Hello friends, I highly need your assessment of my written essay in response to the leadership and influence question of the Chevening Programme. Looking forward to having your invaluable comments as I am already running short of time. Thank You!
Chevening is looking for individuals that will be future leaders or influencers in their home countries. Explain how you meet this requirement, using clear examples of your own leadership and influencing skills to support your answer.
(minimum word count: 50 words, maximum word count: 500 words)
''Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality'' Anthony Robbins
A firm believer in the above quote and a firm in myself, I aspire to become an exemplary corporate leader. The hunger for greatness coupled with my dedication to create a lasting impact drove me, during my university life, to take up leadership roles in different capacities as an organizer, volunteer and participant in various college events such as debates, conferences, industrial visits, training programs to name a few. These positions have given me the privilege to develop my team working, leadership, motivation and problem solving skills.
Moreover, it taught me to be very well organized, be able to work under pressure with little or no supervision and achieve the set targets within the strict deadlines. I believe it also has helped to shape me not just as a leader but as a person in general. This made history as In recognition of the work done, I was awarded a gold medal in consideration for the 'Principal's Best Appreciation Award' at the College Annual Gathering Ceremony in 2012.
The year 2014 was the beginning of the most exciting and challenging period of my life as a Leader. During this year, I got recruited as Finance and Administrative Manager by the Supreme Audit Office (SAI) of the Government of Afghanistan. As part of my duties, I had the responsibility to manage the financial and administrative affairs; where I had a group of '30' subordinates to lead. The most challenging assignment I managed to successfully accomplish dates back to December 2014; the financial year end. As per the applicable Afghan laws, public entities must prepare their annual financial reports and present them to the Ministry of Finance within a time span of three months following the financial year end. In the light of this, I had the responsibility to prepare the SAO's annual financial statements for 2014 and present them to the management.
To start with, I thought if I fairly divide the activities and empower my subordinates; the assignment would be more conveniently achievable within the given time since there were certain bottlenecks on the way. Thus, I created small task teams, sat up group goals and fairly distributed specific activities on each group and down on every subordinate. Meanwhile, to ensure accuracy and reduce the stress level, I kept on monitoring their performance and coordinating with them on an individual basis. I have been maintaining employee-friendly relations and an open line of communication with my subordinates, where every individual was given absolute freedom to raise their voices and share their problems without any fear. This arrangement helped us all prepare the annual financial reports quite in time and caught the management by surprise as the job was done extraordinarily in a very harmonious and intimate environment. This gained the Finance and Admin Department enormous admirations from the management of SAO.
It was then i realized how i have developed into a leader who believes in the people he serves and creating a platform for others to discover their potentials and shine. I am confident that all these experiences have extensively helped in further developing my leadership, communication and problem solving skills. Last but not least, I have a firm believe that we do have the essential abilities to be not just good visionaries; but also great leaders of tomorrow.
Chevening is looking for individuals that will be future leaders or influencers in their home countries. Explain how you meet this requirement, using clear examples of your own leadership and influencing skills to support your answer.
(minimum word count: 50 words, maximum word count: 500 words)
''Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality'' Anthony Robbins
A firm believer in the above quote and a firm in myself, I aspire to become an exemplary corporate leader. The hunger for greatness coupled with my dedication to create a lasting impact drove me, during my university life, to take up leadership roles in different capacities as an organizer, volunteer and participant in various college events such as debates, conferences, industrial visits, training programs to name a few. These positions have given me the privilege to develop my team working, leadership, motivation and problem solving skills.
Moreover, it taught me to be very well organized, be able to work under pressure with little or no supervision and achieve the set targets within the strict deadlines. I believe it also has helped to shape me not just as a leader but as a person in general. This made history as In recognition of the work done, I was awarded a gold medal in consideration for the 'Principal's Best Appreciation Award' at the College Annual Gathering Ceremony in 2012.
The year 2014 was the beginning of the most exciting and challenging period of my life as a Leader. During this year, I got recruited as Finance and Administrative Manager by the Supreme Audit Office (SAI) of the Government of Afghanistan. As part of my duties, I had the responsibility to manage the financial and administrative affairs; where I had a group of '30' subordinates to lead. The most challenging assignment I managed to successfully accomplish dates back to December 2014; the financial year end. As per the applicable Afghan laws, public entities must prepare their annual financial reports and present them to the Ministry of Finance within a time span of three months following the financial year end. In the light of this, I had the responsibility to prepare the SAO's annual financial statements for 2014 and present them to the management.
To start with, I thought if I fairly divide the activities and empower my subordinates; the assignment would be more conveniently achievable within the given time since there were certain bottlenecks on the way. Thus, I created small task teams, sat up group goals and fairly distributed specific activities on each group and down on every subordinate. Meanwhile, to ensure accuracy and reduce the stress level, I kept on monitoring their performance and coordinating with them on an individual basis. I have been maintaining employee-friendly relations and an open line of communication with my subordinates, where every individual was given absolute freedom to raise their voices and share their problems without any fear. This arrangement helped us all prepare the annual financial reports quite in time and caught the management by surprise as the job was done extraordinarily in a very harmonious and intimate environment. This gained the Finance and Admin Department enormous admirations from the management of SAO.
It was then i realized how i have developed into a leader who believes in the people he serves and creating a platform for others to discover their potentials and shine. I am confident that all these experiences have extensively helped in further developing my leadership, communication and problem solving skills. Last but not least, I have a firm believe that we do have the essential abilities to be not just good visionaries; but also great leaders of tomorrow.