Leadership Principles

A prior volunteering experience is exceptional in building skills needed for getting a
potential job title and showing that a person is committed to developing their career. Also, it is
an essential aspect for a candidate with limited experience in the workplace. In 2020, I had the
opportunity to work with an established entity in digital marketing as a junior manager. A junior
manager works as a supervisor under the supervision of a senior manager. My roles as a junior
manager included managing the execution of projects, supervising employees under the non-
management status, and handling the company’s information and its clients to ensure the
company’s development and improvement. I was also tasked with providing solutions to issues
by providing clear communication among the employees and explaining technical information to
customers. Also, I would manage the daily flow of customers. I chose to volunteer at this
company because it gave me practical insight into how a workplace is and how to deal with
people. Besides, my institutional skill developed, and it was a significant advantage to working
in such an institution.
During my volunteer ship program, I was able to implement most of the Greenleaf
servant leadership principles. According to Greenleaf (1970), servant leaders have morals and
use leadership to serve for the more significant benefit of the organization, community, and
society. Thus, I was guided by the following Greenleaf principles of servant leadership: creating
diversified thoughts, creating a trust culture, encouraging leadership in others, and establishing
an unselfish mindset. First, I practiced empathy, which is the ability to understand and share
other people’s feelings. By exercising compassion, I understood employees felt about some
decisions and their take on implementing some projects. For instance, I could understand things
better from their perspective.

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Moreover, I was committed to the employees’ development and growth by providing
them with the relevant support and information needed at any point. Through this principle, I
learned to appreciate every employee’s efforts and contributions in building the company.
Besides, I also created a positive environment for employees to ask questions and give their
thoughts regarding the company operations by creating an active communication forum where
discussions on decisions and projects could be made. I realized that offering an open ground for
employees to ask questions contributed to the invention and enabled them to realize their
potential. Through this, I was able to assess their strength and weaknesses and addressed them
accordingly. As a result, supporting the employees through their growth leads to high
performance in the organization, quality service, and customer satisfaction. Additionally, another
principle that I implemented was listening. The fundamental concept of being a leader is
listening to employees’ views and embracing their opinions on major decisions, especially those
that involve the work they do. By implementing this, you learn a lot and get different opinions on
handling an emerging discussion issue.
Arnold (2014) states that a leader becomes successful by unveiling the organization’s
energy by creating an environment that stimulates commitment and engagement of the
employees rather than just making decisions based on orders and directives to obedient
underlying. A leader is a person who can sit back and learn from their subordinates. A leader
knows that employees are motivated to work when they feel a sense of responsibility in
performing their duties, instilled by the leader by letting them take charge of their duties. The
application of the Greenleaf principle shaped me to become a leader than just a manager. The
volunteering experience helped me become a leader devoted to the development and growth of

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the employees by putting their priorities first, listening to their opinions, acknowledging their
contribution, and supporting their inventions.
Serving employees as a leader and not their senior affects how they influence the society.
When you treat others well, they will also treat others better. For example, when employees are
treated well in an organization, they also treat their clients and customers well where customer
satisfaction is achieved, and this builds the reputation of the company. Also, the employees work
in harmony and communicate effectively with each other, which makes working easier and tasks
are accomplished effectively due to teamwork. Thus, leadership positively impacts productivity,
performance, customer satisfaction, and good for the community. Northhouse (2013) states that a
leader displays characteristics, which put other people’s priorities first. This act attracts the
customers as well as the followers of the company to the same to others. They act as a role model
to doing well to people and giving back to society. This cycle leads to a never-ending culture of
doing good for others.
During my volunteer program, I was able to learn more about my leadership skills and
styles. Leadership skills refer to the abilities a leader has to steer employees towards achieving
the company’s goals by inspiring them to deliver performance. I learned that I have I am
empathetic in that I can share feelings experienced by the employees. Besides, I realized that I
could inspire change by motivating employees to unleash their potential. Also, strong
communication skills enabled me to communicate well with the employees and offer them
assistance and support. Moreover, another personal leadership skill that I unleashed was active
listening. I was patient and listened to their opinions and views regarding the company’s
decisions. In terms of unique leadership style, I would say I was a democratic leader where each

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employee’s idea mattered. This because I would consider each of their opinions before making a
final decision on a given matter.
In my future workplace and personal life, I will continually embrace servant leadership
principles to achieve results. In an organization, I will create a positive environment that
motivates the employees’ growth by supporting and encouraging them to become better and
achieve more. I will consider and prioritize the employees’ needs by being empathetic and
understanding their positions, which will enable me to think from their perspective. In addition, I
will create an open ground for communication where employees will air their issues and ask
questions regarding some aspects of the company. Clear communication will lead to efficiency
and high performance. In my personal life, I will embrace the leadership principles to understand
and value other people’s opinions by giving them a chance to explain themselves and offer
solutions. Besides, through my leadership, I will serve as an example to others by giving back to
society. The community benefits from the common examples of role models to the other
individuals who follow their path. And lastly, by being a leader, I will use my leadership skills to
bring change to society by treating others well, whereby they will also treat others positively.

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References
Arnold (2014). The best leaders gain power by giving it away

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/leadership-lab/the-best-
leaders-gain-power-by-giving-it-away/article18784709/
Greenleaf, R. K. (1970). The servant as leader. Robert K. Greenleaf Publishing Center.
Jouany (2020). What Are The Top Leadership Skills That Make a Great Leader?
https://blog.smarp.com/what-are-the-top-leadership-skills-that-make-a-great-leader
Northouse, P. (2013). Leadership Theory and Practice (Sixth ed.) Sage Publications