David Barry - My Leadership Philosophy

My leadership philosophy took a lot of thinking so I decided to start with why I wanted to be a leader in the first place. The reason I always wanted to become a leader was so that I could guide people, I wanted to be able to help them and together we could be able to achieve success. It took a surprising amount of work, nobody is born a leader and I was no exception but I learned over time exactly what kind of leader I wanted to be. The most important thing I have learned to date is that leadership and management are two completely different things.

When it comes to my leadership style I take three main things into account: positive or negative motivation, decision making styles and task or employee motivation.  I believe that positive motivation is the best way to motivate people. Motivation not through rewards like bonuses or extrinsic motivators, but instead through the three intrinsic motivators: autonomy, mastery and purpose. The reason I believe this to be the case is because instead of lowering employee morale through fear or threats it raises it and creates better job satisfaction. Secondly when it comes to my decision making style I believe in being a democratic or participative leader.  My reasoning for this is that everyone's voice, everyone's input has equal value and they should be involved in the decision making process. It also allows people to think on their own and to really feel like they have been apart of something bigger. Finally when it comes to how I want to influence people I prefer employee motivation because it can increase teamwork, positive relationships and trust while at the same time decreasing turnover and absenteeism. This really does go hand in hand with positive motivation and democratic leadership because they all help build and atmosphere of trust and teamwork.

In summary as a leader I want to create an environment where the people I am leading feel important and part of the team, they have good employee morale and work satisfaction. They should be comfortable with their job and feel safe.