Leadership

PSYCH 485 blog

The Marine Corps, Leadership Traits, And The Basics

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I’ve been in the Marines for over 10 years now and I thought it’d be a good idea to relate this week’s lesson to my experiences in the Marine Corps. What really stood out to me in our readings was that Peter Northouse described leadership as a process and isn’t a “linear, one-way event, but rather an interactive event. When leadership is defined in this manner, it becomes available to everyone” (Northouse, 2016). Ultimately, this means that leadership can be learned by an individual. The Marine Corps seeks to instill leadership in each and every single Marine as they progress through Recruit Training or Officer Candidate School. The Marine Corps has identified 14 leadership traits that are viewed by Marines as qualities of thought and action which, if demonstrated in daily activities, help us earn the respect, confidence, and loyal cooperation of other Marines. It is extremely important for each Marine to understand the meaning of each leadership trait and how to develop it so that they may know what goals to set as they work to become a good leader and a good follower. The acronym we use to memorize these 14 leadership traits is JJDIDTIEBUCKLE.

Justice
Judgement
Dependability
Initiative
Decisiveness
Tact
Integrity
Enthusiasm
Bearing
Unselfishness
Courage
Knowledge
Loyalty
Endurance

These concepts are more than just words to Marines, they must mean something to every leader in order that they be truly be understood and carried in one’s heart and mind throughout life. I feel that Julia Dye does a great job summarizing the leadership traits in her book “BACKBONE”. She writes: “If there is one constant about the fourteen leadership traits recognized by the Marine Corps, it is that not one of them stands alone or above all the others. They are intertwined and interdependent, like the parts of a fine watch or the gears in a complex machine. Absent one trait, all the others are affected: the watch loses time, the machine malfunctions. Without unselfishness, it may be difficult to be dependable. Without knowledge, it’s fought to make solid judgement calls” (Dye, 2011). Marine Corps leadership traits are relevant in both the Marine Corps and civilian society. The terms troops, Marines, and employees can be used interchangeably. After all, an organization is only as good as its people. And if I’ve learned anything about our first week in class it’s that leadership is about people and building relationships.

REFERENCES

Dye, Julia. Backbone : History, Traditions and Leadership Lessons of Marine Corps NCOs.  Botley, Oxford, UK ; Long Island City, NY, USA :Osprey Pub., 2011. Print.

Leadership Hunger Pains

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The current presidential campaign has been rather challenging for me to watch. I want to stress that I’m not looking at this from a Democratic or Republican point of view, but rather a leadership point of view.  I cannot be the only person in the United States that thinks this thought: this the best that we can do? I mean, we are a nation of roughly 320 million people and we do not seem to have the leaders that we once did.  Putting this into perspective, when the Founding Fathers created the United States there were about three million people in the population, yet six world-class leaders were among the authors including Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, Adams, and Franklin (Bennis, 2009, p. 12).  So where did these once great leaders go?   I am starving for good leadership and it is in this hunger that I have realized how important a good leader is and how hard it is for leaders to be developed.

Over the past number of years we have been continuously disappointed by our leaders. From the business world greed of Enron, Lehman Brothers, and Tyco, to religion, the Roman Catholic Church, to politics, were four of the last seven Illinois governors have gone to prison; there are many examples of our leaders disappointing us (ABC 7, 2013).  Have these leaders not taken classes in leadership?  Have they not attended a seminar on leadership ethics?  I’m confused; these leaders are normally the best of the best and the brightest of the bunch, but what is happening?  As Bennis points out our leaders are important for three reasons.  First, a leader is important because “they are responsible for the effectiveness of an organization” (Bennis, 2009, p.5).  Second, our leaders need to be “anchors and guides…inspire us and restore our hope” (Bennis, 2009, p.5).  Third, “there is a pervasive national concern about the integrity of our institutions” (Bennis, 2009, p.5).  Every single example listed above breaks these reasons.  When Rod Blagojevich was selling or trading Barak Obama’s old senate seat in 2009, I do not think he was being responsible for the effectiveness of the government, nor was he trying to be an example for others to follow, and he obviously did not care about the integrity of his institution.  Norman Lear described a potential  cause of these behaviors  as “short-term thinking: ‘It’s asking what the poll is saying, not what’s great for the country and what’s best for the future, but what do I say in the short term to get me from here to there’”(Lear as cited in Bennis, 2009, p.17).  This means that decision making for leaders has come down to when the next earning report is due, what the next Gallup poll might say, or if the voters will nominate the candidate.

By understanding the short term mindset, I think this gives at least a way to help develop leaders in today’s society. Bennis points out that “billions of dollars are spent annually by and on would-be leaders” (2009, p.36) through leadership development courses, seminars, and other offerings.  Yet, more leaders have been “made by accident, circumstance, sheer grit, or will than have been made by all the leadership courses put together” (Bennis, 2009, p. 36).  In the real world, I work as a learning development specialist and we practice what is called the 70:20:10.  In a nutshell, 70% of the time you learn through experience, 20% of the time you learn through others, and 10% of the time you learn through structured learning.  Bennis’ point is extremely valuable because he is saying that the leadership development courses represent only a fraction of the learning (the 10%), yet most people believe that once they go through these courses they are leaders.  Therefore, businesses, governments, and other organizations should look to utilize a more holistic approach through assigning a leader a mentor (20%), giving the leader courses to develop decision making, vision, and other skills (10%), and give the leader a chance to practice these skills in a normal environment (70%).  One downside is that this process could not be completed in this manner in every organization.  Furthermore, I do not believe that all organizations will be able to invest the money that it takes to develop leaders.  Which brings me back to my second point, leadership development is so difficult due to its cost; however, I would argue that organizations, businesses, and governments will pay for leadership development one way (success) or another (failure).

I hope that my leadership hunger pains will be satisfied soon, but it is looking like I will have to wait until 2020.

References:

Bennis, W. (2009). On Becoming A Leader (20th Anniversary Edition).  Philadelphia, PA: Basic Books, Inc.

ABC 7 Chicago. 4 of the Previous 7 Illinois Governors Went to Prison. Retrieved from http://abc7chicago.com/archive/8973798/

Servant Leadership: Vision and Direction by Ken Blanchard

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When you hear the term servant leadership it might sound misleading. This theory is based on findings by Bob Greenleaf and something that Ken Blanchard has studied after meeting Greenleaf in the late 1960s. His theory was that to be an effective leader one must serve those who work for them.

According to Blanchard, in servant leadership the leader role is one of vision and direction (Blanchard). As he points out in the Servant Leadership video he points out that “If your people don’t know where you are going and what you want to accomplish, then what are the chances of them ever getting it done? Zipola.” This is certainly something that rings true for many businesses. The vision and direction should be clear and the leader will take on the role of helping his/her followers to achieve the tasks need to complete the vision. The focus shifts and becomes about the leader doing what they must to grow their followers and less about what helps the leader. In the end they will each be able to serve their organizations and move things in the right direction.

Blanchard has written many books, but states that there are four parts to creating that necessary vision for the followers. They are:

1 – Know what business one is in and why they are doing what they are doing?

2 – If the job is well done then what will happen next and where are they going from here?

3 – What are the values that are going to guide the journey?

Only once these three are set will the fourth one be available, which is the all important:

4 – What are the goals to be accomplished?

Goals are the most important because this provides the followers with the tasks to be focused on allows the leader the opportunity to help them achiever these goals.

The theory of servant leadership explains my past experience as a corporate trainer. With that type of position you continually work with the representatives to provide them with the skills necessary to complete the position. Once we adjourned from the training room into the real-time environment, I would continue to work with them by coaching and monitoring their progress. This time spend helped them to develop their skills and advance their opportunities. I was always proud when one of my representatives was able to accept an advancement opportunity.

References

Blanchard, K. (2012, November 15). London Business Forum. Servant Leadership. Retrieved April 1, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTiUy8uSWtE

Blanchard, K. (1991, ). Apple Seeds. Servant Leadership. Retrieved April 1, 2016, from http://www.appleseeds.org/Blanchard_Serv-Lead.htm

 

Group Tension

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I was involved in a group discussion this morning that started off with one group member immediately attacking another group member’s ideas. Conveniently our group has a designated leader who is in charge of diffusing the tension and making sure the team treats others with respect. I was looking over the chapter about leadership ethics just recently and noted “Leaders who respect others also allow them to be themselves, with creative wants and desires,” (Northouse, 2016 PG 342.) In this particular situation the leader did not work very hard to diffuse the problem, instead she took the side of the more aggressive team member though I feel as if the ideas were being attacked were partly hers. While she validated the aggressive team member (who was not a part of the initial decision making process) she encouraged the weaker team member to “just give in” in order to move the discussion along.

I am not the leader of this group but I did take it upon myself to confront the tension since the actual leader was not going to. An article in Forbes magazine discusses conflict and how difficult it can be to manage. Author Glenn Llopis says “Conflict resolution is about seeing opportunities that others don’t see,” (Forbes, 2014.) In this case I saw a bit of tension and bullying by the one team member who was not present at the initial meeting. Since the leader was not going to address the tension I asked everyone to pause and let team members discuss how they felt about the ideas presented. My altruistic behavior encouraged conversation and eventual consensus while alleviating the tension the group was experiencing (Northouse, 2016 PG 342.)

Llopis says, “Conflict should be embraced and dealt with-not just resolve a possible problem or detect an opportunity…” (Forbes, 2014.) If the team member had gotten his way without any discussion of why there would still be underlying tensions unresolved. Northouse’s toxic triangle might be extreme but two of us team members would fall under conformers as we feel our needs are unmet by the leader who gave into the more aggressive member, while the more aggressive team member might suffer from bad values because he is used to getting what he wants with little conflict. (Northouse, 2016 PG 340.)

The issues were finally resolved within our group and while the aggressive team member said he did not mean to stir everyone up, it was perceived he came in with an agenda to change the entire project already one third finished. We reached a consensus where little ideas changed and some stayed the same. Our leader could use some work on her leadership ethics with regard to aggressive behaviors and the tension associated with them. She could have paid more attention to the reason we were together in the first place and kept everyone’s interests in mind (Northouse, 2016 PG 347.)

Works Cited:

Llopis, G. (2104, November 28). 4 Ways Leaders Effectively Manage Employee Conflict. Retrieved November 20, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2014/11/28/4-ways-leaders-effectively-manage-employee-conflict/4/

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

Rockwell Automation – Ethical Leader in our World

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Rockwell Automation, Inc. is the world’s largest company dedicated to industrial automation and information. Their mission is to make their customers more productive and the world more sustainable. Recently they were named “World’s Most Ethical Companies” by Ethisphere Institute for the seventh time. This honor is for companies that continuously improve ethical leadership and corporate behavior at every level of their organizations. (ThomasNet, 2015)

According to Northouse (2013), there are five main principles of ethical leadership. These principles include respect, service, justice, honesty and community. Rockwell Automation show these principles as they ensure long-term value to customers, employees, suppliers and investors. Timothy Erblich, Ethisphere’s chief executive officer said, “Rockwell Automation uses ethics as a means to further define its industry leadership.”

“Many researchers have found that individuals with strong value systems tend to behave more ethically.” (PSU WC, 2015) This is why Rockwell undergoes an extensive behavioral based interview process to really get to know the candidates before they become part of the team. A few studies found that unethical behavior was more likely to occur when there was no formal ethics policy governing behavior, when there was no threat of punishment for unethical behavior, or when unethical behavior actually was rewarded. (Hegarty & Sims, 1979; Malinokowski & Smith, 1985; Trevino & Youngblood, 1990) Rockwell pushes the existence of the ethical policies and their code of conduct in their organization. This helps employees realize they are not just talking the talk, they are walking the walk too.

“Ethics and integrity are deeply rooted and ingrained in our culture,” said Keith D. Nosbusch, Rockwell Automation chairman and CEO. “I’m proud of our employees who consistently do the right things, the right way, every day. They differentiate our company, giving us a competitive advantage.” (ThomasNet, 2015) The company has a whole website page based on sustainability and ethics. You can find it here: http://www.rockwellautomation.com/about-us/sustainability-ethics/overview.page . This shows the true dedication to ethics of all types, whether it be how they treat their suppliers or how they treat the environment by restricting the use of hazardous substances in their products

References:

Rockwell Automation Named One of World’s Most Ethical Companies for Seventh Time. (2015, June 30). Retrieved July 5, 2015, from http://news.thomasnet.com/companystory/rockwell-automation-named-one-of-world-s-most-ethical-companies-for-seventh-time-20046050

https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/su15/psych485/001/content/14_lesson/printlesson.html

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