The best leaders are those who encourage feedback from the people they leadWrite a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supportin

One of the hallmark characteristics of an effective leader is the ability to take feedback and criticism and use them to improve one’s leadership skills. Of course, such an ability is not necessary, but can serve as a differentiating factor between leaders. If your teacher was stubborn and unwilling to change his teaching style to better accommodate his students’ needs, then would you consider him to be a good teacher? Granted, most leaders are in their position for good reason, which is that they know what is effective and what is not, but this does not mean that they are perfect. Thus, it appears that the best leaders encourage and learn from the feedback they receive.

Feedback, though some may find it to be an annoyance, benefits not only the people being led, but also the leader himself. Feedback gives leaders some pointers on which areas they should work on, as well as which areas are sufficiently strong. Knowing this information, leaders can save time by only focusing on areas that they are lacking in. Furthermore, these areas will be pointed out to them by the people they are leading, and thus improvement in these areas will directly benefit these individuals. If students told their teacher that he needed to give more examples in class and he took this advice and utilized it, he would then go through more examples in class. In this case, the students would be receiving more examples which would benefit them, and the teacher will be teaching his students more efficiently. Although often times the leader knows what is best and such feedback he receives may be ignorant, it does not hurt for one to know what his colleagues think of him. Even if he has a more efficient strategy in his skills than others believe, if feedback focuses on this, then he can clear confusion in the air by explaining why he does things the way he does.

Alongside this, leaders must learn to be flexible in order to be effective. This is true of most disciplines - one cannot stubbornly resist change and expect to remain competitive amongst others. Things are always changing; methods are always being improved and technology is always creating shortcuts to historically time-consuming processes. In terms of leadership, one must be up to date on the latest changes and adjust to them so he can effectively lead a group of people. This is important to note, as being an ineffective leader negatively affects the group of people this individual is in charge of. Although one may disagree with new developments, it is important that he realizes the consequences of his actions and remember that being in a position of leadership often requires one to act selflessly. Even if one disagrees with new developments, these developments may make more sense to the people he is in charge of and thus will allow them to gain more out of their leader’s instructions.

If not for the benefit of his peers, one should be an open leader for the sake of appearing more trustworthy. If one is more open to the feedback of the people he is leading, his peers will feel more connected with him and will be more likely to follow his directions and trust his judgement. On the contrary, if one comes off as cold and stubborn, his peers will not feel as connected with him and may feel less inclined to obey his orders, especially if they do not agree with them. Developing personal relationships with one’s peers will create a more positive environment and allow more of a collaborative effort in decision making that benefits the majority. Of course, people have selfish tendencies and may try to abuse the flexibility of their leader, but for the most part this system appears to be highly efficient and promotes a productive atmosphere.

Although leaders may feel as though they do not need to take orders from others since they are at the top, the opposite seems to be true. In order to be effective in their leadership, those in charge must be accommodating and willing to listen to the people they are in charge of. Leaders must be capable of demonstrating much humility to earn the trust and respect of those they are in charge of.