Nelson Mandela Selected Leader Analysis

Leadership and Group Collaboration

(Enter Your Name)

Capella University

Selected Leader Analysis

Rajini (2013) defines leadership as the process of enlisting the support and aid of others towards realizing a common goal. The team, in this case, comprises of interdisciplinary professionals with different levels of work experience. Therefore, success will be determined by how well the leader can foster collaboration and teamwork among team members.

I will apply Nelson Mandela’s transformational leadership approach to lead and communicate with team members in the committee. The transformational approach is a style of leadership where the leader engages by creating a connection with their followers and encouraging them to look beyond their self-interests to realize a common goal (Lee, 2014). The transformational leader raises high levels of morality and motivation in the followers, while encouraging them to develop their skills to accomplish their best potential (Lee, 2014).

Since the committee is made up of professionals drawn from different disciplines, it may not be appropriate for the leader to adopt a directing approach that involves setting rigid rules and giving orders for the team members to follow. Further, not all members of the committee may be focused on making the best decisions for the company as some are likely to maintain membership for their self-interests, such as for compensation. Thus, a leadership approach that focuses on rewards and punishments may not adequately bring out the best potential of the committee members. A more beneficial approach would be one that set outs a compelling common vision and then arouses and motivates the team members to transcend their self-interests and pursue the common vision (Lee, 2014). This is why the transformational style was selected over the classical leadership approaches.

One of the primary advantages of transformational leadership is that it emphasizes the idea of a common vision, which serves as the focal point that perpetuates the team’s collective interests above self-interests (Lee, 2014). The common vision instils a sense of ownership or identity in the team members, and pushes them to fit into the organization in general as they pursue the vision (Lee, 2014). Lee (2014) points out that this would be a crucial aspect in a team that brings together people from diverse professional backgrounds as it enables them to work together productively towards realizing the common vision. The idea of the common vision minimizes the risk of wrangles that would commonly arise in diverse teams.

Another element that makes transformational leadership the most relevant in this scenario is its focus on change. The leader leads by transforming their followers and encouraging them to develop their skills so as to reach their highest potential (Lee, 2014). The committee is tasked with offering guidance to the employees on how to manage diversity. To effectively discharge this mandate, the committee members need to first modify their own attitudes towards diversity. Transformational leadership provides the most appropriate approach for providing this change. It focuses on the individual, helps the leader evaluate individual awareness of problems that may inhibit the realization of the common vision, and working together with the individual to attain higher levels of understanding and motivation (Lee, 2014). The end-result of transformational leadership is that committee members will be more intellectually sensitive to diversity issues, more motivated, and with sufficient charisma to offer guidance on diversity-management to the staff.

The greatest demerit of transformational leadership in the current setting is that the rest of the team may consider it unidirectional given that the influence flows from the leader to the followers (Rajini, 2013). In a setting where team members are all professionals in their various fields, transformational leadership may be interpreted as an attempt by the leader to put themselves above the needs of followers by pushing them to pursue the common vision (Lee, 2014). This is especially so if the team members do not share in or own the common vision (Lee, 2014). To minimize this risk and ensure that the adopted leadership approach realizes its full potential, I will ensure that the leadership is participative and democratic as suggested by Lee (2014). The specific strategies that I will use are discussed in the subsequent sections of this text.

The first strategy is ensuring that all members of the team take ownership of the common vision. To do this, I will involve all members in the process of developing the common vision and defining the core values to govern the team. This will be a collaborative process and all members of the committee will be allowed to give their suggestions and ideas without prejudice. We will put all the suggestions together and reach a consensus on a common vision that incorporates all ideas and is agreeable by all parties. This will minimize the risk of team members feeling that the vision is the leader’s.

The second strategy for ensuring participative leadership will be regular communication and constant feedback. Towards this end, I will maintain an open-door communication policy the will give all team members an equal opportunity to give their ideas and suggestions. Regular communication will help team members stay in the loop and committed to their tasks and the overall vision. Further, regular communication will help keep the team members’ faith in the leadership and thus, enhance their commitment to the vision. Video-conferencing tools such as Skype and Zoom provide a means for team members to actively engage with each other remotely and will be crucial in facilitating regular meetings. Other technologies such as G-Suite operated by Google provide platforms for members to create, edit, and distribute files among themselves, and will help facilitate the sharing of ideas and opinions.

Collaboration and Motivation

The idea of collaboration could be likened to an orchestra. Each musician uses their individual instrument, but they practice and eventually play together to produce a harmonious melody that transcends what each individual could do alone.

Similarly, the committee in question will be made up of members drawn from different disciplines and tasked with defining the diversity problem that faces the Lakewood Clinic, recommending solutions, and providing guidance on implementation. Therefore, promoting a collaborative environment will be crucial for team success and realization of the intended goal. I will employ several principles and strategies to facilitate team collaboration.

The first is the transparency principle, which will involve ensuring that all stages are clearly communicated and documented. Transparency helps build trust among team members and trust is a requirement for effective collaboration. I will strive to ensure transparency from the onset - members of the committee will have an opportunity to know the other members of the committee, as well as their skills, work experience, knowledge, and area of expertise (Turner & Baler, 2020). Knowing each other will help team members develop cohesion and collective knowledge among each other, and will also drive accountability as they will appreciate each other’s role in the team and how each role contributes to the overall goal.

Moving forward, transparency will be achieved through regular and open communication. Sources contend that high-frequency open communication is crucial for effective collaboration and team work (Turner & Baler, 2020; Oliver et al., 2018). Regular communication provides a means for team members to understand what other team members are doing, their progress towards the overall goal, and the challenges they face in their roles (Turner & Baler, 2020). It fosters collaboration as the team members can then work together to address the challenges faced by other members so that the overall goal is realized. To ensure regular communication and real time feedback, we will use communication technologies that do not require the physical presence of team members.

Tele-conferencing technologies including Skype, and Zoom Meetings will be used to hold mid-week virtual meetings where team members can share ideas and information on the progress they have made and the challenges they face. A physical meeting that will take place at the end of every week. We will also create customizable user groups on social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook, in which members can engage with each other using the chat feature, share documents, and exchange ideas real-time throughout the week. We will take advantage of social media tagging capabilities to tag other team members whenever members share crucial information to create a snowballing effect and ensure that all members receive the information in time. Additionally, team members will have customized personal dashboards outlining their overall role in the team, daily tasks, activities undertaken, metrics and targets, and daily reports. The personal dashboards will be visible to the rest of the team members on the shared platform so that all team members can keep track of each other’s progress and offer support to each other whenever necessary.

The second principle that I would use to foster collaboration is inclusivity and fairness. The committee is made up of professionals drawn from different disciplines and with different levels of work experience. One strategy of ensuring fairness is giving team members the freedom to express themselves and make them feel that their contribution is valued. Team members are more likely to be open and give their honest ideas and suggestions if they believe that their colleagues will not hold their suggestions and ideas against them. I would also enhance fairness by engaging the team members in developing a unifying code of conduct that would govern how members of the committee treat each other and dictate what they are allowed and not allowed to do. For instance, in the code, members may agree that talking behind another’s back is prohibited. Such rules that bind all members would help provide protection to members and enhance open communication and exchange of ideas without fear of being judged.

To ensure inclusivity, one of the primary strategies that I would use is to ensure that all team members are included in decision making through a flat hierarchical structure. A flat structure spreads the decision-making power to a larger group of people as opposed to an individual. Through a flat structure, the team members will be involved in crafting the common vision, in delineating their specific roles in the committee, and in designing the activities to be undertaken to achieve the common goal. If the team leader needs to make a decision, they will post their concern on the shared platforms and allow all members to engage and deliberate on the same until a decision that meets the needs of all parties is reached (Turner & Baler, 2020). The flat structures would help reduce power differences among team members and create a sense of equality that would foster collaboration. In addition, I will use simple team building activities such as having lunch or coffee together once in a while to enhance team cohesion and inclusivity.