Over the last few weeks of course work, we have seen many types of leadership styles and have debate their strengths and weaknesses, along with their effects on the people they influence. While reading the text and the lessons provided, I have been reflecting on all of them and relating them to my experiences as the follower…the good, the bad, and the ugly! What I wasn’t taking into consideration, though, is the fact that I too am a leader. I have been so focused on recognizing the leadership in others and failed to realize that I also exhibit leadership in my work as well.
In running the day to day operations of our learning center, I manage at least 40 student tutors every semester. Though not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, I think the thing that my supervisor sees in me and appreciates is my ability to adapt my certain leadership styles to the many individuals that I supervise. I feel, and I’ve been told, that I possess certain traits that reflect a positive approach to leadership. Based on the Five Factor Model in Lesson 2 (Goldberg, 1990) these are conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extroversion. To me, agreeableness is probably most important in working with students in an academic environment. (Barrick, 1999 as cited in WC PSYCH 485, L2, p. 4). I have to understand the population that I am working with and be empathetic to their needs and their circumstances of being a student. Most of my employees are young, deal with the stresses of a full course load and financial constraints, and are academic aggressive. They also take their job seriously because they wouldn’t be tutoring if they didn’t have the need to help others. Taking all of these issues into consideration, I have to walk a balance of holding them accountable for their job responsibilities but be cognizant of the fact that there may be times that they need time off for a school related event or other academic responsibilities.
This balance also lends me to being a skills based leader as well. The Three-Skill approach encompasses technical skills, human skills, and conceptual skills. (Northouse, 2016) While I don’t profess to be able to tutor math (at all!), I do know what to look for in a math tutor. Rather, my skills would be of the human and conceptual nature. I am very adept at working with people and like to collaborate with others, and since I don’t have the math background I frequently talk to my tutors about their needs and what they perceive are the needs of the students they work with. This type of communication allows us to look forward conceptually and make the changes needed to make our center better for everyone. (Northouse, 2016)
As we’ve learned, no one approach is the best one. It is the combination of these styles that enhances your attributes and allows us to accomplish goals. Being able to self-assess is an important part of leadership. It is through this self-assessment that growth occurs, changes are made, and relationships are built. It is provides a more holistic view of everything that is important within an organization: the leader, the follower, and the situation.
Goldberg, L. R. (1990) An alternative “description of personality”: The big-five factor structure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 1216-1229.
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
WebAccess. (n.d.). Retrieved June 01, 2016, from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/su16/psych485/001/content/02_lesson/04_page.html
Paul Anderson says
When I read that you have the ability to adapt your leadership style, I immediately thought of the Situational Leadership approach. It appears that Mandee had a similar reaction. In your post, you touched on the Trait and Skills approach; both of which focus on the leader (You). Additionally, you also examined some of the characteristics and needs of your followers (e.g., being young, dealing with work/life/school balance, taking their jobs seriously). Recall that leadership is composed of a leader, follower(s), and the situation (Penn State University World Campus [PSU WC], 2016a, L. 1). Therefore, to holistically examine your leadership abilities, I would also suggest that we look into the situation as well.
The Situational Approach recognizes that different situations need different leadership styles. This approach is comprised of two sets of leadership behaviors: directive and supportive. Directive behaviors involve telling your tutors what you expect of them (e.g., tutoring objectives, performance standards, timelines), while supportive behaviors involve listening to their needs (which you have), showing empathy, and being encouraging (PSU WC, 2016b, L. 5).
Research into the theory did not find support for either directive or supportive behaviors relating to leadership success; however, there was evidence that leadership performance could be predicted if the leader took the situation into account (PSU WC, 2016b, L. 5). Before we examine the situation, let us also touch on the developmental levels of your followers.
Your tutors can be grouped into these high-level development levels (derived from PSU WC, 2016b, L. 5):
• Tutors who are able and willing to the job. We will call this group (Development Level 4).
• Tutors who are able, but unwilling to do the job (Development Level 3).
• Tutors who are unable and unwilling to do the job (Development Level 2).
• Tutors who are unable, but willing to do the job (Development Level 1).
The situational approach advocates that you treat these groups differently. For example, you can delegate tasks to development level 4 tutors; they have the ability and willingness to the do the job. Get out of their way and intervene minimally. Development level 3 tutors will need your support; you can find out how you can help them by soliciting their input and finding out about their roadblocks. Development level 2 tutors are going to need coaching; you will have to keep them focused on the end goal and be cognizant of their needs. Finally, development level 1 tutors need directing; offer less support but keep them focused on the goal (PSU WC, 2016b, L. 5).
Please note that the situational approach I outlined takes the situation into account. This third dimension might give you the ability to further fine tune your leadership style.
What do you think of this approach? Does it seem practical to you? I would especially be curious to see what you think of the development level 2 tutors. By definition they are both unable and unwilling to do the job. It seems that you have to enjoy coaching and have the patience to be effective with these tutors.
As a final note, please remember that the situation determines the tutor’s development level. For example, I might be a good math tutor, but lack the ability to teach geography. If I was willing to teach both subjects, I would be a development level 1 for geography and development level 4 for math. As a result, I would need more direction from you in teaching geography, and need little to no direction/support in teaching math. As my ability in geography changes, so does my level. It’s dynamic; not fixed. Does that make sense?
References
Pennsylvania State University World Campus. (2016a). PSYCH 485 Lesson 1: Introduction to leadership. Retrieved June 4, 2016 from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/su16/psych485/001/content/01_lesson/01_page.html.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus. (2016b). PSYCH 485 Lesson 5: Style and situational approaches. Retrieved June 4, 2016 from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/su16/psych485/001/content/05_lesson/01_page.html.
hwh10 says
I feel like your post reflects a great learning experience that we all go through as we develop our personal leadership story. No matter of the position you hold we are all leaders to someone. I think that is an important perspective.
Early in Northouse (2015) the power structures of leadership are addressed. In particular the idea of Position power versus Personal power is highlighted. With the idea that positional power is granted by the role you occupy. While personal power is about the social influence you hold over others. (p. 11)
It seems you could make the case that your position grants you the power to influence the behaviors of those you are leading. If you weren’t in this role would these students be as willing to follow your lead. While there is certainly some aspect of personal power involved in rallying your students it is clear to me that you are exercising positional power.
I think it is a great lesson for us all to consider how we interact with others and those roles we hold that puts in a leadership role. Great work on not only recognizing your positional power but also reflecting on it here.
Northouse, Peter G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA. Sage Publications, Inc.
Mandee says
It is important to be able to adapt ones leadership style according to those skills and abilities displayed by other individuals with which you are working. A great leader must be able to bring their followers together to reach a common goal (Northouse, 2016, p.6) through a process of applying skills and behaviors to create a solid group relationship for any given situation. Understanding your strengths and being able to compliment them with the strengths of those around you can help you to create and maintain a cohesive and complimentary working environment.
Recently, I found myself needing to adapt my leadership style to accommodate the skills of another individual. Similar to you, I tend to excel in human skills, commonly referred to as “people skills” (Northouse, 2016, p.45), whereas this other individual excelled in the technical skills, which is defined by Northouse (2016) as having “knowledge about and proficiency in a specific type of work or activity” (p. 44). We were able to complement each other’s abilities to make the other individuals in our group feel comfortable with the direction we were headed to achieve our goal.
You state that “no one approach is the best one” but that it takes a combination of styles that allow us to best accomplish our goals. You mention specifically the Five Factor Model of Personality in Trait Leadership, and the Three-Skill approach in Skills Leadership. Yet you elude to your ability to adapt your leadership skills based on the situation which would indicate Situational Leadership. Do you feel that one of these plays a more important role in leadership than the others?
Northouse, P. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA. Sage Publications, Inc.