Ever since I accepted a position working with the Supply Chain Organization for a Major Aerospace Company I have been faced with challenges that related to learning how to become a better leader in a position that required me to provide leadership (Both formal and informal) to fellow businessmen and women.  Up until that period of time I believe I had been rather ethnocentric in my leadership views, those views were not so much  limited to just my own ethnic background but included the ethnicity’s of those that I had past business relations with.

Once I transitioned into the new role I mentioned above and learned that I would be charged with providing support and leadership to suppliers that were located in area of the world known to have different business cultures I immediately began to research what I could to address what I thought were known deficiencies in my current leadership perspectives.  With support from other company employees that had previous experience in the global business market I was able to locate several resources that provided a great deal of what I viewed to be “insider information” of sorts.  This information which included but was not limited to the findings of the GLOBE research organization provided me with a foundation from which I could make adjustments to my leadership in preparation for my new responsibilities.

What I learned from that research oddly enough aligned with what was presented in the  Cultural leadership section of the lesson on leadership and diversity. That early research that I charged myself with completing helped me to have an understanding of what leadership attributes and business values were desired in each of the cultures that I would have to work with.  Those lessons centered around the universally desirable leadership attributes presented in table 16.2 on page 448 of Northouse’s work on the theory and practice of leadership.  That valuable information made me feel a little at ease as I found out that although I was uninformed and unexposed to the leadership styles of these other countries, I could and did in fact possess a foundation of leadership attributes I could rely on during the “early days” of my career that would allow me to be effective while building relationships and further my cross cultural knowledge.  Although I can confess that in those early days I did not do everything right  with regards to being a leader in those cultures I can comfortably say having an understanding of the basic  culturally accepted attributes  helped me to build relationships that lead to me becoming a better global leader.

Northouse, P. G. (2015). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

In her Forbes Magazine contribution  Why Leaders Must Get Real Margie Warrell said “Leadership is far less about what you are doing than who you are being. If you think about the people that have influenced you most over the course of your life, it’s likely that what impacted you was not what they did, but about who they were being while doing it”(Warrell 2013).

That quote got me thinking about how we measure ourselves as authentic leaders. Many of us in this class probably have not yet held  or are new to formal positions of leadership and have not shaped or are just beginning to shape who we are as leaders. So what can we use a the basis for measuring up to see if we are being authentic as we grow as leaders.  As Warrell mentions we can most definitely look to those and learn from those around us when it comes to being an authentic leader.  From the time we are old enough to understand the social situations in which we are involved we begin to benchmark the behavior of others  and learn who we want to emulate and learn to avoid following in the steps of those that display less than desirable behaviors.

Figure 9.1 on age 198 of Northouse’s Leadership Theory and Practice presents with several other characteristics that we can self measure to determine how authentic we are being as a leader.  Staying true to ones on values is the first step to being authentic as a leader from there we can set behaviors and begin to build relationships that through self discipline will result in goal accomplishment.

Team Leadership in Today’s Working World.

https://hwrleadership.wordpress.com/page/2/

In Today’s workplace more and more organizations are making a transition from the ways of the past. When applying for leadership positions  it is becoming more common to see them noted not as Supervisor’s as was common some odd number of years about but instead those positions are being touted as “Team Leaders.”  So what is the difference between the two? Can you be a Supervisor and a Team leader at the same time? To answer that question first we have to look at what it means to be a Team Leader, to do so I have chosen a picture that I feel best portrays what it means to be a team leader.

More often than not when you hear the word Manager or Supervisor  and then leader you probably picture something about like the photo below…

Boss leader difference climbing a mountain

and in some way or another you are probably right about at least some of your assumptions.  But if you look closer (at the right side of the picture) you will probably see several things are integral parts of team leadership.

Referencing the Hill Model of Team leadership We can see that our leader is focused not only on climbing the mountain(performance) but in bringing his team along with him(development). As indicated by Northouse excellent teams accomplish both of these objectives: getting the job done and maintaining a cohesive team”( 2016, pp. 368). In addition to being focused on team effectiveness our leader in the above situation is utilizing several task and relational “bullet points” from the Hill Model. First, it is most obvious that the leader/team is structuring the task to get the best results, by that I mean that they are seeing to it that each member of the team is brought to the same level prior to moving on to the next step in the process.  On the relational side  our team is Collaborating in their task of climbing the mountain, unlike the left side team,  the right side team has recognized that some segments of the mountain cannot be conquered  alone and they are “lifting” each other up along the way to the top.

Based on the picture above and an analysis of its ” hidden” meanings it would appear that no you cannot be a supervisor and a team leader at the same time. That being said I have to agree but with the supporting statement that, due to the truly situational nature of leadership, sometimes the call is for a supervisor while  at other times a team leader is needed.  In the case of the mountain climbing scenario above it sure would have been nice to see two team leaders.

    As companies are expanding globally it seems to be more common that some employees are very rarely in the same office as their leadership. When it comes to the world of working from a remote location where face to face relationships are few and far between, what is the impact to the application of leadership styles?  Are changes necessary when a leader is charged with leading those he doesn’t see on a regular basis? As I have moved into the aforementioned world I have found myself thinking what makes a great leader of a remote worker or more specifically what leadership theories come into play?

        After some careful thought I have come to the conclusion that the leadership theory that best fits the above scenario is the Situational approach to leadership.  The Situational Leadership II model (or SL II) “demands that leaders match their style to the competence and commitment of their followers”(Northouse, 2016, pp. 94). For a leader of remote workers I feel this best fits because they must be cautious of how the competence and commitment of their remote subordinates -who are practically left to their own means-will impact overall goal achievement.  More Specifically the leader would want to ensure that when an employee falls into the D1,D2,D3,or D4 category that they identify that development level correctly and apply the correct leadership style to ensure success.

         Additionally and somewhat related to the situational leadership theory I think the above situation also warrants application of the Path- Goal Theory of leadership. Having an “indirect” working relationship the leader of remote workers needs to understand both the follower characteristics and the task characteristics so that he or she can again accurately select what type of leadership style fits best the needs of their followers (Northouse, 2016). Some of his or her subordinates might hold high expectations and therefore would need  achievement oriented leadership, while others might be unsatisfied with the mundane nature of the job and need more supportive leadership.  The correct selection of the leadership behavior can” make or break” the success of the task or of the employee.

More often than not when one hears the term Narcissism they think of the overachieving, self-righteous person who thinks they are better at everything they everyone else.  However, there comes a point in time in every leaders career that I believe one must accept ( for at least some point in time) that must become that person that everyone generally dislikes or do they?.  According to Northouse, Narcissism can either be constructive or reactive. It probably goes with out saying but no one wants to be the reactive narcissist that everyone avoids working with it just simply is not appealing to have to deal with the power hungry, prestige craving person that is the reactive narcissist. On the other hand there exists a Narcissist that I feel everyone would not mind working with that is the Constructive, or healthy narcissists who as described by Northouse tend to be “well balanced, introspective and empathetic,” and though their actions they “inspire others not only to be better at what they do, but also to entirely change what they do. (2016. pp 305) Given that definition when is it okay to be a little narcissistic in the way you act?  My though it that to be an effective transformational leader (that is one who is energetic, enthusiastic and passionate) and drive others to accept and pursue their vision into effective organizational change one must be a little narcissistic at times.  As a leader charged with a great task such as changing the way a company produces an item or establishing new principles for how a whole company will conduct its business how can one not be constructively narcissistic if the desire to be effective is present.

Northouse, P.G. ( 2016). Leadership:Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage