Reference no: EM132354712

Discussion 1: Respond with 100 words

Leadership is a process, not a person, that influences and motivates people, by identifying and emphasizing their individual assets, to work together to achieve common goals. The process of effective leadership entails, clear communication, active listening, concise goal setting, and solid dependability in an environment that is consistent and elicits trust.

"Leadership is everyone's business," is an interesting statement. A leader would not lead if they didn't have leadee's (followers) to inspire. A leader has the ability to motivate a team, but the team has to be teachable and trainable for it to be effective. Similarly, "Leadership is not an affair of the head, but rather an affair of the heart," is an interesting and powerful statement as a leader leads by example, with sincerity and honesty, not simply because it is the right thing to do.

The differences between a leaders and managers are plentiful. In one of our readings this week, "Differentiating Leadership from Management: An Empirical Investigation of Leaders and Managers," the author conducted interviews with 49 construction leaders with the intention of categorizing the differences. In the study the interview responses showed that the participants consider leading and managing two separate and distinct processes, with both being necessary (Toor, n.d.). Leaders create change that is sustainable, and managers keep order. Another finding of this study was that leaders use personal power and influence to achieve authority, while managers use their position in a hierarchy to do the same. The last finding of the study and one that resonates personally is the leaders empower people and managers use their authority to achieve their goals. However, while there are many, many more differences, both are necessary to accomplish the goals and objectives of a company.

Discussion 2: Response with 100 words

Leadership is a term that I define as have the ability to execute a plan or mission, with positive efforts, that share the common goal of the group or organization. I find that there are several attribute that are encompassed with having great leadership which include, and I find most important, having the ability to follow.

It's ironic that this topic for the subject for the forum this week. Today I visited my prior employer, in which I have been absent from for nearly 2 years. I left the job because I recognized that my management's ability to "lead" was not a fit for me. In my visit today, I notice that not too much had changed and that many of the personnel there was in the same position as when I left. When leaving, I sparked conversation with someone who worked as part of the EEO office and we began to discuss the reason I had left the organization and they growth that I had experience since embarking on my current journey. The point that I was making about leadership verse management lead into another office where I had a impromptu conversation about what tools could be incorporating into the workplace there that would lead to the intertwine of good leadership and management.

I agree that leadership is everyone's business and responsibility. Leadership is not always about taking the lead in a project or team but it being able to bring a common goal into focus and organized the ideas present to tackle the objective. Everyone has a hand in that as goals are often not reached from a single vision. I also find that in order to exhibit constructive leadership skills, one must be able to work using the ethics of the heart. This is what I gather from the statement of "leadership is not an affair of the head, but rather of the heart". Leadership encompass ethics are often when we are motived by the heart we make better ethically decision. Guidance from the "head" can be steered by personal motives.

As I mentioned above and as described at projectmanager.com, leadership is defined as" the actions of leading a group towards a common goals", while management serves the purpose of "controlling things or people" (Bridges, 2018). To be able to manage, one must be able to create and mentor leaders. The manager purpose is too organized and effective communicate the objective of a project. Leadership plans a role with those who are placed to execute the completion of the project to the standards of the management vision.