Leadership through action, consensus building, and respect for others

¶ … leadership that influenced me.

Leadership self-analysis examination

An evolving standard for going the extra mile

Generally, it seems to me that leadership is all about 'doing' rather than 'thinking' or simply 'managing'. Margaret Wheately (2002) talks about challenging the world's problems, and about fear or intimidation generally being the impediment to doing so. This it seems to me is the crux of leadership for life often throws us hardballs, particularly when we place ourselves on the foreground of it as we do when we assume a leadership position. We are then apt to procrastinate, delegate, or lie low until the bang-bang situation has passed. However, Margaret Wheately (2002) talks about challenging the world's problems, and about fear or intimidation generally being the impediment to doing so. An evolving stance, therefore, for leadership is not only simply to act, but also to exceed one's actions and go the extra mile.

b. Consensus building vs. direct decision making styles

Leaders can view their organizations in multiple ways according to various frames and each frame determines the response the leader will take. Per example, one of the frames that Mintzberg et al. (1998) suggest is the primal leadership perspective where the leader assumes the guise of a concerned parent heading his huge and growing family through the morass of difficulties (and I can identify with that!). The leader might, according to this approach, be best enabled to achieve his objectives by recognizing his followers as humans possessing characteristic human strengths and failures. Reframing his shift to seeing the employee per individual as the center of his organization and the organization as external to that of the employee/more intrinsically individual, he might assess the needs and desires of his followers and then drive the organization to meet those needs and desires. Doing so would win him a devoted band of followers aside from indicating the direction in which his organization needs to tread.

To make that work, leaders are advised to engage in consensus building, listening to and discussing topics with their employees, rather than decision-making styles apart from and above them. This leads us onto the next case of:

C. Philosophy for treating people right

My philosophy is to see all people as inherently worthy of respect, to understand that each of perceives things in a different way as based on our particular experiences and culture, to, as much as possible, zone into the other and attempt to see where he or she is coming from. Furthermore, I prefer Aristotle's perspective (whether correct or incorrect) that most individuals err from ignorance; in other words that we do not deliberate commit wrong. Perceiving errors that way (as occurring from circumstance rather than willfulness) will enable patience and me to have better an understanding with for the other and help me to better treat them correctly.

In a pragmatic sense, my philosophy of treating people right comes from Sun Tzu who remarked that motivation and commitment are the keys to leadership. People are motivated by profit.. Success of the organization is built upon the individual motivation -- consequently efforts, consequently success -- of its members. Treating people right, therefore, will help me obtain my goals.

Am I a follower or leader

I think that we are all combinations of both some to greater extent than others. We are followers in that we are born in a certain time and place and, accordingly, conditioned by certain ways of thinking and, as Bandura shows, we naturally model others. The trick is also to serve as model to others too. So I think that we all have percentages of following others, consciously or not. At the same time, some of us have a greater percentage of leadership than others do.

In a different way leadership is also about being simultaneously leader and follower in the following sense: we each tend to think in different ways to the other; each of us has our own particular way of thinking based on culture, background, hereditary, personal experience, and so forth. As a consequence, Ayers (2002) demonstrates how personal inferences are apt to trip us up, therefore it were advisable to share our thoughts and perceptions with another. Finally, by doing so, 'Thinking Out of the Box' entails not only 'getting out of my box' but also 'crawling into the box of another'. In that sense, we tend to follow another in a certain way of thinking that we are not totally secluded but have, in some way, merged with the other for better understanding. Only when we are with the other, really understand the other, can we see how things are done, understand why the other has acted in a certain way, and better understand whether or not actions or circumstance do merit reform.

Ayers (2002) recommend these exercises on a regular schedule. None of these exercises are simple or easy to do on a continuous basis. Nonetheless, the benefits of doing them are enormous since they make us into more effective communicators, hence better leaders who become more self-aware of ourselves and aware and respectful of others.

Referential analysis

Sun Tzu's military treatise when applied to business situations made an impact on me. I gained a lot from SunTzu's, "Art of war' but one of his recommendations that made the greatest impact on me was simply: to know the facts. When in a difficult situation, or before concluding on any major business decisions, ascertain that you know all the facts of the situation or potential outcome of your plan. In connection to business life, this applies in all cases: strategy planning, conflict moderating, administrative dealing and so forth. Information, or the lack of it, determines the outcome, and sometimes it is the overlooked seemingly insignificant point that may make all the difference.

Congruent to this, is Sun Tzu's observation:

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, of every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle." (p.18).

On a pessimistic but realistic note, SunTzu says that the best leader is always prepared for the worst. Superior strategy and plentiful budget does not assure outcome. Rather it is the prudence and the tendency to closely observe the competitor and to focus on his weak spots. Always be adequately prepared.

*Course readings as reference

*Peer discussions on blackboard as reference

The evolution of leadership -- the future

Warren Bennis notes that: "To survive in the 21st Century we're going to need a new generation of leaders, not managers." (Bennis, "Managing the Dream," 2000).

There is a huge difference between 'leading' and 'managing'. The first denotes an active voice -- making oneself in charge of aspects, guiding, directing, and leading the way. The second indicates a more passive tone; relaxing and allowing things to remain as are.

The 21st century is one of fast and continuous change with transformations and events occurring in the marketplace and new technology appearing all the time just as the organization and individual has managed to catch up with the old. Change may be difficult for a company, but necessary if the company is to survive. An effective leader is one who is able to harness and negotiate this change so that the company is able to deal with it and survive.

Some limitations to overcome

A leader has to possess the following characteristics: Empowerment; Risk-taking; Participation; and Development (Eicher; online). In a practical sense, this translates into the following schema: I need to empower employees listening to their ideas regarding how the organization can work. I would need to also inspire the employees to work independently and to gain their own knowledge.

Thirdly, I would need to inspire an atmosphere of innovation so that employees and myself together can decide how to work through difficult situations, and this must be accomplished in a face-saving manner in a supportive rather than in an accusatory atmosphere. Finally, I must endeavor to foster an environment of continuous learning and growth.

Some of this is easier for me to accomplish than others. Even though I rate myself as a tolerant, non-judgmental person, I still possess implicit bias towards certain individuals, and circumstances. I would need to be aware of these biases and seek to act in a rational manner at all times. Listening is sometimes difficult for me. I need to accord the other complete attentions. Finally, but not exclusively, all organizations go through change. I would not only need to, somehow or other, maintain my cool through these challenging times but enable my employees to keep their cool likewise. The best way that I can get myself to deal with change more effectively is via experimenting and taking risks despite possible disappointments. I will learn to deal with frustration and pressure by taking one step at a time. I can search for different challenges each and every day in my job

Leadership opportunities in the community, government, or building my own practice

My intention is to return to school and start my own business. I am uncertain yet about which area to go into, but one way of finding out (and acquiring leadership capacities at the same time) is via investigating other businesses for ideas: those that seem to be successful ferreting out what makes them so, and those that seem to fail, investigating the actions that lead to their failure. Two authors that can help me on this topic are: Behar (2007) and Facella (2009). As senior executive at Starbucks, Behar helped establish the Starbucks culture, whilst Facella (regional vice-president) shaped the environment at McDonald's.

At the same time, I can turn mistakes of others or myself into learning experiences, and attempting to craft these learning experiences into creative and innovative ideas. I could, furthermore, admit my mistake and tell others what I learned form the failure.

(i) Areas to grow with in private practice as leader and (ii) Other aspirations as a developing leader: nonprofit sector or executive leadership.

I do not know where my experience will lead me, but I do know that I intend my life to be one never-ending pursuit of growth and of openness on my part on how to become a better leader in all sectors of life, in particular, but not exclusively in connection to any startup business opportunities that I am considering.

To that end, I see a critically reflexive practice position as being my key aspiration that contains and holds all else within it: Being 'in' ourselves', it is utterly impossible for ourselves to see ourselves and our existence (or ontology) in a transcendental manner. The closest we can come to this is via four types of lenses: the lens of our own autobiographies as critical thinkers (Critically examining our autobiography may help us uncover certain roots to our habits); the lens of learners' eyes (welcoming criticism and attempting to see the piece of learning through the eyes of the other); the lens of colleagues' perceptions (discussing and sharing our thoughts and perceptions with colleagues); and the lens of theoretical, philosophical, and research literature (Theory provides multiple perspectives on our one habitual perspective of 'reality' ) (Brookfield, 1998). Keeping these four lenses in mind as lifelong endeavor, can help me become more reflective and calm as well thereby enabling me to make more rational decisions and become a better leader.

Sources

Ayers, M.(2002). Leadership.Shared meaning, and semantics.etc. Cetera, 59, 287

Chaudron, D. Assessing and Improving your Organization, Organized Change Consultancy, Retrieved on 11/24/2011from: http://www.organizedchange.com/assess.htm

Kotter JP. 1996. Leading Change. Boston, MA: Harv. Bus. School

Mintzberg, H., Ahlstrand, B., & Lampel, J. (1998). Strategy Safari Simon & Schuster, NY

Quinn RE. 1996. Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Sales, A. (2006). Substance Abuse and Counseling: A Perspective The International Child and Youth Care Network,. Cyc-Online. http://www.cyc-net.org/cyc-online/cycol-0106-sales.html

Sun Tzu, (2001). The Art of War Wylie, TX: Pickard & Son, Publishers.

Wheatley, M. (2002). Silence is the Problem. Shambhala Sun. Retrieved on 5/18/2010 from http://margaretwheatley.com/articles/silenceistheproblem.html.