The Key to Effective Leadership Insights Gained I have ascertained that utilizing mental models, I can understand why and how different people on the same team process similar occurrences in a different manner. A mental model is "a set of ideas and assumptions that you carry in your head" (Bolman, & Deal, 2013, p. 10). These mental models that we rely on as an interpretation, influence our understanding of world and organizational events, because they reflect our current mind-sets. For example, a mental model that is prevalent in the army, is that your appearance reflects your potential. This may cause others to judge soldiers initially, by their appearance. If they are overweight, or their appearance looks disheveled, they are often initially seen as being undisciplined. Changing our mental models can directly change our understanding of events, because we can perceive things differently, and also then identify other root causes, or resolutions. In my example, if one realizes that a newly assigned soldier may not be completely situated in a home and community as yet, that perhaps they do not have access to the resources that they may need, to present the best appearance, such as a good barber. A leader could recognize this as a need to provide more community familiarization, or access to resources. By exploring mental, models Senge (2006) recognizes that one can create a reflection in the work environment and, by doing so, encourage a more open discussion, and expose the
A State Representative, Randy Richards, organized a press conference coveting to sway a proposal for a bill to a avert state agencies and other health care providers from offering prenatal care to undocumented immigrants and billing the cost to Medicaid (Sharp, 2011, p. 72). In the press conference, he accuses undocumented immigrants from coming to the United States to take advantage of the Medicaid system by taking services away from the American Citizens who pay into the system with their taxes. When the floor was opened to the press to ask question or to elaborate on the proposal for the bill his answer were very vague or he eluded the question by saying, “…That is not the point…” (Sharp, 2011, p. 72). The Executive Director of the Health Care Authority, Mike Foley, decides to hold a press conference later that day to clear the air with factual information and providing laws stating, health care cannot be denied to anyone in search of preventative or medical attention. He articulates prenatal care for illegal women cost less than a $1000.00 and when the child is born, they become a natural American Citizen and how they deny service to an American. If these preventative services were denied during the pregnancy and the child is born with a serious medical condition it will cost the state over $130,000.00 (Sharp, 2011, p. 73) to treat the child for the rest of their life. Randy Richards, the representative, became infuriated and took great offense that Mike Foley, the
According to the textbook, Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice, there are over 100 definitions of the word “leadership”, and all of them are unique in their own way (Northouse, 2015, p.1). There are so many different aspects to leadership that is it nearly impossible to have one definition that covers every area. Each and every person that is a considered a leader has his or her own way of leading because every situation, whether it be work, a team, at home, etc., calls for different and distinctive ways of leading people. Northouse states that there are six main aspects of leadership; it’s a trait, ability, skill, behavior, relationship, and an influential process (Northouse, p. 3-6). Giving a clear answer as to what leadership is defined as is very difficult, but this paper will talk about my specific leadership skills and what leadership means to me.
What is leadership? A leader is one who influences others to attain goals. The greater the number of followers correlates to the greater the influence. Additionally, the more successful the attainment of worthy goals, the more evident is the leadership. However, one must explore beyond this bare definition to capture the excitement and intrigue that devoted followers and students of leadership feel when they see a great leader in action. Therefore, employees should seek to understand what organizational leaders really do and to learn what it really takes to become a truly outstanding leader.
I find the statement “The effective leader today must be a director and motivator, implementer and innovator, mentor and team builder, expert and moral force, organizer and developer of people” (2015, p.61), to be both accurate and realistic. One reason I believe this to be the case is because of the number of individuals who have been able to facilitate these roles on their way to being considered successful leaders. One example being Vince Lambardi. While the story told of him in textbooks by Willie Davis primarily spoke of his motivating skills, he is a renowned leader (2015, p.30).
Northouse 's, Leadership: Theory and Practice, provides several major theories and models of leadership within the text. It presents in-depth theories of leadership and how it applies to real life situations. Northouse believed that the four essential components of leadership that he identified as leadership is a process, involves influence, occurs in groups, and involves common goals. Thus, he defines leadership as a process that occurs in groups which involve influence, and common goals. The book is easy to read and is a good reference to continue to consult throughout one 's leadership vocation.
Leadership is something that we are all born with because we are all born. Therefore, who is a leader and who is not depends on who really wants to be a leader and who does not. Leadership is a skill and so it can be learned. As anything that is learned it demands practice and practice to be the best. It would not be something that will happen in a matter of a day. There are multiple elements that make a leader. Collaboration is a key element for successful teamwork. Therefore, a leader must always be in the look for ways to foster collaboration. Creating trust within the team, support face-to-face collaboration, transfer responsibilities when making decisions, and ultimately teach other how to be leaders. All of this is not done if it is not done from the bottom of your own heart.
Having a knowledge and effective leader in an organization is highly important because the way the leader leads will determine the outcome of the business. The person I believe who is successful at leading and implementing change will be my current supervisor Mr. William Kizer. Although Mr. Kizer is relatively young, he has the education and experience that aids him in his leadership qualities. William encourages and support his team, he gives feedback and also listens to suggestions and implements suggestions made from the group unlike other leaders who only implements their suggestions. Our unit finds placement for children that having difficulties being placed in foster care or a group home. Since the nature of the job can be so stressful, Mr. Kizer, makes sure that there is a balance between family time and work time. He is also capable of filling in for any staff member when they are out. That in itself is a good attribute of a leader. I have worked in departments before where my past supervisors did not know how to complete my job. In addition, Mr. Kizer takes his team out on a retreat quarterly so that we can be revived. He possess the qualities of a good listener, he is responsible and has effective communication. Those three qualities helps him guiding his team to success. According Kotter (2005), Great leaders get others to move in a direction that is sensible for themselves,
Addresses more than a title to have followers by his/her ability to influence people within the organization or team.
The purpose of this paper is to explore my leadership profile. Eight questionnaires and reflection and action worksheets were completed in Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice by Northouse (2012a) to understand my current leadership qualities. A summary of my leadership style, questionnaire results, and a self-reflection on the identified leadership qualities and developments is provided below.
Effective followership is an essential component of effective leadership in that, without good followers, the leader’s work is difficult and cumbersome. The role of the follower is many times understated. As illustrated by Kelley (1998), “effective followers are thinkers; energetic and assertive, self-starters, independent problem solvers, and carry out their tasks with these characteristics (p. 143). Effective followers also are characterized by their ability to perform tasks with little supervision, their intelligence, and ability to think for themselves. We are all followers, even those who consider themselves leaders; so to encourage this effectiveness in others; we must be role models for those under us, so that they may also be effective at following. Chaleff (2009) observed that “all important social accomplishments require complex
The first building block of successful leadership is self-awareness. Self-awareness in terms of our capacity to lead others; our strengths and weaknesses in all areas. More importantly, becoming aware of our shortcomings can inspire us to work on these areas in order to not only benefit ourselves, but those around us. As a leader, the improvements we make in our lives have a direct effect on our followers and their success as well. Without being aware of and understanding our own limitations, it will be difficult for us to become better leaders and inspire others to fall in our footsteps. Through various leadership surveys I have become aware of some of my own strengths and weaknesses, and a strategic improvement plan will enable me to
Patrick Sweeney (2010) says there are three important things leaders must do to develop leaders around them: know their people, replace fear with confidence, and create a culture of collaboration. Great leaders have the capacity to express their vision in a compelling and meaningful way in order to get people to embrace that vision and transform it into a reality. Leaders need to understand themselves, their people, and have the ability to motivate and engage them. Most importantly great leaders do not create followers, they create future leaders.
Effective leaders are self-actualized individual’s, aware of their own personal strengths and weaknesses, with the skills necessary to encourage the best performance out in their others members. Their ability to identify the strengths within their team, while encouraging a cohesive, creative and encouraging work environment.
Most historians rank George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt as America’s finest leaders. Agreement on their quality is so strong, in fact, that in the 1920s, their likenesses were immortalized on Mount Rushmore, which has since become an iconic symbol of great leadership.
As community members, we have a concern that involves the upstanding of your FFA chapter as well as the National Organization. As we all know by now, you have a pregnant officer on your officer team. Frankly, as grandparents, parents, and community members, we do not consider the officer in question fit for the position. According to the Ava FFA Chapter Constitution and Bylaws, as well as the 2017-2018 Officer Contract that the officer in question was asked to sign, we can prove that she is not fit for the leadership position as an Ava FFA Chapter Officer. We are requesting that she be removed from her office position immediately. In the Ava FFA Chapter Constitution and Bylaws, it states in Article III, Section C,