Business Management
Select ONE of the concepts highlighted by your classmate and describe how you could use that new knowledge in a leadership career. (Citation only as required.)
Noah
Leadership Theories:
Fundamental to understanding leadership is a body of theories that should be studied to develop an individual framework for what leadership is or is not. Leadership, on the outset, appears to be straightforward and complements other elements such as organizations and followers. However, each of these theories produces a more complex premise about leadership that often vary significantly from other theories on this topic. (Malos, n.d., pg. 413-414) Therefore, it is essential to analyze these theories to understand this discipline better and practice it effectively.
Leadership Competencies:
Beyond the theoretical debate, “Is a leader born or made?” are actual competencies leaders need to successfully contribute to their roles and communities. These competencies consist of abilities one naturally possesses complemented by skills that can be learned. Leaders should inventory their competencies, compare them to what the leadership position requires, and work to fill any gaps with education and coaching. Leaders need to be sufficiently skilled in their current and future positions.
Strategic Thinking Skills:
One of the most vital leadership competencies is strategic thinking. Every leader thinks, but strategic thinking is a critical skill that requires development and practice. Strategic thinking can be a logical, creative, or combined process used to generate thoughts and create a future for a person or organization. (Bradford, 2020, para. 1, 2) Strategic thinkers exercise their ability to see beyond the horizon of possibilities and bring a vision closer to fruition.
Culture of Innovation:
Culture and innovation are two buzz words in today’s leadership lexicon. Individually, these concepts are essential to any organization, but together they are a powerhouse duo. Most companies have a vision statement or set of priorities that include growth but are stifled by a rigid culture that discourages innovation. An organization that sees failure as mistakes of enthusiasm and flattens decision-making to the lowest level possible will foster a vibrant culture that embraces innovation and exponential growth. (Biro, 2020, paras. 6, 9)
Emotional Intelligence:
Another emerging factor shaping leadership effectiveness is emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is one’s ability to perceive, understand, and manage the emotions of oneself and others. (Cherry, 2020, paras 11-14) A leader who applies emotional intelligence has a greater sense of self-awareness, empathizes with others better, and is prone to slowing down and thinking prior to making an emotional decision. (Cherry, 2020, paras 17-19) In other words, this is a relational skill that helps build an emotional connection between ourselves and others.
Followership:
Though leadership is the main focus of this discussion, followership is an essential component of the conversation. Followers make up one-third of an organizational triade, including context and leadership. (Harvard Kennedy School, 2009) Followership brings relevance to leadership in a symbiotic relationship; one cannot exist without the other. The power of followers derives from their collective strength in numbers, ideas, skills, and experiences.
Crisis Leadership:
Leadership is easy when everything is going well; however, when a crisis strikes, leadership is tested, and character is revealed. The ability to manage unexpected circumstances is key to being a crisis leader. Though crisis leadership skills can be taught, development often comes from experience. A crisis leader must be able to decisively solve problems, navigate a quickly shifting landscape, provide timely communication, and sift through a flood of information to find relevant and actionable intelligence. (The Wall Street Journal, 2015, paras. 8-14)
Rebekah
Reflection
Understanding Leadership:It is important to understand the difference between leading and managing. Leading is a person’s ability to build trust, influence, empower, and communicate (University of Maryland Global Campus, n.d.-a). Managing has a greater focus on control and performance. A leader manages the work, leads the people, and understands that their capacity to motivate will garner peak performance.
Leadership Style:A true leader understands that different people need different leadership styles (Aldrin & Gayatri, 2014). All leadership styles have positive and negative attributes, but an effective leader will adjust to best suit the team and environment (Stevenson, 2019). She will evaluate the circumstances and combine styles to ensure optimal results.
Succession Planning:Succession planning is imperative to business sustainability. As absences occur, planned or unplanned, a succession plan will help facilitate leadership transitions and prevent work stoppages. A good plan should include foreseeable vacancies, desired and required leadership competencies, a diverse pool of potential candidates, challenges, and opportunities (Flowers, 2017).
Cultural Intelligence:Cultural intelligence (CQ) is the ability to relate to people from various cultures and have respect for their differences (Verghese, 2013). Influential leaders understand the value of diversity and support an environment that enables team members to be the best version of themselves and share everything from their ideas to their mistakes (Bilimoria, 2012). A culturally intelligent leader will enforce inclusion and fairness, which leads to success for the individual, team, and company.
Self-Awareness:A leader can only lead if they have a good sense of self and understand their strengths and weaknesses. Current and future leaders should measure their personality traits to ensure the right things drive them. Although there is no definition for the perfect leader, it is essential to outline the most critical components of effective leadership and work to personify them (The Ken Blanchard Companies, n.d.). This is the basis for maintaining excellent organizational culture (8.5 Creating and Maintaining Organizational Culture, 2015).
Building and Sustaining Relationships:It is important to build relationships with followers and superiors before you need them to establish trust. Employee relationships built over time and cultivated properly feel authentic and will result in higher productivity and support of the team when facing challenges. While some relationships might not be as significant as others, they will all eventually serve a purpose (Axner, 2018).
Surviving a Crisis:Good leaders adapt during challenging times and have the psychological maturity to deal with adversity (University of Maryland Global Campus, n.d.-b). The best leaders make preparations for potential risks. When dealing with a crisis, a leader should be confident, decisive yet flexible, ensure communication flow and manage the entire crisis lifecycle, not just work to quiet the issue (deloitteeditor, n.d.).
Emily
Leadership:The importance of leadership will help a business expand. “Leadership involves many management skills, but generally as a secondary or background function of true leadership” (Aldrin, Anitha, and Gayatri, R. August 2014 Page 358). Leadership is important because it provides a model for the staff to follow and helps promote the business in public.
Risk-taking: The importance behind this factor is that it will help a company grow overtime. “Leaders regularly encounter risks, but they must know when to embrace a challenge and when to take a safe approach” (Indeed Editorial Team March 21, 2022). A good leader knows when to take a risk, that will help benefit the company, and be able to make the correct judgements of a situation.
Strategic Thinking:The importance of strategic thinking is “They are amazingly aware and perceptive. They will recognize internal and external clues, often subtle, to help guide future direction and realize opportunities for them and their companies or organizations” (Center of Simplified Strategic Planning Inc, 2008). This is important because it helps show who is overseeing the differences or problems within the company, and come to an honest concussion.
Understanding that failing is alright: Failing might be a hard thing to admit to but “If you’re never failing, chances are you’re not innovating much. Failure is inevitable when you’re fostering a culture of innovation, and that’s part of the challenge — the reality that there’s almost always a degree of uncertainty” (Biro, Meghan M. August 20, 2019). This factor should be seen more because in order to learn it is sometimes good to fail and make mistakes, it will help a person learn.
Emotional Intelligence:This is important because “Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to perceive, control, and evaluate emotions” (Cherry, Kendra, June 03, 2020). This factor will help staff members be able to better understand the way people are feeling about certain situations. It will also help provide feed back to the company on what needs to be changed or improved.
Authentic Leadership: This is an important factor “But there is something behind the jargon – ideas and concepts that have been around for centuries that can help leaders lead people by having a sense of self-awareness, identity, honesty and passion” (The Insights Group, LTD). The reasoning behind this being important is that it helps show who the company is through the leaders, and it will help employees by motivation them.
Hire for personality, drive, execution, and accountability:These factors are important because “The value of positive, responsible, and accountable team members who take action cannot be overestimated” (McDowell, Scott 2020). These factors help a company hire the right Person for the job, and to make sure they are the most qualified for the open position.
