Week 1 Reflection– Trait Leadership Theory

In my first week as an intern at ILA, I have been getting to know my boss, as well as some more senior people at the company. By getting to know some of my leaders better, I have observed some  of their personality traits and how each one affects them as leaders. This reminded me of the “Big 5” trait theory that we learned about in Theories and Models. In this blog post, I will apply the big 5 trait approach to leadership to my direct boss. 

The first trait in the Big 5 is Extraversion. My leader, Marcia, is not especially extraverted. She is not especially talkative and assertive. Therefore, as a leader, Marcia is cautious and laidback. 

The next trait in the Big 5 is Agreeableness. Marcia is extremely agreeable. She is eager to help others and is very sympathetic. For example, when we were meeting before I started my internship to discuss the internship timeline and projects, I told Marcia that on top of my internship, I will also be working part time at a restaurant this summer. She told me that because the days I work in the restaurant would be very long, she would be accommodating and give me a lighter work load on those days. Before she even knew me Marcia was concerned about my well-being, demonstrating her agreeable personality. 

The third Big 5 trait is conscientiousness. Marcia is fairly high in conscientiousness. For example, she is orderly and set lofty but achievable goals for the two of us to accomplish this summer. I can tell how committed she is to ILA and how deliberate she is in her actions at work. 

The next trait in the Big 5 is Neuroticism. Marcia is very low in neuroticism. She is not anxious or impulsive. As mentioned before, she is very deliberate and confident that her decisions will propel ILA forward. This makes Marcia a strong leader because she is relaxed but confident. 

The final Big 5 trait is openness. Openness is the trait that I have seen play out the least in my work at ILA so far. From what I have gathered the past week and a half, Marcia is moderate in openness. She is somewhat flexible, but has a clear vision of what she wants to do and is not entirely comfortable with changing that plan. 

In my first full week in the professional world, I have been able to apply the Big 5 Personality Trait Leadership Theory to my leaders at ILA, which has been an interesting intersection between my educational and professional lives.