PAD 515 Week 10 Discusssion

Influences and Challenges in Public Leadership

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Influences and Challenges in Public Leadership

Public leadership confers theoretical and practical knowledge and experience that influences the performance of a public leader. Both heredity and environment may contribute to the type of leader an individual is and may influence their performance. However, theoretical and the practical aspects of public leadership enable public leaders to learn, and influences their performance. Some of the key influences of the theoretical aspect include its role in shaping personal traits and characteristics, influence through situations that confront the leader, and influence from appropriate behaviors and styles of the leader. The influences from the practical aspect of learning public leadership are through leadership development including training, leadership feedback and mentoring.

The theoretical aspect of public leadership influences the performance of a public leader by determining the leadership traits they exhibit when executing their leadership. It therefore affects the quality of leadership they deliver and the satisfaction of their followers with this leadership. This aspect affects the leadership style that the leader adopts and their behavior when they are in leadership. The practical aspect influences the performance of a leader through improvement of skills and conferment of new skills through participation in leadership development through training and mentoring. This aspect also influences performance through assessment of feedback and establishment of the amount of work needed to deliver better quality of leadership.

Leadership in the future is likely to present with challenges, as seen from the advancements in various sectors and the increasing complexity in the leadership environment. One of these challenges include the rise of conflict between good governance and political leadership and an increase in the role of values such as integrity and character of leaders. Challenges related to public leadership learning and action outcomes such as corporate social responsibility and collaboration with the profit and nonprofit sectors is another challenge. The role of technology and globalization or internationalization of leadership concepts and constructs is also a challenge which public leaders are likely to face in the future. All these are likely due to the increase in legal awareness among citizens, the changes in the political arena and the influence of political leaders in public sector governance, and advancements in technology and globalization.

Reference

Zhihong, Z., Wei, C., & Xiaoying, Z. (2013). Leadership in Public Sector: A Discussion From Theoretical and Practical Aspects. Canadian Social Science, 9(4), 73-77.