Leadership Experience

It is obvious that everyone has a leadership experience. Every sphere of life requires leadership skills in order to achieve success. My personal leadership experience started from family trips and celebrations. It is the first experience, which helped to understand the power of organizing an event and controlling every process. For example, family trips showed that it is important to take decisions together in order to find the best solution or make the best choice. In addition, family celebrations of birthdays became important in the development of leadership sense. I had a chance to be responsible for organizing my mother’s birthday. It was my personal initiative to call all family members and discuss the peculiarities of the celebration. There were many discussions with other family members related to the responsibilities of everyone in making the celebration unforgettable. It is the first example of being a leader in organizing the event.

At school, there were different group projects, which required group thinking. It became an experience, which helped to find a special approach to every group member and contribute to the successful group collaboration. In this way, it became a valuable experience in combining opposite points of view in working on a common project. In addition, school projects provided me with the first insight into group work with people who have different points of view and life positions.

In general, school and family experience showed the importance of listening to the idea presented by every group member. In this way, it is possible to design an appropriate solution, which will meet the requirements of every group member. In addition, only discussion can solve conflicts and help to take the best decision in the myriad of ideas.

Analysis of the Leadership Style

The results of the leadership style test were not surprising as long as I had an opportunity to participate in various group projects as a leader. In addition, the characteristics of the participative leadership style revealed a realistic image of my personality in terms of group work. It proves that test has an appropriate design and logical scheme of questions, which help to evaluate the leadership style. The questionnaire helped to think about personal experience in terms of leadership and communication style with other people. In general, it is possible to emphasize that the questionnaire and its results reflect the truth about my personal leadership style. It is possible to see traits of the participative leadership in daily routine through the lenses of family events and educational projects. As a result, the questionnaire formulated a logical outcome of the answers based on personal experience and worldview.

Theory and Practice

Participative leadership style is an outstanding part of the diversity of leadership styles, which helps an individual to accommodate to the working environment. The main peculiarity of this style is that it does not have a significant part of autonomy. It does not recognize only personal decisions. It means that there is a need to have a group thinking and take decisions based on the collaboration with others. The point of participative leadership style is that a leader tries to involve all stakeholders in the decision-making process (Nadeem 2012). There is no place for autocratic decisions, which cannot imply with opinions of other stakeholders. The aim of the participative leader is to allow other participants have some influence on the decision-making process in order to have the most optimal solution to the problem. In addition, participative leadership means that the leader agrees that others may see different problems on the way to the appropriate decision, which a leader cannot see.

Participative leadership is a significant managerial style, which has many advantages. First, it is possible to emphasize that staff is capable of developing a better acceptance of the decisions, which became a result of general consensus (Miao, Newman & Huang 2014). In this way, it is possible to develop understanding, mutual support, and tolerance in the communication of the team members. Due to this advantage, the company has an opportunity to implement ideas immediately with the most optimal outcomes. Employees receive an outlining opportunity to participate in every decision-making process and are capable of influencing the project development (McCann n.d.). In this way, participative leadership motivates employees by showing that the company values opinion of every employee. In the aspect of moral values, employees also feel a privilege of being responsible for the company’s development and evolution (Huang et al. 2009). The staff morale depends on the ability of every employee to be responsible for personal decisions. As a result, employees keep a high morale as long as the company appreciates their participation in the success achievement. In addition, employees, who feel that they are valuable in the overall performance of the company, are most likely to improve their activity in order to govern the workplace (Huang 2012). Creativity is another advantage, which helps to maintain workplace relations and fill them with outstanding sense of each other’s opinions. A myriad of thoughts can be helpful in the development of ideas and solutions to the problems. Participative leadership allows employees to express their creativity and use it for the benefits of the company’s development (Clement & Themba 2014). It is an effective approach towards the enhancement of the company’s productivity due to the high intensity of the decisions made by all employees. The diversity of points of view helps to optimize different processes and improve the company’s ability to monitor its activity. Finally, participative leadership is a key to the effective retention strategy. It can help to enhance employee’s loyalty and trust, which have a direct connection to the job satisfaction level (Arnold & Loughlin 2013). It is obvious that participative leadership aims to engage every employee in the working environment of the whole company in order to contribute to reliable workplace relations.

Leadership Future

As for the application of the participative leadership style, it is possible to outline Google as an example of the company, which will accept such managerial approach towards the decision-making process. Google is one of the companies, which appreciate creativity and group thinking. Participative leadership is an advantage, which every company is willing to see in its employees in order to enhance the company’s productivity (Ogbeide & Harrington 2011). It is an example of the support in the workplace, which every employee is looking for. In addition, it can bring consensus in the performance of the company on a daily basis. For example, such approach can help to create a balanced workplace environment, where every employee will feel personal value. Google has the diversity of departments, which tend to work on various projects at the same time. Participative leadership is a mandatory element in uniting employees and boosting the speed of implementing new ideas (Noure Elahi n.d.). Fast-moving world of business requires such personal characteristic trait, which can help to increase the company’s competitiveness.

However, it is possible to have some challenges in the process of integrating in the company’s performance rhythm. First, it is possible to expect that it may take some time to gain trust of other employees. It is impossible to apply participative leadership approach if other employees do not trust the manager and are not willing to work on the same project (Rolková & Farkašová 2015). It is necessary to learn more about every employee and become acquainted with the workplace environment in order to feel the unity of the teamwork. Otherwise, employees will feel no desire to share their opinions and points of view. In addition, it is possible to face the problem of the lack of creativity in the decision making process. Some employees may feel ashamed to share their thoughts. In this way, there is a need to develop a special approach towards integration of the person in group thinking. It may require additional training of the individual and a systematic inclusion in the team performance.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is possible to emphasize that participative leadership can become a significant element in the development of personal career. It has many advantages, which can benefit not only personal success, but also the company’s business evolution. Moreover, it is difficult to find a company, which would not value participative management style of the employee. It is a connection between the company’s needs and employee’s participation in the development of projects. In addition, it has a positive influence on the development of the retention strategy. It does not mean that managers with other leadership styles cannot achieve success. It means that participative leadership can unite the diversity of approaches by means of pursuing tolerance and loyalty in the decision-making process. Every company aims to reach success by different means. Managers with participative leadership style become a helpful element in the motivation of other employees, which makes them a source of encouragement. As a result, participative leadership style can bring benefits for those looking for a career with reliable perspective of personal development. It can become a key element in the implementation of the company’s strategic plans and promotion of the further business evolution.

Purchase a Research Paper Online, you can place your order in a few minutes!