Leadership Philosophy Commander Interview Essay

Leadership Philosophy

Part 1

I adopt a strategic leadership philosophy to streamline actions and processes among my subjects. When interacting with other members of the organization, I prioritize communication and the execution of processes and procedures to achieve shared objectives. Over my years of experience in leadership, I have learned the importance of collaboration and motivation in ensuring that a team’s objectives are met. Leaders must generate and clarify visions to their subjects and adeptly lead them towards realizing the vision. I also recognize the need for leaders to demonstrate strong communication skills, a focus on the group’s culture, consistency, motivation, and judicious deployment of power. As such, I maintain close relationships with my subjects to effectively create direction and ensure the distribution of responsibility to facilitate the achievement of organizational objectives. Adopting such a leadership philosophy has allowed me to unite my teams and keep all members on the same page, which allows them to commit to the collective goal.

My choice of leadership philosophy was influenced by my desire to lead and develop people by establishing effective networks and building on their unique competencies. I have always wanted to influence the lives of people I associate with positively. As a leader, I communicate with my subjects to understand their points of view concerning certain organisational issues. In most cases, the ideas and perceptions presented by my subjects challenge my thinking, which helps to develop efficient solutions for existing problems. I believe that humility, transparency, and open-mindedness are important qualities for leaders. I believe that leaders should be humble, approachable, and willing to acknowledge the work of others to instil positive attitudes and motivation among their subjects. Humble leaders are considered more approachable by their subjects, which motivates them to share ideas and work harder to achieve organizational objectives (Xu, Xu, Anderson & Caldwell, 2019). They should also be transparent and respect other people’s ideas and opinions to stimulate greater commitment towards organizational objectives. I apply such characteristics in my leadership by maintaining open communication with my subjects and encouraging them to submit their ideas and perspectives concerning various issues within the organization. Implementing such a leadership strategy has created positive energy and high motivation among my teams.

My leadership philosophy concurs with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator description of a supervisor (ESTJ) and a nurturer (ISFJ). According to Myers-Briggs’s type indicator, a supervisor (ESTJ) strives to ensure that the people they associate with engage in activities that are right and socially acceptable (Ravikumar, 2021). Such individuals also influence positive behaviours among other people and engage them in communication to identify ways to help them do what is good and justifiable. Nurturers (ISFJs) are generous, warm, and kind-hearted individuals who possess an awareness and consideration towards bringing out the best in others (Wijaya, Novita & Yulita, 2019). As a strategic leader, I maintain close relationships with my team members and encourage them to communicate concerning any issues they experience. Such a strategy helps me to motivate positive behaviours and greater commitment among my subjects. Therefore, my leadership philosophy concurs with Myers-Briggs’s description of supervisors and nurturers.

My leadership philosophy was motivated by my interaction with my former squadron commander. When I joined the organization, I experienced multiple challenges as I strived to adapt to the new workplace environment. My communication skills and ability to express my feelings, ideas, and opinions were also deficient. However, the squadron commander realized that I was experiencing challenges t the workplace. He approached me several times and engaged me in discussions concerning ways through which I could refine my professional competencies. He also submitted that I would achieve great leadership potential if I implemented his recommended strategies. Over the years, I have been aligning my personality traits, skills, and approaches to issues with the quandong commander’s leadership strategy and career advice that he offered, which has made me a strategic leader.

Part 2

I interviewed a combat air patrol commander concerning the experiences and challenges he has experienced in his current jurisdiction. He had been a military leader for 8 years before he assumed his new combat air patrol commander role three years ago. The CAP commander submitted that he experienced a challenge in establishing a culture and a new vision for his organization during his first year in his current role. He asserted that he did not understand the distinction between establishing a culture for his team and defining a vision for the organization. On several occasions, his actions could have positively influenced the organization’s vision while undermining its culture. He described an instance where he reprimanded several unit members due to their failure to adhere to his instructions. Although his action brought about greater adherence to instructions among his subjects, their level of motivation and commitment towards the organization’s vision significantly declined. The situation allowed him to identify the difference between establishing a culture of commitment and defining the organization’s vision.

To address the problem, the CAP commander focuses his effort on developing a relationship of trust with his subjects. He recognized that his subjects’ willingness and capacity to adhere to his directives while preserving the organization’s vision depended on the nature of the relationship he developed with them. Consequently, the CAP commander worked towards refining his interpersonal and communication skills to better communicate new visions for his organization while preserving its culture. His actions were influenced by the desire to stimulate greater collaboration among members of his unit. He asserted that leaders need to trust in members’ capabilities while motivating them to commit their actions towards achieving the organization’s vision. After altering his leadership strategy to accommodate greater understanding between him and the unit members, the CAP commander had a better experience in which his subjects would comply with his instructions and communicate on issues that could potentially impede the implementation of the commander’s instructions. Therefore, the CAP commander identifies humility, trust, and permissiveness as key leadership attributes.

The CAP commander also submitted that he received criticism from his superiors after allowing his subjects too much freedom to influence decisions. His superiors cited that considering the members’ ideas and perceptions when making an important decision could result in laxity, potentially ruining organizational culture. Despite such sentiments by his superiors, the CAP commander continued to nurture positive relationships with the unit members and encouraged them to share their ideas concerning various workplace issues. He intended to disapprove of his superiors’ comments concerning his leadership strategy. He reviewed multiple organizational leadership case studies and used literature resources to gain adequate information concerning the most effective leadership strategies. Eventually, he aligned his subjects’ actions with the organization’s culture and vision, which attracted admiration from his superiors.

Part 3

The CAP commander came across as an effective leader who considers the interests and affairs of his subjects when making decisions. I admired his ability to implement changes in behaviour to improve his leadership capacity and attract positive results in the workplace. He also provided useful insight concerning how the contrast between new organizational visions and culture can be addressed to promote good relations between leaders and their subjects. I feel that I would have followed similar steps to address the challenge. I believe that leaders ought to base their decisions on the interests and affairs of other stakeholders rather than depending solely on their beliefs, knowledge, and perceptions. Leaders should demonstrate humility, transparency, and open-mindedness when making decisions to stimulate greater commitment towards the organization’s objectives among workplace members. When interacting with subordinates, failure to demonstrate such traits may contravene the organization’s priorities. For example, if the CAP commander failed to reflect on defects in his leadership strategy, he could not have developed healthy relationships with his subjects. Consequently, his unit could have failed to satisfactorily implement the new vision for the organization despite aligning his actions with the organizational culture. Therefore, I would have taken a similar initiative to solve the existing misalignment between the new vision for the organization and its culture.

I would have utilized my strategic leadership philosophy to develop and maintain the members’ motivation and commitment. The leadership challenge that the CAP commander experienced resulted from his lack of humility and capacity to help his subordinates improve without criticism. Therefore, I would implement a strategic leadership philosophy to facilitate an understanding with the unit members. Implementing such a strategy would ensure that the members do not feel demoralized by their failure to implement my directives. Instead, I would focus on helping them accept failure and use it to improve their interpersonal and professional skills. The strategy would help to encourage my team members to share issues that limit their ability to implement my instructions and collaborate with them to develop solutions. Consequently, the staff members could utilize their relationship with me to refine their professional competencies and avoid making similar mistakes in the future.

I could have adopted a different strategy to inform my superiors about developing good relationships with my subordinates. After being criticized by his superiors, the CAP commander embarked on various activities to refine his leadership capabilities. Although his activities refined his leadership capability in the long run, they did not make meaningful impacts on the perceptions of his superiors concerning the effectiveness of his leadership philosophy. Therefore, his superiors could be using ineffective leadership strategies to manage the activities of other people in their jurisdictions, which poses a significant threat to the organization’s performance. As such, I would have engaged the superiors in discussing the need to develop good relationships with subordinates. Such activity could have transformed their leadership focus and allowed them to reflect on areas they need to improve. Eventually, the entire organization could embrace a leadership strategy that focuses on streamlining relationships between leaders and their subordinates to stimulate greater collaboration and commitment towards the organization’s objectives.

References

Xu, F., Xu, B., Anderson, V., & Caldwell, C. (2019). Humility as enlightened leadership: A Chinese perspective. Journal of Management Development. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JMD-11-2018-0341/full/html

Ravikumar, P. B. (2021, June). Personality Type Demographics and their Relationship to Teaching and Learning. In 2011 North Midwest Section. https://peer.asee.org/personality-type-demographics-and-their-relationship-to-teaching-and-learning

Wijaya, A., Novita, N., & Yulita, H. (2019). MBTI Personality Types for Career Development (SMK Santo Lukas-Jakarta). Jurnal Pengabdian dan Kewirausahaan, 3(2). https://journal.ubm.ac.id/index.php/pengabdian-dan-kewirausahaan/article/view/1864