ARELLANO, Allanah Pearl P.Reading and Writing11 HUMSS 7Miss Mei”Skills vs. Qualities: Choosing the Real Leader”For me, in choosing a leader, it should not be skills vs. qualities.
For me it should be skills and qualities, because these two factors are both needed to be a good leader. You cannot be a good leader if you only have good leadership skills and vice versa. These two should come together for you to become a good leader.
Oxford Dictionary defines leader as the person who leads or commands a group, organization and country. Leader is the one who leads a certain group to do something or to finish the task given to them. Bradshaw (2014) said that not all leaders can be called a good leader because each person has different qualities and each of them have their unique strategy to guide their group. Every leader has their own style in leading a group and to make the members of the group to follow him/her. But what is really the definition of a good leader?According to Bradshaw (2014), a good leader should build a good relationship with his or her members by being a good communicator and listener. Leader’s ears should always be open to his or her members’ suggestions because “a great leader should not be a dictator” (Bradshaw 2014). The leader should also make everyone feel that their contributions have value and a big help to their group and should always accept and appreciate his or her members’ effort.
A good leader must identify his/her weaknesses and strengths and also each member of the group in order to assign to them the right task. Knowing the members’ weaknesses, the leader will be able to guide them to the things that they are not good at and also can help them to improve their weaknesses. A good leader uses his/her “power” or authority properly and for the betterment of the group and to solve the conflicts they have and not to take advantage to his group. And lastly, a good leader should be responsible enough to do what is right, to do his or her duties as a leader and to make decisions that can help the group. But which is more important when it comes to choosing a good lead: Skills or Qualities? Doyle (2017) explained these leadership skills that can help a leader to positively interact with his or her members.
One of that is a communication skill. As a leader, you need to master this communication skill because you need to explain clearly to your members the tasks that your group have. The leader should explain it very well so the members will not confuse and will know what to do. Communication is not just about the leader talking, the leader should also know how to listen to what his/her members say. There is also a motivating skill; the leader should know how to motivate his/her members.
” A leader needs to be a source of inspiration and to be a motivator to his team members” (UK Essays, 2016). He/she should inspire his/her members to do better in their work and also when they are having a hard time finishing a certain task. Inspirations or motivations are really big help to the members for them to continue the work they have. Next is positivity or optimism. We know that not all the times things go as it planned.
So when a thing like this happens, the leader should always think positive. Thinking positive develops a positive aura in your environment for your members to not feel stress because of the things that didn’t go well. Connected to this skill is flexibility skill.
Whenever like this happens, the leader should be flexible accepting the things that is happening even it is not going according to your plan. And creative skill is also one of the leadership skills needed to be a good leader. In doing the tasks, the leader should think something outside the box. You should think differently or creatively in doing the work given to the group to come up with an extraordinary outcome.
“Learning to try nontraditional solutions, or approaching problems in nontraditional ways, will help you to solve an otherwise unsolvable problem” (Doyle, 2017).Webster (2015) said that there are qualities that a good leader should have and one of this is being honest, a leader who’s not afraid to tell his/her members the truth. And being honest to each other will help to build a better relationship to the leader and to the members of the group. A leader should be appreciative and fair to his/her members.
There should be no favoritism and should divide the task equally to the members and give them grades that they deserve. It may be a big help or small help to the group, a leader should know how to appreciate their ideas and their works because they put an effort in doing that. And appreciating what they give provide encouragement to them to do something better and develops a confidence in doing something. A leader that is not afraid to fail and brave enough to take risk when nobody wants to. And when you are courageous, you should be confident too.
A leader should be confident in everything that they do and for his/her members to be confident too. “A leader must believe his own abilities, unless he ensures that he can not to guide his team effectively or actually he has no abilities to guide a team” (UK Essays, 2016). And lastly is a responsive leader who is quick to respond to what his/her members’ need and value every member of the group. Warren (2015) said that leadership is built on two things and those are character and skills. Every person needs both character and skills to be a great leader. UK Essays (2016) says that these characteristics can be native traits, which is our character, and they can also be developed and strengthened, which can be our skills. You cannot ba a good leader if you will only have one of these two, you should have it both to yourself.
“If you have character without competence what you have is sincere ineffectiveness. But far worse is when you have competence without character. If you have competence without character you become a menace—a menace to a church, a menace to a small group and a menace to society” (Warren, 2015).
There is a big difference between a leader and a good leader. Choosing a good leader is not easy as you think. Given these two factors, which are skills and qualities, you should think very well of which of these two is more important to consider in choosing a good leader. Summarizing my essay, I therefore that both qualities and skills both important and should be considered in choosing a good leader. A good leader should have a good character or qualities, which is the person’s native traits, and also a good leadership skills, which can be developed as we grow up and through our experiences. Without one of these two, a person will not be a good leader.References:Bradshaw L.
(2014, October 20). Expository Essay on What Makes a Great Leader. Retrieved from https://www.customwritings.
com/blog/example-essays/expository-essay-great-leader.html Characteristics of Being a Good and Efficient Leader. (2016). UK Essays. Retrieved from https://www.ukessays.com/essays/leadership/characteristics-of-being-a-good-and-efficient-leader-leadership-essay.
php Doyle, A. (2017, June 8). Top 10 leadership skills. Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/top-leadership-skills-2063782Warren R.
(2015, January 2). Charisma vs. character: Which is more important for leaders?. Retrieved from https://ministrytodaymag.com/leadership/personal-character/20981-charisma-vs-character-which-is-more-important-for-leaders-warrenWebster M. (2015). 10 Qualities of a Good Leader.
Retrieved from https://www.leadershipthoughts.com/10-qualities-of-a-good-leader/
