Theories Supporting My Plan
The behavior approach is a theory based on the actions of leaders within an organization. As situations alter these leaders take on different roles to identify with and continually motivate his or her followers. Roles of the behavior approach include figurehead, monitor, and entrepreneur. As a leader who plans to use the behavior approach, I will overcome current issues and challenges by selecting the correct role for the given situation.
Theorists describe the charismatic approach as the result of follower perceptions that are influenced by leader traits and behavior, situational context, and the needs of followers (Clawson, 2006). Charismatic leaders relate to his or her followers by appealing to such things as the followers’ trust in rightness of the leader’s beliefs, resemblance of the leader’s beliefs to the followers’ beliefs, and the emotional participation of the followers in the operation of the organization. Using charisma, the leader instills admiration, respect, and loyalty and emphasizes the importance of acquiring a collective sense of mission (Gumusluoğlu & Ilsev, 2009). As a leader who plans to use the charismatic approach, I will overcome current issues and challenges by believing in my vision and making correct decisions in support of my vision.
When citing Jung and Bass, Gumusluoğlu and Ilsev (2009) wrote transformational leaders are those leaders who transform followers’ personal values and self-concepts, move them to higher levels of needs and aspirations, and raise the performance expectations of their followers. Traits of the transformational leadership approach include vision, communication, and trust. Vision, communication, and trust are imperative traits for a transformational leader because followers who trust his or her leader will listen to his or her communication procedures regarding the actions to achieve his or her vision. As a leader who plans to use the transformational approach, I will handle current issues and challenges by believing in my vision and empowering my employees.
My Leadership Strengths and Weaknesses
My leadership strengths are a product of my background. My strengths include reasoning skills, compromising skills, strategic development, and acting assertive. I will capitalize upon these skills by understanding when to use them and how they relate to my chosen leadership approaches. Rath and Conchie (2010) wrote everyone has natural talents, but phenomenal leaders are highly aware of theirs. By realizing and understanding my natural talents I can determine what leadership role to use for the present situation.
As with my leadership strengths my leadership weaknesses are also a product of my background. The Pearson Prentice Hall, What’s My Leadership Style? self-assessment indicates that my preferred leadership style is Autocratic. Negatives associated with the autocratic leadership style are too controlling and unable to delegate at times, and because I believe my weaknesses are not empowering employees, delegation of work, and showing trust in others I must concur with the self-assesment. When I empower employees I am nervous that he or she might not fully understand the situation and make a wrong decision. Given that I am lacking the trust to empower my employees I am also nervous when I delegate work to him or her. These weaknesses are crucial to overcome if I want to be an effective well-rounded leader. However, Rath and Conchie (2010) believed the concept of well-roundedness sounds desirable from a developmental perspective; but when people try to fix their weaknesses, they spend inordinate time trying to become marginally better in an area that will never be strong for them. I disagree with Rath and Conchie. I believe some leadership traits are inherent whereas other traits develop with time. I will continue to work on developing my weaknesses in pursuit of becoming a better rounded leader.
Gaps Within My Leadership Qualities
Currently I lead by example within the power and influence approach of leadership. Barnes (2002) wrote leaders must be able to use both direct power and influence skills and to know when each is appropriate. As a leader I can use these skills but, I do not always use them when they are appropriate. The most important gaps within my leadership qualities are trust and empowerment. Tan and Lim (2009) wrote people define trust in coworkers as the willingness of a person to be vulnerable to the actions of fellow coworkers whose behavior and actions that person cannot control. Vulnerability as a result of the actions of my coworkers presents a genuine challenge moving forward because I must learn to empower them. If I do not learn to empower my coworkers I will not be able to build trust within them.
Actions I Need To Take
First, I must understand and recognize what types of leadership approaches work well in a given situation. I limited my list of leadership approaches to three because most leaders can only use two particular styles at once. Howard (2005) wrote most senior leaders resort to the use of one or two leadership styles for situations dealing with people, tasks, and environments. To accomplish this task I will continue to study the behavior, charismatic, and transformational leadership approaches by reading different types of literature, studying and analyzing different leaders, and practicing different approaches when possible.
Second, I will empower my employees by making them intrapreneurs when possible. Intrapreneurs are employees who work within a business in an entrepreneurial capacity, creating innovative new products and processes for the organization (Intrapreneurship, n.d.). By establishing intrapreneurs in my organization I will be empowering my employees with the hope of his or her success and the success of the organization. In my current organization the need for intrapreneurs is in our sales team. If an employee generates an idea to create and advance his or her new business ideas I can offer the use of the company’s resources such as our name, reputation, and financial assistance to help them succeed. As I show support I am not only empowering the employee but also establishing trust in him or her.
Finally, I will trust my employees because trust is the basis for employee motivation and effective communication, which translates into increased productivity. Since the mid-1990s, the construct of trust has been posited as being the basis of quality interpersonal relationships and a source of competitive advantage for organizations (Tan & Lim, 2009). Trusting my employees is essential to empower them and clearly understand the situations on hand so that I may choose the correct leadership approach. I will begin to build trust with my employees by empowering them, being consistent, being fair, and being credible.
Development Plan Timeline and Use
Impact of Reflective Leadership Plan
By following the tasks and timelines in my leadership developmental plan I will have a profound impact on my leadership traits, my followers, and my organization. The Reflective Leadership Plan will assist me in expanding my leadership skills and roles, which intern will empower my followers. Leadership development means expanding the collective capacity of organizational members to engage effectively in leadership roles and processes (Day, 2000). By engaging my organizational members effectively through empowerment I will increase production and moral within my organization.
Assessment and Modification of Reflective Leadership Plan
When speaking about leader development Day (2000) believed overarching development strategy is to build the intrapersonal competence needed to form an accurate model of oneself, to engage in healthy attitude and identity development, and to use that self-model to perform effectively in any number of organizational roles. By using this Reflective Leadership Plan to form an accurate model of myself and following through with the implemented steps and procedures I can accurately assess my progress or regression. To assess my progress or regression I first have to assess myself and my effect on my organization and followers. If I believe I have made a positive impact, created a less stressful culture, and enhanced my connection with my employees my leadership plan is working. Second, I need to assess employee morale. I can assess employee moral by studying the culture of the organization, sick days taken, and gross profits for the past year. If the culture of the organization seems good, sick days are down, and profits are up I can conclude that the development plan is working. However, if stress is still rampant, I have yet to show trust in my employees, sick days are up, and profits are down modification of the tasks within my leadership plan are necessary.
Conclusion
As I progress through my Reflective Leadership Plan challenges and rewards are probable. I will stay focused, committed, and enthusiastic as I strive to become a well-rounded leader. I will base most of my assessments off company culture, employee morale, gross profits, and my interactions with my followers. Lee (n.d) believed understanding leadership is not complete without understanding interactions between a leader and his or her followers. I believe the characteristics and actions of leader’s followers define him or her and ultimately will define myself as a leader.
References
Barnes, K. (2002). Influence and Power. Executive Excellence, 19(9), 9.
Clawson, J. G. (2006). Level three leadership: Getting below the surface. (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Day, D. V. (2000). LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT: A REVIEW IN CONTEXT. Leadership Quarterly, 11(4), 581.
Gumusluoğlu, L., & Ilsev, A. (2009). Transformational Leadership and Organizational Innovation: The Roles of Internal and External Support for Innovation. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 26(3), 264-277. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5885.2009.00657.x
Howard, W. C. (2005). LEADERSHIP: FOUR STYLES. Education, 126(2), 384.
Intrapreneurship. (n.d). Encyclopedia of Small Business, 1632-633.
Lee W., L. e. (n.d). Leadership. Encyclopedia of Business and Finance, 2456-459.
Rath, T., & Conchie, B. (2010). Leadership Strengths. Leadership Excellence, 27(1), 9.
Tan, H., & Lim, A. H. (2009). Trust in Coworkers and Trust in Organizations. Journal of Psychology, 143(1), 45.
What else is there to say but goodnight and goodnight to you Mrs. Amore, wherever you may be.
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