Reflective Essay: To Be An Effective Leader

Introduction
Leadership is the art of empowering people around you to achieve a goal. As a leader I want to help others become leaders themselves. I firmly believe that by leading based on my values this will be accomplished. I have had many leadership influences throughout my career. Some of them showed me the way I wanted to someday lead and others showed me exactly how not to. Either way, both were influences. The people in my life that influenced me in a positive way always empowered me. They raised me up; they believed in my potential even when I could not see it for myself. They supported, cared for and listened intently to my concerns and needs. Goal after goal was met, trust was evident and the moral was positive and uplifting. There

I think the importance of showing others in the organization that they can depend on me no matter the situation, is a great way to build trust. I think it is important for people to know that my word is good and I back my word up with actions. By following through on my commitments I will build a trusted team where people know they matter and that they can count on me. Being dependable is of high importance; if people cannot depend on me, they will never truly trust me as a leader.
Competency
I believe competency is a vital value to leading an effective group. It is not enough to be dependable with my performance but I must also be successful in my ability. For me, competency comes from the capacity to acquire new knowledge and learn new ways of solving problems. Being a competent leader is about continually gaining knowledge and expertise and learning as much as I can about our organization and the people within it. I feel as though being competent as a leader encompasses much more than just being able to correctly complete one aspect of my duties, but rather having the knowledge to understand that others can be empowered by believing in my

However, just as import is the ability to understand areas that I can also improve upon in order to continue to help others. I believe by seeking others input on how my actions affect their performance would be a good place to start. I always want to think that I am influencing positive performance among people, but by asking, I am not only ensuring that this is so, I would also be continuing to keep a line on communication open among us. I am also a creature of habit. I tend to stay with what has worked in the past. Looking into this challenge, I can see how this would hinder my growth as a leader. Things around us are constantly changing and what has worked in the past may not be the best solution. I will start to explore and seek out challenging opportunities that I can learn from through testing my own skills and abilities. I also want to be able to help others visualize an image of what the future can be like if goals are met. By being exceed those and accomplish the highest goal we have set for ourselves.
My leadership philosophy is one driven by emotion. I want to be the leader that makes people feel. I want them to feel as though we are all part of a family and that they are cared about. I want to show them that I not only care about our job at hand but care about them personally; where their physical and mental health is always as important as reaching any goal. I want to be