components throughout the process to learn from past experiences.

“The reflective leadership model involves not only reflection on business decisions but also continuous reflection on your own personal beliefs, goals, and commitments,” Hsieh says in the course. “These aspects of self are often significant influences on your decisions and internal guides when navigating difficult situations.”

The Importance of Reflective Leadership

Before diving into the importance of reflective leadership, it’s critical to note the pitfalls of being an inadequate leader.

According to recruitment services company Zippia , 79 percent of employees leave their companies because they don’t feel appreciated by leaders, and upwards of 69 percent believe they’d work harder if recognized. In addition, only 33 percent report feeling engaged in the workplace.

Companies also lack focus on leadership development. Zippia reports that 77 percent struggle to find and develop leaders, and only five percent implement leadership development at all levels.

Since reflective leadership focuses on continuously improving and developing, it’s one of the more effective leadership styles. By regularly reflecting on your beliefs and values and incorporating them into your actions, you can make ethical decisions and enable your company to be more purpose-driven .

“Along with responsibility, leadership brings opportunities,” Hsieh explains in Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability . “These include opportunities to make ethical decisions where someone else wouldn’t, to influence others to do the right thing, and to make a positive impact on the world.”

Reflective leadership also helps you build authentic, supportive relationships with team members and create a workplace of ethics and accountability .

If you want to adopt a reflective leadership style, here are the competencies to develop.

How to Become a Reflective Leader

Be self-reflective.

Self-reflection is at reflective leadership’s core. According to Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability , you can practice self-reflection by:

• Reviewing, analyzing, and evaluating your decisions—in the moment and over time.
• Continuously deepening your awareness and self-knowledge.
• Developing a general framework for judgment.
• Improving your capacity for action and leadership.

Leading with self-reflection won’t just help you learn from past experiences but also encourage and enable your team members to adopt reflective mentalities.

Identify Your Commitments

Knowing your commitments is also essential to effective leadership.

“It’s important to identify and define your own commitments,” Hsieh says in Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability , “both to set a baseline for what you will and won’t do and to evaluate and clarify your thoughts, opinions, and feelings when making decisions.”

To create that baseline, Hsieh recommends asking the following questions:

• What’s core to my identity?
• What lines or boundaries won’t I cross?
• What kind of life do I want to live?
• What kind of leader do I want to be?

By identifying your commitments, you can better guide yourself and your team.

Consider Your Accountability

Becoming a reflective leader also requires accountability to successfully execute on your values and implement them into action plans.

This refers to the reflective leadership model’s “action” step—putting your decisions into practice in a way that’s accountable and consistent with your responsibilities.

“When leading reflectively, straightforward action planning may not be enough,” Hsieh says in Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability . “An accountable leader will go beyond just answering ‘How will we do it?’ to ask ‘How can I do it accountably?’”

Reflective Leadership Training for Businesses

By incorporating your values into your leadership style, you can learn from your experiences on a deeper level and develop into a better leader.

One way to gain the skills and frameworks to succeed long term is by taking an online course, such as Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability . Through a dynamic, interactive learning experience, the course provides the opportunity to apply the reflective leadership model to real-world business ethics challenges.

Are you ready to become a reflective leader? Apply to Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability —one of our online leadership and management courses —and download our free e-book on effective leadership.

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A Reflection on Leadership based on my experience with the LEADER Project

Nov 2, 2012

Leadership is a quality that's innate in me. Whether it was in the playground at pre-school, the soccer-field growing up, student council in high school or various teams I am involved in at Ivey, a common theme has been my desire and willingness to lead. For a long time I thought this was because I enjoyed being in a position of control, a position of influence where I could shape the direction of a particular project or initiative. To some extent, this was the case; but I only recently realized that it was the desire to have an impact that I love most about being a leader. In fact, the ability to make an impact is how I would define leadership. Often times, leadership is seen as a title, a position that one is chosen for or given to make decisions and lead a group of people. These individuals are leaders, of course, as they're able to make significant impact on a large group of people; but we forget that leaders are everywhere in our society and more often than not they are leaders in an unorthodox sense. Whether they are artists, teachers, or musicians, many of them make an impact on their communities and those who choose to do so intentionally are leaders in their own right.

This is not to say that everyone can be a leader. I believe there are certain personality traits, skillsets and motivations that need to be present for effective leadership to take place. However, I believe leadership is a means to generating impact and I believe there are numerous individuals out there who do this on a daily basis who we would never consider as being leaders in the traditional sense of the word.

My LEADER experience has been paramount to me redefining my definition of leadership. I have personally been very fortunate to have had formal opportunities to develop my leadership skills and be provided with opportunities to exhibit it as well. This has given me tremendous exposure to new opportunities and only accelerated my growth as a leader. However, after visiting Russia I realized that such opportunities are unheard of in their communities. They don't have student councils, leadership institutes, summer enrichment programs or entrepreneurship incubators. These were all formal institutions that allowed me to practice and develop my leadership skills. This begged the question: is there a lack of leaders in Russia? Absolutely not. Many of the students I had a chance to work with were budding entrepreneurs with ambitious goals for solving critical problems in their communities. Several of them had already pursued various community service projects and some even had international experiences which they sought out on their own.

One student in our class, Julia, was particularly inspirational. She came from a very low-income family and was financing her tuition by founding an adventure sports startup. Specifically, she had partnered with a hot-air balloon pilot and began offering excursions to individuals in the nearby city of Samara. This was a brand new offering unbeknownst to a region that attracted little to no tourists. Despite this seemingly massive hurdle, Julia persevered with her vision and successfully ran this business over the course of the last two years. Since then, she has expanded their offerings to include mountain biking and hiking tours as well. This just goes to show the determination and commitment she made to her education and creating a service that genuinely added value in a unique way for her community. Julia didn't have mentors, venture capitalists or incubators to help guide her through this process. She did her own research, invested the little capital that she could afford and courage to take on this enormous challenge. Julia is a true leader.

Despite a lack of formal infrastructure in place to foster leaders in the traditional sense, many students were still forging their own ways of making an impact. This is what leadership is all about. I'm extremely fortunate and grateful for having the opportunity to experience this first hand. It inspires me to know that youth all around the world embody a passion for change, a desire to lead and a commitment to making an impact. LEADER is a phenomenal initiative that is supporting this dream and opening doors that otherwise may never have opened - for our students, the entrepreneurs, and for us, the LEADERites.

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Writing an Effective Leadership Essay: Tips and Examples

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Whether you’ve led a horse to water or led your team to a victorious championship, you’re probably more of a leader than you give yourself credit for. It turns out, college admissions officers want to hear about that horse and/or championship in your application essay. The leadership essay is one of the hallmarks of college essays, but what’s the right way to do it?

What Is a Leadership Essay?

A leadership essay is a subset of college application essays that help college admissions officers understand your previous experiences as a leader. While that might seem extremely specific, it comes with the understanding that leadership looks and feels different based on the person and situation.

To give you a real world example: The president is ostensibly the leader of the United States. However, the president has a whole cabinet of other leaders for every other aspect of running a country. You might not be a leader of foreign policy, but you might be a leader on the football field or within your community volunteer group.

Leadership Essay Ideas and Topics

While you might see a few variations, almost all leadership essays go back to two main forms:

• What is your leadership style?
• Describe a moment when you showed leadership.

There’s inherently a bit of overlap with both of these. You’ll likely give an example of a leadership moment when talking about your leadership style, and you’ll probably talk about your leadership style when talking about a leadership moment.

In either case, the school will want you to use anecdotal evidence that demonstrates the idea. Go with what feels right, whether that’s leading a club or team in school or leading some ducklings across a busy highway. Even if your experience sounds cliché, it’s unique because it involves you.

How To Write a Leadership Essay

Probably the biggest trap that people fall into is “Well, I’ve never been a leader.” Even if you’ve never held some sort of leadership position at school or had an official title, chances are pretty high that you have exhibited some form of leadership at some point in your life. Beyond that, the actual writing of the leadership essay is fairly straightforward.

Formatting Your Leadership Essay

Your leadership essay will include an introduction paragraph, one or more body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Depending on the word or page limits, you can almost treat this like a five-paragraph essay .

• Introduction - Capture the reader’s interest, define good leadership in relation to you, and directly address the given prompt
• Body paragraphs - Give some background information using anecdotes to describe your leadership style or moment
• Conclusion - End with a compelling statement about your leadership qualities and how you hope to apply them to your education, career, and the world in general

How Long Should a Leadership Essay Be?

The length of the leadership essay depends on what the college or application system says. Thankfully, this is the one part of the essay that you don’t need to question. Nearly every school will provide a word limit, typically ranging from 250 words (for supplemental essays) potentially all the way up to 1,000 words.

In the rare event that you don’t see an obvious word limit, stick to a maximum of about 500 to 600 words.

Tips for Writing a Leadership Essay

Unfortunately, we don’t know your personal life, and we certainly don’t know moments where you exhibited leadership. So we can’t write your essay for you, but we can give you some tips to at least guide your writing process.

Define Good Leadership Before You Start

Before you begin writing your essay, think about what qualities make someone a good leader, at least in your opinion. What great leadership qualities do you have? What makes a “good leader”? Make a list before you begin writing your essay. 

Leadership qualities can include:

• The ability to motivate others
• Personal integrity
• Placing a value on relationships with team members
• Prioritizing the larger good over any individual

Review your list and choose the qualities you want to highlight. Write your own definition of what makes someone a great leader as it relates to the quality you chose. It should be one or two sentences long. Use that definition as the backbone of your essay.

Tell a Story About Your Leadership

It’s time to turn that list of potential leadership qualities into something meaningful and interesting. The best way to do that is with an engaging narrative.

You should obviously state good leadership qualities, but that shouldn’t be your entire essay. Tell a story about your leadership.

• Did you face a specific challenge?
• How did you overcome that challenge?
• How has your leadership style changed over the years?
• Was there a specific moment or experience that caused that change?

Really ask yourself questions and dig into the concept of leadership as a real thing that has had real effects on your life.

Write With Your Own Voice and Style

Although you shouldn’t be super informal in college application essays, they are also designed to help you display your own voice and personality. College admissions officers want to learn about you, and your writing style is inherently a big part of that, whether that means using humor or puns, maintaining a unique level of sincerity throughout the essay, or being invitingly verbose.

Don’t Be Down On Yourself

Whether it’s your personal statement , a supplemental essay, or this leadership essay, avoid being too down on yourself. Admissions officers want to hear about all your successes, trophies, and kittens saved from trees. They really don’t want to read a whole essay about you saying you’re a bad leader.

Humility is definitely an important leadership trait, but there’s a fine line between being humble and being hurtful to yourself. Even if you’re normally prone to some self-deprecation, try to keep it at a minimum for this essay.

Leadership Essay Example

If you’re not sure where to start, take some time to brainstorm ideas. Even the weirdest idea can blossom into something neat. If you need inspiration, one of the best things is to look at other examples of leadership. That could be from your favorite show, a good nonfiction book about sailors, or the essay below.

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Leadership Essay Introduction Example

The introduction should pull the reader in while directly answering the prompt. When in doubt, try to start with something concrete over something abstract. Or as writers and writing teachers like to say: Show, don’t tell.

The room was filled with the gentle hum of microphones and video cameras, cut only by the occasional cough or cleared throat. It was easy to feel out of place in this room full of wood furniture, leather seats, and powerful men capable of changing not just my life, but an entire sector of television programming as we knew it. I had never thought of myself as a leader, but I also knew that this was about something bigger than me, something that I could actually influence.

Leadership Essay Body Example

The body is where you’ll get more into the details of your narrative and connect it to ideas of leadership. Try not to get too hung up on the exact wording of what makes a leader. That can get far too abstract. Let your story speak for you.

I took a deep breath and began to talk. I wasn’t known to have a particularly commanding or powerful voice, but people always seemed to listen, including these men with their name placards and tall seats. They had been ready to cut funding for public broadcasting, which included programming that they had never seen. I was simply someone who lived in a neighborhood and cared about children’s education, beyond just math and reading. All I could do was be honest.

Leadership Essay Conclusion Example

Your conclusion considers the broader effects of your leadership. How might your leadership evolve or change? How can you apply that leadership to your education, job, or community?

To me, leadership is about connection. I know that I have a voice and an immense dedication to emotional intelligence in children. My ability to focus on other people goes hand-in-hand with my ability to speak through a tiger puppet. Both are about closing gaps and bringing people closer to a basic understanding. I hope to use my leadership abilities within the field of psychology to build more connections between people and communities.

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We are a community of more than 103,000 authors and editors from 3,291 institutions spanning 160 countries, including Nobel Prize winners and some of the world’s most-cited researchers. Publishing on IntechOpen allows authors to earn citations and find new collaborators, meaning more people see your work not only from your own field of study, but from other related fields too.

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Home > Books > Contemporary Leadership Challenges

Reflective Leadership: Learning to Manage and Lead Human Organizations

Submitted: 02 July 2016 Reviewed: 20 July 2016 Published: 01 February 2017

DOI: 10.5772/64968

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Contemporary Leadership Challenges

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This chapter mainly focuses on the concept of reflection as a process, both individual and collaborative, involving experience and uncertainty under the theme of reflective leadership. This type of leadership basically means learning to manage and lead human organizations. It originates from the concept of reflection defining leadership roles and responsibilities in all types of organizations. Focusing on reflection for learning in an effort to create reflective learning communities for all stakeholders taking part in both administrative and executive positions in organizations, this chapter is expected to contribute to leadership theories, to link theory and practice in concrete terms describing new leadership roles and responsibilities under the reflective thought considering its unique impact on organizational functioning.

• reflective practice
• organizations
• reflective learning

Author Information

Süleyman davut göker *.

• Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Education, Artvin Çoruh University, Turkey

Kıvanç Bozkuş

*Address all correspondence to: [email protected]

1. Introduction

In the literature, leadership is defined by many theories that try to explain what leadership is, in terms of different standpoints. However, the real world is very complicated that cannot be prescribed in some given patterns. This is the very first fact that leaders realize once they enter into professional practice. This is when prescribed theories do not meet the requirements of real practice. How can leaders be effective in an environment that is so distinct from those portrayed on paper? The answer is the grail that many if not all practising leaders had committed him-/herself to following of it. Reflective leadership goes to bat for anyone in the realm of leadership which is not mapped yet.

We start to explore reflective leadership by discussing what reflection is and then its role in creating reflective learning communities in organizations. The route to leadership through reflective thinking is the next topic we will address. Finally, we conclude with reflective practice which is the essence of reflective leadership and its models of implementation.

2. Reflection

Reflection is not only a personal process but also a collaborative one, which involves uncertainty along with experience, and consists of specifying inquiries and essential components of a thing that came out as important, later taking a person’s thoughts into dialogue with himself or herself and with other people. Individuals evaluate insights developed from that process in regard to additional perspectives, values, experiences, beliefs and the larger context within which the questions are raised. Through reflection, new-found clarity to base changes in action or disposition is achieved. New questions naturally arise, and the process spirals onwards [ 1 ].

Within this context, we argue that reflection is a vital component of leaders’ daily life, not a detached or disconnected action but primal, promoted by the culture and structures of an organization, which affects choices, policies and decisions together with the emotions and politics related to them. Considered from this angle, to be reflective should not be considered as a method, which has been acquired and occasionally used, but an inherent component of what to manage or lead means.

2.1. Dewey: father of reflection

Thinking includes all of these steps, - the sense of a problem, the observation of conditions, the formation and rational elaboration of a suggested conclusion, and the active experimental testing. [ 2 ]

For him, reflection is a deliberate and cognitive process triggered by a state of doubt, mental difficulty and hesitation. He sees reflection as a process of researching, clarifying and finding the right way that eliminates the doubt and difficulties. The mental process of reflection is activated by a problem, unstructured ideas and complicated situations to find a solution.

Forestalling something of the spirit of the progresses we maintain in this chapter, Dewey conceptualized this aspect of learning as more important than a problem-solving process. Dewey’s vision was of an educational process which had reflection and action linked at its core and was the means by which individuals gained ‘a personal interest in social relationships and control’—a platform for social change to a more democratic social order and preparation for membership of it [ 2 ].

2.2. Schön: reflection in action

Schön sees reflection as closely related to action and personal experience. The reflective practitioner engages in thinking along with the effect of action. Thus, Schön classified reflection into two types: reflection in action and reflection on action. Reflection in action is conscious thinking and modification while on the job [ 3 ]. The reflective practitioner immediately reflects on the action upon confronting it. Reflection on action is the reflection done after experiencing the action. The practitioner evaluates to understand whether the activity was successful or not by making judgements.

On-the-spot surfacing, criticizing, restructuring, and testing of intuitive understanding of experienced phenomena; often it takes the form of a reflective conversation with the situation. [ 4 ]

… on the feeling for a situation which has led him to adopt a particular course of action, on the way he has framed the problem he is trying to solve, or on the role he has constructed for himself within a larger institutional ‘context.’ [ 4 ]

As discussed above, this included ‘reflection on action’ and ‘reflection in action’ in practical terms. Human beings always tend to take shelter in experienced and accustomed forms of working and in practised processes or similar methods. That is to say, all endeavours to see the unknown in everyday life let people confront routines and connections and to alter those sides of working thought and practice taken for granted. For example, the capacity to make use of certain images, emotions, metaphors, to engage both rationally and aesthetically and to look at relational dynamics considering settings allows for the production of discrete styles of practising and thinking.

2.3. Reflection for learning: creating reflective learning communities in organizations

Ultimately, the outcome of reflection is learning [ 6 ]. It widens our perspective on a problem (broadens knowledge). It helps us develop strategies for dealing with it (develop skills). It helps us acquire new insights into our behaviour (changes attitudes).

Learning is not an individual behavioural attribute or capability but a ‘double-loop’ cognitive learning process that can be shared, and if everyone can participate in shared learning, then, in principle, everyone is capable of leading [ 7 ]. Within this context, the learning organization assures whatever the classical human-centred view about learning treasured at all times that commitment to learning will rescue us from obedience in blind authority in the end.

Even though learning itself as an action could seem self-evident, it is concerned with many issues in determining in what ways learning individually could be ‘effective’ or ‘rational’ against ‘self-deception’ and ‘defence reasoning’ [ 8 ]. As the difference between reflexivity and learning is hard to understand, in all attempts to understand that difference, reflexivity in the organizational development tradition has often been problematic [ 4 , 9 , 10 ]. The question is so clear: is it a neutral and instrumental expression of expert knowledge and control, or is it a methodology of feedback and diagnostic practice that pursues to develop really inclusive forms of distributed knowledge and learning [ 11 ]. The former position treats self-reflection as ‘I think’, whereas the latter tends to treat it as an expression of ‘I do’ [ 12 – 14 ]. What can be said here is that these two conflicting positions usually finish up as remedial approaches to learning. Learning could be thought as a deliberate way of ‘reflexive thinking’, allowing us to keep our distance from existent actions or behaviours and alter them. In contrast, learning as doing is bound by pre-reflective practices, so it is difficult to retrospectively translate or transmit learning or knowing in practice into intentional actions designed to change behaviour [ 13 ].

Leading for learning is an essential aim in creating reflective learning communities, which aim to create strong and fair opportunities of learning for all in an organization and encourage them to benefit from these opportunities. Leaders can accomplish this by committing themselves to the following areas of action: establishing a focus on learning, building professional communities that value learning, engaging external environments that matter for learning, acting strategically and creating coherence [ 15 , 16 ]. The perception suggested centres on supplying each learner, no matter what problems they confront, the ways to overcome intriguing skills and to advance habits of mind for additional and autonomous learning.

‘Let’s try it out and see how it works’ is an active learner’s phrase; ‘Let’s think it through first’ is the reflective learner’s response in a reflective learning community [ 17 ]. Leaders’ learning incorporates skills, the knowledge and standpoints, which they obtain while getting ready for and regenerating their practice. Interacting with other professionals who offer moral support, critique, ideas and inspiration for the renewal process will also promote opportunities for effective professional development.

Nearly all managers wish to create more powerful and equitable learning opportunities when they are given time to reflect. Nevertheless, their abilities depend on how they perceive the existent and prospective links between learning and leading in their own context. Managers can use reflective tools like optimizing video as a self-assessment tool, strengthening electronic portfolios with reflective journal writing, making use of associated resources on the Internet, taking advantage of on-line peer mentoring and stimulating reflection via learning communities as part of professional development.

Creating such a reflective learning community requires building professional communities that value learning, acting strategically and sharing leadership and engaging external environments that matter for learning. This type of reflective learning also fosters system learning, in which opportunities come up by means of evaluation of policies, programmes and resource use, strategic planning endeavours, action research focused on system-wide issues and application of indicators to measure progress towards goals defined. Leaders will be able to support system learning through inquiry into how an organization performs.

2.4. The route to leadership through reflective thinking

Reflective thinking is not only an internal process but an external one promoting improved critical thinking skills together with self-understanding as an essential way of inner work which emerges in the energy for employing in outer work. This type of thinking is required for understanding what it means to be significant for oneself and in one’s organization or practice. Being aware of one’s thinking is essential to make informed and logical decisions while working with others. In other words, taking to heart the feelings, thoughts and behaviours of other people also eases improvement in accomplishing organizational and professional objectives. In this chapter, we keep focusing on becoming a reflective thinker as a means to becoming a reflective leader. Therefore, we believe that managers can raise their awareness on their potential capacity for leadership.

Reflective leaders regard learning as a lifelong process, and they tend to equilibrate the practice ‘telling’ with ‘asking’ and frequently depend on the collective intelligence capacity of the teams formed in their organizations. Rather than being ‘in judgement’, these leaders ‘use judgement’ in handing down significant decisions. They regularly tend to step out of their routine and accustomed settings to think, explore and learn. Because the business environment has grown more complex, volatile and fast paced, leaders are more and more willing to adopt a ‘bias for action’, but effective leaders reflect on their past experiences and search for relevant, different insights before decision-making process.

What have I learnt?

What were my feelings and thoughts as it was happening?

How could I explain my experience?

How could I make use of learning for my future actions?

What is your opinion of way I felt and acted?

How have I reacted and behaved?

Based on the answers to the questions asked above, reflective leadership can be considered as a way of approaching the work of being a leader by leading one’s life with presence and personal mastery. In other words, it requires learning to be present, to be aware and attentive to our experience with people in our daily life, and it regards leadership from the standpoint of human experience. Taking the science of phenomenology into consideration, self-awareness and reflection on one’s own experience together with the experience of other people are the starting point for the process of reflective leadership, which ultimately aim to achieve improved communication changing leadership practice.

We have developed further questions and possible responses to encourage managers to become reflective leaders. Through these six questions and responses, we aim to create awareness on how to become a reflective leader in practice:

2.4.1. In what ways can reflection evoke my self-interests?

People’s self-interests can be met if they reflect on how their work has affected their learning and lives. These effects entail their progress and apprehension in some fields like career search, development of leadership, social justice, civic responsibility and consciousness, intellectual interests and self-actualization. People tend to concentrate on self-learning on particular occasions. They also consider issues related to career search when they finish university. For example, people remember their civic responsibilities only when they vote. The forms of reflection we have been discussing are drawn up to link people’s work experiences to personal development.

2.4.2. How should I proceed to be a reflective thinker?

A reflective thinking model illustrating the process of reflective thinking was developed by Taggart and Wilson [ 18 ]. To identify a problem, dilemma or challenge could be one of the initial efforts. As the next step, you should draw back from the problem concerned for a while and use an outsider perspective to re-evaluate that problem. Within this process you can employ ways of observation, data collection and reflection. They will help you obtain a cognitive picture about the way you think for the sake of defining the setting of that circumstance. This position may be integrated with a similar event in the past to lead you to get probable ways to attempt to solve the problem. You should ask a question at this stage: How have I dealt with the almost identical situation in the past and what makes the present situation different from the one in the past? You will naturally remember your experiences and make predictions and create different approaches. Doing so, you will also have tested the approaches used systematically. Finally, you will review the actions you have taken together with the consequences, and that process will provide you with a new opportunity to reframe the situation concerned.

2.4.3. What do I understand by reflective leadership?

As discussed earlier, a dedication to the continuous process of maintained critical self-awareness and development is essential in reflective leadership. How can you do that? If you are determined to become a reflective leader, you should exchange reflective thoughts of yours with those of others establishing new relationships and ask them to see the situation. We tend to make use of feelings that we highly value, let ourselves experience them and pass along them whenever available. This sort of approach, which is genuine, will certainly give us a space where we will be able to value the contributions of others. This is how we support other people by means of our own reflective practice.

Learning from others basically requires listening to them within the framework of reflective leadership, which will require receptivity to other people. Listening attentively is both an art and a skill to be practised. Effective leaders must listen to cases and stories from all workers to reflect on in what ways they could enrich and change practices. Within this context, those stories providing data about what does work or what does not will tell us to look for significance. Any discussion and reflection on those stories will enrich, change and provide us with opportunities to install any possible changes into practice.

2.4.4. What types of strategies, resources and tools do I need to be more reflective and self-aware?

Awareness is created through communication. To achieve a high level of communication, awareness on what you have been thinking is necessary. In other words, it will enable you a tool to discover yourself and become more self-aware. To do so, any sort of conflict should be seen as an opportunity to understand more of your true self as well as other people. The questions and answers to what you are sensing, thinking, feeling and willing or not willing to do will take time to get. So, you should go on asking them till you could past strong emotions like resentment and anger, because those emotions play a key role in guiding you to what you have been thinking. After reflecting on genuine answers, you can share them with other people directly. Whatever language you use in answering to those questions will encourage ownership, thus enhancing connection. Through this process, you could get a tool to monitor your awareness, expand your opinions and listen to others attentively to resolve problem.

Another efficient approach to work with other people effectively is to be aware of your natural talents. This is something to do with exploration of your strengths. Identifying your talents will naturally provide you with many strategies to build them into your strengths. Knowing what gifts and talents you possess will help you see your weaknesses and align your goals and job with your own talents.

2.4.5. In what ways do reflective leaders affect leadership practice positively and create reflective leaders to be?

Reflective thinking lets you both share your concerns and reveal the concealed issues for you and other people concerned. This process will create an opportunity for you and other people to reflect on your and their point of view, thus providing a sort of catharsis. Doing so will help you develop a wider viewpoint, a new appreciation for everybody and deeper understanding.

As reflective practice is seen as a transformative process, you and the other people around could proceed in a more interconnected way. So, you could define common objectives and goals together with guidelines to avoid possible conflicts in the future. In creating open channels of communication, this environment will bring informal and regular meetings to allow reflective practices supporting reflective leadership. These types of meetings are highly valued by reflective leaders as they see them as productive environments to provide collaborative work supporting the greater sense of collegiality.

Being open and letting testing of propositions and inquiring about one’s strength are another significant task for reflective leaders. It could be necessary for you to face problems like defensiveness of yours and that of other people and the inefficiency of your team for the sake of ensuring the impact of approach you use. So, a reflective learning community, in which reflection is an ideal way of support and learning, should be created by reflective leaders. In such a community, you provide a safe environment for self-expression, identify objectives, give feedback and stimulate self-observation. In defining the strengths of the individuals, you offer other people optional approaches to be successful in their work.

2.4.6. Which leadership processes enhance reflective leaders’ powers and achieve success in other people?

First of all, peer reflection, which helps question assumptions, is one of the main means for reflective leaders to carry out with other reflective leaders. Peers are of paramount importance in clarifying our values. This process helps us build our and peers’ strengths, compensate weaknesses and search for better problem-solving approaches [ 19 ].

To be able to achieve the task, effective leaders should form and maintain the teams in developing individuals. The aspirations can best be achieved if leaders can function in a collegial and collaborative ways by means of reflective practices, which initiate the process of perspective transformation. In other words, reflective leadership is considered to be transformative as long as it builds success in other people by reducing barriers while implementing leadership behaviours. Barriers, to a certain extent, are determined by means of reflection. They are regarded to be intrinsic to our human ego—strivings to achieve, to manage our situation and to compensate for our lack of confidence. The barriers can be reduced by deliberately reacting to what challenges us as a leader under different circumstances. Reflective leaders do that by having a deeper awareness of what sort of leader he/she wished to be, what sort human being is required and what sort of legacy is left by them. These choices direct leaders in how they take up daily leadership. That is to say that the way how leaders go about their day will determine ultimately whether they feel successful and rest with integrity and peace of mind or not.

The rapid rate of changes in our age seems to be one of the biggest demands for leaders. The other striking demand is the need for new frameworks for leadership skills. Leaders can cope with those challenges as long as they can bring each individual to the table to model the future with strong collective dialogues and cooperative actions. Among the other reflective leadership skills, they should be able to manage conflicts, model an adaptive capacity and be efficient in establishing and maintaining relationships. As they are expected to be the cocreators of change, they should accept that any individual or circumstance cannot move out their individual peace or competency. Viewed in this light, they should be able to communicate those feelings to other people in a way that will encourage and enable them to clasp the future and partake in its formation. Ultimately, they should be able to act as a model for other people in their exploration of the value and meaning of whatever they do. They can exhibit behaviours of personal growth and self-awareness if they have a commitment to the ongoing reflective practice.

To conclude, being a reflective leader is initiated through reflective practice. You can begin by being more fully present in every task in your daily life. This requires attending to verbal and nonverbal communication in your interaction with others, often inquiring and clearing up worries and being an attentive listener. You should further take your own experience into consideration together with the experience of other people and each assumption before making decisions. Only after these reflective practices can you establish a sense of mutual respect and sound relationships and see that other people are drawn to you and search for your compassionate consideration about any problem encountered. This transformative process followed will make advance on the way to becoming a reflective leader.

3. Reflective practice

Managers and leaders focus upon events through an intellectual exercise in order to determine in what ways individual assumptions and beliefs together with their experiences and background impact organizational functioning. This is what we call reflective practice that inculcates the intellectual discipline needed to discern ‘what is’ in practice episodes as well as to engage in the self-growth necessary if one is to manage and lead others.

The success of reflective practice depends on learning. For reflective leaders, doing immerses learning. Being aware of what we have been doing does not always create learning as it is a purposeful endeavour. Approached from this angle, realizing the required role of reflection in taking out learning from experience and being aware of the essential principles of a reflective practice will let leaders begin to act on the conception that knowledge is planted in their experience and understand the significance of that knowledge in fostering their practice.

Through learning from experience, reflective practice aims to create a structure, habit or routine. So, a reflective practice can differentiate with regard to how much, how often and why reflection is carried out. Carrying out a reflective practice requires not only clearing the aims it needs to serve but also creating opportunities to install reflection into our activity that are down to earth and yet come about at the right intervals and with adequate depth to be meaningful. However, it is structured; sustaining a reflective practice will transform the probability of learning from our practice into an actuality.

Sergiovanni [ 20 ] classifies three distinct knowledge of leadership conceptions regarding the relationship between theory and practice: (1) there is no relation, (2) theory is superordinate to practice, and (3) practice is superordinate to theory (p. 7). People who adopt the first conception believe that professional practice in leadership relies solely on intuitive feelings disconnected from theory and research. People who put special emphasis on theory feel that leadership is an ‘applied science’ which can be prescribed by theoretical concepts, strategies and depictions. Believers of the last conception see leadership as a ‘craft-like science’ consisting of reflective practice not prescribed but informed by theory.

Since the first conception claims no relation between theory and practice, implication of leadership as no science makes no sense to many, and thus it did not find enough grounds to permeate. Unlikely, the theory-oriented conception of leadership as an applied science pervades throughout the literature on leadership. Its clear-cut linear fashion simplifies every decision to be made into steps and processes predefined in literature. When one has to end organizational conflicts, then there are models of conflict management. When some important decisions have to be made, there are decision-making processes that explain every step in detail. This tool-based approach to leadership has long lived for its feasibility, but when it was realized that the real life is more complicated that it cannot be predetermined to a degree which enables theory to make tools for every situation in leadership, then reflective practice seemed a more realistic way of generating professional knowledge that is different from scientific knowledge. It is different because professionals create it by crafting their intuitions once they encounter situations not defined by scientific knowledge unlike ones in applied science conception. Thus, the craft-like science conception distinguishes professional knowledge from scientific knowledge; the former is created on demand, while the latter is predetermined as a contingency. Reflective practice is about professional knowledge creation by ‘deciding what to do. What purposes should be pursued? What strategies and practice should be used? What should be emphasized and when? In what ways should resources be deployed? How will we know we are on track, and so on’ [ 20 ].

Another distinction implicit in our understanding is that scientific knowledge is prescribed by theory, while professional knowledge is informed by theory. It is informed by interacting elements of reflective practice: practice episodes, theories of practice and antecedents (p. 15). Practice episodes consist of intentions, actions and realities. Leader’s priorities, preferences, strategies and decisions determine his or her intentions that impel actions in the form of leadership and management tactics and behaviours. After actions are performed, realities occur as results, outcomes and consequences. The realities further affect intentions and then actions in a loop which never ends ( Figure 1 ). This infinite loop of practice episodes affects and is affected by theories of practice and leadership antecedents. Theories of practice are mental scenes of a leader’s beliefs and assumptions about how things work in the real world. These are greatly affected by leadership antecedents especially by the theoretical knowledge antecedent. These mental images perform as mindscapes that govern leadership actions both consciously and unconsciously. ‘A reflective mindscape is a perspective in which purposeful activity…is always subject to disciplined examination and re-examination using whatever resources are helpful’ [ 21 ]. Theories of practice may arise from social interactions between leader and others or even from myths on how organizations work. ‘The bundles of beliefs and assumptions about how organizations work, the role of power, authority, management, and leadership, the organization’s purposes, the role of competition, and the nature of human nature’ may evolve into theories [ 20 ]. Workplace is where leaders can best learn about their theories of practice. Therefore, a detailed explanation of these implicit theories cannot be made.

Figure 1.

Elements of reflective practice [ 20 ].

At this point, we will focus on five key leadership antecedents, which play an essential key role in understanding the reflective practice. They are cultural milieu, theoretical knowledge, craft knowledge, self-knowledge and critical knowledge.

3.1. Cultural milieu

As reflective practice is expected to be contextualized in work, it should not be considered separately from the cultural milieu together with the setting and purposes of organization. The cultural milieu includes the elements of educational background, social background, religious background, economic background and historical background, which plays a key role in shaping in what ways a person sees and interprets the outer world. This means that reflective practices will differentiate from individual to individual and from organization to organization and that companies will form different reflective practices that emerge from and further inform their backgrounds mentioned above.

On the other hand, reflective practice can occur through a visioning process or a bigger process of culture change or organizational change. Tucker and Russell [ 22 ] concluded that transformational leaders can have a major influence on organizational culture and change. As culture is a medium by means of which leadership travels and affects performance of the organization, reflective leaders play a key role in transmitting the culture that they believe will most augment organizational functioning.

3.2. Theoretical knowledge

The second antecedent of leadership is the theoretical knowledge, which consists of technical, cognitive and rational knowledge. It means that theoretical knowledge is factual in nature, based in scientific rationality. Reflective approach to leadership is important to the integration of theoretical knowledge, skill development and individualized contexts. The learning organization was often based on a systems theory that handled practice as a result of theoretical knowledge [ 23 ]. Professional learning communities, the name given to leaders’ collaborative professional learning, have become so overused that the term’s meaning is often lost. Only when leaders reflect on their practice based on their theoretical knowledge, consider the impact leadership has on workers and implement insights gained from a meeting to improve their leadership performance can this process be called a professional learning community.

3.3. Craft knowledge

Craft knowledge is believed to be implicit in practitioner; it provides the ‘feel for’ what one does [ 24 ] and manifests itself in the refined ability to interpret what is and to discern what ought to be and what one should do to get there. According to Kluge [ 25 ], knowledge management shows unique leadership challenges. ‘From a leadership perspective, knowledge management has been viewed more like a craft and less like a science. Because of the very nature of knowledge, it is difficult for managers to predict what measures can really improve performance, and how to encourage and guide knowledge flows within an organization’ [ 25 ]. The leaders, according to them, should presume the function of advancing leadership and knowledge in the organization. They should set the tone for the organization and demonstrate that knowledge together with its administration are carefully taken into consideration.

Leaders, from this standpoint of view, should signal a shift in tone when they ask their team to reflect on their learning. Reflective leaders help them realize that they can now look back rather than move forwards. They will take a break from what they have been doing, step away from their work and ask themselves, ‘What have I (or we) learned from doing this activity?’ Some leaders could use music to signal the change in thinking.

In the reflective settings, leaders could invite the teams to learn from their experiences orally or in written form. They ask them to reflect on their learning, to evaluate their metacognitive strategies, to compare intended with actual outcomes, to analyze and draw causal relationships and to synthesize meanings and use their learning in different and future events. Members of the team realize that they will not ‘fail’ or make a ‘mistake’, because these terms are broadly described. Nonetheless, reflective teams realize that they can learn from all their experiences and develop personal insight.

3.4. Self-knowledge

Self-knowledge, even though it is often neglected, enables a vital lens through which leaders could better understand, realize and interpret organizational reality and their position in it. It mainly includes self-awareness, self-understanding and self-management. Without self-knowledge, it is hard for the leaders to understand their weakness and strengths together with their super powers. It lets the best business builders walk the tightrope of leadership: projecting conviction while at the same time staying humble enough to be open to different ideas and opposite thoughts since it is an essential element for organizational functioning. To improve self-knowledge, we highly recommend reflective leaders to (1) observe yourself to learn, (2) keep testing and knowing yourself better and (3) be conscious of other people as well.

While building a team, self-knowledge is also a crucial factor as being aware of one’s weaknesses together with strengths makes them a better recruiter and allocator of talent. In the meantime, you should also be an acute observer of others’ weaknesses and strengths. Reflective teams consist of people who both understand and complement each other. Whenever you notice people developing a common goal by pursuing different ways, there is an implied feedback loop based on peers and systemic learning in that observation itself. Should you have the right complement of people as well as a supportive learning organization, it lets you look at yourself and other people.

That is called the leash of self-awareness: know, improve and complement thyself. They are the common sense principles even though they are not generally practised. In other words, people do not often commit to stand in the face of truth. Rigorous commitment, intellectual honesty and active truth seeking are sine qua non to any process of self-awareness.

3.5. Critical knowledge

The final antecedent of reflective practice is critical knowledge, which includes assumptions, beliefs and values. In other words, critical knowledge (sometimes called ‘philosophical’ or ‘ethical’ knowledge) is a conscious awareness of that which is of transcendent or ultimate value and which perjures beyond the individual. Reflective practice creates an opportunity for development for people holding leadership positions. If you want to manage a team, you should have a clear balance between technical expertise and people skills because this type of role is hard to play. Reflective practice gives an opportunity to leaders to re-evaluate what has been achieved and what improvements could be made.

As discussed earlier, reflection is the conscious and intentional examination of one’s behaviour. Through this process, new understandings and appreciations may be acquired. Leaders should be an active reflector keeping their personal journals. When a difficult event takes place, they can often scribble in their journal to decanter their emotions and thoughts. Schön [ 4 ] described three processes to reflection—awareness of uncomfortable feelings or thoughts, followed by a critical analysis of experience, leading to the development of new perspectives. The phases are not necessarily linear and can involve both looking forwards and looking back.

Asking open and curious questions: let yourself practise asking genius-level questions, which only other people can answer, and about which you should not have any possible theory. For example, you could ask your colleagues about what they are genuinely excited in their work or what their biggest worries are.

Reflecting on the iceberg: doing so takes us back from repairing symptoms and being sensitive to what is going on around us. For example, you can think of a certain event and detail whatever you saw at the level of any event or action. You can then note the different patterns of behaviour seeming to contribute to that action. Detail on different organizational structures and cultural milieu, which created those behaviours.

Using visual art: this is basically a practice for shifting out of words. You could use newsprint or flipchart material with large coloured magic markers and start scrawling, drawing, scribbling or sketching whatever you think. Do not use any words till you feel that you are tired and leave the ‘artwork’ overnight. Look at it for a few minutes, give a name and date it the following day.

Journal writing: to give a chance to what our own inner wisdom says and listen. Doing so, you could learn from your own lives. This sort of practice helps create a greater awareness of your processes of thought. Give yourself some time every day to write in a free way with no prejudice. This process of writing might reflect the sense you possess about tomorrow or what now breaks for you about yesterday.

Role models: without any prejudice, you could observe a leader having a different approach different from that of ours. This practice will help you identify leaders whom you admire. To shadow those leaders, give yourself a day and observe them. Try to have a short interview with any of them asking how they think about leadership and handle the change.

Tackling creative endeavour: spend some time each day for some creative capacity such as writing poems, cooking, playing music, painting or sketching. These can rest our mind placing you in a flow state and enable significant perspectives to understand the world in different ways.

Reaching physical wisdom: to have a better reflection, you should devote to attempt in processes creating different understanding in your body. You may spend some time for some activities like playing golf, jogging, taking up skiing, woodworking or gardening courses.

Discovering people who draw the best out of you: identify who in your life draws your best energies and in whose presence you are the one who you would like to be. Also identify what you have in common. Spend more time with those people who give you best energies.

Through these processes, it will be much easier to learn from colleagues; write downshifts in your awareness and in your sense of purpose. Ask yourself whether you are aware of things you have not noticed earlier, by virtue of any of these processes or practices. The possible responses you will have will contribute to your effectiveness as a leader; increase the capacity to lead change. When people are asked about the most effective leaders, they will talk about the extraordinary capacity of leader to listen. Listening is an essential cognitive skill for a leader. One might conclude from this that reflective practice begins within yourself, and it is a significant transformational leadership skill, which will help you notice and change the profound processes of thought.

3.6. The models of reflective practice

To make reflective practice more concrete, there are some models offered to leaders. A useful model that explains reflective practice is the ALACT model of Korthagen [ 26 ]. The model has continuous phases of action, looking back on the action, awareness of essential aspects, creating alternative methods of action and trial ( Figure 2 ). A leader or manager does an action; judges how well he or she did the action; considers elements that attributed to success of the action or prevented the action to be successful, based on that judgement develops better ways of doing action; and finally tries the action in a better way. Note that the first and the last phases are the same. A sample implementation of this approach would be like this one [ 26 ]:

A: A mathematics lesson was given.

L: This lesson went fine. They were a bit noisier than usual, but I could control them all the same.

A: Ronnie was not present; that may have been a cause of the extra noise. In my opinion he is a kind of ‘leader’, and because he was always cooperative, the others cooperated too. Now that he wasn’t there, the others didn’t know how to behave. Yet they all worked well. Another cause may be that we started at 8:30, which is earlier than usual. The children hadn’t blown off steam yet, but I wanted to start quickly all the same, for I had only 1 h.

Figure 2.

The ALACT model of reflection [ 26 ].

C: The next time I will take more time.

Reflective questioning is another way of performing reflective practice. This model offers questions to be asked by reflective practitioners in three levels of reflective practice, which are descriptive, that is, theory-building, knowledge-building and action-oriented levels of reflection ( Table 1 ). The levels are a type of reflection in action. Reflective leaders first describe the situation they are in and then move to scrutinize the situation to construct knowledge to be used in the action-oriented level of reflection. In this final level, questions to improve the consequences of the action are asked by the reflective leaders.

Table 1.

Reflective questioning [ 27 ].

Gibbs’ model of reflective cycle takes feelings into account when reflecting on and learning from experience. It starts with a brief description of an event and then feelings about the event are expressed ( Figure 3 ). In the evaluation stage, value judgements are made for further analysis in the next stage to draw a personal understanding of the event. In the conclusion stage, insights into how behaviour affected the outcome of the event are developed. Finally, an action plan is developed to be used when encountered the same or similar event. The plan should constitute learned intuition of what a leader would do differently in the next time. This model is a type of reflection on action. A very good example reflection done by a leader using Gibbs’ model can be read at [ 29 ]. Instructions about how to implement each stage are further detailed in Table 2 .

Figure 3.

Reflective cycle [ 28 ].

Table 2.

Stages of reflective cycle [ 28 ].

Kolb’s reflective model presents another circular approach to reflective practice ( Figure 4 ). New knowledge is generated upon experience building on prior experiences and knowledge. The cycle starts with a concrete experience in which a person is actively involved. In the reflective observation stage, reviewing of what has been done and experienced takes place. The next stage is called abstract conceptualization that involves making sense of what happened by interpreting relations between events. The final stage of active experimentation is about testing implications of concepts, which are developed in the previous stage, in new situations.

Figure 4.

Kolb’s reflective model [ 30 ].

Experience needs to be seen as constructed, shaped and contained by social power relations.

Complex and unequal relations around knowledge are constructed between people as an integral part of the learning process.

There is a need to focus on the here-and-now experience and the mirroring process between the people within the education environment and the organizations they represent.

Finding ways of working with underlying and unconscious processes, particularly defence mechanisms, is necessary.

Second-order or metaprocesses relating to each aspect of the cycle are included.

4. Conclusions

Leadership is so complex that everything about it cannot be written in a handbook nor can be prescribed in the literature on leadership. So, how can new knowledge about leadership be generated when it is needed but not available at hand? Reflective leadership fills the gap between theory and practice by enabling leaders to construct their own theories of practice during, after and even before their actions. It teaches leaders how to catch fish instead of giving them fishes. It is a self-development tool and requires little mastery to use. We believe that this chapter is a good starting point for all leaders to acquire this mastery that paves the way for growing as reflective leaders who are self-efficient in creating and updating their own practice of leadership.

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© 2017 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Leadership Reflection Essay Examples

Self reflection leadership essay example, reflections on leadership, introduction.

When we talk about leadership, it’s not something that is practiced in the workplace but in fact it is in every little thing that exists around us. The phenomenon comes handy in any situation where a leader steps in and takes control. The place doesn’t matter; it could be your home, your office or any public place.

For those who think leaders are born, let me correct, leaders are made, with the ability and the credibility that people put their trust into. In this leadership reflection essay example I will be discussing my leadership strengths and the areas for improvement and growth.

Over the years, I have had the privilege of observing the concept of leadership in different contexts, which made me understand the traits that an effective leader requires. In this reflection essay I will be sharing my learnings and viewpoints on leadership drawn from observations and personal experiences.

Understanding the Nature of Leadership

As mentioned in the beginning of this reflection on leadership essay, leadership is not about imposing power over others. Practically, leadership is a complex blend of character, skill set and decisions that steer people towards one single goal.

Leadership is all about inspiring and influencing individuals that motivate them to complete certain tasks or achieve goals instead of coercing them. In my experience, leadership is a continuous journey to self discovery, its perseverance towards continuous learning and personal growth.

The Role of Vision

One of the most important aspects of leadership is to be clear about your vision and mission. The leader must thoughtfully come up with a vision that is in sync with goals of the team and the organization. If curated carefully, this vision acts as a guiding light towards a shared goal and purpose.

In my experience over the years I have witnessed leaders who have a focused vision are able to inspire others to follow their steps that ultimately lead to success.

Effective Communication and Empathy

To put your viewpoint across, effective communication is key especially when you are leading a team. The role of a leader demands clear communication of the vision, expectations and objectives so that he is able to be persuasive accordingly.

Many fail to understand that listening is equally important as communicating. It is extremely crucial for the leader to listen empathetically and comprehend so that he/she is able to address the concerns of the team.

During my learning experience in the role of a leader I found that when you listen to your team, and you are empathetic to their concerns you build trust, collaboration and people have a sense of belonging.

The Ability to Adapt and Resilience

Leadership is a concept that is variable and fits each to its own, there is no one leadership style that can be used for all. I can tell from experience that the role of a leader is quite challenging, where he has to face uncertainty, adapt to different situations and show resilience.

A good leader is the one who is flexible enough to steer through challenges, learn from the setbacks and have an optimistic approach towards inspiring teams. The ones who persevere through such challenges are able to pull through difficult times. So that makes flexibility, resilience and openness to new ideas as important qualities of a leader.

A Leader Show Lead by Example

The most important trait of a leader is to lead by example. Their role demands to practice the same values, attitudes and behavior that they expect from their team. This way, they lead by example and build trust and authenticity. Below mentioned are 7 ways you can lead by example:

• Polish Your Leadership Skills – One of the best ways to lead by example is by getting training and learning how to build your skills and mindset accordingly.
• Handle Conflict in a Constructive Manner – You cannot expect your team to handle conflicts if you are unable to do so yourself. Learn to address conflicts in a calm and productive way.
• Communicate Kindly and Respectfully: A conflict can only be managed well if the tone is respectful and kind, reflecting that you care about your team.
• Revert After Failure: Failure is natural in a business or personal life that can take place anytime a decision is made or risk is taken.
• Practice Ethical Leadership: Never let moral values like honesty, transparency, integrity, respect and fairness leave your side.
• Embrace Diversity: Create policies and procedures that make employees feel comfortable and welcomed. Keep an open mind and encourage different viewpoints.
• Take Care of Your Well-Being: If you are unwell, it would be difficult to lead the team in compromised health.

To sum it all, leadership is a continuous journey that continues for life. My reflections on these leadership reflective essay examples have led me to understand the complexity and depth of how this concept works.

Leadership is a lifelong journey, and my reflections on this subject have led me to appreciate its depth and complexity. It is not a destination but a continuous process of growth and self-improvement. Effective leaders are not born; they are made through experiences, self-awareness, and a commitment to keep inspiring and empower others.

As I move forward on this journey, I have learned to evolve as a leader. These reflections would work as a guidance manual. So far, I have learned that leadership is not a title or an authoritative state, it’s how we affect others lives in a positive manner.

Beyond a role, this is a great responsibility that I carry with great enthusiasm and strive to make a positive difference in the lives of people surrounding me.

It is a responsibility that I embrace with humility and enthusiasm, driven by a desire to make a positive difference in the world around me.

• https://www.betterup.com/blog/leading-by-example
• https://www.ipl.org/essay/Reflection-Paper-On-Leadership-PKERL7HESCFR  

Leadership Style Reflective Essay Example

Reflecting on leadership styles.

Usually, when one is integrating effective leadership styles into routine practice, there is a need to self-reflect to know your standing and then trying out different approaches to see which one clicks. But at the base, in this reflection on leadership essay I can confidently share that leadership is a concept that one can only develop through time and with continuous development.

In this leadership reflection essay example , I plan to explore the concept with a wideview and walk you through different leadership styles and share how they have impacted my growth and improved me as a leader.

Autocratic Leadership

During the initial phase of my career I realized I was more inclined towards the autocratic leadership style. Since it was so early in my career, I was of the view that being authoritative and decisive is what shapes up a good leader. Most of the time I would find myself making important decisions without keeping my team in the loop or seeking to ask for their advice.

As amazingly effective this authoritative leadership style was in numerous situations, I soon realized its limitations. It tampered with creativity, isolated my team and created an unwelcoming environment where open communication was discouraged because there was only one person in charge.

When I reflected on this style I realized that no matter how important quick decision making was in certain situations, it’s equally important to involve your team in the decision making process. This not only gets you to get creative ideas and different perspectives but also makes the team involved and gives them a sense of ownership.

Democratic Leadership

Once I realized that I need to include my team and give them a sense of ownership, I transitioned towards a more inclusive approach, the democratic leadership style. My team was very happy with this approach since they were more involved, and encouraged collaboration. I started getting some amazing ideas from my team and they too got comfortable in sharing their perspective.

While this leadership style empowered my team and promoted creativity, it had its own set of challenges. It would take a lot of time to reach a consensus and hence delay the decision making process slower. Also, it was difficult to reach a consensus everytime, with so many different perspectives.

So finally I realized that a democratic approach is viable only when you have sufficient time for the discussion and the team is equipped with the relevant expertise. It was necessary that a balance was achieved when it came to making the decisions in a timely manner and involving the team.

Transformational Leadership

My journey as a leader has been a great learning experience and I took each of the lessons to bring about a positive change. As I continued further on my journey of refining my skills, transformational leadership style caught my attention. This style is inclined towards motivating and inspiring individuals so that they can explore their full potential and achieve their best.

This approach included setting up a vision that was compelling to foster innovation and strive for personal growth. The biggest trait of transformational leaders is that they lead by example and bring about a positive change in the work environment where everyone works with full zeal.

When I started practicing this leadership style I found out that it encouraged both personal and professional development amongst the members of the team. But it’s not simple as it sounds, it requires full commitment to the vision and a high level of emotional intelligence to regulate your feelings and connect with people on a personal level.

Servant Leadership

My yearning to be a holistic leader brought me to a phase in my journey where I got an opportunity to explore servant leadership. With this style, you prioritize others’ needs over your own, reflecting an empathetic nature and practicing selflessness and humility. This style demands an active listening ear so that you as a leader are able to understand their concerns, address them and provide support accordingly.

I realized that servant leadership helped me create an impact on the team where I was able to build trust and build strong relationships with my team. Also, putting your team’s needs ahead of your own is something that requires a strong will power and a lot of patience.

To conclude, my leadership journey has been very explorational in nature where I got the opportunity to learn and experiment with my leadership styles, not once but several times. Along with highlighting my strengths and weaknesses in the leadership reflective essay examples in the initial phase of my journey I got to learn, unlearn and relearn a lot of things.

I got clarity that when it comes to leadership, there is no one size that fits all, it is multifaceted. In order to practice an effective leadership style it is important that the leader is flexible and can adapt to different styles according to different situations and different teams.

Furthermore, as I look back and reflect on my past experiences, I am looking forward to polishing my leadership skills and styles all the while seeking opportunities for growth and advancement. Also, I will try to integrate the best of the learnings on my style that I have come across so far.

I strive to be a leader who is quick to think on his feet and is able to make instant decisions. Also, I want to inspire and motivate individuals with my transformational approach and practicing servant leadership. I aim to be empathetic enough that I keep the needs of others above myself.

Eventually, leadership is a dynamic and overwhelming journey that leads to self discovery, growth, and persistent improvement.

Izzah Ahmed

This is Izzah, a content writer and editor who creates SEO-friendly content and has experience in academic writing. Backed by 10 years of experience in writing and editing, she is equipped with the skill to create content that is backed by thorough research and has impeccable structure.

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Leadership: Contemporary Theories and Approaches Reflective Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Introduction

A brief overview of leadership, my leadership approach, cultural considerations, contexts for application, works cited.

All organizations and institutes constantly strive to raise their levels of performance and productivity. To reach the set goals of increased productivity in the organization, the contribution made by all members in the organization is crucial. Even so, these contributions can only achieve optimal impact if there is a strong leadership in place to guide both the individual and group efforts.

This being the case, the development of leadership traits and skills is indeed necessary for the survival and continued success of an organization. There are various factors which make leadership roles mandatory in the education industry. To begin with, the teachers act as role models to their students and as such, they must exhibit strong leadership.

Leadership by the school management is also necessary to ensure that the teachers are teaching in accordance to the set standards. There exist many leadership theories and their effectiveness is dependent on the particular environment. A leadership theory or approach that is both theoretical and practically adequate can be termed as the most efficient one for an individual to adopt.

With these considerations, this paper shall set out to develop systematically and defend with reasoned arguments my own approach concerning leadership. My approach will not only borrow from well established theories and leadership approaches but it shall also build on them so as to come up with an even more effective leadership approach.

While leadership has varied definition depending on the context, it can be generically defined as the process through which an individual makes use of the support and assistance of others so as to achieve predetermined goals and objectives (Burns 23). It is only though strong leadership that organizational goals are achieved and as such, leadership is essential for the success of an organization.

Invariably, leadership involves working hand in hand with other organizational members since the leader has to elicit the support of relevant personnel in order to achieve the set goals. Various people favor different leadership styles and approaches and the success or relevance of each approach is dependent on the setting, the individual, and the cultural reality in which the approach is implemented.

My leadership Approach would borrow from a number of contemporary theories and approaches that have proved to be successful in a wide range of settings. To begin with, my leadership would necessitate that the leader engagement his followers and this would result in satisfaction for both the leader and the followers.

This is in line with the influential leadership style in many Western nations, transformational leadership. Burns introduced transformational leadership in 1978 and according to him, a transformational leader is defined as a leader who “looks for potential motives in followers, seeks to satisfy higher needs, and engages the full person of the follower” (Burns 173).

From this definition, it is evident that a transformational leader differs from other leaders as a result of the due consideration that he gives to his followers’ needs. As such, the leader is not only able to direct his followers to achieve organizational goals but he is also able to empathize with their needs and in actual sense demonstrate genuine concern over their affairs.

This brand of leader puts the needs of the followers over their own which results in increased admiration and respect by the followers’ of the leader (Alimo-Metcalfe and Alban-Metcalfe 3). This increases the leader’s influence over the followers hence leading to greater leadership efficiency.

In the educational setting, once the administration shows concern for the teachers, the teachers can be expected to be even more effective in their work. Another appealing attribute of transformational leadership is that some of its aspects are universally endorsed as effective leadership behavior and can therefore be used in a wide range of settings (Den Hartog 225).

As has been articulated in this paper, a leader accomplishes his goals though his followers. As such, a leader is deemed worthless if he lacks the backing and support of a team. It is therefore important that all leaders work towards cultivating and generating an intellectual capital for their organizations.

This duly gives them a competitive advantage over other competitors in the market. In most organization, only a fraction of the capability of the work force is utilized. Leaders cannot gain much by coercing the employees to work harder.

Instead, an increase in productivity can be achieved if the leaders invest in motivational tactics for his followers. Kondalkar defines motivation as a process of inciting individuals to act in such a manner that they accomplish desired goals. Considering the fact that leadership entails the leader using his followers to fulfill set organizational goals, it would be right to state that a significant part of the leadership role involves motivating staff to achieve set goals.

In my leadership approach, the Expectancy Theory of motivation would be utilized. According to the expectancy theory as advanced by Vroom, people tend to choose actions, efforts and occupation that increase their pleasures while at the same time decreasing discomfort and pain (Chapman and Hopwood 120). According to this theory, a person’s motivation force is directly proportional to their envisioned gains.

Put in another way, the probability that a person’s will bring about particular desirable outcomes will cause the person to be motivated into acting in a certain way so as to achieve the outcomes. A leader can make use of this knowledge on motivation to come up with the most effective motivation for the followers.

Having goals is important for the success of any group effort. These goals represent the vision that the leader hopes to achieve though his followers. One of the roles of the leader is to come up with a vision and let the followers know what this vision is so as to give them a sense of purpose and direction.

The typical leader is required to come up with a set of goals that the followers are expected to achieve. The typical leader may come up with goals that are not properly articulated, are unchallenging or even unattainable by the workforce. My approach emphasizes on the importance of a leader to come up with clear and achievable goals in line with the Goal-setting theory advanced by Locke.

Pynes asserts that according to the Goal Setting Theory, clear expectations result in high performance from the followers (155). With this in mind, a leader should be keen to give a coherent vision and set specific, challenging and attainable goals for the followers. Also, the leader must have in mind that he may be required to adjust goals as time progresses since goals that were achievable and challenging at the onset may become unchallenging and unachievable goals over time.

Creativity is cited as one of this traits that is desirable of a leader. As a matter of fact, creativity has become the defining attribute of successful business organizations over the last two decades. Huge and small organizations alike are constantly in search of new ideas to help them stay ahead of their competitors or provide even better services to their customers.

Shavinina asserts that creativity assists organizations to enhance their productivity therefore giving them a means to remain competitive in an increasingly aggressive market environment (607). While innovation may come from group efforts, in most occasions it is initiated by one individual who mostly happens to be the leader.

My approach would therefore require that the leader exhibit creativity and innovation which should be used to positively impact the organization. This creativity may be projected through acts such as the proposal of novel ideas or by coming up with even more efficient ways for the followers to run their operations in the organization.

My leadership approach would place emphasis on conflict resolution by the leader. Contentious issues arise in all aspects of life and the organizational context is not exempted from this. These issues normally involve people holding different views or opinions and the manner in which contention is dealt with bears directly on the future wellbeing of the organization.

The leader plays a big role in ensuring that contentious issues are dealt with in an amicable manner. This is normally through the use of diplomatic means. Diplomacy entails using power and authority to reach desirable outcomes that are accepted by all or coming to a consensus (London 259).

The leader should possess diplomatic skills which will enable him to handle disputes and arrive at solutions that are not only feasible but also acceptable by all parties involved in the dispute. In most situations, conflicts are most effectively resolved through negotiation which is defined as communication for the purpose of persuasion.

Negotiation is typically based on concession trading where the parties involved reduce their demands in order to accommodate the opposing party. My approach will require that leaders be equipped with negotiation skills which will be essential in conflict resolution.

An important leadership factor is the showing of genuine concern for followers. In a survey by Alimo-Metcalfe and Alban-Metcalfe in which over 4,000 managers were interviewed, it was discovered that the single most important leadership factor was showing genuine concern to staff (27).

The reason for this is because every employee incurs some stress and demotivation as they undertake their work duties if they have a negative relationship with their leader. Engaging in a leadership style that demonstrates genuine concern will lead to a increased productivity and performance in the organization.

My approach would require that the leader demonstrate concern for the followers at all times and be sympathetic to their needs. This may mean that the leader would at times have to defend his followers from attacks by superior members of the organization.

My leadership approach will also work with the understanding that some people possess inherent traits which make them better suited as leaders. This is in line with the Trait Approach which places emphasis on the inborn character traits of a leader. According to the trait theory, individuals are born with some innate qualities which set them apart as leaders.

This theory proposes that critical leadership traits can be identified in people and the people with these desirable traits could then be given leadership positions. The Trait theory has been utilized in military leadership for centuries. By using this theory, my approach would take care to identify certain desirable traits in the choosing of leaders.

Studies indicate that some of the most frequently occurring traits include technical skills, friendliness, assertiveness, emotional intelligence and charisma (Den Hartog 229). A leadership style that would be included in my approach is assertiveness. Assertiveness is defined as the degree to which a person is “assertive, tough, dominant, and aggressive” in their relationships with others (Dickson, Hartog and Mitchelson 746).

Application of assertiveness in leadership springs from the assumption that each person has a right to make known their needs. Assertiveness assists in this since it promotes interpersonal behavior which is desirable in the organization. By being assertive, a person can maximize their satisfaction while at the same time considering the needs of other people.

Assertion is characterized by being direct and honest while communicating with others. This attributes assist in promoting positive interpersonal relationship since they act as a platform for constructive dispute resolution. My approach would require that the leader have the ability to inspire the followers by giving them a sense of purpose and ensuring that they are working towards the achievement of set goals.

The leader should be able to generate and sustain trust and goodwill among all the parties in the organization. By doing this, the leader can promote confidence amongst the followers and hence heighten optimism within the organization. This will greatly boost employee morale therefore guaranteeing the future success of the organization since objectives will be met.

These qualities are of great significance at the present time when optimism is low due to the halted economic growth in most countries. A leader who is able to inspire and raise the confidence of the followers will make a positive difference to the organization.

In the educational industry, the preserving of the corporate culture of the organization can make the difference in the organization. This is because in most educational institutes, the culture responsible for the successful execution of tasks in the organization over a long period of time.

This being the case, it is obvious that the success of an organization can be jeopardized by any move that threatens to weaken the corporate culture of the organization. Morgan states that corporate cultures develop “as an ethos created and sustained by social processes so as to bury out differences” (128). This means that the culture is a means by which the various disparate members of the organization can forge some form of alliance and thus work towards.

Jenster and Hussey assert that a strong culture may be further reinforced in an organization by a strong charismatic figure (231). My leadership approach would therefore demand that the leader demonstrate some charismatic attributes. Sahskin suggests that actions that result in feelings of charisma towards a leader figure will increase the likelihood of the followers copying the leader’s actions (178). This is because charisma enables the leader to ensure that everyone involved buys into the ideas and concepts that they are trying to advance.

The concept of leadership is universal and leaders are deemed as necessary for effective running of all organizations. Even so, differing cultural groups may have varied perceptions of what leadership entails (Koopman 132). Culture is defined as “a system of values and norms that are shared among a group of people and that, taken together, constitute a design for living” (Vance and Paik 39).

This definition underscores the fact that culture has a huge impact on the lives of both the individual and the community. This huge influence of culture means that it impacts directly on all human activities. Inter cultural interactions involves people from different cultural backgrounds converging.

These interactions have a significant implication on leadership. Therefore, an adequate approach on leadership must take cultural interactions into considerations. While intercultural interactions have been caused by a myriad of reasons, globalization is viewed as the single biggest contributing factor.

Globalization is a process characterized by large scale integration of both economies and cultures and this process is quickly becoming extensive and with it, there have been profound changes in the running of society and organizations.

With cultural considerations in mind, a concept that my leadership style would take into consideration is power distance as advanced by Hofstede. This concept provides some insight into the leadership behavior that would be most applicable in particular cultures. As is it, different cultures have different power distances and this influences the style that is most relevant.

Power distance is defined by Vance and Paik as “the extents that people have an equal distribution of power” (41). High power distance implies a concentration of power at the top while small power distance implies a wider distribution of power among a higher number of people. In high power distance societies, power is possessed by few individuals while in small power distance power is distributed among a wider ranger of people.

The Western society, which is characterized by high social mobility and low authoritarianism, favors low power distance. In high power distance cultures, an autocratic and controlling leadership style is most applicable and the followers will expect the leader to give specific instructions.

Followers are expected to respect authority and not engage their own creativity. Contrary to this, small power distance cultures require the leader to be more participative and the followers are encouraged to engage their creativity since a more democratic approach is used in leadership (Vance and Paik 41). Culture dictates the power distance that is acceptable in a particular social environment and therefore, a leadership approach that considers this is most effective.

Hofstede goes on to group cultural dimensions into two: masculinity vs. Femininity. The Masculine dimension places emphasis on achievements and rewards for exemplary performcace are the fundamental motivational means. Vance and Paik assert that in this culture the major driving force is outcomes of financial gain and recognition among peers for the individual (42).

The feminine culture in contrast has as its driving force concern for other members. In this culrure, financial gains and prestige are secondary to the welfare of each member in the organization. Hofstede goes on to state that “high masculinity may give rise to a fairly macro type of leadership, where high femininity may lead to a more empathetic consideration type of leadership” (34).

My approach will underscore the fact that dealing with people in the two different cultural backgrounds will be profoundly different. In the masculinity culture, my approach will recommend competition which is the best way to achieve maximum benefits. In the femininity culture, fostering of cooperation is paramount for the achievement of productivity in the.

I would wish to apply my leadership approach in the education industry and in particular, in the administrative aspect of education. The Educational system of any society is fundamental to the development and as such the general well being of the entire community.

With this realization, educators throughout the world have acknowledged that the educational structures and practices that are adopted have a profound impact on the population’s education. This directly impacts on the economic and social outcomes of the members of the community. An educational system which yields high results is therefore seen as being essential for the well being of the entire community.

The leadership styles adopted by educational institutes have huge significances on the success of the educational institute. My approach purports to be all encompassing, since it recognizes that different people favor different leadership styles and that culture plays a huge role in determining the most effective leadership style.

My approach demonstrates that application of motivational theory can result in better leadership. This is because ignorance of motivational theories hampers leadership effectiveness since the leader is unable to incite the workers into producing the best performances.

Without a profound knowhow of motivational theories, the leader is bound to use the basic rewards and punishment mode in his bid to achieve desired goals. While this method may work in some instances, Frey and Jegen warn that “monetary incentives and punishment may have the undesirable effect of crowding-out intrinsic motivation under some conditions” (591).

A leader who has a proper understanding of motivation as has been articulated in this paper adopts a wider encompassing system of motivating his followers. My leadership approach also gives due consideration to cultural since culture shapes the world view of a person. Culture dictates the individual’s perception of what is good or bad leadership style.

Culture shapes individuals’ attitudes, and values and this profoundly influences a person’s actions and their relationship with others (Singelis and Brown 355). My approach which places emphasis on the culture specific view of leadership is therefore most applicable in a world that becoming increasingly globalized with intercultural interactions becoming more prevalent.

In this paper, I set out to develop systematically and defend with reasoned arguments my own approach concerning leadership. The paper began by defining leadership and proceeded to highlight my approach. My approach has taken into considerations the qualities and characteristics of good leadership and subsequently articulated how the qualities of an effective leader impact on the organization.

The impacts of culture on leadership have also been taken into consideration since culture greatly affects leadership effectiveness. This paper had demonstrated that a lack of leadership qualities can result in lost focus and even the presence of unmotivated workers hence lowering productivity for the entire organization. By making use of the leadership approach articulated in this paper, one can become an effective leader therefore bringing about positive results to the organization.

Alimo-Metcalfe, Beverly, and Alban-Metcalfe Robert. “The Development of a New Transformational Leadership Questionnaire”. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology , 74, 1-27, 2001

Burns, JM. Leadership . New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1978. Print.

Chapman, SC, and Hopwood GA. Handbook of Management Accounting Research. Elsevier, 2007. Print.

Den Hartog, DN, et al. “Culture Specific and Cross-Culturally Generalizable Implicit Leadership Theories: Are Attributes of Charismatic/Transformational Leadership Universally Endorsed?” Leadership Quarterly , 10, 219-256, 1999.

Dickson, WM, Hartog DN., and Mitchelson, K. J. “Research on Leadership in a Cross-Cultural Context: Making Progress, and Raising New Questions”. The Leadership Quarterly 14 (2003) 729–768

Frey, BS, and Jegen R. “Motivation Crowding Theory”, Journal of Economic Surveys vol. 15, no.5, 2001.

Jenster, PV, and Hussey Daniel. Company Analysis: Determining Strategic Capability. Wiley, 2001. Print.

Kondalkar, PF. Organization Effectiveness and Change Management. PHI learning Pvt. Ltd. 2002, Print.

Koopman, P, et al. “National Culture and Leadership Profiles in Europe: Some Results from The GLOBE Study”. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology , 2009.

London, Manuel. Leadership Development: Paths to Self-Insight and Professional Growth. Routledge, 2002.

Morgan, Gareth. Images of Organization. USA: Sage, 2006. Print.

Pynes, Joan. Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Strategic Approach. John Wiley and Sons, 2008. Print.

Shavinina, Larisa. The International Handbook on Innovation, Elsevier, 2003. Print.

Singelis, Theodore, and Brown William. “Culture, Self, and Collectivist Communication: Linking Culture to Individual Behavior”. Human Communication Research , 21, 354-389, 1995.

Vance, Charles, and Paik Yongsun. Managing a Global Workforce: Challenges and Opportunities in International Human Resource Management. Armonk: M.E.Sharpe, 2006. Print.

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Essay on Personal Leadership

Few skills are more important to self-improvement than being able to take a step back and honestly evaluate you. Self-reflection allows you to expose problems early, before they become too painful to ignore.

The Trait Theory Of Leadership

Leadership seems to be a concept that is just out of grasp. Simple in theory, yet difficult to define. According to Northouse (2015), inaugural definitions of leadership “emphasized control and centralization of power with a common theme of dominance”. Beginning views of leadership also postulated that leadership traits were not only inborn, but were also inherited- particularly by the upper classes. Soon after this trend of rationale, trait theory emerged and became the primary lens through which leadership was viewed. Early research in trait theory was focused on identifying individual innate traits that popular leaders conveyed. Trait theory differed from the prior leadership model as trait theory asserted that leaders were composed of traits that digressed from non-leaders and not that traits were passed down from previous leaders.

Reflective Essay On Team Leadership

As a first time RA, I felt that my biggest challenge was realizing when it was okay to not know the answer to a problem or situation. Taking this leadership class has helped me realize that it is okay to step down when I do not know the answer, specifically with Team Leadership. Team Leadership was described in the book as when “team members step forward when situations warrant, providing the leadership necessary, and then step back to allow others to lead” (Northouse 365). Having this reassurance that I do not always have to be the person stepping up came in handy for me in particular when I came across a situation where there was a large party. My co-RA that was on duty with me had better skills with memorizing information that needed to be in the IR than I did. Having read the chapter on Team Leadership, I knew that it was okay for her to take the lead and for me to step back and help guide the situation.

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Leadership and Management Reflective Essay

The development of leadership skills is very important because they help to achieve both personal and professional success. At the same time, often people faces difficulties with the development of their leadership skills and abilities. In this regard, it is important to focus on the development of an effective leadership style that can help an individual in their professional and personal development. The development of leadership skills should be an integral part of education of students because students should learn different leadership roles. The latter will help students to be flexible, while applying their leadership skills and abilities and they will be able to use the most effective leadership style. Thus, students will be effective leaders. As for me, I am currently inclined to use transformational leadership style, which I believe to be particularly effective in the health care environment where I am currently working in.

Today, the role of leaders is extremely important for the successful performance of various organizations. At the same time, the effective application of leadership qualities highly depends on the approach used by leaders to their associates and subordinates. Among the variety of approaches existing in the contemporary business environment, transformational leadership is one of the most popular and widely spread approaches, which is considered by many specialists (Northouse, 2001) as highly prospective. In this respect, it is important to underline that the transformational leadership has not only benefits but it may have certain risks which can threaten to the normal development and performance of the organization, where this approach is applied.

At the same time, through the development of positive interpersonal relationships with associates, the contemporary leader can implement the full potential of his or her leadership because associates, being highly valued by the leader, grow more confident in the leader and, simultaneously, they feel more responsible for their own performance. To put it more precisely, the associates do their best to maintain the positive performance in order to avoid changing the attitude of the leader and to feel valued by the leader (Dessler, 2004). In such a way, the associates are conscious of their importance to the organization and its leader.

Furthermore, along with the growing responsibility of the associates, their productivity and effectiveness of their work grow too that also produces a positive impact on the development and performance of the organization. In such a way, the transformational approach can be use effectively used in order to improve the relationship of the leader and his or her subordinates and to improve the performance of the organization.

However, it is necessary to remember about certain risks that accompany the implementation of the transformational approach. To put it more precisely, the transformational leader can face a problem of the adequate treatment of him or her as a leader. What is meant here is the fact that often transformational leaders are perceived by their associates as personalities above all, while their leadership position is treated as secondary compared to their personal traits (Hesselbein and Cohen, 1999).  As a result, the leader can undermine his or her authority as a leader, while his or her personal qualities become of the utmost importance for his or her relationship with the associates. Also, the application of the transformational approach may lead to the abuse of power. Using the transformational approach the leader can use his or her power to manipulate his or her assoicates, forcing them to do tasks as a personal service to the respectable leader. Alternatively, the associates can use their good relationship with the in their own interest to achieve personal goals. Such effects of the use of transformational approach may produce a negative impact on the performance of the entire organization.

Nevertheless, the aforementioned difficulties the transformational leader can encounter while applying the transformational approach, it is still possible to overcome all these problems through the use of various factors that can be applied in terms of the transformational approach. To put it more precisely, the transformational leader can have an idealized influence on his or her associates. In such a context, the leader is an exemplary model for his or her associates and it is up to the leader what model his or her associates learn. In other words, if the transformational leader does not abuse the power and shows a positive example than his or her associates are likely to follow this positive example and they are likely to follow his or her model of behavior in their professional work.

At the same time, it is important for a leader to keep distance between him or her and his or her associates in order to maintain formal relationship. In fact, interpersonal relations should be rather intertwined into professional relations than substitute them that will lead to the perception of a leader’s personal trait as superior to his or her leader’s trait.

However, in spite of all my efforts to use transformational leadership style, I still face certain difficulties with the implementation of this leadership style in my professional work. In this respect, I should say that I am inclined to the authoritarian leadership style and I have to cope with my internal inclinations to develop new, more effective leadership style. In addition, I am working in quite stressful environment that raises certain barriers to the development of the transformational leadership style. In fact, I have to cope with stressful factors to avoid conflicts with my colleagues and clients. In this regard, conflicts may be a serious threat to my leadership style.

Taking into consideration the aforementioned problems and barriers, I have developed the plan which, I expect, can help me to overcome all the difficulties I am currently facing. Firstly, I will focus on learning the conflict management strategies that will help me to avoid conflicts in my professional relationships. Secondly, I will need to change my leadership style and refuse from authoritarian elements in my leadership style. For this purpose, I will study transformational leadership style in details and probably I will ask for advice of a psychologist who can help me to change my leadership style. Finally, I will need to establish a system of control over my progress. I am mainly focused on self-control using the self-efficacy assessment. In such a way, I will define my efficacy in the change of my leadership style.

Thus, in conclusion, it should be said that the application of transformational approach may be very prospective for the improvement of the performance of the organization and organization culture, but it is important to apply this approach very carefully in order to avoid its possible negative effects. The transformational leadership style is particularly effective in health care environment and I believe that I will use this style effectively in my professional work. However, to change my leadership style effectively, I will need to implement accurately the plan I have developed above.

References:

Brown, D. C. (2003). Leading complex change. New York: Touchstone. Dessler, G.  (2004). Management: principles and practices for tomorrows’ leaders (3rd ed.). New Jersey: Upper Saddle River. Hesselbein, Frances, and Paul M. Cohen. (1999). Leader to leader . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Northouse, Peter G. (2001). Leadership theory and practice , second edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Walton, Sam and John Huey. (1996). Sam Walton: Made in America: My story . Canada: Bantam Books.

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Reflective Essay

Reflective essay generator.

Sometimes, it is our experiences that startled and challenged our own voyage that strengthens and improves us to be the best versions of ourselves. If your life experience greatly moved you, there is a certain essay that allows you to compose your own endeavor. In this article, read through because we will be discussing the fundamentals of writing a reflective essay.

They say that being wise is better than being knowledgeable. Wisdom is acquired through reflection of one’s experience as well as of the environment. The more we reflect the more we become aware of ourselves. We become mindful of our existence as well as the meaning of life and all the things that surround us. Here we present different formats of essays like  essays in doc .

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What Is a Reflective Essay?

A reflective essay is a written piece of literature that focuses on presenting and narrating a person’s experience and how it becomes an instrument towards a change of perception in life.

It is a way for a writer to share an important event in his/her life and how it affected him/her so that others may learn something from it. Reflective writing root on life-changing events. The writer shares a specific experience, provides a narration of the incident including the material elements. It offers a realization so that others who may have had the same experience can draw out a shared mutual lesson from it.

How to Write a Reflective Essay

To write a reflective short essay , you need to have the right disposition as well as the momentum. Remember that you are not just writing to say something but to share an important lesson in life.

1. Think of an important event.  What you will be writing on your reflective essay is something that is rooted in your own personal experience or encounter of something. Think deep and concentrate. You may also see personal essay examples & samples.

2. Introduce your topic. In your introduction, write the concrete event or experience that you want to share. Pattern it in a story form.

3. Develop your point. Write the main content of your essay with at least three to five paragraphs supporting your main topic.

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Tips on Writing a Reflective Essay

Writing a reflective essay is not persuasive writing where you have to convince your readers to accept your opinion. You simply have to share an experience.

1. Write a draft. Do not jump hastily onto formal writing . Write a draft where you can create a bulleted list of the things that  you want to share.

2. Think logically. When presenting a story, do it in a chronological manner so that your readers can understand the plot. Do this as well when presenting your ideas.

3. Create a summary. Use a summary writing to briefly state your insights and to give your final thoughts of the topic.

Importance of a Reflective Essay

In this era that we currently live in, personal reflection can be considered a thing of the past. Because of the gradual change and development of the things around us, we find it difficult to pause and reflect on the things that happen to our lives. You may also see academic essay examples .

The importance of  writing an essay is to present to us the things that we rarely encounter in our day-to-day activities. In this time when material things are all that mattered, we have become unappreciative of the abstract things like love, compassion, and mercy. We cannot learn these things from those electronic gadgets that keep us busy.

How to Start a Reflective Essay Correctly

As mentioned above, a reflective essay presents and narrates the experience of a writer and how it changes the way he/she perceives life. In a simpler sense, it talks about how the author reflected on a certain adventure. As an essayist, since it’s you who bears the story and lessons, you are the one who is responsible for expressing it.

Just like any other composition, it’s your introduction that catches the attention of the reader. Thus, in order for your essay to be fully read, it is important to start your essay remarkably. If you find writing an introduction for your reflective essay challenging, don’t worry, you’re not alone. In this section, we are going to slowly tackle the ways to compose a compelling introduction.

1. Being catchy is the key.

In writing your reflective essay, you must start with something that would captivate the readers right away. Since the purpose of the introduction is to grab some attention, you may include some unique and interesting facts or beliefs. In this part, showcase your creativity by adding an introduction that is written in a bizarre manner and not those that depict cliché experience. You may also utilize a highly moving quotation or a dialogue that would also be appropriate for your reader.

2. Write the thesis statement in one sentence.

A thesis statement refers to the sentence that carries the topic being discussed in the whole essay. Therefore, it bears the central idea in which your essay revolves around. In writing your own essay, construct this statement in a clear and concise sentence. In this way, the reader will have a better grasp of your topic and would be clearly oriented on what you want to convey. In most cases, thesis statements are written at the end of the introduction.

3. Stick to the first person POV.

Remembering that this essay is subjective and depends on the author’s interpretation, it is important to use the first person point of view. By using this POV, it would be easier for you to convey your thoughts and opinions, and it would engage you to the readers like you’re telling a story in person. The first person involves the pronouns I , me , my , and mine .

4. Keep it brief.

When it comes to writing your own essay, you must perceive what your readers feel or see in reading your composition. Always put into mind that readers also have their own time to spend, and without a mark in the writing industry, people won’t invest much time on reading your essay. Thus, it is important to keep your composition concise. You can utilize a paragraph of five to ten sentences in your introduction. Using this number of sentences, you must already express a complete and clear thought of an essay that is worth reading.

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Text prompt

• Instructive
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Write a Reflective Essay on your most meaningful learning experience.

Create a Reflective Essay about a time when you showed leadership.

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Reflecting on leadership in language education.

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Laxman Gnawali, Reflecting on Leadership in Language Education, ELT Journal , 2024;, ccae019, https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccae019

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This book, part of Thomas S. C. Farrell’s series Reflective Practice in Language Education , captures the leadership concerns of ten different language educators and their reflective experiences. Curtis begins with a remark in the introduction section that in a worldwide pandemic, leadership is the first victim. It grabbed my attention as a teacher educator and language education leader in Nepal, and that made all the difference.

In this book, which has a style of its own, Curtis emphasizes that great leadership reduces higher degrees of adversity by generating faith, hope, and trust through clear, succinct, effective, and efficient communication. He argues that communication is essential for teachers to develop into good leaders. The book ventures to create an academic discourse by emphasizing the essence of reflective practice (RP) and leadership in language education with that undercurrent. It is divided into four chapters that include answers from ten leaders in language education to four reflective questions relating to initial and current leadership roles; understanding of RP and engagement with RP; challenges encountered during RP and how they were resolved; and recently encountered challenges, mainly experiences during the pandemic, and envisioning leadership based on these experiences. The leaders were also asked to consider the various ways they could have overcome the obstacles at that point. The four chapters are based on the lived leadership experiences of these ten leaders, without any references: through the biographical notes of ten leaders, presented with their actual names and details, the book helps readers to visualize leadership in language education and the role of RP in such leadership.

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Why Mexico May Elect a Female President Before the United States

Having a woman as president will be a milestone in a country where gender-based violence is so common. But how much will change remains unclear.

A large crowd attended the official start of Claudia Sheinbaum’s presidential campaign in Mexico City’s main square. Credit...

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Photographs by Marian Carrasquero

By Natalie Kitroeff and Emiliano Rodríguez Mega

Reporting from Mexico City

• June 1, 2024

Mexico is poised to elect its first female president on Sunday, a historic leap in a country long known for its machismo — and a big moment for all of North America.

From the beginning of the presidential race, the only competitive candidates have been two women: the front-runner Claudia Sheinbaum, a climate scientist from the ruling Morena party, and Xóchitl Gálvez, an entrepreneur representing a coalition of opposition parties.

The milestone is a reflection of the country’s complex relationship to women, who face rampant violence and rank sexism, yet are also revered as matriarchs and trusted in positions of authority.

How the country got here before the United States, its biggest trading partner, has much to do with policies that forced open doors for women at every level of government, experts say.

Pushed by feminist activists, Mexico, over the past few decades, has adopted increasingly broad laws encouraging more representation of women in politics. Then, in 2019, it took the remarkable step of making gender parity in all three branches of government a constitutional requirement.

“Mexico, on this metric, is really a model for how other countries can do it,” said Jennifer Piscopo, a professor of gender and politics at Royal Holloway, a college of the University of London, who studies the region, adding, “There’s no other country that I’m currently aware of that has a constitutional amendment for gender parity that is that comprehensive.”

Today, half of the country’s legislature is made up of women, compared with less than 30 percent of the U.S. Congress. The chief justice of the Mexican Supreme Court, the leaders of both houses of Congress and the Central Bank governor are all women. So are the ministers of the interior, education, economy, public security and foreign relations.

Now, a woman is set to become the most powerful person in the country, the commander of the armed forces, the chief executive of the second largest economy in Latin America.

“Finally, a woman will lead us. We feel happy, proud to know that a woman can govern the country. It gives hope to other women.”

Marcelina Bautista, a former domestic worker and prominent human rights activist

Alma Lilia Tapia, spokeswoman for a group of families searching for their missing loved ones in Guanajuato state, said she believed that both female contenders would pay more attention to the pleas of the families of Mexico’s nearly 100,000 disappeared , compared with their male predecessors.

“Their children haven’t disappeared. But they are moms and they know what it feels like even when they fall down and their scraped knee hurts.”

Alma Lilia Tapia, spokesperson for Salamanca United in the Search for the Disappeared

The New York Times interviewed 33 Mexican women in the lead-up to the election who said they knew this alone would not wipe away the many indignities they face. This is still a country where women are killed at extraordinary rates , where they earn far less than men on average and where machismo remains culturally ingrained.

But for many voters, and the candidates themselves, the arrival of a woman to the nation’s highest office does carry symbolic weight.

“That Mexico would have a woman president is, to me, extraordinary,” said Ms. Gálvez in a radio interview. “We have taken a very important step in the struggle of women.”

Ms. Sheinbaum has acknowledged what this could mean for the next generation.

“When a little girl tells you: ‘I also want to be head of government,’ the truth is that it brings on enormous emotion,” Ms. Sheinbaum told one interviewer, “not only because of what that recognition means, but also to see that a girl is thinking beyond stereotypes that have been imposed on us as women.”

While many Latin American countries pursued quotas for female politicians, Mexico was particularly aggressive in instituting them, first for local and then national government.

By 2019, the country passed a constitutional amendment requiring an even gender split in all three branches of government.

The election of a female president “could not have happened if it had not been for parity,” said Mónica Tapia, who leads a group that trains women for political leadership in Mexico.

The United States has never entertained gender quotas in politics, which are common in much of the world, Ms. Piscopo said. And unlike Mexico, which elects its leaders by popular vote, the U.S. operates on the electoral college system. (Hillary Clinton would have won the 2016 U.S. election if it were based solely on the popular vote.)

The mass entry of women into Mexican politics in the past few years has come alongside seismic demographic and cultural shifts that have transformed the country.

A half-century ago, Mexican families had an average of seven children each and about one in 10 Mexican women had a job . Today, Mexicans have fewer children than Americans and nearly half of women in the country are in the work force.

Until 2021, abortion was banned in all but two states. Now it is legal in most of the country.

“Mexico is much more complex and more ambiguous than we know. There are very archaic and very traditional things, like Mexican religiosity. And suddenly the modernity of being able to accept a woman in power.”

Marta Lamas, a longtime feminist activist who led the push for broader access to abortion

Both candidates have promoted progressive social policies, such as opposing gay conversion therapy or creating clinics for transgender and nonbinary people, that have left some conservative women feeling overlooked.

“We are in favor of women’s rights, but these women’s rights don’t include abortion,” or “trans activism,” said Ángeles Bravo, the representative of the National Front for the Family, a conservative coalition that has opposed abortion and L.G.B.T. rights, in the state of Mexico. “And there are a lot of us.”

“I have to choose between what this race offers, but it does leave a bad taste in my mouth.”

Ángeles Bravo, a conservative activist

Some young feminists doubt that either candidate would prioritize addressing key issues that matter to women, like domestic violence and Mexico’s gender pay gap.

They say both women seem to just represent the interests of men — in Ms. Sheinbaum’s case, those of her mentor , the current president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and in Ms. Gálvez’s, the male leaders of the three main parties she represents.

“It’s of no use to us that a woman is going to be the president if she continues to be under the shadow of patriarchy,” said Wendy Galarza, 33, a feminist activist from Quintana Roo state who in 2020 was beaten and shot by police officers during a demonstration in Cancún.

Yet, while it’s not clear exactly how much change will come, there could be something transformational about a woman occupying a position of maximum authority in a country where presidents enjoy broad power and, often, wide respect.

“Men will always be in the background, but the leadership of a woman president in power is fundamental,” Ms. Tapia said. It tells Mexican women, she said, “that your family can’t tell you where a woman’s place is — whether it’s in the kitchen or with the family — it’s wherever you choose.”

“The fact that the candidates are women means something is changing and that now we won’t only be led by men.”

Rebecca Vásquez, 15

“I still don’t know who to trust, even though they are women — my doubts remain.”

Gretel Navarro, 23

“I think it’s great that we have female candidates — hopefully they can pay better attention to the problems of femicide and disappearances here in Mexico.”

Camila Herrera, 13

“Incredible, it’s about time.”

Tanzi Hernández, 20

“It is just a fight for power, but I still think it’s a good thing that a woman is participating in that fight for the first time.”

Jennifer López, 23

“I hope they remain in power there so that there is real change.”

Jovanna García Escobar, 22

“Gender inequality is ending.”

Perla Mejía, 18

“At the end of the day, power is in the hands of the men.”

Yaelin Vázquez, 20

“I am very happy, because there has not been a woman who governs all of Mexico.”

Elizabeth Vásquez, 22

Natalie Kitroeff is the Mexico City bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. More about Natalie Kitroeff

Emiliano Rodríguez Mega is a reporter and researcher for The Times based in Mexico City, covering Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. More about Emiliano Rodríguez Mega

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