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Leadership: Trait Approach

In: Social Issues

Submitted By Alooma
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“Leadership is the process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives” (Robbin S, 2013). Trait theory suggests that leadership qualities create the separation between leaders and followers. It also specifies that the capability of a leader depends mostly on specific traits that may not be common to the followers (Laureate Education, 2010). “Leadership is the ability to articulate a vision and gain support for it” (Plachy, 2009). The core traits identified for successful leadership skills as highlighted in the Leadership Traits Questionnaire appear to take into cognizance so many characteristics associated with the theory. Trait Approach: emphasizes attributes like personality, motive, values, and skills. Leaders’ effectiveness is measured by the amount of influence a leader has on individual and group performances, follower satisfaction and overall effectiveness (Derue N, et al., 2011).
My personal experience with the LTQ was that I became self-conscious at first with my response to each item. It could have been an interesting process if other people completed the assessment too, thus providing verifiable sources for comparison with my ratings. However I felt much better knowing that the instrument was meant to provide a synopsis of my strength and weaknesses. I have always seen myself having leadership qualities and that I possess most of the characteristics listed in trait theory. Northouse (2013) proposed the following trait theory characteristics including Intelligence, Self-Confidence, Determination, Integrity, and Sociability.
I feel very confident and comfortable to say that I am not in doubt of having these characteristics prior to taking the questionnaire. My life experiences reflected the usage of these

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