Lead Why Don\'t They Follow?

¶ … lead Why Don't They Follow?

Over the last several years, effective leadership has become an essential part in contributing to the success of an organization. This is because the kind of leadership practices that are used will set the tone for: the work environment and how various policies / procedures are implemented. However, a major challenge facing most firms is they will often confuse good managerial skills with effective leadership. This is problematic, as it will make it difficult for an entity to identify new opportunities and adapt to transformations in the marketplace.

In the book When I Lead Why Don't They Follow, it is discussing specific tools that all effective leaders will use when dealing with the challenges. To fully understand the different ideas that have been presented requires discussing key points from the book. This will be accomplished by: providing an overview of the key points on management / supervision, how these services relate to social services / social work and the way these ideas can be applied on an individual basis. Together, these different elements will offer the greatest insights as to how effective leadership is applied to help an organization deal with the challenges they are facing.

An overview of the book's key points on management and supervision

In the book When I Lead Why Don't They Follow, Plachy (1986) is discussing specific ideas that are relevant for management and supervision. This is achieved by focusing on specific aspects that could have an impact on a supervisor's ability to lead including: highlighting the differences between management / leadership, examining the most successful methods of leading, establishing a common sense of purpose, looking at the requirements to be an effective decision maker, discussing the influences on leaders, evaluating potential, studying how to be a good listener / communicator and understanding the way subordinates are evaluated. The combination of these factors will offer specific insights as to what tactics are most effective in reaching out everyone.

Highlighting the differences between management / leadership

A common challenge that most executives will face is from the belief that effective management and leadership are interconnected. Yet, in reality, these ideas are different from one another based on the approach and the ability to inspire others. What is happening is everyone believes that effectively running an organization will help to inspire their employees to do more for the firm. This is because of the consistency in addressing potential issues, will help an entity to prepare for the current challenges they are dealing with. Over the course of time, this can lead to a false sense of security about the policies and procedures that are being utilized. Once this takes place, is when an organization will slowly lose its way and will miss key opportunities that could help to keep them competitive. (Plachy, 1986, pp. 1 -- 13)

Leadership is when executives will use tactics that will help to build confidence in individual employees and the firm. The way that this is accomplished is through focusing on a number of areas to include: someone who shares similar values, has charisma, speaks for the interests of the entire group, works with team members to achieve the larger objectives and has the flexibility to adjust to a host of challenges. The combination of these factors is showing how all leaders will do more to reach out to employees and other executives. This is designed to motivate everyone to: go beyond their traditional roles and share ideas about what new strategies can help the organization to adapt with the transformations that are occurring. As a result, managers are people who are appointed to a position in order to supervise a host of activities. While leaders, are individuals that are the head of the group and will speak for everyone. This means that they will look at the situation differently and will have a relationship that is focused on motivating everyone to do more in finding solutions (versus using the authority they are given by upper management). (Plachy, 1986, pp. 1 -- 13)

The Most Successful Methods of Leading

The kinds of tactics that are utilized by leaders are one of the tools that help them to effectively reach out to everyone. The way that this is accomplished is by focusing on a number of areas to include: locating the best talent, paying attention to the needs of people, encouraging followers to be more open and forging alliances / strong working relationships with subordinates. These different elements will help to create a sense of purpose among staff members. This is when they will feel as if they are more respected by their managers (which will encourage them to do more for the organization). (Plachy, 1986, pp. 15 -- 30)

Establishing a common purpose

Establishing a common purpose occurs during the process of illustrating similar characteristics and interests as staff members. The way that this is accomplished is by focusing on: sharing activities / interests, improving communication / conformity and creating a culture that is supportive of the long-term objectives. To effectively deal with these issues, it is recommended that all executives must be following a number of different principles to include: understanding what is at stake for each team member, working with informal leaders inside different groups and improving communication. Over the course of time, this will help everyone to focus on the same objectives with a mindset that is empowering them to go beyond what they are asked. (Plachy, 1986, pp. 15 -- 30)

Be an effective decision maker

A common challenge that most organizations will face is the inability to make effective decisions. The reason why is because, executives may not fully understand the scope of the problem or the impact of their decisions in the long-term. This will often lead to managers putting off critical decision until later or they are delegated to some kind of committee. To deal with these kinds of challenges, all leaders must be able to quickly evaluate what is happening and make the most appropriate decision. (Plachy, 1986, pp. 47 -- 55)

According to Plachy, there are several tools that executives must use to improve the kinds of decisions that they are making to include: identify the problem, create alternative solutions, select the best options, implement the solution and evaluate the outcome. To improve the ability of managers during this process, it is essential that they keep a log of their activities and calculate the time spent in each phase. The combination of these factors will help executives to determine if a particular solution will allow them to achieve their organizational objectives. This is when they can determine what approach will work most effectively for them in reaching these goals. (Plachy, 1986, pp. 47 -- 55)

The influences on leaders

Inside any organization are a host of areas that will have an impact on the behavior of employees and managers. These include: fear, the loss of security, rewards, strictly following the rules / guidelines, the use of authority and coercion. Traditionally, most employers would use a combination of these factors in conjunction with an authoritarian approach to push employees to do more. The problem is that this has traditionally created divisions between managers and employees. Once this happens, is when staff members will do just enough to slide by and they will often ignore the directives of supervisors. In the future, this makes the firm unable to respond to changing demands from customers and transformations that are occurring inside the marketplace. This is when there is the possibility that the company could lose it competitive edge because of these factors. (Plachy, 1986, pp. 57 -- 64)

To deal with these kinds of issues, leaders need to take a completely different approach. The way that this will occur is through focusing on a number of different principles that are designed to reach out to everyone. This means concentrating on a number of areas simultaneously to include: listening to staff members, sharing the decision making process with subordinates, helping everyone to find a common purpose and teaching / motivating / encouraging them to grow. When these kinds of ideas are used in correlation with each other, this will create a change in the relationship between managers and employees. (Plachy, 1986, pp. 57 -- 64)

Evaluating Potential

Evaluating potential is when managers are focusing on the personality of the individual and judging them based on their potential. During this process, executives need to be looking at the needs of the individual and how this is influencing their behavior. This will help managers to understand what needs are effecting the mindset of employees and their ability to complete a host of tasks. The way that this is accomplished is by openly communicating with the person about: specific activities that they are required to engage in, what kinds of behavior is considered to be unacceptable, state the consequences of not willing to make this transformation, ask for the individual to make small adjustments one step at a time and following up to ensure that there has been a shift in employee actions. This will help an organization to see what individuals will work well inside specific segments. When this happens, managers will be able to determine which individuals can most effectively assist the firm in achieving its longer term objectives. (Plachy, 1986, pp. 65 -- 90)

Examining individual potential is when executives are not looking at past or current challenges associated with employee behavioral issues. Instead, they must be effectively communicating with the person to identify the root causes of the problem. This is because most individuals will feel that their ideas are not respected (which causes them to do less for the organization). To address these areas of concern, executives must ask themselves a number of questions to include:

How can you recognize employee efforts?

How can you help everyone to focus their efforts?

How can you assist the individual to make positive decisions?

How you can help the person to make more money or receive better forms of compensation? (Plachy, 1986, pp. 65 -- 90)

Once these areas have been addressed, is the point that managers will help to create positive changes in the mindset of the individual. The way that this is accomplished is to use these questions to identify and solve the problem. This is when there will be a transformation in the attitude of employees by focusing on those areas that are most important to them including offering praise for: their skills, influence, accomplishments and providing greater financial rewards. The combination of these factors will help manages to evaluate the best employees by: addressing their core issues and seeing how they react. (Plachy, 1986, pp. 65 -- 90)

Being a good listener / communicator

Being a good listener / communicator is when executives will focus on opening up channels of contact inside the organization. For most firms, this is challenging because of the hierarchy that exists. What is happening is mangers will only discuss issues about the operation among themselves. When it comes to employees, they are expected to follow the directives of supervisors. The reason why, is from a culture that has encouraged this kind of working environment. This is creating a situation where the different levels inside an organization are not communicating to each other. As time goes by, this is making the firm less flexible in adapting to changes in the marketplace. It is at this point that a firm could lose their competitive edge. (Plachy, 1986, pp. 91-103)

To avoid these kinds of situations all executives must be experts at listening and communicating. The best way that they can master these skills are to focus on two areas of communication to include: the content and feelings. The content is the words that are spoken or written to someone. Feelings are the emotions that are conveyed to a particular person. The combination of these elements will have the greatest impact on the individual. (Plachy, 1986, pp. 91-103)

To achieve these objectives the best leaders will remain calm and listen carefully to what the other person is saying. This is defusing any kind of tension by allowing the other party to express themselves in an open manner. At the same time, they must be able to agree with the person and communicate in a way that will help them to see other viewpoints. This means understanding various barriers that can prevent effective communication and working with the person to address them. When a leader is using this kind of approach, they can be able to have everyone feel as if their ideas are respected. This is the point that the state of mind of the individual will change. (Plachy, 1986, pp. 91-103)

The best way that leaders can be most effective is to focus on a number of areas to include: agree whenever you can, avoid contradicting, time what you say, rephrase what the other person said, talk about what you want and act promptly. The combination of these factors will prevent emotions for getting out of hand. This is when leaders will be effective at working with employees and improving the channels of communication. (Plachy, 1986, pp. 91-103)

How subordinates are evaluated

The way that subordinates are evaluated is challenging for most organizations because of the criticism about their work. In these kinds of situations, supervisors are encouraged to state the facts. The problem is that they use words that are considered to be cold and callous during the process. This makes the employee feel as if any kind criticisms are directed against them personally (threatening their individual sense of self-worth). When this happens, employees will often have negative attitudes about: their work, managers and the organization. This will hurt productivity, with them doing just enough to meet the demands of supervisors. (Plachy, 1986, pp. 105-111)

To avoid these kinds of issues, all leaders will focus on evaluating employees using a process that will tell them the truth in a respectful way. This involves utilizing a predetermined rating system that will state the individual level of performance for the employee. In course of discussing the different areas of job performance, a strategy must be utilized that will provide positive feedback and state the areas of improvement. The language must use words that will improve positive feelings and eliminate any kind of negative associations. Moreover, all leaders will review what was discussed in previous evaluations and will establish expected standards of conduct. The combination of these factors will tell the employee what they are doing right, wrong, how it can be corrected and what is required from them. This is when the evaluation process will objectively follow a respectful and honest format. (Plachy, 1986, pp. 105-111)