Organizational Success and Success

¶ … Leading

Kouzes and Posner's (2007) leadership participation inventory asserts certain characteristics inspire followers. Leaders should be honest, forward-looking, competent, inspiring, intelligent, fair-minded, broad-minded, supportive, straightforward, dependable, cooperative, determined, imaginative, ambitious, courageous, caring, mature, loyal, self-controlled, and independent. This theory advises five actions for successful leadership: 1) model the way, 2) inspire a shared vision, 3) challenge the process, 4) enable others to act, and 5) encourage the heart. I believe the key to strengthening involvement activities is communication. Research shows that organizations that have open communication where information not only flows downward from someone who hold a senior position, but also upward where subordinates feel free to express opinions, offer suggestions, and even voice complaints, have the following characteristics. 1) Constituents and subordinates and are valued - constituents and subordinates are happier and more motivated when they feel they are valued and their opinions are heard. 2) a high level of trust exists - telling the truth maintains a high level of trust; this forms the foundation for open communication and motivation. 3) Conflict is invited and resolved positively -- without conflict, innovation and creativity are suppressed. 4) Creative descent is welcome -- by expressing unique ideas, team members feel they have contributed and improved outcomes. 5) Input is solicited -- the key to any success is input which establishes a sense of involvement and improves working relations. 6) Constituents and subordinates are well informed -- all parties are kept informed about what is happening within the organization. 7) Feedback is ongoing -- both positive and negative feedback must be ongoing and provided in a manner that builds relationships rather than assigns blame (Kurtz, 2010).

Key Term: General Manager

Raymond Shulstad (2009), a retired USAF Brigadier General, identifies six characteristics which I believe good leaders must possess in order to be effective managers. First they must care about people. Organizational success depends on the efforts of the leader's people; therefore leaders must empower, inspire, enable, encourage, and support subordinates. Secondly, effective managers communicate the organization's direction in terms of vision, goals, priorities, and strategies. In order to gain maximum commitment to organizational success, people need to understand the organizational goals, and the strategies employed to achieve those goals. The organization benefits greatly when its people view their jobs not just as a set of tasks they get paid to do, but as work that contributes to the organization's success and the part they play in achieving those goals. Everyone must know what is expected of them. An effective manger must also embrace and instill a positive attitude. A success-oriented, can-do/will-do attitude is important in order to overcome the challenges that will present themselves during the course of operations. An effective manager is proactive. They must not be afraid of making mistakes and when one is made they learn from it and move on. They strive to spend more time preventing problems and less time solving them. Finally, a manager must mentor and develop subordinates, provide professional development opportunities and move their people to new positions in which they can continue to grow. In so doing they are investing in the future of the organization.