The Philosophy of Leadership

Posted: July 13th, 2021

The Philosophy of Leadership

Introduction

Leadership is a multifaceted concept that is defined in many different ways. For instance, it involves influencing the activities of employees or followers into meeting common goals with a shared vision and collective efforts.  On the other hand, leadership involves knowing oneself, creating a vision and communicating it to employees or followers for collective effort. Either way, the common factors that define leadership involve having a shared vision, having followers, collective actions, common goal and values to pursue, and collective efforts. A leader is different from a manager in their way of conducting their activities and leading the followers. In an organization, a leader expects that employees have the autonomy, make effective decisions, and perform their tasks without conforming to the parameters from them. Leadership involves not only managing the people and expecting results but also ensuring the personal and professional development of the employees (Swamy, 2014). This is quite different from the managers who are the exact opposite of leaders. It is simply defined as transformational and transactional forms of leadership’s styles respectively.

Leadership Philosophy

A leadership philosophy can be said to be the attitudes and beliefs that guide the behavior or actions of a leader or organization. Four main elements define leadership philosophy namely theory, attitudes, and beliefs, guiding principles and values, and finally the behaviors of the individual. The chosen organization is the IBM organization with Ginni Rometty, and from the leadership qualities outlined it is clear that the leadership philosophy used is the value-based leadership philosophy (Copeland, 2014). Value-based leadership philosophy involves aligning the organization’s goals, objectives, mission, vision, performance, rewards, and processes among others. When an organization adopts this type of leadership philosophy, they assert the employees to feel motivated by the values adopted and operate within the beliefs and values stipulated. Values are the drivers and motivators of the leadership philosophy adopted in the organization. A value-based leader will identify and know what matters to them and the organization then uses their inbuilt and learned values to drive performance and a source of motivation for the organization.

Ginni Rometty is a value-based leader who ensures that her employees are aligned and always motivated to perform highly. She has developed long-term strategic beliefs that focus on employees’ performance and development. She believes that employees should be motivated to maintain their high-quality performance. She believes that equipping the employees with the right and adequate tools will enable them to work effectively and even beliefs employees should be treated with respect in companies. Being the CEO, she believes that developing a tool that employees can use to share ideas that will improve their personal and professional lives is imperative (Husain, 2018). A value-based leader resembles a transformational leader who believes in the development and growth of the company as well as the employees.

The organization invests in taking actions and risks for the operations and performance of the organization rather than just developing goals that will not be achieved. The CEO of the organization is a risk-taker and one who invests in actions rather than just developing policies and not implementing them. For instance, she says that actions speak louder than words. The company employs a very large workforce that requires a lot of energy and strategies to maintain effectively (Husain, 2018). She believes that for value to be attained in any company there is a need to take high and calculated risks. It is essential that leaders learn to push new opportunities and exploit them with a plan. Success and growth in a company are achieved through investments and taking calculated risks.

A value-based leadership philosophy is effective in this company as it teaches and instills the workforce with the necessary core values that guide and define their behavior and attitude in the organization. Core values are essential as they have many benefits in a company; for instance, they can enable companies to increase their profits and retaining the most effective employees. This will develop an organizational culture that is value-based and that which is enduring and strong. An organization with a set of values that guide the operations and are practiced to the latter increase the accountability levels and the values strengthen the corporate culture. Moreover, a value-based culture increases the clarity roles among employees thus increased productivity, which is a long-term benefit to the company. Value-based leadership inspires trust and hard work in the company (Copeland, 2014). The trust enables employees to work in collective action that ensures their activities align with the corporate vision, mission, goals, and objectives. Value-based leadership develops a work environment with trust, open communication, and the values that guide every employee to a shared vision.

Core Leadership Skills

Some of the core leadership skills exhibited in the company include risk-taking, alignment of the workforce with the organizational goals and objectives, and action-taking. Some of the other values experienced include open communication as the leaders have open and honest communication channels with their employees. Decision-making in the company is conducted with precision and implementation of decision-making models. The CEO can make tough and quick decisions in the company and always consults other employees. The CEO and other departmental managers value consultative and group-based decision-making channels. Problem-solving in the organization is done in accordance with various problem-solving models that are accepted by all employees (Husain, 2018). Leadership in the company is achieved through the practice of the five exemplary skills namely modeling the way, having a shared vision that is communicated by the CEO, and challenging the process by the use of creative and innovative ways of completing tasks. Moreover, the leaders are at the forefront of enabling the employees to act and perform highly, and finally inspire and encourage the employees to perform.

Personal Leadership Style

From the leadership assessment test taken, I performed best within the creative builders and experienced guides leadership characteristics. Creative builders are visionaries and entrepreneurs in their mode of leadership. Other characteristics of a leader I have performed the same. From the leadership assessment test, I believe I am a visionary leader. A visionary leader will build the company and ensure creative ideas and innovations are utilized to keep the company moving and diverse. While ensuring the development of the company, the visionary leader unites the employees to work towards achieving the common goal and vision. A visionary leader is the chief organizer and uses their creative nature to keep a business moving and valuable (Manu, 2018). I am a visionary leader and a builder as I know I take risks that are calculated in the workplace, and an effective strategic business planner.

I ensure that employees in the workplace remain motivated and are always learning to use creative and innovative strategies to complete their tasks. With a shared vision, I believe that there are new opportunities that can be exploited in the workplace and lead to personal and corporate development. Other hand being a builder and an entrepreneur, I am a people’s mover. I easily build relations with employees and inspire them to work harder. To achieve a shared goal, it is essential that employees and leaders have good relations built with trust and open communication. I believe in investing in the employees as they are the drivers and motivators of success and failure in the organization. This not only makes me a visionary leader but also a transformational leader who believes in the personal development and growth of the employees.

References

Copeland, M. K. (2014). The emerging significance of values-based leadership: a literature review. International Journal of leadership Studies, Vol. 8 Iss. 2, pp: 106-135.

Husain, H. (2018, January 2018). 5 Leadership Qualities of Ginni Rometty that has Made IBM a Force to Reckon with. Retrieved from https://blog.taskque.com/ibm-force-reckon/

Manu, J. M. (2018). Are you are Visionary Leader? Researchgate, pp:50-54.

Swamy, R. N. (2014). Leadership styles. Advances In Management, Vol 7(2), pp: 57-62.