Leadership and Skill Development - Case Study Example

Leadership Project Final Paper Leadership Philosophy My philosophy on leadership comes mainly from my observation of the greatest leader that ever walked the earth. I refer to the man, Jesus Christ. He was charismatic, transformational, servant-oriented yet ruthless in purpose, a risk- taker, a decision-maker, open, honest, caring and sensitive, a great orator and more. He had a vision which he clearly communicated to his followers. As a result, he died for his followers and likewise these followers were willing to die for him. The basic leadership philosophy which the author of this paper adheres to is that leadership is a journey which begins as an excellent follower and results in change. Like Lussier and Achua (2007), therefore, it is my belief that leadership should influence the operations of individuals so that the individual, the organization and ultimately the nation demonstrates improvement due to the functioning of the leader. 1 Although Lussier and Achua (2007) categorized leadership into five main areas, Surgency, Agreeableness, Adjustment, Conscientiousness and openness to experience, the author of this paper believes that the five most essential leadership aspects include, effective communication skills, decision-making skills, planning and implementation, intelligence, and last but not least, influence. 0 The ability to communicate effectively with individuals from all walks of life is perhaps at the top echelon of the leadership ladder. A leader who barks at followers or one who cannot form two sensible sentences together would quickly lose the respect and ultimately the ability to influence followers. The leader is only able to share vision, delegate subtasks, and complete the task, challenge competitors and influence followers and other stakeholders alike through effective communication. 1 Communicating effectively requires not only oral savvy but non verbal skills and interpersonal skills as well. A leader of an organization should be willing to listen to the concerns and the observations of even the lowest ranked personnel. This type of listening could be linked to Lussier and Achua’s category of ‘openness to experience’ for it is through this listening that the leader is able to gauge the experiences of his followers as well as the stakeholders of the organization. Thus, communication allows the leader to vicariously observe the experiences of the followers. 2 The second major factor in the effectiveness of a leader is the issue of decision making. An organization is established on goals and objectives. It is only through appropriate decision-making that an organization’s goals and objectives could be achieved. Thus, the success or failure of an entity is directly related to the quality, timeliness, acceptance and ethical standards of decisions made by the leader (Gordon, 1996). 3 Planning and implementation is the third icon on the leadership ladder. I have put the two together because even the best laid plans unless implemented will be done in vain. A leader must have a vision and in order for this vision to become a reality it is necessary to plan and implement a particular course of action. Planning eliminates several mistakes and problems that one may encounter along the way to achieve specific objectives. Although planning is a function of management I believe that proper is an essential requirement of the effective leader. 4 Another essential element in effective leadership is intelligence which is the ability to apply knowledge and skill learnt to any situation. Intelligence allows the leader to use the required knowledge to create superior structures and activities within the organization. This element gives the leader the competitive advantage over leaders of lesser intelligence. For creative thinking, risk-taking, expertise in the desirable field and thinking outside of the box, intelligence is needed. 5 Influence is perhaps the most essential component of effective leadership. Lussier and Achua (2007) define influencing as ‘a process of a leader communicating ideas, gaining acceptance of them, and motivating followers to support and implement the ideas through change.’ I tend to agree with Lussier and Achua (2007) that power, politics, networking and negotiating are the four main ingredients of influencing. Further, they noted the difference between a manager and a leader in terms of influence. Whereas a manager may force subordinates to perform a task, leaders earn the dedication of followers who are raring to accomplish whatever task is communicated to them for the improvement of the organization and not for personal gain. Thus, both sources of power- position and personal power are critical assets of a leader. 1 From self-analysis I have discovered that my ability to communicate effectively to all types of people is my greatest asset. On the other hand, my ability to make sound decisions is somewhat flawed. In Lussier and Achua (2007) self-assessment 1 I scored high in the potential for leadership but every other assessment left me wanting in many areas. My first step towards improvement in the weak areas of my leadership skills would be to take the advice of Lussier and Achua (2007) themselves. They insist that in spite of leadership potential it is ‘persistence and hard work’ that will create an effective leader. Therefore, my plan involves persistently, diligently and systematically practicing the skills of leadership until I have mastered every one of them. Leadership Personal Skills Interestingly, time management and stress management are two of my nemesis. It is a constant battle to systematically organize my day into neat time compartments as such the days are filled with stressful activities which overpower the goals and objectives of the organization. Another worrying personal trait is the lack of implementation of personal plans. Although I have used the training in goals and objectives setting to produce effective personal plans, the implementation and persistence in the accomplishment of these plans have been my downfall. Nonetheless, I continue to score high in the ‘agreeableness’ category of leadership as well as in the Big Five Model of Personality. Thus, I highly value the rights and responsibilities of others. Albeit my negotiation and conflict resolution skills need to be honed I am an effective communicator and negotiation is one of my strong points. Further, my energy level and self-confidence is always high and thus my subordinates are often enthused with this energy to accomplish a particular objective. I also have the ability to allocate and assign resources appropriately. As a consequence, followers are usually willing to follow as I lead. Perhaps one can say that I have a certain level of charisma. ‘Leadership is the influencing process of leaders and followers to achieve organizational objectives through change.’ (Lussier and Achua 2007) Such a definition certainly lends itself to contemporary thinking on leadership roles. One such thought is the idea of a transformational leader. Bass and Yukl as cited in Mullins (2005) suggest that there are four basic components of transformational leadership, namely, idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized communication. Idealized influence allows the leader to delegate, motivate and train staff members to accomplish the desired outcomes. Likewise inspirational motivation not only motivates followers to go beyond their call of duty but aids the leader in controlling and leading the teams in the organization. Intellectual stimulation promotes creative means of solving problems and analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the organization. Further, intellectual stimulation adds to the type of employees which will be recruited as well as to the level of training that selected staff members would receive. Individualized communication ensures that the day to day operations of the entity would be performed at a high level of satisfaction. Research has shown that satisfied followers lead to satisfied customers. The satisfaction of customers leads to increase in the profitability of an organization which in turn will lead to increase in market share. Human Resource Management The selection process in any organization depends on the need of the organization as well the individual’s fit to the specific task. An effective leader would select followers on these two factors as well as the personality fit to the rest of the team members. A new worker would therefore be trained before commencing to work with the rest of the team. Training would involve understanding of the culture of the organization. The norms, beliefs and values and symbols of the organization should become part of the new employee from as early as possible. An effective leader ensures that there is an open door for each follower. Hence, workers should feel free to discuss concerns with the leader and similarly they should not be intimidated when the leader gives feedback about their job performance. Teamwork is an effective means of providing job performance feedback. During the performing stage of team development team members are functioning at a level where they are free to provide feedback to each other without the fear of being personally attacked. Team Building/Problem Solving In team building members learn from each other. Therefore, synergy is created when knowledge and ideas of the individual members are combined. Due to this mutual learning experience team members are liable to maintain flexibility in the workforce. Because of the level of communication within teams new ways of approaching a particular task may be discovered. In general, team performance may stimulate growth and improvement in the organization. On the other hand, some team members may not be the right fit for the team and negative productivity may occur. Further, the roles of certain members may not be equally distributed. Rewards may also be perceived as being unequal. In addition, the jobs assigned to some members may not be as exciting as others. Thus, conflict may be the order of the day amongst team members. Group think can stifle the productivity and creativity of the team members and ultimately of the organization. In any discussion on teams, networking is important for it is through this concept that combinations of skills are acquired for the profitability of the team and ultimately, the organization. Strong relationships are formed and so individuals can be from all walks of life or from various parts of the earth and still communication and bond remains strong. It is through networking that organizations are able to liaise with essential partners for mutual improvement. Traditionally, teams develop through five stages, namely, forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. At the forming stage, individuals are now getting to know each other. Thus, initial first impressions are formed and individuals get a sense of what it is like to be part of a team. The team leader guides the direction of the team. As team members begin to collaborate they begin to assert themselves and state their varying opinions. Thus, a high level of conflict occurs at the storming stage. Eventually, at the norming stage, each member’s role will be determined and members will begin to know what to expect from each other. Friendships will be developed. At this point, norms will be established and the cohesiveness of the team will be prominent. The team then moves into the performing stage where members are functioning as a part of a team. The members participate in the positive outcome of their shared teamwork and established norms. During the adjourning stage, the team’s task is complete and thus, either the team will be disbanded or a new task will be assigned. If a new task is assigned, members as well as the goals and objectives of the team may change and hence the team may undergo the development cycle again. Therefore, an effective leader must continue to monitor, evaluate and improve the effectiveness of a team. Although McNamara (2007) has been criticized by several authors for her analysis on problem solving I tend to appreciate her approach and usually use it in my quest to solve problems. McNamara (2007) posits seven steps to this approach, namely, the process of defining the problem, analyzing potential causes of the problem, identifying alternative approaches to restructuring the problem, selecting one of the alternatives, implementing a plan, monitoring the implementation of the plan and verifying whether the problem has been resolved. The first step which entails the process of defining the problem is considered by McNamara (2007) as the stage where individuals struggle the most. She insists that one should differentiate at this stage between complex problems and simple ones. She also sees it as necessary to prioritize the problem at this stage and ensure that one understands and take steps to verify that one understands not only the nature of the problem but also one’s role in the problem. Subsequent to this definition of the problem McNamara (2007) advocates an analysis of the problem in order to determine the ‘potential causes for the problem.’ Thus, it is vital to get input from as many stakeholders as possible in the analysis of the problem. Further, McNamara (2007) asserts that one should write the various inputs from those affected by the problem as well as a thorough description of the causes of the problem. Following the analysis, an identification of alternative approaches to restructuring the problem is suggested. A brainstorming session involving those who are affected or a personal brainstorming activity that involves just the one person affected. The fourth step involved selecting one of the alternatives. At this stage individuals are required to select the most realistic approach to the problem in terms of time and available resources. It also necessitates analyzing the risks involved in selecting any one of the alternatives. A natural follow up to the fourth step is ‘the implementation of the best alternative’ which constitutes an action plan. An in-depth monitoring of the implementation of the plan is then needed to ascertain which aspects of the solution is working and those dimensions that may require changes. Finally, McNamara (2007) suggests beginning again to operate as usual within the organization or within one’s life to verify whether the problem has been resolved. Diversity/ Change Management In this dynamic nature of the workplace, diversity has become an essential concept in the quest to become a global leader. Due to the effect of globalization not only do organizations have to manage diverse personalities but also there is need to interact with diverse cultural and ethnic groups. In managing diversity Wilson’s 2002 suggest that there is an equity continuum along which organizations operate. Level one entails complying with the legal requirements for diversity. Level two involves going beyond legislation and helping individuals who may be disadvantaged. Level three comprise equity for all members of the organization. Level four is the adoption of equity for all as part of the organization’s culture. Level five are organizations which are known for their reputation as first class in diversity. Organizations should operate at level four or five to attract the best employees in the industry. Consistent with this level four and five operating level, Lussier and Achua (2007) advocates that a diversity-supportive culture be developed. In such a culture women and minorities are given equal opportunities to hold key positions in the organization. It is because of this diversity that an individual’s perception is now a major factor in the overall performance of organization. Gordon 1996 defines perception as ‘the process of sensing reality and organizing it into meaningful views or understanding. Managers and leaders alike are encouraged to put their feet into the shoes of the workers in order to understand the needs and concerns of the workers. The work ethics of the organization would indeed be improved given the interest of leaders and managers in the welfare of their subordinates. Perception also relates to the ethical dimension of an organization. If customers and potential employees perceive an organization as having a diversity-supportive culture then customers will be more willing to give their loyalty and talented workers may be attracted to it. 1 References Gordon, Judith. (1996).Organizational Behavior: A Diagnostic Approach (5th ed.) Prentice Hall, Inc., New Jersey Lussier, R.N., & Achua, C.F. (2007). Leadership: Theory, application, & skill development (3rd ed.). Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage Learning. McNamara, Carter. (2007). “Basic Guidelines to Problem Solving and Decision Making” Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision. Free Management Library: 1997-2007, Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Retrieved August 1, 2009 from http://www.managementhelp.org/prsn_prd/prb_bsc.htm Wilson, Trevor. (2002). Diversity in the Workplace. The Public Manager, Vol. 31. Read More