LEADING AND MANAGING PEOPLE

Assignment

STUDENT ID

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TITLE

CRITICAL EVALUATION OF MY LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL

CONTENTS PAGE

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INTRODUCTION

CRITICAL EVAUATION

RECOMMENDATIONS

CONCLUSION

APPENDIX

A B

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1 Introduction:

In this report, I will evaluate my leadership potential and will try and find ways in which I could improve my leadership skills and become a better and influential leader. I will start off with my brief introduction and work experiences.

1.1 Background to the organizations I work in a cafe called ‘’JACKETS’’ and a charity named ‘’AFRICANA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION’’ (ACDF).

- JACKETS:It is a cafe situated in Clapham common established in 1987. They serve jacket potatoes, pasta, rice, juices and soups. It is owned by Mr Malcolm, a very enthusiastic businessman.They have 12 employees, some part-time and others full-time. I started working for this cafe in April 2009 and am still working there. It is a small lovely place to work in.

- ACDF:It is a charity based in Streatham hill. Their main goal is to help the African communities to develop and help them meet millennium development goals. BOB AWOUR is the director and is very passionate about developing African nations. Currently, there are 25 volunteers working for the charity.

1.2 Background to my roles

- JACKETS:I work as sales associate, taking orders from customers and delivering them what is ordered. In addition to working on till handling cash I also prepare meals for the customers, which is mainly making Jacket Potatoes and Pasta. In addition to that, I also prepare some of the fillings we use e.g. Tuna mayo, Egg and Cheese, Chicken salad etc. At the end of the shift I, along with other workers, make sure that the cafe is clean and tidy.

- ACDF: I work as a network administrator in this charity. I started working for this charity in May 2009 when they had a complete breakdown of their computer Network. I configured their network from scratch and set up centralised accounts administration system to make setting of permissions on each account easier. I also do regular maintenance of computers including backups. I also give them suggestions whenever they want to buy any IT related products e.g. storage devices etc. As their are many different volunteers working, so security is of key concern and correct assignment of permissions is crucial.

1.3 Topics chosenI will look at different traits theories, which look at different traits and skills that are required in a good leader. One of the popular research was conducted by ‘’Stogdill’’ and he came up with a list of different traits and skills which may increase the likelihood that a leader will be effective, but they do not guarantee effectiveness.I will base my research on the self testing questionnaire I used to assess the extent of these skills and traits present in me.

2 Leader Traits and Skills:

Some of the leader traits and skills according to Stogdill are discussed below.

2.1 Adaptable to situations

I scored 8 on adaptable to situations dimension, which is quite high. I have been through very different situations and have found myself as being very good in adapting to new situations. For Example, I grew up in Libya and then moved to Pakistan to complete my degree the circumstances and situation was completely different but I found myself good at adapting to new situations. Even at my job at ‘’Jackets’’ before starting this job I worked as a waiter for an agency and when I joined Jackets I was able to quickly adapt to the requirements of the job and mix up in the culture.

2.2 Ambitious and achievement oriented

I am very ambitious and achievement oriented, I scored 9 on it. I can see that by looking at my attitude towards studies and how I have managed to pass some of the tough exams in past. To achieve my targets, I set clear goals which are challenging yet achievable and try to complete them in the allocated time, If I couldn’t then I reschedule my work and stick to it until I accomplish it.During my ACCA studies I was told by other colleagues and teachers about the final professional stage papers ‘’Advanced Audit’’ and ‘’Advanced Taxation’’ that they are really hard and I may consider other subjects instead of these, even I could see that because the pass rates for these two subjects were very low standing at 27% and 31%. Yet, I wanted to study and pass these difficult exams I studied hard put all my effort in it and managed to pass both of the papers in my first attempt, which I am really proud of. At ‘’Jackets’’ along with our routine work we have to do some extra tasks if it’s not busy, I try my best that I achieve all of these extra tasks even if I had to work 10-15 minutes over my normal hours.

2.3 CooperativeI am very cooperative and try to help anybody in need. My score on cooperative is 9 too.I like to help my colleagues at work and even my fellow students at college. I remember when I was doing my degree at Punjab University I was mostly asked by other students to help them in understanding different concepts (mostly relating to accounting) and I was more than happy to explain to them according to my capabilities.My work at Jackets I help other staff whenever they need me sometimes they may be tired and need my help I always try to do whatever I can to help them. However, I try to avoid helping those who are lazy and think they are paid to read newspapers and stay idle. I have a colleague at work who spends a lot of his time reading newspapers when the manager is away and expects others to do his job. Although I am friendly but I keep distance from this guy otherwise I may allow him to take unreasonable favour from me in the name of friendship.

2.4 DecisiveMy score for decisiveness was 7. I am not very good in making quick decisions. I take my time to look at both positive and negative outcomes of my decisions and then analyse it properly. It does take more time but I never have to regret because of my decisions later. After doing my degree I had to make a decision if I would pursue further studies or I start a full time job, I looked at it closely and analysed the future benefits of doing a Professional qualification in accounting and headed towards more advance studies which will definitely help me in getting better jobs.At ‘’Jackets’’ I have to make decisions when the managers are not around, it may be dealing with very angry customers or doing refunds etc. Sometimes when we close the shop there are a number

of homeless people asking for food and I have to make decision if we could provide them or not, as there are no definite instructions provided by the manager.

2.5 DominantMy score for dominant is 6, which clearly shows that I don’t like to be dominant. People have their own ideas and way of looking at different challenges. I accept that and believe that people may have better ideas than me and mine dominating others won’t help that creative and better idea come out of them, as I will be so busy in trying to implement my ideology on them.When, working with my colleagues I respect their way of doing things unless they are doing something seriously wrong.

2.6 PersistentI am very persistent in doing the things I want to, my score is 8. I have faced many situations where my persistence get me through like during my ACCA in my professional stage I failed ‘’Business analysis’’ exam twice just by 2 marks and I was devastated but my persistence helped me to study it over again and pass it in good marks. I try to do things over and over again until I get what I wanted to accomplish.

2.7 Self-confidentI scored 6 on self-confident dimension, which shows I am not a very confident person. I do find it difficult sometimes to argue with other people because of my lack of self-confidence. I do believe I need to improve it but not to a level where you become arrogant. Having a high self-confidence in important in all walk of life. Having high self-confidence is important because it gives you the mindset that what you are doing is the right way and nobody`s negative opinion about you can change that. Most high levels of self confidence come from past successes and also the ability to believe in oneself.I sometimes tend to believe that I am not good in socialising with people, which raises a doubt in my mind if I will ever be able to do so. However, if I am confident and believe in myself that I can accomplish whatever I want it will definitely help me in moving forward and overcoming that fear. During my student life I have gained a lot of confidence in my academic capability but did not manage to develop confidence in my ability to meet new people.

2.8 Willing to assume responsibilityI have scored 8 in that. I am quite a responsible person and sometimes I tend to take responsibility for things I am not responsible for, which definitely takes my time and energy but gives me satisfaction that I have done something. For example at my work the chef cooks food and then she has to cover the containers containing the food and put them in freezers, a couple of times she forgot to transfer the containers from fridge to freezer and at the time of closing the shop I realised that the containers should be in the freezer not fridge I am not responsible or accountable for that but still I did her job, manager didn’t know if she put them in freezer or anybody else but still I am happy that I saved some of the food to get rotten by my taking responsibility of the issue.