Leadership

PSYCH 485 blog

Leadership in Coaching

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There are multiple ways to be a leader; from a CEO of a fortune 500 company, a parent, to a coach of a sports team.  All of these involve a leader, a follower, and a different skill set to really excel in the given situation.  I would imagine that the job description for a professional sports team coach looks very task orientated, “coach must be organized, present a clear goal, knowledge of training, and maintain high standards. Apply here,” when in fact, there are many other factors that play a role in successfully coaching a group of individuals towards a common goal.

The Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup for the 2015-16 hockey season.  What an amazing accomplishment.  This is hard to believe considering after their first 28 games of the season, they sat on a record of 15 wins, ten losses, and three ties (ESPN, 2015).  For someone with hopes of winning a national championship, this was more than a rocky start.  What was missing?  With a roster full of NHL superstars, coach Johnston must have had everything he needed.  According to Northouse (2016), “effective team leaders can diagnose correctly and choose the right action” (p.366).  This was obviously something that Johnston could not do.

According to Pittsburgh Penguins general manager, Jim Rutherford, he wanted someone who could mold the team towards the focus of the organization (ESPN, 2016), or as stated in the Hill model for Team Leadership; goal focusing, structuring for results, facilitating decisions, and maintaining standards (Northouse, 2016).  Amidst reports of an altercation between team members during practice (Peters, 2015), Rutherford decided it was time to make a coaching change.  Enter Mike Sullivan.

Northouse (2016) says that a “leader attempts to achieve team goals by analyzing the internal and external situation and then selecting and implementing the appropriate behaviors to ensure team effectiveness” (p.366). So what did Sullivan find? According to ESPN (2016), after arriving in the Steel City, the first thing Sullivan did was hold a team meeting to explain his expectations of their future performance.  He addressed the recent team conflict while assessing the commitment levels of the individual players.

Under Sullivan’s leadership, he coached the penguins to 33 wins, 16 losses, and five ties during the remainder of the regular season, and 16 wins and eight losses during the playoffs, to clinch the Stanley Cup (ESPN, 2016).  Sullivan was able to take the performance and development aspects of team effectiveness and sync them together to create a nearly perfect harmony at just the right time in the season (Northouse, 2016).

 

Associated Press. (2015, December 13). Pens fire coach Mike Johnston after sluggish start. ESPN.com. Retrieved from http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/14348519/pittsburgh-penguins-fire-head-coach-mike-johnston-sluggish-start

McDonald, J. (2016, June 14). Coach Mike Sullivan’s passion, purpose keyed Penguins’ remarkable turnaround. ESPN.com. Retrieved from http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/16175433/nhl-2016-stanley-cup-playoffs-pittsburgh-penguins-coach-mike-sullivan-keyed-team-remarkable-stanley-cup-title-run-passion-purpose

Northouse, P. (2016). Leadership theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, California. Sage Publications.

Peters, C. (2015, January 2). Penguins teammates Evgeni Malkin, Craig Adams fight in practice. CBSSports.com. Retrieved from http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/news/penguins-teammates-evgeni-malkin-craig-adams-fight-in-practice/

Seeking Leader, Apply Within

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Turnover can be one of the most difficult things to face when trying to operate a business. It can be a costly undertaking that doesn’t always give the desired outcome.  Making sure a new member of the team can successfully contribute to an organizing takes a lot of effort.  What happens when your organization is faced with the reality of having to turn over leadership?  Do you form a hiring committee?  Do you have a corporate office to handle the situation for you?  Do you disperse the job responsibilities to those currently around the organization?  To really answer this question you have to do some internal analysis of the organization.  To do this I will be using the Situational approach discussed in Northouse (2016).

The first step in hiring new leadership is evaluating the current situation of the organization and establishing its current level of need. My organization is currently going through a lower level leadership turnover.  While it is common courtesy to give an employer two weeks notice prior to vacating your position, it doesn’t leave much time to post the position, then hire and train a replacement.  With this in mind, our program director decided to take the position being vacated and restructure our organization.  She will be rearranging who reports to whom, then dividing up the job responsibilities being vacated among those willing to accept new responsibilities while being compensated for such new tasks.  By using the Situational Leadership II (SLII) model developed by Blanchard (1985), she was able to determine that our organization was composed of individuals with moderate to high competence levels with variable to high commitment levels allowing her to be able to provide a more supporting role to those who desired more responsibility and compensation (Northouse, 2016).  In some situations, this technique, or promoting up from within, can be a money saving opportunity for an organization while providing advancement opportunities to others within the organization.

If your organization decides to post the leadership position for hire, understanding that “leadership is composed of both a directive and a supportive dimension, and that each has to be applied appropriately” (Northouse, 2016, p.93) will help you in selecting a candidate for the new position. A directive leader is the person who will tell you what to do.  They will create organizational objectives, set timelines, show you how to do the job, and make sure the job gets done (Northouse, 2016).  A supportive leader is the person who will be more conversational about the desired organizational outcome.  They will ask their subordinates for input on how to best accomplish the goals of the organization while being encouraging of the process and promoting relationships among coworkers (Northouse 2016).  Your current organizational need should directly impact who you hire.

If your organization is a data-driven one, such as an accounting firm, you will most likely be leaning towards a highly directive leader. The process of accounting is one with several procedures in place.  If someone doesn’t follow a procedure properly it could cost a client a significant amount of money.  According to the SLII model discussed in Northouse (2016), the highly directive manager would fall into the coaching or directing style of leadership.  If your employees require not only high directive but also highly supportive leadership, they will need a coaching style of leader.  This individual will be open with communication and encouragement but will hold the ultimate decision for how to accomplish the organizational goals (Northouse, 2016).  The directing style is typically needed for individuals who show lower levels of competence but high levels of commitment.  This leader will typically tell you how to do something and then supervise you closely in the process (Northouse, 2016).

If your organization is more of a team environment, such as a university, you will most likely lean towards a highly supportive leader. Although the university has department heads who are ultimately responsible for the outcomes of the department, there are too many aspects of the department to oversee individually.  As a leader you have to empower your faculty and staff to achieve the organizational goals on their own with minimal oversight.  The SLII model describes two types of highly supportive behavior, coaching, as discussed above, and supporting.  Supporting behavior is one where leaders give “followers control of day-to-day decisions but remains available to facilitate problem solving” (Northouse, 2016, p.95).

Now with a thorough understanding of the needs of your organization, and the types of leaders that will be applying, you can be on your way to achieving the best result for your organization. However, keep in mind that while a leader is going to be hired based on your current needs, it is important to hire someone who is able to “recognize what followers need and then adapt their own style to meet those needs” (Northouse, 2016, p.95).

Seeking a leader. Apply within.

 

Northouse, P. (2016). Leadership theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, California. Sage Publications.

Flaws of Trait Leadership

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Trait leadership is a flawed system.

Northouse (2016) discussed the fact that there is no list of traits that are consistent in determining successful leadership qualities.  However, there are certain traits that someone can possess that predisposes them to be a great leader.  When looking at the many studies presented in the Northouse (2016) text on trait leadership, there are certain traits that are central to many of those studies; confidence, determination, and intelligence.  “Self-confidence allows the leader to feel assured that his or her attempts to influence others are appropriate and right” (Northouse, 2016, p. 24).  It seems to also go hand-in-hand that when a leader is confident, they exuded determination, which is described as someone “willing to assert themselves, are proactive, and have the capacity to persevere in the face of obstacle” (Northouse, 2016, p. 25).

These two traits, sprinkled with a few others, have elevated individuals to do tremendous things, such as become a presidential nominee, or lead an army of Nazi’s.  An important part of trait leadership to understand is “some people may have the traits that help them emerge as leaders but not the traits that allow them to maintain their leadership over time” (Northouse, 2016, p.31).  The situation has a direct influence on the leadership effectiveness.  While Hitler might have succeeded in building an army to slaughter millions of people about 75 years ago, it would be much more difficult for him to accomplish such a thing in the situation of today’s world.

There also is a lack in consistency on what traits, and how many, are needed to be a great leader.  While Zaccaro, Kemp, and Bader (2004) list eleven key traits, Lord, DeVader, and Alliger (1986) list three (Northouse, 2016).  THREE!!  My five-year-old daughter can give me more than three characteristics that she would consider key traits for a good friend to possess.  You can view this as either the 2004 study greatly exaggerated the traits needed, or the 1986 study grossly underestimated the traits needed, to be a great leader.  This lack of consistency from one study to the next doesn’t give trait leadership much of a leg to stand on when comparing it to other leadership theories and their effectiveness.

While admittedly some traits do play a key role in leadership, they don’t tell the whole story.  I personally like to lean towards transformational or situational leadership as a stronger base to measure a successful leader. As described by Northouse (2016), transformational leadership is “concerned with improving the performance of followers and developing followers to their fullest potential” (p.167), while situational leadership “requires that a person adapt his or her style to the demands of different situations” (p.93).  The key point to both of these leadership theories is that it looks at leadership from more than the leader perspective.  These theories take into account the followers and situations being worked with when determining what type of leadership to pursue.

Northouse, P. (2016). Leadership theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, California. Sage Publications.

Leadership in Group Projects

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A great leader must be able to bring a team together to reach a common goal through the process of applying skills and behaviors to create a solid group relationship for any given situation.  It seems to be a universal feeling that when you start a new course and the professor mentions there will be group work, everyone tends to get distressed.  Northouse (2016) describes a team as a group of interdependent members working towards a common goal through coordinated activities.

When it comes to team work, establishing a common goal seems to be the easiest part.  These are typically assigned by the instructor of the course, or project manager, who divides you into your designated groups or teams.  This is also the time for you to discover your team.  I have been in a variety of group projects in my schooling and professional careers ranging from committees to essays, and on a variety of different subjects. Every team member has a variety of different ways to contribute to the team, some in more productive ways than others.

Coordinating activities in an academic setting proves to consistently be the difficult part of group work.  In an academic setting, such as World Campus, you have to utilize various communication channels while dealing with individuals all over the country to guide the group towards the established goal.  My experience has nearly always been negative.  Without fail, there is at least one team member who doesn’t communicate or pull their weight, making it difficult for all other members.  I found myself always promoting a highly directive, or task, relationship with my team without overstepping the bounds of supporting their insight into the project, which Northouse (2016) classifies as falling in the realm of coaching or directing leadership styles.  Being directive, I took the lead in establishing “what is to be done, how it is to be done, and who is responsible for doing it.” (Northouse. 2016. p.94)  However, I have always considered myself a good leader in deciding “how much task and how much relationship is required in a given context or situation” (Northouse. 2015. p.109).

Recently, during a group project, I found myself needing to adapt my leadership style.  I was fortunate enough to have a team member who also proved to have strong leadership abilities in our situation.  This individual contributed a different level of skills than I.  Where I tend to excel in human skills, commonly referred to as “people skills” (Northouse, 2016, p.45), this person 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).  I was able to adjust my typically directive leadership style for group projects, to accommodate this other individual and assist in leading from a more supportive and less directive role, classified as “supporting” in the situational leadership model (Northouse, 2016, p.95).

For group work, it is important to be able to adjust ones leadership style according to those skills displayed by other individuals in your group.  A great leader must be able to bring the team together to reach their common goal through a process of applying skills and behaviors to create a solid group relationship for the given situation.  Complimenting ones abilities with those of other group members can create and maintain a cohesive and complimentary team environment.

Northouse, P. (2015). Introduction to leadership concepts and practice (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA. SAGE Publications, Inc.

Northouse, P. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA. Sage Publications, Inc.

Trait Approach to Leadership

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leaderThe trait approach to leadership concentrates on the idea that great leaders are born with the given abilities, and not a learned ability. Individuals are brought into this world with all of the characteristics needed to become a great leader.

The trait approach theory of course comes with a fair share of controversy.  Numerous studies have tried to narrow down the specific personality traits that make up a good leader giving us items such as drive, self-confidence, honesty, integrity, and tolerant.  While these might be good traits of a leader, they are not necessarily traits that all leaders exhibit.  For example, one of the most influential leaders in the world was Adolf Hitler.  While Hitler exhibited traits such as drive and self-confidence, I would say he was lacking on certain traits such as integrity and honesty.  Think of leadership traits in a comparison to your hand.  A thumb is a finger, but not all fingers are thumbs.  A great leader can have honesty and integrity, but not all leaders have honesty and integrity.

Leadership-cannot-really-be-taught.-It-can-only-be-learned-Harold-S.-GeneenThe trait theory also indicates that great leaders cannot be made, or learned.  If you are not born with specific personality traits, you are not destined to be a leader.  I think the ability to learn is a quality of a great leader.  Being able to learn from your mistakes and apply them towards future leadership situations is a fantastic characteristic to exhibit.

I associate leadership more along the lines of the situational approach theory.  According to Northouse (2016, p.93), “the situational approach stresses that leadership is composed of both a directive and a supportive dimension, and that each has to be applied appropriately in a given situation.”  This theory shows the importance of a leader being able to assess the followers situation and see what the leader feels they are able to handle at that given time.  Being able to adjust your leadership style based on the followers is the ultimate goal.

Northouse, P. (2016). Leadership theory and practice, seventh edition. Thousand Oaks, California. SAGE Publications.

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