Aiming for the Center

Leadership skills are undoubtedly an important asset to have in life, as many situations will require a strong and effective leader to take charge. There are many choices a leader can make, and it is these choices that reveal just what kind of leader is at work. As a leader, I personally strive to keep my working group as focused on our goal as possible. I always ask myself two main questions: "What is our goal? Are we doing everything we can to reach it?"

Much like a dart-thrower knows exactly what he's trying to hit, I aim to hit my goals in the center.

Planning Operationally

There are three basic types of plans a leader can work off of: strategic, tactical, operational. I feel I lean most toward tactical. I always have high expectations for the work my group does, but I don't want to set my expectations too high in case they end up being unattainable. Therefore, operational plans are too rigid for me. At the same time, I still refer back to my guiding question: "What is my concrete goal?" I need to have a set plan in mind before jumping in and assigning tasks. Therefore, strategic plans are too abstract for me. Tactical plans, meanwhile, offer me a nice balance: I can set specific goals for my fellow workers to achieve and lay out a plan beforehand, but still leave a bit of wiggle room in case changes need to be made along the way. This way, I can make the best kind of plan so that my group can best achieve our goals.

First Things First

In reaching my goals, I often find myself looking back on Habit #3 of Sean Covey's Seven Habits, and that habit is prioritizing. I have somewhat of a pragmatic viewpoint when it comes to doing group work - every ounce of our energy must go toward our goal. As such, I try my best to minimize distractions: as Covey says, I want my group to focus on things that are important before they become urgencies. If it's trivial, it can wait until we're finished. If it's important, attack it until we've succeeded. Simply put, my work philosophy focuses largely on priority.

It's exhausting, so I aim to avoid it!

Participative Decisions

The final point of my leadership style I'll touch on is the way I choose to make decisions once work has started. Once again, I have three choices: autocratic, participative, and free-rein. I feel I'm a fairly self-sufficient person, and in an ideal world, I would make all of my own decisions and carry out a plan that suits my wants: an autocratic style. However, I feel this is an unrealistic point of view, as fellow workers are sure to disagree with me one day. Still, I try to have as much of a say as I can, which means I don't want to leave all of the thinking to them: therefore, free-rein is also not my cup of tea. I feel participative decisions are the best way to go, as they give the leader a voice of reason, but also allow the other workers to give input and possibly help the entire group come to a consensus. When a group has reached a consensus, I think, aiming for the center becomes much more feasible.