Personal Leadership Reflection And Real World leadership

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Table of Contents
Section 1: Personal Leadership Reflection........................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................3
Critical Incident Description............................................................................................................3
Pedler’s Leadership Challenge(s) Identification..............................................................................4
Application of Self-Leadership.........................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................5
Section 2...............................................................................................................................................6
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................6
Critical Incident Description............................................................................................................6
Use of Other Leadership Practices...................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..................................................................................................................................10

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Section 1: Personal Leadership Reflection

INTRODUCTION
In a lot of times, leadership is put to test as well as going through the most demanding
circumstances where what is needed are practical approaches and an understanding about
personal strengths. In this reflection I reflect on a leadership issue that I dealt with during a
group project at university, which required me to exercise my self leadership as well as the
ability to lead others through a very intense and difficult project (Nayme and de Souza,
2024). The task allocation within the group was an issue that caused tensions and caused the
progress to be stalled. In this circumstance I needed to utilise Pedler’s leadership framework
and other Self Leadership techniques in order to direct the team towards collaboration, the
ability to complete the task effectively. I will discuss how emotional intelligence, motivation,
and self-awareness shaped me into a self-leader, who used the practice of self-leadership, to
be able to successfully deal with this challenge. I will also elaborate on how other leadership
practices such as the leadership of direction and strategy and the leadership through networks
have been used to handle the issue. So I reflect to give me some key leadership lessons going
forward.

Critical Incident Description

One of the leadership challenges I faced was in a group project while I was still at university.
For this task, we were broken into teams for different sections to be completed in a detailed
report of business strategy. The problem was that when two group members disagreed on the
scope of their sections and what each had in their section. The conflict grew worse, and by
the time it was approaching the deadline, the communication between the team members
became poor, and there was a lack of collaboration, which added to the delays in our project
progress (Kumar et al., 2025). Here I was in a such situation where I had to mediate the
situation and facilitate the group to come to the conclusion of the issue.

The challenge was not only to complete the report, but also to handle the interpersonal
dynamics inside the group. Our grade depended on the ability to resolve the conflict, and the
process of resolving the conflict was urgent given that it was critical task. However, there
were differences amongst members of the team and I was also responsible to ensure they can
work effectively regardless of the differences. So I realized that my leadership would be

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required not only for getting the work done but also to make sure we came together out of the
team members.

Pedler’s Leadership Challenge(s) Identification

One of Pedler’s leadership challenge – ‘Managing conflict and competing interests’ – fits
right in this situation. Pedler recognises leadership challenges caused by the complexity of
human dynamics within the groups and organisations, and especially when there are multiple
interests or conflicting opinions. In this instance however, the most critical of these conflicts
between group members was the conflict itself, it threatened the quality and timeliness of our
work (Lebedieva, 2024). The problem was to come up with a method of dealing
constructively with the conflict and create the environment in which collaboration could
exist.

The challenge fell within Pedler’s framework as I had to utilize various leadership practices
such as self leadership, conflict management and facilitating communication. This was
essential not only for the realization of the project’s objectives, but also necessary for the
group dynamics to improve and for future cooperation to be more effective. Pedler’s suggests
that those challenges tend to constitute leadership as one steps in and acts in difficult
situations to create value. Managing the conflict and communicating amongst the group
members was needed, so I provided assistance by bringing in communication and creating a
collaborative environment among the group members.

I was able to address the challenge and at the same time to improve my leadership
development by applying the relevant practices. This experience also taught me that the
problem of conflict needs to be addressed early, and I need to understand the existing
conflicts behind group tensions.

Application of Self-Leadership
In this situation, it was very important that I substituted in for self leadership, which helped
me ensure that I remained in control of my emotions, remained motivated, and provided
others with an example of the behavior they should see. Maintaining emotional intelligence
was the first of the steps in applying self-leadership (Coronado-Maldonado and Benítez-
Márquez, 2023). Having had tension with the situation I had to do well controlling my
emotions, for example, frustration, and not reacting instantly. According to Goleman’s
Emotional Intelligence Theory, self-regulation, empathy and social skills are all very
important in dealing with the conflict in the team. I knew that in order to effectively mediate I

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had to stay calm and empathetic, so that my understanding and ability to help in the middle of
the disagreement would be as near to 50/50 as possible.

A second important facet of self-leadership revolved around self awareness. I also thought
about how I contribute to the situation and the way I am behaving. How assertive was I,
resolving the conflict? Had I been too passive, the tension must have built up? Using self
awareness helped me change how I approach things and make preemptive steps in stead of
playing things out.

Motivation also helped a great deal. In this case, the team became discouraged by the conflict
and the looming deadline and it was not difficult for that to happen. I turned my motivation
into energy that I used to pump up the group, reminding them all of the final goal and
languishing and trudging together. It was able to refocus the energy in the group, where their
conflict shifted to collaboration (Fragouli, 2020).

But with self leadership; it had its challenges. It was a challenge to control my own emotions
and motivate others in the face of deadlines. Sunit the conflict seemed to be escalating, it was
hard sometimes to keep a lid on. However, despite this I was able to stay a steady influence
and contribute to the process, as I was able to continue to apply continuing emotional
intelligence.

Use of Other Leadership Practices

On top of self leadership, I used another practice, that I implemented from Pedler’s leadership
framework, as Leading through Networks and Developing Direction and Strategy.

How to lead through Networks was critical to get through the group dynamics. To facilitate
better communication, I talked to individual group members and understood their grievances
so I can share and inform them of my ideas. In terms of interpersonal connections I was able
to pick up on underlying issues that were creating the conflict, misunderstandings as to what
the ownership of the task was and what was expected (Raghvendra, 2024). This created more
cohesion in my team by having one on one conversations that helped bridge the
communication gap. It let me exploit the group's informal network to pressure people in each
other’s to work together and reduce contention among the people.

There was also work to be done in developing Direction and Strategy. I also uncovered what
the group’s underlying issues were and I led towards making it clear the group’s overall

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strategy. So this included going over the project’s objectives and knowing what to expect, and
then redistribute the tasks in a way where they’re according to your individuals’ strengths.
Through this practice, the group were brought together to achieve a common goal,
eliminating confusion and pushing for the outcome in question. I was able to guide the team
in a clear direction, and let them know that we’re going in the right direction, I gave the
purpose and united them under one cause.

The reason I chose these practices is because they were the root causes of the conflict, they
were miscommunication and lack of clarity. Through leading through networks, I uncovered
these issues, and by developing a clear strategy I gave the group structure. These practices
were the tools that helped us to move to a successfully resolved product together.

Reflection on Outcomes and Learning

I reached a positive outcome with how I acted. The resolution of the conflict settled and the
team was able to finish the project according to timely schedule, all the members taking part
was consolidated into the final report. The team members tension eased, and they became
more effective in collaboration. Secondly, the activities of managing conflict and employing
the leadership practice contributed to greater group dynamic with more trust and cooperation
for the next (Gómez-Leal et al., 2021).

I have learned a few good lessons from this experience. The first thing I learned is the
necessity of facing the conflict and not allowing it to remain stagnant. Too long passed by if I
had not mediated the issue when I did, it would have had a negative affect on the group’s
progress. But one of the greatest things that came from all this was how much self leadership
can be beneficial in conflict management. Using emotional intelligence, I enabled myself to
be the leader that helped everyone else to follow suit and use this emotional intelligence? At
the end, I have understood that leadership is not giving answers but providing a space for
people to work together in harmony even on hard times.

I would then be looking to the future and tackling that problem in a different way, finally
putting early intervention at the forefront. However, I was still able to handle the conflict
quite well, but I know it is essential to be proactive and first tackle potential conflict before it
becomes a problem. I would also try to assist others from the team to assume some more
leadership roles and become collaborative in the solution of problems.

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CONCLUSION
This reflection thus helps understand the challenges in a group project I had worked and how
have I applied different techniques of leadership to deal with them. With self leadership, I
was able to lead myself controlling my emotion, keeping me motivated, creating an
environment of collaborating together. Pedler’s leadership practices also played a role in
solving the conflict and the team’s success (such as Leading through Networks and
Developing Direction and Strategy). Looking back on this experience, I’ve come to
understand just how beneficial the element of early intervention in these types of situations
goes, how self-leadership can be used to manage the issues of stress, and how crucial it is for
there to be clear direction and communication. This has been by far the most formative
leadership experience and I will bring this to bear on my future leadership roles, striving for
ever improving leadership and ways to become more effective.

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Section 2

INTRODUCTION
Decision making, motivation and strategy under pressure are often demanded when one finds
himself in leadership and hence leadership is often challenged. In my personal experience,
there is a particular challenge that stood out when managing a critical project in the Team at
Tesla. The project was to launch a new initiative designed to improve internal
communication, which had some resistance on both participants, employees, as well as
members of the team. The first was an opportunity to exercise leadership and conduct oneself
around self leadership. This exercise has great relevance to my leadership journey as it
proved my ability to lead myself and my team through uncertainty (Sharma, 2024). This
reflection will consider in turn how Pedler’s leadership challenges, in particular ‘Leading
major change’, played out in this project. In this article I will illustrate how I applied self
leadership and other leadership techniques to handle this issue not just about surviving but
learning and growing as a person.

Critical Incident Description

Coming out of the summer of 2023, Tesla began a company wide initiative aimed at
remaking their internal communication system and fostering more team collaboration. The
project I mentioned was involved in project management and I was part of that team that
would be leading a cross functional group that will develop and implement a new
communication platform. This become a challenge early, when the key stakeholders were
actually unwilling of the change (Geerts, 2022). I was the leader of the team, and at a
crossroads; how could I help motivate my colleagues to take this onboard? And there was a
significant frustration and confusion with the atmosphere, and the team needed guidance. In
the beginning, being too detailed with the logistics of the project was something I tried,
however this got me nowhere, and I quickly had to refocus and create a sense of alignment,
engagement, and purpose. To do this, I had to take charge for both the technical aspect of the
project, but also for the emotional and cultural components of the team. Navigating this
change proved to be my most monumental leadership challenge.

Pedler’s Leadership Challenge(s) Identification

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Pedler would also refer to this leadership challenge as a challenge for 'Leading Major
Change'. Pedler argues that leadership in the face of a big change that will affect culture,
structure or processes of the organisation is required. In a large organization such as Tesla,
Tesla’s unilateral desire to alter internal communication was a major change which
necessitated very strong leadership for overcoming fears and resistance and getting buy in
from employees. It was not just implementing a technical solution, it was changing the
culture of the organization to allow for such an upheaval, says Pedler, who elaborates on how
the leadership started with a challenge, and that in this case the challenge was not something
simple (Naslund and Norrman, 2022).

This was an important task since without leadership, the change likely would have failed.
This is because "Leading a Major Change" challenge is very important in environments that
encourage innovation like Tesla, that which has its own resistance to change. Tackling this
challenge head on is important because leadership during major change is solving problems,
not just, but also inspiring others to see value in change, which often means changing
mindsets. I attempted to tackle the emotional resistance and skepticism that seemed poised to
disable the project by using the practices of self-leadership and by using other leadership
techniques that supported the technical aspect of the project.

Application of Self-Leadership

When it comes to tackling this challenge, self leadership was a necessity. Manz (1986)
suggests that people who practice self leadership are more capable of influencing others for
the same reason that they by first leading their own thoughts, emotional, and actions. Starting
with self awareness is recognizing to begin with what do I do and what I can’t do. From the
start I knew that my lack of patience with the pace of change was contributing to how I was
interacting with the team (Bujor and Bichel, 2023). Considering this, I took the conscious
step of self regulation of my emotions and kept myself calm and approachable so I could stay
afloat and keep team morale as high as possible.

In addition, I used Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence theory that involves goal setting and
self motivation. When setting a clear and a measurable goals for the team I cleared the vision
of team and refocused its efforts on shared vision; transforming communication. I enabled the
team to maintain drive based on my own and Tesla’s motive for innovation and collaboration.

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In applying self leadership, however, there were challenges. My first drive was to complete
the project with a huge hand, with hard deadlines and focusing more on results than on the
human dynamics on which they are built. This approach was top down, and as a result more
resistance. I've realized that motivating the team was not a big step, as much as insisting to
ensure that I adapted and make it easier for them to own the project. This made me practice
empathy, and helped me grasp their fears regarding a change and find solutions to their fears.
The use of self leadership ultimately resulted in the team’s cohesion, which also meant when
they accepted the new communication tools.

Use of Other Leadership Practices

However, self leadership was essential, but I also had to incorporate other practices from
Pedler’s framework to deal with this leadership issue. “Leading Through Networks” was one
such example of such practice (Udod et al., 2022). I started to realize that relationships within
the organization were what was going to help us overcome the resistance to this change
initiative. Instead of forcing the message from the top, I outlined a network of change
champions in different departments by rea lching out to influential employees. These
champions were able to help to pull for the new communication platform to go through the
transition for others. The message was more effectively communicated and taken to heart by
different levels of the organization because of their hire within the company.

One of the other key practices I exercised was “Developing Direction and Strategy.”
Although the team understood the change initiative was there to be defined, the purpose and
long term vision was not well defined. Stakeholders brainstorming sessions on revisiting and
redefining the project’s strategic direction were what I organized. I was more successful in
trying to garner more support for the initiative by making the change clear, compelling
reasons, and by making the project fit into Tesla’s bigger picture of sustainability and
innovation. This practice breathed life back into the team and provided them with the vision
and the purpose (Grice et al., 2022).

These practices worked well since they facilitated collaboration, instilled a sense of
ownership, and prioritized a strategic direction essential to maintain the team’s direction
towards the project’s objectives. Developing a clear direction helped people who would have
otherwise been isolated in their own bubbles understand why the change needs to happen,
and through the channels of networks, led through networks, isolated resistance was turned
into collective support.

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CONCLUSION
The basic idea of a change leadership challenge is how to take on leadership that was able to
defeat resistance during transformational change. Using Pedler’s framework, I brought a type
of leading through networks that was key to turning a resistant team into one that started to
embrace change, as well as developing direction and strategy. Reflection therefore has taught
me that leadership is not bound to getting something done but understanding and leading
people through complex emotional landscapes. Looking forward I will try to be more
collaborative in the leadership role, try to empower other people to feel a sense of ownership
when beginning a change process. The experience has given me new insight into what it
means to be a leader; how introducing theory to the real world can matter and how the
experience shifts my understanding of leadership furthered my knowledge about leadership
and its application to the real world issues, providing guidance of the how I can grow as a
leader.

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