Leadership Philosophy’s describe how we want to lead and include our values, ethics, and behaviors to guide us in a certain direction and help us in our decision making. This philosophy is made up from our past experiences, and individual perspectives and is important to write down because it helps us stay consistent in terms of who we want to be as leaders. While writing it down is the first step, its encouraged to share your leadership philosophy with your employees so that they can understand what to expect from you, and what you expect from them.
Leadership philosophy’s are not just an outline on how you’re going to behave in the workplace but they should be philosophical in a sense that there’s an overreaching goal that you want your employees to gain from your leadership. This over reaching goal is similar to a vision. Although leadership philosophy’s and vision and mission statements are not the same, they do go hand in hand. My Personal vision is to maintain balance and be present while leading my project team or bringing up my own company. This vision is important because its the end goal and all the actions I take should move towards this goal. Next, my mission is to learn where I can, to listen as often as I can, to apply what I’ve learnt, to teach to those who are listening, and to engage those who aren’t. This mission represents the actions I will take to move closer to my vision. Without a vision or mission in mind when creating your leadership philosophy your not moving towards a greater goal and your leadership along with your team becomes stagnant, or without a purpose.
As a leader I will value communication enabling my team to ask questions, provide feedback, and exchange ideas. I will value honesty, because without it there’s no integrity and no trust which leads to an unhealthy environment. I will value a hard work ethic, meaning everyone has off days but when its time to work, we work. I will value community, including the surrounding community I work in and the community we will create within the team. Lastly, I will value fun, this wont take away from the hard work ethic my team will aspire to have but will be an asset in terms of bringing laughter, friendships, increased productivity, and balance to the workplace.
A necessary disclaimer to point out within leadership is that leaders may have a more preferred or more natural style which may show in everyday activities but styles are situational and can change depending on the task. With this said my beliefs as a leader are as follows. I believe in respect, and that it must be showed even if it hasn’t been earned or deserved. I believe in courage, and i’d hope my employees use this to stand up against wrongdoings. I believe in learning from mistakes, mistakes are fine to make but must be learned from. I believe in investing in others, whether that’s through training and development, annual raises, or being a mentor. Lastly, I believe in honoring trust, this means if an employee shares personal information, or something vulnerable I will respect the wishes of the employee on what to do with the information.
Putting good behaviors to practice as a leader is important because people tend to follow by example. As a leader I would be open minded to, thoughts, change, and creativity. I would use self awareness as to not damage relationships. Next, I would use a coaching mindset to help my employees improve by providing feedback and praise when earned. Additionally I will be an active listener who allows employees to feel heard and understood. Lastly, I will be a solution orientated leader meaning I will view challenges as an opportunity for solutions instead of just a challenge.
Everyone has different ideas on why they come to work. Most people come to work for money, but there are other motivations like independence, friendship, knowledge, or structure/routine. All workplaces are different and not all workplaces are a good fit for everyone no matter how good your leader is. The most important thing about work is finding a job you love because we spend almost half our lives working. Most people don’t have the luxury of this so the next most important thing is to find a place where you love to be. This is why an organizations company culture is so important. Leaders must find a group of like minded people in terms of values, beliefs, and behaviors who thrive in the hands of your leadership. Once you’ve found these people, don’t let them go.
Management & Leadership 
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