Leadership is a complex process involving many variables such as personality of leaders, skills, followers, and many more. Since there are many variables that make up the leadership process, leadership can easily fail, especially if the leader has dark-side personality traits. However, the most important part of leadership is that it is a process. Leadership can always be improved.
Over the summer and winter break, I played a competitive battle royal game called Apex Legends with my friends. In this game, myself and two other teammates try to eliminate other teams to be the last team alive. This game can get very competitive and intense as many teams can fight at the same time in one small area. Over the course of the summer and winter break, I saw my leadership skills improve dramatically. According to research, intelligence is positively related to leadership success (Northouse, 2018). When my friends and I began to play in the summer, we decided to make me the leader since I was the best player among the three of us. I had the most knowledge of the game and I had better skills than my friends.
Despite my game knowledge and skills, I failed many times as a leader mostly because of my personality. Leaders fail when they possess dark-side personality traits. These traits are: argumentative, interpersonal insensitivity, narcissism, fear of failure, perfectionism, and impulsivity (Hamel, 2021). In my case, I showed narcissism, perfectionism, and impulsivity. I often made calls that were ambitious and reckless and when my team got eliminated, I would blame my teammates for the loss- although I didn’t say it out loud. I would get frustrated when my team couldn’t function because I had high standards of my teammates and I unrealistically expected us to win every time. Lastly, many times I would think about personal achievements such as getting the most eliminations at the cost of a team victory.
After losing many times, we decided to take a different approach. We communicated what the problem was and we decided that instead only one person calling the shots, we decided everyone should contribute to decision making. After getting feedback from my teammates and changing our approach, we started winning. In our new approach, we treated leadership as a process. When leadership is treated as a process, then anyone can become a leader (Northouse, 2018). Although I was still the designated leader, I often asked my teammates’ thoughts and opinions about my decisions and many times throughout the game, I let my teammates to call the shots.
Leadership is not always successful, even when the leader has the right skills and intelligence. Leadership can fail in many ways and one of the ways is when the leader possesses dark-side personalities. Leaders with these personality traits treat leadership as a one-way interaction. However, effective leadership should be a two-way interaction between the leader and the group.
References:
Hamel, R.P. (2021). Lesson 2: Trait Approach
Northouse, P .G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.