Traditionally in most settings, there is one leader who guides and directs a group of followers to achieve a common goal. This is usually true of most companies in today’s corporate world. The most effective teams don’t rely on the person placed at their head for success. They understand that there is a collective cohesiveness that pushes a team into another stratosphere. This idea is encompassed in the form of shared or distributed leadership. In this style of leadership the responsibilities are distributed across the team as a whole, leaders included (Northouse, 2021).

Teams are something that I have been a part of all my life. Whether it was sports when I was a kid, school, or teams at various jobs. The teams have been not only the most successful in my life but also the most enjoyable. Two of them stand out to me most and one of the most important aspects was having a leader among the team who stepped up. This goes hand in hand with what Northouse (2021) says about team members having the courage to step forward when situations need it. It felt different to have a peer repeat the things that we were hearing from our leader. It took our teams to higher levels of mutual respect and accountability.

The second point that Northouse (2021) makes that I saw firsthand was “maximizing team effectiveness”. One team in particular that I was a part of was an inbound operations team. We were timed on everything we did, but there were ways to cheat the system. Luckily the core of our team had high standards of integrity, and we were able to gain each other’s respect through that. Because of that respect, we were able to teach each other tricks that increased our efficiency. Naturally, the people who were not pulling all of their weight left or were not retained because they couldn’t keep up with the expectations. Eventually, as our core got better job opportunities the people who replaced them did not provide the team with the same benefits, trust, respect, and internal leadership. Our efficiency and effectiveness went with it.

We need to have followers who are willing to interject themselves into teams and lead from the “bottom”. This is going to continue to be more and more important because organizations are continuing to change. Corporations are more often than not adopting a flattened structure, with fewer leaders and larger teams (Northouse, 2021). To have the most success those teams will have to develop the relationships to hold each other to the standards expected of them by the organization and leaders in which they work.

Reference:

Northouse, P. G. (2021). Leadership: Theory & Practice (9 ed.). Thousand Oaks, California:  Sage Publications, Inc

As I thought about what to write about this week I kept coming back to the style of servant leadership. It is not a style that is all that common in the workplace, at least not from my experience. I haven’t ever had a leader in my workplace utilize this form of leadership. I have experienced it though, and the place where I have seen servant leadership, in an extremely pure form, is my church. It makes sense that it would be found in a religious setting because it is a form of leadership that is considered a moral form (Northouse, 2021). I have experienced this from both sides during my time in my church. I have had the privilege to utilize servant leadership as I was placed in a couple of different leadership roles, and I was also led by leaders with this approach. The most common definition of servant leadership mentions first having a “natural feeling” to serve, coupled with the aspiration for leadership (Northouse, 2021). The definition ensures that needs are met by helping individuals grow, achieve better health, wisdom, freedom, and autonomy, and become servants themselves, while also considering the impact on those at the bottom of the totem pole. (Northouse, 2021). I would like to focus on this definition as I apply it to my experience as a servant leader and someone who had servant leaders.

The best way that I can describe this is by starting in chronological order in my own experiences. That would take us before I ever became a servant leader myself, which brings us toward the end of that definition. I grew up in a broken home, and by default that put my family into a financial situation that was less than stellar. In many religions, like mine, a family with a mother and a father is central or at least a major staple. That placed me and many others in that category of being at the bottom of the totem pole. Even though this was the case the servant leaders who crossed my path did not look at me as being at the bottom. They viewed me the same as every other person and served me in the same way. One occurrence that sticks out to me most was a very inspirational lady that I knew took it upon herself to encourage me to be a strong male for my mother because we didn’t have one in the home. The words and compassion that she showed to me pushed me in a positive direction in all aspects of my life. This and other similar experiences, I can say, brought me to a place where I eventually had that “natural feeling” (Northouse, 2021) to serve as well.

As many religious people do, I eventually went on a mission trip. During this trip, I was able to serve people around me in many different ways. I was able to help people move, help people impacted by a tropical storm, and even learn how to build a French drain for another person’s yard. Under these situations, I was able to help people get into a safer situation (achieve better health) and allow them more autonomy for themselves (Northouse, 2021). Not all of these people started to follow this same type of path of service, but there were a few who I was able to continue to serve. Those who accepted continued service usually at the minimum gave service back to us. This service was most often in providing physical nourishment in snacks, food, or rides, but sometimes their service stretched to other people as well.

Later I was allowed to serve other missionaries in a leadership role. This role was more similar to what I believe would be seen in a business because we were all there for a similar purpose as you would have at a company. My whole purpose in that leadership role was to be a servant and look after the growth of each person under my sphere. I used many of the ten characteristics that were used by Spears to clarify servant leadership (Northouse, 2021). I would often listen to their needs, I could empathize with much of what they were feeling, teach methods with gentle persuasion, conceptualize through goal setting, and community creation through group activities (Northouse, 2021).

What I find interesting is that this method of leadership isn’t one that we were taught but it was something that we used and found success in. At the very least servant leadership is something that I saw bring joy out in people that I met from all walks of life. I don’t know if this type of leadership can work in all situations in life. Northouse (2021) says it might not fit with all followers and may cause people to feel micromanaged. What I found in my time serving people is that most people claim they don’t want or need help, but if you find ways to sneak it in without them realizing it is happening, it usually breaks that person’s wall down. There may be a few who you may not get through to, but I do know without a shadow of a doubt that service will leave a “positive impact on society” (Northouse, 2021).

 

Reference:

Northouse, P. G. (2021). Leadership: Theory & Practice (9 ed.). Thousand Oaks, California:  Sage Publications, Inc

Reward power is referred to when talking about a leadership style that involves giving rewards for favorable work or results (Hughes et al., 1993). I have seen this firsthand working for a company that gave bonuses depending on how you performed. On top of that, I had a manager who would give additional rewards to encourage us to get things done by a certain time. The question is, was this enough? The answer is more complicated than giving just a yes or no answer. It can be enough in some ways but not in others. This may provoke the thought of what the pros and cons are of displaying reward power in leadership.

Stay tuned, I will get to the pros and cons, but you need to understand the workings of this job. We were held to specific standards at this workplace. This was a warehouse and I was in inbound operations. Our expectations were based on speed, accuracy, and percentage of time on task. Occasionally they would change what this structure was based on but this was generally what we were judged from. We had to scan into each task so they could attach that to everything that we did. Now we can get to the pros and cons.

Let us first start with the positives that may show up with reward power. While working at this job I know that almost everyone was always trying to figure out how they could get better at their jobs. We were constantly asking the employees excelling more how they were doing it. We wanted to get faster and more accurate. Along with having a desire to grow this also helped us all to work with more efficiency than I have seen at any other place I’ve worked. On top of that, our manager would offer random incentives like a team breakfast, or taking certain employees out to eat if we got something done faster than normal. This had the same effect. There were times we would unload 4 or 5 pallets of product into our backstock within a 15 or twenty-minute time frame. On top of unloading them, we also were required to cut the tape off every single box so the people picking the product could easily open the next one without stopping to cut it open. The boxes had to be organized into various places as well. We weren’t just throwing them all in one bay, and they weren’t organized on the pallet. This had similar effects as the statistics they tracked. We would get so much done. Another pro was that it could be fun to work this way, especially for the employees who were former athletes. There were so many opportunities to compete.

There were also downsides to having these rewards put in place. When it came to the statistics some people would bend the rules or flat out cheat to get better numbers so their bonus would be better. This wasn’t extremely common but it did happen occasionally, and it was usually pretty easy to figure out because the other departments wouldn’t be able to find stuff in its proper location. People would even avoid products that tended to make your stats look bad.  Due to stats being individual, there were times when it didn’t feel like we were on a team, but that we were constantly isolated rushing around this big warehouse. When it came to the incentives from our manager it was nice to be able to get extra perks when he would give them, but it gave a lot of us the feeling that the tasks and results were more important than people. Most of us felt that our manager was unapproachable and I don’t remember anyone having a good relationship with him. Reward paired with praise can help to create a better atmosphere (Hughes et al., 1993) but our leader lacked the praise part. Hughes (1993) and the others talk about how people show a lack of commitment to things that are extra and can better the organization. This was evident in some of our top performers. They would refuse most overtime and other extras even though they were the best at the job. The lack of commitment also led to our top performers departing for other jobs.

Looking at this specific example of reward leadership does it appear we can conclude whether or not reward leadership is effective? By itself, it doesn’t appear that it is enough. Sure, it will get results out of the employees. A lot of work will ultimately get done in a short amount of time. The problem is getting people to commit is not indicated by this form of leadership. This doesn’t give people a sense of community and puts an emotional distance between followers and leaders. If some referent power is mixed in order to have employees look out for the good of the leaders and the entire team (Hughes et al., 1993).

References:

Hughes, R. L., Ginnett, R. C., & Curphy, G. J. (1993). Leadership: Enhancing the lessons of experience. Irwin. 1993. 0256102783. Ch. 5. pp. 107-131.

Motivational speakers know how to pull at our heartstrings to get us to do something that we may not be fully invested in otherwise. In doing so they tend to follow a theory known as the path-goal theory. The goals of motivational speakers and path-goal theory are essentially the same. They strive to increase the performance of a follower by doing things that can compensate for the deficiencies of the follower (Northouse, 2021). This theory is leader-centric because it leans heavily on leaders to be able to motivate followers to be productive (Northouse, 2021).

I have seen this form of leadership in my own life by a guy named Todd Durkin. He is a personal trainer for many professional athletes. A couple of the athletes he worked with during their careers are Drew Brees and Ladanian Tomlinson. Along with his training, he is a motivational speaker. He does anything from keynote speeches to podcasts to writing books. I don’t know how effective all motivational speakers are but Todd Durkin is effective. I always loved listening to him, and he made me desire to work harder. I want to discuss some of the things that make him effective at what he does. The aspects that make people want to follow his directions are his infectious energy, his knowledge of health and fitness, his humility and willingness to learn, and his catchy slogans.

If you haven’t guessed it by now Todd Durkin strives to motivate people to live a healthy life. The first thing that I ever noticed about Todd is that he has so much energy. This energy starts with his large smile that seems to engulf his entire face. Along with his face being lit up with this smile, he has infectious body language. You could mute this guy and his smile and body language would give you the desire to be a better person. He has big exciting movements. When you unmute him his voice is that of electricity. He speaks in a voice filled with gravel, and never fails to drop bombs of wisdom. The way he talks is stereotypical of an energetic coach in a sports film as they plan the game-winning play, or drive.

A close second to his energy is his knowledge, coupled with his willingness to learn. Todd Durkin has so much knowledge. He was a massage therapist before becoming a well-known personal trainer (Durkin & Yorkey, 2021). He also has a podcast called the Impact podcast. If you ever listen to a season or two of this podcast you start to see that Todd has what seems to be an unlimited number of mentors who have taught him things throughout the years. With all of this knowledge, he is always striving to learn, which is evident when listening to him on his podcast.

The last I want to mention that increases his effectiveness in motivating his followers is his catchy slogans. He has quite a few of them but the two that I will, possibly, never forget are, “Get your mind right” and “Live a life worth telling a story about” (Durkin & Yorkey, 2021). The reason slogans make him effective is that they are extremely catchy and anytime I would doubt myself they would pop into my head and increase my motivation. He utilizes them a perfect amount too. He says them frequently enough that they will stick in your head, but not too much for them to become annoying.

Through these methods that I have discussed Todd checks off each of the basics of path-goal theory. Through his knowledge he helps to define your health and fitness goals, through his books and podcast he clarifies the path and helps remove obstacles, and lastly he provides support through his infectious excitement and unforgettable slogans (Northouse, 2021).

Reference:

Durkin, T., & Yorkey, M. (2021). Get your mind right: 10 keys to unlock your potential and ignite your success. BakerBooks.

Northouse, P. G. (2021). Leadership: Theory & Practice (9 ed.). Thousaund Oaks, California:  Sage Publications, Inc

The trait approach to leadership theory at its most basic explanation is that leaders have natural traits that make them great leaders (Northouse, 2021). I am not positive that I fully agree with this theory but two of my favorite leaders from previous jobs had much different strengths but were both top-notch leaders. The company that I worked for rotated leaders from team to team so they could understand all areas of the company.

The first of these two leaders was a self-confident guy who knew who he was. He was great at figuring out what the team needed and acting. He was also always willing to take the fall for any of the decisions he made. He was the guy who was at the gym religiously and had the appearance of a bodybuilder. Not only did his personality make him stand out but his size did as well. The second of these leaders was very much an introvert. He may have been confident in his abilities, but he didn’t exude confidence. His strengths were that he was extremely smart, analytic, and one of the most honest people I have known. He was always bringing in food for us to try. He liked to use his smoker on many meats. My most memorable were his smoked chicken and variety of jerky.

At first glance, this appears to strengthen the ideas of the trait approach. This is because some of the traits that are believed to create great leadership are drive, desire, honesty/integrity, self-confidence, cognitive ability, and knowledge of the business (PSU, 2024). When peeling back the onion of these two leaders it begins to make one question if traits are something that you just have, or if you can learn them as well. This is because they both had very different backgrounds.

In today’s world education is very important to many companies one of these two men had a deeper education than the other. The first of the two men had a natural ability to lead. When he was 18 years old, he was working for a company that did logistics, but he saw all sorts of issues in it. He was able to present them with a proposal for process improvement. They liked it and promoted him to implement it. He rose to the top very quickly and got to the point where he was making a completely passive income and didn’t have to go to work anymore. The second of these leaders had a formal education in business and management. He also had an extremely deep knowledge of Microsoft Office, especially Microsoft Excel. His formal education provided him with the ability to analyze and troubleshoot for us to be successful.

It is possible to be a great leader because you were born with the traits to do so. It appears that it is not the only way to leadership success. If my second leader can learn the proper skills to sidestep some inadequacies, like being an introvert, then it is possible that others can learn how to lead in their way. Let’s just hope that the traits associated with the dark side of personality are avoided.

 

References:

Northouse, P. G. (2022). Introduction. In Leadership: Theory and practice (9th ed.). essay, SAGE.

The Pennsylvania State University (2024). Lesson 2: Trait Approach. Canvas. https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2315634/modules/items/40302360