The Overall Aims and Philosophy in Regards to Leadership - Essay Example

Reflection on Leadership This paper details my reflection on the overall aims and philosophy in regards to leadership, self and creating the future. I will do this by reflecting on incidents of strategic and experiential learning gained by the experiences I have gained leading in organizational complexity and change. I will draw my reflection on various themes which are significant to the outcomes I produce as a leader. Basically, this is my identification of personal development needs through a reflection on my current leadership roles and my career aspirations. Reflection on my perceived need to be a ‘happy’ leader Aristotle said that happiness gives meaning and purpose to life. In actual essence, he said that this – happiness – is the whole aim of human existence (Rosenberg 2010). One makes decisions and choices driven by the innate desire to be happy. My understanding of happiness is that if you make others happy, by solving their problems, you get happiness that is not focused on self. Growing up, we were taught by our parents that ‘you have to be there for each other’. You have to make a contribution to the other’s happiness. If you concentrate on making other’s happy, then you will grow in happiness. In Transactional analysis, (Stewart and Jones, 2012), says that everyone grows up with a ‘script’; the life plan in childhood. In this regard, my script meant that happiness means making others happy, or being involved in that which solves the problems of other people.This means that the interest of others come before those self. Sacrificing for the sake of others was met with appreciation when growing up while achieving happiness at the expense of others was met with criticisms of being selfish. It was important to take a leadership role and do something even if someone else was doing nothing in order to produce desired results. I picked this up as an ‘Adaptive Child’ without asking what the others were doing as long as what I accomplished brought happiness to other and in return to me. It is interesting to note that one of the greatest sources of unhappiness is the misguided beliefs and misconceptions about happiness. The wisdom we have about happiness and the responses we get from what we know call for an inner knowledge which is awakened by reflective practice (Rosenberg 2010). Our happiness is somehow inextricably related with the happiness of others. This means that happiness pays a big role to transformative leader. Thus a transformative leader should have a deep understanding of happiness. Seligman (2002) says that happiness is living our lives with purpose and full meaning. I think happiness exists more in the mind rather than in the event that happen on the outside. Actually, external events lift our moods for some time, but soon, through adaptation, we return to our customary level of happiness (Seligman 2002). Happiness is determined by how we perceive the situations we are in and how contented we are with what we have. Therefore, as Dalai Lama and Cutler (1998, p.15) opine, “happiness can be achieved by training the mind, which is not merely one’s cognitive ability or intellect, but rather which includes intellect and feeling, heart and mind.” This will involve a continuous process of the mind which trains it to identify those factors that lead to happiness and those factors which lead to suffering. The mind then leads to eliminate the factors that cause suffering and enhance those that lead to happiness (Rosenberg 2010). I will use a framework by Spitzer (2000) which increased my understanding of happiness. He says that happiness is divided into four types; the first level is physical gratification, the second level is ego gratification, the third level is making a contribution and the fourth level is the joy that results from participation in something significant. Physical gratification means the kind of happiness that is derived from external stimulus. This kind of happiness is instant and immediately gratifying. However, it does not last for a long time (Rosenberg 2010). This happiness is unstable and is guided by physical pleasure. The second level – ego gratification – is derived from the achievements or popularity of an individual. It comes from the power and control the individual has. Spritzer (2000) explains that the third level of happiness – making a contribution – means the kind of exhilaration and contentment that comes from making a contribution in someone’s life. It is giving what is within you to the outer world and makes it a better place. This is the happiness that I pursue as a leader. The fourth kind of happiness, which comes from one’s involvement in something that has ultimate significance, seeks to experience something ultimate. Things like truth, love and a greater sense of being. I would say that moving from first level to fourth level of Spritzer’s (2004) framework of levels of happiness is a conscious process which has determined my leadership. I have realised that to create more results as well as more adaptive organizational cultures, it is important to distribute leadership (Western 2013) so that every person in the organization has a part to play producing results, solving problems and implementing change. My father was a critical parent which pushed me to act from the ‘adaptive child’ state ensuring that I chose the happiness of others and that would reflect on my own happiness. However, in an organizational setting and more so in the transformational leadership framework, one has to transform himself in order to be able to lead others into transformation and change. My leadership challenge Leading the counselling department which deals with sexually abused persons, I realised that I was the only one who came with ideas on communication, actions and decisions to be made to make the service more productive. I derived happiness from seeing those affected recovering well and making progress towards self-acceptance.The service was working well, I realised that there was not enthusiasm among my team and people were not ready to come with creative ways of handling the issue. This necessitated the department to call for a dialogue meeting which would help the members to open up on the issue. After the feedback session, the major issues included lack of proper team work, lack of timely communication among others. It is also in this forum that 2 people cited my being denied opportunities to bring their creativity, actually one of the people said that they felt controlled. Another one person said I was unreachable and that the leadership hierarchy was not working for the organization. My first response was a bad feeling; I felt that people did not appreciate my efforts in the department. After a critical reflection, a practice I have been learning slowly, I realised that I need to take an Adult-Adult transaction as a leader. I had always believed that I was a transformational leader. But the leads from the feedback forum pushed me to understand that I was so results oriented that I forgot the process and the people involved in the process. In addition, I learnt that I have not taken time to learn more about the transformation leadership style and how I can combine it with other leadership styles to avoid being controlling. In essence, I am supposed to be in a position where I can influence people rather than control them. Mihelic (2010) says that leadership is the behaviour of an individual guiding a group of people to attain a common target. It is “an art of persuading a follower to want to do the things, activities that the leader has set as goals” (p. 32). This means that Leadership carries within it power and influence; it also carries obligations, responsibility and vision. It is not just about you accomplishing something; it is influencing others to want to accomplish the same thing as you. Northouse (2004, p.2) observes that when “we try to define leadership; we immediately discover that leadership has many different meanings.” Leaders have the ability to unify people, around values and then constructing the social world around those values and helping people get through the changes required for optimal performance of their day to day activities. Additionally, as Grossman and Valiga (2000) observe that, “Leadership is a talent that each of us has and that can be learned, developed and nurtured. Most importantly, it is not necessarily tied to a position of authority in an organization” (p.18) Transformational leadership is a style that involves the leader empowering the members of the organization to achieve a certain goal that the organization has set plus other achievements like professional growth, personal growth and employee morale. Organizational decisions have to put the development of the employees in play. This leadership style influences employees to make decisions towards attainment of organizational goals through transforming them. In transformational leadership style, it is the trust, loyalty and admiration for the leader that the follower feels that motivates him to exceed his expectations. Burns (1978) influence, when he talks about transforming leadership, came from the Maslow’s theory of human needs which identifies that people have needs. The theory proposes that the extent to which members of an organization perform effectively is directly proportional to the extent that these needs are met. From my childhood experiences and childhood the meaning of leadership is to serve others in order to derive happiness. Following this in an organizational setting, he leader should be less concerned about position and focused more on trust, collaboration, empathy and the use of ethical power. However, the leader serving others puts him in the sole position of changing the whole position. No one can bring change alone. My involvement in the organizational setting has taught me that change cannot be brought by one person. Everyone in the organization has to be involved in bringing the change. A leader should be a change leader, one who facilitates change. Those who facilitate change need, among other things, to understand the organizational culture in order to effectively facilitate change. Without the knowledge of the organizational culture, it is hard to identify the gaps that are there, the change needed and how to implement it (Charkravorti 2011). First, one needs to transforms themselves and then focus on transforming others to join in the change. Critically reflecting on myself, I come out as an assertive leader. However, my friend thinks I am a bit aggressive and pushy. My desire to accomplish and bring change, my demand for people to serve ‘people’ is interpreted differently from what I seek to achieve. This means there is lack of awareness of myself. This is what Luft (1969) describes in the Johari Window of self-disclosure, the part that is known to others and not known to self, or the blind spot. Rosenberg (2010) says that “self-awareness serves as a bridge between the ever-increasing unpredictable stimuli and leadership that is informed by happiness” (p.12). The impact of accelerated change calls for leadership responses which constantly evolve. Studies (Magnuson & Norem 2002; Okech 2014) show that reflective practice as being effective to the functioning of the leaders. Russo and Ford (2006) see it as a self-study which an individual take on intentionally to critically examine one’s practice. According to Imel (1992), reflective practice is requires “individuals to assume the perspectives of an external observer in order to identify the assumptions and feelings underlying their practice and then to speculate about how these assumptions and feelings affect practice” (p. 1). Reflective practice in leadership serves to recognize implicit questions. Consequently, the exposure that comes from the implicit questions gives rise to opportunities for enlarging the perspective one holds and for generating options. Reflective practice will touch on the cognitive, motivational and affective components of an individual. This means that in carrying out this practice, the mind id able to observe and investigate itself which will include also the emotions that go with it. Rosenberg (2010) says that self-reflection results in coherence between thoughts, motivation, feelings and behaviour. Lama & Goleman (2003) note that this process is able to derive intelligence in an individual. As Rosenberg (2010) rightly states, “happiness, reflective practice and ethical leadership are interrelated” (p. 9). That means that reflective practice helps the leader to strengthen his ability to cultivate happiness while increasing happiness augments his ability to transform himself and those he leads. Frederickson (2003) affirms that people who feel good have creative, integrative and flexible kind of thinking that is open to information. Negative emotions can solve problems which are concerned with immediate survival. However, positive emotions are credited with solving problems related with personal growth and development (Frederickson 2003). Similarly, Selingman (1998) says that reflective practice cultivates the capacity to decrease negative emotions and increase the positive emotions. Process of change One of the things that go unchallenged is the fact that the accelerated rate at which change is happening in almost all spheres of life gives rise to unparalleled challenges to any leader. As a leader, I have realised that to address those challenges need one to adapt a leadership style that is strategic in nature, that which involves me and those I lead. This is because one responds to the challenges on change both positively and creatively. As Rosenberg (2010) confirms, transformative leaders appreciate change at all levels; individual, organizational and even global communities. This is not possible without the reflective practice. Where I was when I was growing up, the things I used, the environment I was living and ways of doing things is not where I am today. That simply serves to show that change is constant and inevitable. As everything for everyone keeps changing, including our mind-sets and attitudes to life, then there is need to transform with the change. If change at an individual level is inevitable so is change at the organizational level. Watkins and Mohr (2001) illustrate this so well. They say that “as the illusion of a stable environment fades, organizations are embracing the challenge of thriving in a world of constant change, realizing that change is not a force acting on organizations, but the very water in which organizations swim” (Cited in Rosenberg 2010, p. 10). I conceptualize change as a journey which leads me to a destination rather than a destination in itself. The changing nature of change gives rise to a growing necessity to self-reflect continuously. Since I was young I have always felt an innate responsibility or drive to solve problems and make a difference in issues around me; especially tough issues that give people a hard time. I have always believed that ‘something can be done’ even in the most difficult situations. I have always believed that we can change a situation simply by changing ourselves; our attitudes, our motivations, our feelings, our choices, our decisions. However, one of the greatest challenges was to help others or to influence them to take this responsibility,and to change with me to solve the situation. Because everyone involved has something to contribute to the change. Changing yourself alone does not solve the situation. That is how I realised that even before I got in an organizational setting, I was a leader, a transformative one. Quinn (2004) argues that a transformative leader learns to accept and take responsibility for his influence. Transformative leaders commit to beneficial change that makes the world a better place. Conclusion and Action Plan One important aspect in transformative leadership is the fact that the leader cannot transform others without first transforming himself. Thus a leaders should self-reflect to face and feel those issues that are not comfortable feeling. Rosenberg (2010) argues that transformation is deep change which requires one to let go of control. Effective transformation comes from ones capacity to learn in real time. Reflection creates deeper self-awareness which in turn calls for change. Self-reflection has taken me in the process of changing my leadership style to that of strategic leadership. Strategic leadership is another style marries both leadership and management and blends them. Hoskinsson et al(2004) explains strategic leadership as the “ability to anticipate, envision, maintain flexibility and empower others to create strategic change as necessary” (37). This role is mostly taken by top-level managers. When a leader fails to strategize, he fails in envisioning the path the company should take. Consequently, he does not anticipate possible problems or issues that arise. Lack of strategy sups up people to the present and they forget what they want to achieve. As Burns suggests, leadership cannot be separated from the needs and goals of followers. Burns suggests that the power wielders kind of leaders see the workers as a means to an end and treat them in view of that. If a leader is more concerned of the end forgetting the importance to the means of that end, then misses important signals. Organizational level of relationship determines the level of openness and feedback. This involves “activating agendas that infuse organizations not just with a change vision but also with sustained capacity for change implementation.” (459). Nocholls’ (1994) strategic leadership star could be applied. It involves the processes of defining the company’s purpose, vision and mission; identifying the processes that deliver value to the customer; focusing on essentials, key competencies and capabilities; creating a measurement standard and triggering and maintaining enthusiasm and value initiatives within the working groups. The processes will guide the behaviour and style of the leader. A strategic leader ensures that management hierarchy should not “sit on top of everyone as a crushing set of controlling layers which are superimposed on those doing the value-adding work. Rather, it should become much flatter and more fluid while being inverted to give necessary infrastructure of support” (Nicolls, 1994, p. 23). I aim at learning and integrating more about strategic leadership and transformational leadership so that we produce results while every member of the team is doing so happily and motivated. The major aim is meeting the needs of those I work with in order to more optimally meet the needs of those we work to help. References Chakravorti, S 2011, 'Managing organizational culture change and knowledge to enhance customer experiences: Analysis and framework', Journal Of Strategic Marketing, 19, 2, pp. 123-151. Dalai Lama & Cutler, CC 1998, The art of happiness: A handbook for living, Riverhead Books, New York. Dalai Lama & Goleman D 2003, Destructive emotions: How can we overcome them? Random House, New York. Frederickson, B L, 2003, ‘The value of positive emotions’, American Scientist, 91, 330–335. 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