The Elements of Leader Development
If we are just starting out in a leadership role, it is important to know our responsibilities and how we can be accountable. We also need to know our limits and authority. It is also important to teach our team members what they can expect. These are the elements of effective leadership development. It doesn’t end there. These elements must also be integrated into our daily lives.
Reflection
Leaders can use reflection to improve their performance. A reflective leader is open-minded to trying new ideas, evaluating their performance, and confronting inefficiency within their teams. The reflective leader creates a learning environment that encourages self-expression. They also define objectives, provide feedback, and stimulate self-observation.
Leader development is only possible through reflection. It’s the act of observing, testing and evaluating one’s self-knowledge and then evaluating what others think. It is also a skill that can improve interpersonal relationships. Leaders with a deep understanding of others and themselves can influence others.
Reflection is important because individuals can evaluate their behavior and learn from it. It is a transformative process. Reflective leaders can define common goals and objectives, as well as guidelines, to prevent future conflict. Reflective leaders should also keep personal journals. They can use them to process their thoughts and emotions by writing in them. Schon says reflection is a process that involves three phases. These phases include looking back, looking for the future, and looking forward.
Transparency
Leaders are able to build trust and rapport with their team by being open and honest. They can foster trust and rapport with their team by allowing employees to come to them for help. They can also be transparent by being vulnerable. For this, leaders must have mature self-awareness and a sense of what others will think.
Transparency is about being transparent with your team and sharing both good and bad news. This creates a more open environment for employees to receive constructive feedback and criticism. Transparency can help improve decision-making. Higher performance is achieved by employees who trust their leaders.
Being transparent about your decisions and actions is vital to achieving results. Your employees will be able to develop the skills necessary to succeed by being transparent about your intentions. Transparency can also help build loyalty and encourage innovation. Employees will be more open to sharing their ideas with their leaders if they feel that they are being honest and trustworthy.
Team maturation
Leadership development requires team maturation. This involves multiple people sharing leadership responsibilities and working together to build the team’s capabilities. In this sense, team development is equally important as individual development. Some leadership theories, however, place more emphasis on individual growth. Implicit collective leadership theory, for instance, recognizes the fact that leadership in a team is based on the collective development and strengths of the members.
Team development is a complex process and requires patience. It involves trust building among team members and establishing a feeling of camaraderie. As a leader, it is crucial to understand how team development works so that you can position yourself appropriately in the process. Knowing the five stages of team development allows you to make meaningful progress with your team members.
Mentorship, coaching, and the sharing of helpful resources can all be used to develop a team. It can also include personal growth opportunities that can be tailored to individual characteristics. Development may also be enhanced through education and training. Regardless of the method used, training and education should result in improved performance, new experiences, and reflection. Because it allows people to make mental connections and put things together, reflection is a key aspect of development.
Implicit collective leadership theories
Implicit collective leadership isn’t a new concept. It has been used for years to develop leaders and has been the subject in over 600 journal articles. It continues to gain popularity. These theories emphasize the importance implicit and explicit communication in developing leaders. These theories can be helpful in a variety of situations, from developing leaders within organizations to identifying effective leaders within a team.
One example is the leadership categorization thesis, which was developed originally by Lord, R. G., Maher, K. J. (Mehr, 2003). Another example of an ILT would be the leadership and information processing theory developed by Meindl (J. R.), Ehrlich (S. B.) and Dukerich (J. M.) (2007a).
One of the challenges of training and developing leaders is the need to understand how implicit assumptions affect the development of leaders. Implicit leadership theories address this central issue by addressing the role of social context. Leaders can create an organizational social identity to help overcome differences and create a common group identity. These leaders’ social identities spread throughout the group and influence the other members.