Political Science Essay

Sociopolitical Skills and Leadership Competence
Author’s Name
Institution

Leadership transition can offer an unequaled opportunity for career success when leaders take the right steps in the new roles/positions. People are a major contributor to a leader’s success or failure in his/her leadership positions/roles. Other personnel in the organization can tell from the early days of taking up the leadership roles/positions whether the executive will succeed in leading them or not. Mastering the art of integrating social and political skills is therefore not only a requirement to take up these positions/roles but also a necessity in the leader’s success in them (Denison, Hooijberg, Lief, & Lane, 2012). There are various categories of sociopolitical skills that a leader should ensure they have equipped themselves with before and during the early days of leadership transitioning. The list of sociopolitical skills categories is in line with my sense of what is most required to ensure a leader’s early success in a new role/position. However, in the category where a leader is expected to “sense, as well as use, appropriate; communication; influence behavior”, I feel that the point is not complete without the part of ‘managing relationships’.
Managing relationships is an important part of communication, and it is also an integral part of the art of influencing people. A person taking up new leadership positions/roles should learn to manage relationships as early as possible if he/she is to succeed in the position.

According to Bolden (2016), buying the goodwill of people in both the internal and external environment in the organization ensures support in all the ideas proposed for the success of the business. Leadership transitioning is often challenging as some people are tempted to challenge one’s competency in the new role. However, one should be wise in their response to such situations by applying good interpersonal and communication skills.
In conclusion, although a transitioning leader can learn along the way and change his/her steps accordingly, a leader who sets off on the right foot is in a better position to win his follower’s hearts than one who does not. A good leader should be able to integrate the organization’s interests with the interests of the people who ensure it runs if he/she is to be successful.
References
Bolden, R. (2016). Leadership, management, and organizational development. In Gower handbook of leadership and management development (pp. 143-158). Routledge.
Denison, D., Hooijberg, R., Lief, C., & Lane, N. (2012). Leading Culture Change in Global Organizations: Aligning Culture and Strategy (1st ed.). Hoboken, Nj: (Leading culture change in global organizations.