Leadership Reflection

Over a year ago, my class was asked to draw a reflection based on a key on what we think an effective leader looks like. It was really interesting to debate in my head about what characteristics make up a leader, and which do not. Last week, we did the same exercise again, but we couldn’t look at our drawing from last year until we finished this year’s. I knew I had grown and changed since I started OT school, but I didn’t realize how much. After completing this year’s, I compared my two drawings. There were several changes that I made from last year’s to todays.

One was that I didn’t feel like I was in more leadership roles than other people my age a year ago. Now, we are two days away from an Art Show and Auction of which I headed up the planning. It’s been a lot of work, but through it, I have lead multiple meetings, delegated many tasks, and networked with several professionals from other departments.

Last year, I was able to name two themes from the Strengths Finder, but this year, I could not think of a single one.

Back then, I thought that to be an effective leader, you didn’t necessarily need to see yourself as a leader. However, now I see the importance of viewing yourself as a leader. I think it is so crucial for you to respect yourself in a way that shows confidence in yourself which leads to others feeling confident in you and your abilities.

Last year, I said that self-awareness was not a vital aspect of effective leadership. However, now I realize how important it is to be able to see your own strengths and weaknesses when leading a group. If you only see your strengths, and think nothing is a weakness, no progress or growth will ever be made.

I also thought that technology was an important aspect of effective leadership, that has actually weirdly changed for me. I do not feel that you have to be tech-savvy or use technology in order to be an effective leader. I think character is more important that skills or devices in leadership. Technology may be important for certain projects, but not necessary to lead a group of people effectively.

Finally, I said that creativity was not really necessary for leadership, I said organization was way more important and creativity was not at all. However, I have since realized that creativity is a very important aspect of effective leadership. If a problem occurs, a creative leader will be able to problem solve to get the job done, just in a new way.

Who would have ever thought a viewpoint on leadership could change in such a short amount of time?