Leadership Theory Reflection Paper - Emily Cohen

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Emily Cohen
Professor Hiltebrand
HESI217
April 10, 2020
Leadership Theory Reflection
Through our Leadership Theory project I have definitely gained a new perspective on
leadership. The main thing I have taken away from this assignment is that leadership is
contextual, and that there is not one theory that is the best or works in every situation. While
some leadership theories are stronger than others, they each have a time and place that they can
most thrive, and being able to utilize multiple styles of leadership is how to achieve true success.
For example, the theory I researched throughout this project was servant leadership. It is
a very counterintuitive style, due to its emphasis on the leader being a servant and leading out of
their desire to serve their followers. It has a lot of strengths though, such as focusing on
relationship building, communication, and a strong emphasis on helping the followers achieve
their goals, making it what I deem to be a really great theory. However, even though I really like
servant leadership, I have learned that it cannot be successful all the time and should not be
everyone’s go-to leadership style.
Servant leadership works great in a smaller setting, and when the goal trying to be
achieved is geared toward individuals, like in a classroom. The students are the followers, and
the teacher is the leader, whose main goal is to help the students reach academic success. The
teachers became teachers out of their desire to help students learn and succeed, and lead them
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through helping each individual student achieve their academic goals. It should not always be
applied though. In a larger setting, such as a project manager leading a team to complete a big
project, the goal is not for each individual to reach a goal, but for the team as a whole to
complete the project. In this setting, the leader should not be focusing on serving his followers,
but instead his followers should be helping the leader by working with him or her to achieve the
leader’s goal.
I also learned about a couple other theories through this project that I think are strong as
well and work really successfully in the right context. Style theory is more applicable to the
second scenario I gave of a project manager, and can be a really great style of leadership. Style
theory defines leadership as a process of management, and focuses on productivity and
teamwork. In scenarios like a big team project or working in an office setting, style theory can be
really successful. It would allow for one leader to act as a manager and ensure that the followers
all complete their tasks. It would ensure efficiency and that everyone works well together in
order to reach their goal.
Another theory I really liked was situational leadership. Situational leadership
acknowledges that there is no one correct way to lead, and involves switching from different
levels of directing and support in order to adapt to the situation. This theory is really strong in
that it shows how leadership is dynamic and would be really successful in a setting with the type
of work and needs of the followers always changing. It would not work all the time however,
because followers often need consistency, and switching levels of direction and support
constantly could be confusing and not always helpful to followers in every situation.
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In my life, being led by example and a lot of support has led me to success and brought
me to think of leadership being successful in that manner. Particularly in my cross country and
track career throughout high school, I saw my coach as an amazing leader. He was extremely
successful himself, having run countless marathons and even participated in and won events in
the Penn Relays as a college student. He ran with us every single practice, and him not just
telling us what to do, but showing us that he does it as well and that this is truly how you become
successful motivated me to try my hardest. Additionally, I got a lot of individual support and
attention from my coach in my first couple of years. He gave me individual training schedules
and saw something special in me. This constant support and direct attention from him really
made me want to make him proud and motivated me to work insanely hard and get better and
better. My view on leadership since running has really come from this experience and seeing
how much having a leader who leads by example and gives you lots of support can motivate
your success.
As a result of this coursework, my understanding of leadership has definitely changed a
bit. I still find so much value in the type of leadership I experienced from my coach, but I can
also now see that it is not the only effective way to lead. I have learned that leaders keeping more
of a distance can help followers achieve more because it can help them feel less pressure, and
that being addressed and supported as a group instead of an individual can be a lot more
beneficial for certain situations. This project did not disprove my previous ideas about
leadership, but instead broadened my perspective and allowed me to see a bigger picture.

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Cohen 1

April 10, 2020

Leadership Theory Reflection

everyone’s go-to leadership style.

theory defines leadership as a process of management, and focuses on productivity and

order to reach their goal.

Another theory I really liked was situational leadership. Situational leadership

As a result of this coursework, my understanding of leadership has definitely changed a

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