As everyone in this class is well aware, sometimes being an adult means putting on a face and dealing with things you would rather not do. In my own life, I find myself not wanting to ‘adult’ quite often, but I do it anyways. A part of ‘adulting’ for me means respecting alternate perspectives and solving problems for people who could have easily done it on their own. We call this customer service. I am perpetually shocked by the odd persons’ grumpy comment when I cheerfully ask them how they are and inquire how I can help them. It usually centers around them either thinking I am ‘fake’, or verbally assaulting me over an issue that they haven’t even begun to describe. In this situation, as with many, remaining calm and professional is imperative. Sometimes I can de-escalate them, and other times I cannot. When I can’t these grumpy calls go to my supervisor.
Now, other than the legitimate power that my supervisor holds simply due to his position, he is also a very authentic person. Whenever I have these calls he asks that I sit on the line as well, so I can hear exactly how he deals with the problem at hand, which really speaks to the idea of being interpersonal. Being interpersonal means that the leader has built a strong and honest relationship with their team or their followers (Eagly, 2005). Being that I am in the process of interviewing for the same position as him I feel that he is a great role-model.
While reading through this lesson and taking notes for this post, I began to see parallels in what the text was saying, and how I want to present myself as a leader. In a study done on authentic leaders in human resource management by Gill, C., Gardner, W., Claeys, J., & Vangronsvelt, K. (2018), it is stated that these types of leaders, “are capable of integrating self and context, they are able and willing to synthesize different perspectives”. I don’t know if I am too bias in my opinion, but it sounds like the perfect leader for customer service. Maybe a hybrid between servant and authentic would be the very best, but authentic leadership seems very applicable.
When it came to the different dimensions, George (2003) said, “purpose with passion, values with behavior, relationships with connectedness, self-discipline with consistency, and [listening] with compassion” are all necessary components of authentic leadership. I could not have written a better example myself of who I hope to be as a leader. I do not think that these are all prerequisites to my obtaining this promotion, but regardless of the outcome I now have a good idea of where to focus my attention to become the best leader I can.
Gill, C., Gardner, W., Claeys, J., & Vangronsvelt, K. (2018). Using theory on authentic leadership to build a strong human resource management system. Human Resource Management Review. doi:10.1016/j.hrmr.2018.02.006
Eagly, A.H. (2005). Achieving relational authenticity in leadership: Does gender matter? Leadership Quarterly, 16, 459-474.
George, B. (2003). Authentic leadership: Rediscovering the secrets to creating lasting value. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.