By Whitney Robinson
This week, I decided to share something I happened across in my normal daily life. These Dilbert cartoons, sadly, depict the internal rhetoric I honestly believe my current director believes. My director’s deliberate disconnection from her staff and subordinates are exhibited in such an aloof and measured manner that it sometimes makes it hard to take her seriously.
When I first read Northouse’s (2013) discussion on the “leadership cycle”, I was really happy to see that it was a known and celebrated thing that subordinates and leaders should work together in a leadership process. I experienced this first hand in several different environments while I served my time in the United States Marine Corps. Since I have been working in the civilian world though, I have seen both really good and really bad leaders. The best of which have always been those who have included their followers in the process, and the worst are those who put themselves on an island and lead from a perch.
My current director is unfortunately one who would read these comics and not find the humor in them. I imagine she would see such a strip and think, “yes, it truly is a lonely task to be a leader that often incites ire from the followers.” But as my group observed when watching the Ronald Reagan documentary (PBS, 2011) for our film project, the connection a leader has to his followers can be incredibly powerful. As President Reagan was able to prove, being able to speak and connect with the blue-collar workers even during a repression served as an invaluable resource. As workers who voted for Reagan began to lose their jobs shortly after he came into office, they still backed his foreign policy and financial decisions for the country. As the poles showed at the end of his presidency, and others taken since he left office (PBS, 2011), Reagan was one of the most popular presidents in United States history.
I personally am one who thinks it is ideal to connect with your team. Whether your mission is to conduct maneuvers as a fire team, or to schedule all the components of a seminar, a leader is only as strong as the union in the team. As we see with these simple cartoons, a leader can be so disconnected from their team that they do not even know there is disharmony in their group. Only when a leader views their role as part of a process instead of a hierarchy, can real progress be made.
In the end, I think it is sad how upper management can bring up middle managers into their ranks when there is not an understanding on how a team dynamic is needed. I am seeing it in my current job where the upper management is content with the status quo, and as they age their practices become antiquated. Eventually, I hope to see that younger managers begin to break rank, and new ideas of leadership become the standard and a team dynamic becomes more common.
References:
Northouse, P. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practices (6th ed.) Thousand Oaks: SAGE.
PBS (2011) American experience: The presidents: Reagan. PBS. Retrievedfrom http://video.pbs.org/video/1094119478/
I laughed out loud when i read the comic because it brought back great memories. One of the best managers I ever had read the Dilbert cartoons every morning and laughed about them. She even would hang them up on the bulletin board when something caught her eye. She was able to find the humor in management. I admired her very much. She was a great leader because she took time to be personally involved with her subordinates and also stay on task to accomplish the goals of any project we were working on. I admired the balance she was able to keep. If you did an extraordinary job she made sure to reward you in some small way. It could be a card of thanks or a small token like a gift certificate to a place she knew you liked. She was able to make people feel appreciated and that their contribution to the organization mattered.
Her leadership style was a great example of team management style that we learned about in lesson 5 (Northouse, 2013, p.81) We learned that this style focuses on both tasks and interpersonal relationships (Northouse, 2013, p. 81). This manager was able to do this and keep it well balanced. By reinforcing work accomplishments gives employees the incentive to continue to do well. I might add that she did not reward every single great thing you did but did acknowledge when she knew you went out of your way to complete a project.
I agree with you in that as a manager you should connect with your team. I think it is great positive reinforcement to have personal involvement in your team and acknowledge their hard work. The manager I mentioned above would even host department meetings at her house. It was a nice laid back atmosphere and we were able to get a lot accomplished.
Northouse, P.G., (2013) Leadership: Theory and Practice. California. SAGE Publications, Inc.
Lori