Leadership is important for both career development and business productivity. A leader not only supervises but also guides his or her teams, ensuring that work efficiency and output are optimized. Some people are natural leaders, while others aren’t. Anyone, on the other hand, can strengthen their leadership qualities by honing specific skills and adhering to certain ideologies. When it comes to supporting others, leadership entails associating one’s inner values and demonstrating that compatibility. Leadership is a mindset with defined patterns, not just a soft skill.
The three days course on “Leadership within Yourself” was designed for those participants who want to identify their true potential and implement the qualities to become a great leader.
The course was facilitated by Ms. Pooja Dangol, Corporate Trainer. Ms.Dangol is an L&D Consultant and Trainer who earned her MBA from Kathmandu University and the Certified Speaking Professional designation from Training Qualifications UK (TQUK). As a Professional Consultant, She is committed to deliver actionable ideas and strategies to impact today’s progressive leadership that supports, encourages, and gives the tools one need to grow, adapt and create real impact in one’s workplace. She has been providing skill enhancement training programs for corporate and development sectors.
The session delivered the following learnings;
In the session, the facilitator gave a general introduction to the group. After that, everyone was asked to introduce themselves. The participants were asked to share their thoughts on the topic of “Who is a Leader?” Everyone expressed their own point of view.
Leader & Leadership Development
Ms. Dangol clarified the clear distinction between leadership and leadership development. She introduced leadership as the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving common goals. Leadership roles are time and task-specific, focus on individual and building talents. It develops leadership skills in a person. Likewise, Leadership development focuses on building networked relationships among individuals in an organization, which is a continuous process, focuses on collective roles and finally builds organizational capabilities. Apart from that, she also mentioned that Family, Community, and Career are the three pillars of leadership.
After understanding the clear concept of leadership & leadership development; she conducted a meditation activity for the enthusiastic participants. Participants were fully exploring their inner self through the activity. Similarly, another activity involved them accessing exponential growth and describing their current situation, one-year goals, the importance of those goals, and the capabilities required to achieve those goals. Every participant was extremely engaged in the activities that took place in between sessions.
Ms. Dangol explained to the participants that leadership is based on effective communication, mutual respect and trust. Leaders that are consistent, highly valued, honorable, fair and respectable are likely to engage in the voluntary cooperation and efforts that will ensure optimum performance and achievement of objectives. A leader needs to have a respectful nature, demonstrating their skills so people get inspired, as respect is based on knowledge and skill. A leader needs to hear from other people, respect others opinions and take the suggestions positively. Respect in Leadership is based on the use of appropriate leadership styles.
Leadership Styles
Great leaders have emerged with distinct leadership styles in terms of providing direction, planning for the future, and motivating others. Majorly, there are two types of leadership styles;
- Directive Leadership Style
- Participative Leadership Style
Directive Leadership Styles is when a leader takes his/her own decisions without consulting with others and Participative Leadership Styles denotes that leadership style when a leader asks for inputs from others before making any decisions. Participative Leadership Styles are mostly used by the most effective leaders. A leader needs to have a good decision-making ability to gain the trust of people. Here, Trust is based on concern for people’s needs and feelings. Trust can be developed in leadership by showing care to the people, which encourages people to be honest with leaders, and build a strong relationship.
Self Assessment Activity
Ms. Dangol conducted a Self-Assessment activity. The DOPE TEST was the most interesting part of the activity. A breakout activity was used for the second activity. The participants were divided into two groups and placed in a situation in which they had to make the right decisions with the team. It was a fantastic team-building activity, with each participant contributing their ideas and coming to a common understanding on a final approach and set of statements.
Finally, the three-day course came to a close with an interactive discussion, group activities in a breakout room, a situation task, and idea-sharing. It was a comprehensive course that taught participants various skills such as decision-making, communication, presentation, critical thinking, and motivation. Similarly, at the end of the final day, all of the session’s learning was reflected.