The company I work for has eliminated middle management, no department managers. I was hired on a relatively newly revised position, that no one understands or has knowledge of. Some people thought I was a puller, some thought I was a complaint specialist and some thought I coordinated between vendors and the store. This unfortunately resulted in internal task problem. Northouse (2016) describes this problem when the structure of the team is not appropriate and the roles and responsibilities are unclear. Being a new employee, I was trained by someone that was filling the position for just a few months until they could hire someone. This was very basic training, but after learning the ropes of how the store functions, I made some changes in my position for efficiency and productivity purposes. However, it created an internal relationship problem, of a fellow coworker. She was the one in lead due to her tenure and was allowed to do pretty much what she wanted. Due to her autocratic behavior, this created a conflict between us last week. She attacked me for 2 hours, I let her blow off the steam and then I put her in her place. She has no idea why I was hired. Then I took her complaints to HR, they were very inappropriate especially for a company that hires disabled people. I have been monitoring how the processes work at the store, notating the strengths and weaknesses. I took initiative and when out to train just two people on what I do for the store and show them processes that they have not mastered yet and they showed me things that I have not mastered yet. I think this was an incredible opportunity for any new associate. Just this simple interaction, means that shared leadership can work for this company as the company takes on changes. Northouse (2016) details that shared team leadership occurs when members of the team take on leadership behaviors to influence the team. While I was training this associate and he was helping me, another associate stepped in and offered to teach us both something we did not know. She stepped forward when the opportunity arose and then stepped back to let us to take the lead. This is a perfect example of shared leadership, “Team members step forward when the situation arises, to provide the leadership when necessary, and then step back to allow others to lead” (Nothouse. 2016. P365). After that day, I have built a relationship with this department and it is invigorating. We all felt accomplished that day, the results are amazing; we got seven pages of installs down to one page. This helps make the store more productive and efficient. Teams with shared leadership ability have less conflict, more consensus, more trust and cohesion (Northouse. 2016. P365). I love being part of a team it is definitely more helpful when everyone feels included and this situation of shared team leadership magnifies the abilities it can have.
Northouse, P. G. (2012). Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practice (2nd ed.). (pp. 363-390). Los Angeles: Sage Publications.