After
completing the exercise at the beginning of chapter 10, the table scores reveal
that I need to continue working on my leadership style and skills. My scores
for the strategy questions are: S1 (Tell) – 4, S2 (Sell) – 3, S3 (Involve) – 9,
S4 (Devolve) – 0. Ideally, the scores should be 4 on each column for a total of
16 questions answered. The score of 4 on each column would mean that the leader
is a well-rounded aware leader, knowledgeable and skilled in all of the areas
of leadership. When I was promoted to shift leader, I quickly began to realize
that my skills for ‘selling’ were weak as I didn’t have a solid understanding
of the need to have employees ‘buy in’ to ideas, strategies, etc. I also had no
idea how to ‘devolve’ employees. It seems I only got as far as involving
employees with tasks according to the Complex Adaptive Leadership model
(Obolensky, 2010). Therefore, this chapter holds some new concepts for me to
learn from.
Over
the course of these past six weeks, my understanding and clarification of what
leadership entails has broaden. It has helped me to understand and to know that
as a leader it is ok to not know everything or have all the answers. It has
also showed me the importance and the meaning of having and developing
employees as followers, as well as when to let others take the lead. During
these past few weeks, I have been given the methods and suggestions on how to
develop my skills as leader and how to develop the skills of the followers. As
Obolensky says “Leaders get the followers they deserve. Followers get the
leaders they deserve” (Obolensky, 2010). Therefore, it has become important for
me to recognize that there is no perfect specific leadership style but rather a
unification and mix of all leadership styles. This course has also given me the
tools on how to deal and embrace chaos, complexity, and uncertainty. Along with
these tools, I now also understand what it takes to create, build, and develop
an organization sustainable of great leadership by adding the Four + Four
leadership model to the duties of the organization.
Honestly,
I began the MSLD course with curiosity. I had wondered whether or not leaders
were born or rather made. I was also curious about whether there was a specific
form of leadership style that only all those great CEOs that I always read
about knew about it. Therefore after enrolling on this program, I decided to
give leadership a practice by applying to the shift lead position in my
organization. Before I left the organization, I saw improvement on how to
handle leader situations, how to solve problems, how to increase communication
between leads and followers, and so on. As the courses progressed, I had
continued to apply this new information to the department. Unfortunately, I’m
no longer with the organization so it has been hard at times to put into
perspective some of these topics. I have only been able to reflect back on
similar situations and now understand what I could’ve done differently.
The
significance of this to me is the confidence that this course has given me. I’m
no longer scared about making mistakes because I know how to find solutions and
how to learn from the situation. I no longer feel as if I am guessing my way
through the organization or leadership position. I am fully confident that I
can handle the situations that will be thrown at me. I now understand that I
don’t need to be perfect in every aspect of the organization but rather effective
and efficient. I also now understand the need to have an open, clear
communication and feedback both downward and upward in the organization.
Therefore in the context of my future leadership goals and objectives, I am
confident to know that I can and will overcome any obstacle as well as know
when to seek help and clarification. With this confidence, understanding, and
broaden view of leadership and what it entails, I hope to be an effective
leader wherever this understanding, skills, and will take me. If it means
moving up on the chain of command in a specific organization then great! If it
means that later in life I will be the leader of my own organization then that
is great as well. I only hope that as a leader I continue learning from experiences,
continue practicing what I have learned thus far, continue developing the
skills of those around me, continue to adapt to this new changing environment,
and to never give up on anyone or situation.
Reference:
Obolensky, N.
(2010). Complex adaptive leadership embracing paradox and uncertainty.
Farnham, Surrey: Gower.
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