Leadership Development Through Experience and Shared Vision

Introduction

For a business or an organization to be successful, there is a need for well-trained and effective executives and leaders. An organization without proper leadership will find it very difficult to achieve sustainable success. Leaders help in drafting and disseminating information about new visions or directions, and in providing staff with the right motivation to boost productivity in this age of intense competition. Therefore, it is necessary for companies to continuously train their leaders so as to ensure that their skills are up-to-date and that their organizations are being led in the right direction (Gitlow, 2004). Based on these observations, this paper explores the finer issues of leadership through insights drawn from an interview with an acknowledged leader who developed his leadership abilities through experience and diligence across different occupations throughout his career.

Throughout his life, the interviewee experienced various events that changed his view on leadership. His view of a leader is that of someone who drafts and communicates a vision that will motivate staff and other stakeholders to align toward the common good. He noted that the biggest influence on his leadership perspectives was the degree of assent he received from others, as well as his struggles to overcome challenges. He now views leadership as a shared process and responsibility among various stakeholders.

Key Events and Leadership Influences

When asked whether he was born a leader or made a leader, he said that he was made a leader. He claimed that before he started teaching at the university, he had never imagined he would be given the gift of leadership. He told a story of how he came from a small traditional family where no one had progressed to hold a leadership position in the community or society. He therefore believes that he was given the gift of leadership by God, but that he worked to develop the skill set that has made him the leader he is today. Indeed, according to Sanders (1967), even though leadership is a gift from God, leadership skills can and should be developed.

According to Kadalie (2006), for one to be a successful leader, there is a need for an inner motivation that drives them. Teachers normally base their job satisfaction on their ability to help students and to bring about real change in their lives. In the same way, leadership for teachers is grounded in their desire to provide better learning environments for their students.

Various studies have revealed that the majority of teachers do not agree with the view of a leader as a person who holds a superior position in an organizational structure. Instead, many teachers think of leadership as a collaborative effort among various stakeholders for the purpose of providing better learning environments for students (Dmock & McGree, 1995). Nowadays, leadership roles for teachers have expanded. Lecturers can work as master teachers, advisors, mentors, or research colleagues. They can also be members of institution-based leadership programs or support teams, and many are working individually to implement programs in various other capacities (Troen & Boles, 1992).

Several basic theories and principles have influenced him as a leader. He asserts that he adopted an informal approach somewhat similar to grounded theory — gathering data about a particular issue, drafting a plan to address it, and then testing and modifying that plan through action on the ground. He added that supplementary learning through books on specific challenges helped him formulate plans. Working for more than five years at a university challenged and shaped his perspectives on leadership considerably.

Leadership Approach and Theoretical Foundations

He recalls the excitement he felt when he joined the university. He taught there for quite some time, doing what he had always wanted to do — help students learn and grow by teaching from what he believed was a fresh new perspective. When he identified an operational challenge, he immediately set to work formulating theories on how to tackle it. However, he soon found that teaching at this particular university was not the right fit for him, since the institution's management was not open to embracing his bold new ideas. He noted that although the university had grown exponentially during his time there, it continued to suffer from the same problems he had identified early on.

Leadership is particularly about convincing others to believe in your vision. No one articulates this better than Sun Tzu in The Art of War. Sun Tzu argues that leadership is all about convincing others to share the leader's vision so that they can risk everything — without fear — to achieve it (Gitlow, 2004). For Sun Tzu, being a leader requires strategy and a unity of vision so that all actors ultimately share in both the risks and benefits of achieving their objective. The interviewee said that Sun Tzu was one of the key influences on his views on leadership, and that he believed a shared vision could help an organization attain its goals more quickly.

He further pointed out that the idea of leadership as a shared vision and responsibility was consistent with other concepts he held. For instance, he noted its alignment with the idea of personal mastery as proposed by Senge (1990) in his work on learning organization theory. Through Senge's writings, he also became familiar with concepts such as systems thinking. His studies in Neuro-semantics and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) further provided him with a better approach to understanding communication and inspiring others to share his vision.

One of the other key influences on his leadership style was the idea that the person who has the most self-discipline — who can control their own attitudes and beliefs — possesses the greatest capacity to influence others. This idea is supported by Quinn (2000), who notes that the most significant change occurs when we achieve control over ourselves. He promised himself that he would do everything in his power to become a better leader and to develop self-control within any organization in which he worked.

He found this promise both freeing and challenging. It was freeing because it removed the need to hold a formal title in order to bring about change — he no longer derived his sense of value from titles or positional authority. However, it was challenging because it meant he had to explore leadership outside the confines of formal power structures. Without positional authority, he had to find ways of achieving his goals by working with and through those who held authority. He discovered that operating independently of any formal post freed him in many ways and showed him that influence can be exerted from any position within an organization.