About Leadership, Essay Example

Leadership in the workplace is both a state of mind and the ability to proactively take a decisive role in all aspects of the organization.  As Forster (2005) points out in Maximum Performance, there has been a great deal o0f debate about whether one is born a leader or whether this skill can be developed over time through educational and professional experience.  For much of my academic life, I have believed that individuals who assume leadership roles must have the innate ability to lead others by virtue of the high-level position which they have achieved.  It seemed logical and reasonable to assume that those at the top of an organization’s hierarchy were there because of merit and their ability to take on the important characteristics of leadership, including strong communication skills and the ability to make decisions that will positively impact on the entire organization.

However, in my current position as a junior level administrator at a small college, I have had the opportunity to realize that one’s professional position at a managerial level doesn’t necessarily correspond to their individual leadership skills.  It is indeed possible to climb the corporate ladder based on abilities which have less to do with leadership than self-interest and making connections with the ‘right’ kind of people in an organization.  While this kind of knowledge can be daunting, I have also found it somewhat freeing to learn that the relationship between leadership skills and job position is not the only prerequisite to attaining leadership skills.  For example, in Maximum Performance, Forster (2005) emphasizes that leadership and management are not mutually exclusive terms.  While some managers may be excellent leaders, “effective leadership always requires something more than pure professional skills or knowledge” (Forster, 2005, p.20).  Thus, even though I am not yet in a powerful position in my workplace, and still report to several different managers who are, in effect, leaders who expect me to follow their examples, I now recognize that I can still take a leadership role in my department, despite my lack of tenure and experience in comparison to some of my peers and superiors.

Currently, my time is divided between the college’s Admissions department and Learning Services department; although my role is mainly clerical within both departments, I find that I must utilize strong communication and collaborative skills and must adapt my approach depending on which department I am working at during any given time.  Thus, my personal leadership philosophy boils down to taking the time to learn the work-styles of my colleagues so that I might best learn how to communicate with an extremely varied group of people who include younger and relatively new hires such as myself to those who have been with the school for over twenty years and are nearing retirement.  I would eventually like to gain promotion into a senior position in the Learning Services department, as I find it rewarding to work with students, faculty, and other staff to help those with academic difficulties access services which can help accommodate their individual disabilities or learning obstacles.

In order to achieve such a goal, it is vital for me to take a much more proactive role within that department to demonstrate that I have the ability to do more than just follow instructions.  At the same time, it is also important for me to demonstrate respect and appreciation for more senior members of the department who have their own specific ways of doing things and do not always appreciate performance feedback from their peers.  Therefore, I believe that my personal leadership philosophy must remain firmly rooted in emphasizing the value of successful interpersonal  communications in order to achieve the business goals of the college and my department while also building and strengthening relationships between myself, my peers, and the students and educators who seek my help on a daily basis.  As Forster (2005) points out, both leadership and communication are a “two-way process” (p.32) which requires me to approach both my professional relationships and my career goals with an understanding of and empathy for the human components that provide me with the opportunity to improve my working environment for myself, my colleagues, and the members of the college community who I work with in both Admissions and Learning Services.

In Be, Know, Do: Leadership the Army Way, Hesselbein and Shinseki (2004) use the leadership principles of the United States Army as a model that can be applied to the development of business and personal leadership skills.  In their book, they stress that communication is much more than writing effective memos and giving persuasive speeches:  it is also about learning how to listen well and take the information that one learns from listening to use in a proactive and positive manner.  Thus, although there are a wealth of leadership attributes–from organizational skills to decision making–which will help me to succeed in my workplace, those which are associated with communicating are the most valuable overall to my growth as a leader and my advancement within the college.  Within the area of communication, the five most important leadership skills which I must develop are the ability to actively listen, the ability to receive and give constructive criticism, the ability to interact on a personal yet professional level with my peers, the ability to speak up when I have new ideas or see changes which need to be implemented in my organization, and the ability to be concise in both written and verbal communications.

Active listening is a skill which demonstrates that you are engaged with what other people are saying to you.  This interest is shown through body language, verbal cues, and an involvement in dialogue which demonstrates that the listener hears what the other person is saying and is invested in the conversation.  A listener may maintain eye contact, lean towards the speaker, or use reflective statements to demonstrate that they are engaged in the conversation.  Constructive criticism is feedback which is intended to help an individual improve an aspect of their behavior or attitude.  The ability to give constructive criticism requires a leader to maintain a respectful and kind demeanor so that the receiver of said criticism will not feel personally attacked.  Conversely, the ability to receive constructive criticism requires a leader to set aside their own opinions on their behavior/attitude so as to receptively receive the critique and hopefully implement it in their daily life.  The ability to interact on an interpersonal level with colleagues and others requires leaders to take an interest in the lives of their peers and deal with them as human beings rather than just employees who are no more than their job specifications.  It is important for leaders to maintain professional boundaries within this relationship, however, so that personal issues don’t overshadow an individual’s ability to do their job well.  As with many areas of leadership, the development of professional relationships is something of a balancing act, requiring leaders to relate to their employees and colleagues on a personal level without overstepping the boundaries which are necessary to keep an organization running smoothly.  Finally, the ability to be concise in both written and verbal communications is a key component of strong leadership because it works to ensure that the speaker (or writer) is heard by his or her intended audience.  A discussion in a meeting that is long-winded and rambling or a memo which does not stick to the point can alienate others and implies that the recipient’s time is not valuable.  Thus, it is crucial for leaders to clearly state their point, engage with their intended audience, and offer a summary which will hopefully resonate with them long after the conversation or memo is completed.

The leadership skills which I will choose to focus on in the future are those which I think will best help me develop an ability to communicate clearly with my coworkers and others.  Thus, I intend to try and strengthen my active listening skills, my ability to give and receive constructive criticism, and my ability to overcome my reluctance to stand out amongst my coworkers by contributing more in the way of ideas and possible organizational changes.  All three of these traits have a great deal of relevance for leaders and potential leaders and the organizations in which they work because communication is at the root of many business problems and potential solutions.

A strong knowledge of active listening techniques are crucial for all business leaders, because listening is an important component of communication which is often undervalued.  Hesselbein and Shinseki (2004) state that there are multiple barriers to effective listening, many of which are rooted in an individual’s belief that their own ideas are superior to those of the person who is trying to communicate with them.  My own difficulty with active listening often arises because I spend too much time trying to construct a well-thought out response to the person who is speaking to me, with the result that I often miss much of what is being said to me and appear much less engaged in the conversation than I actually am.  By using active listening, a leader makes it clear that the opinions, feelings, and ideas of other people are important.  Conversely, a leader who is distracted, impatient, or otherwise disengaged during a conversation sends a strong message that he or she doesn’t really care about what the other person has to say.

Forster (2005) suggests that the difficulties we encounter when trying to listen effectively have both physiological and psychological origins, as human beings tend to listen selectively depending on how they feel about the speaker and what he or she has to say.  In order to become a strong active listener, it is important to try and set aside one’s personal feelings about the speaker or subject matter and just focus on what they are saying.  However, this can be difficult, as Forster (2005) points out, because listeners process words much faster than speakers are able to utter them, a condition which results in “‘idle time’ and an opportunity to start pre-formulating responses or, worse still, planning when we are going to interrupt or contradict the other person” (p. 100).  I have found that this kind of ‘idle time’ is often compounded by the use of Blackberries, cellphones, and other electronic devices, as I have often been in conversations with colleagues where an individual will text on their cellphone while I am speaking, a situation which causes me to feel as if what I’m saying is less important than whatever they’re doing on their device.

One of the keys to understanding active listening comes in recognizing that a great deal of this skill lies in elements of nonverbal communication such as eye contact and body language.  Forster (2005) suggests that facial and vocal expressions have a stronger effect on the outcome of a conversation than the actual words that an individual speaks during a conversation.  Thus, it is possible that in conversations at work I am sometimes sending the wrong message to those that I am speaking with without even intending to.  For example, if I yawn while a coworker is speaking to me, this may make him feel as if I am bored with what he is saying, even if I am yawning because I just didn’t get enough sleep the night before.  Thus, business leaders must be extra careful to make sure that their body language matches the tenor of what they are saying, especially if they want others to feel that they are a strong leader.  Regardless of the context or social situation, everyone wants to feel that they are being heard by the people around them.  Thus, by using active listening skills a leader can build respect, loyalty and trust within an organization by demonstrating to his or her employees and peers that he or she is a good listener who takes the time to truly hear what other people have to say.

Criticism has many negative connotations, and is associated with failure, rejection, and the perception that an individual is unable to do their job properly.  This may account for why many people, myself included, have difficulty giving and receiving criticism.  However, it is a necessary and integral part of any workplace, because no one is perfect and a critique of one’s performance is a means through which an individual can become better at their job.  Thus, a good leader must become adept at both giving and receiving constructive criticism which is meant to improve performance rather than penalize or otherwise embarrass the recipient.  As well, because leadership by example plays a strong role in shaping an organization, it is crucial that leaders are able to accept constructive criticism of their own performance.  This sends a strong message to all employees that the organization is an egalitarian one in which no one individual is immune to the need to improve their performance in the workplace.

As Hesselbein and Shinseki (2004) state, “organizational leaders who are positive, fair, and honest in their dealings and who are not afraid of constructive criticism encourage an atmosphere of openness and trust.  Their people willingly share ideas and take risks to get the job done well because their leaders strive for more than compliance; they seek to develop subordinates with good judgement” (p. 62).  Additionally, an organization which values constructive criticism at all levels creates a workplace atmosphere in which change is seen as a positive rather than a threatening element.  For example, in the Admissions Department at my college, my supervisor makes a point of providing feedback on a daily basis.  This may sometimes take the form of a formal review, but is more often part of our everyday conversations which makes it less intimidating because I never feel as if my entire job rests upon the results of a single performance review.  Instead, my supervisor’s attention to my performance, and interest in letting me know when I am doing a good job as well as when I need to improve my performance normalizes criticism within the workplace so that it feels natural for all of us to show an interest in both our own workplace behaviors as well as those of our peers.  This creates an environment that supports positive change and has the effect of making all of us feel that we are part of a team rather than just cogs in a machine.

One of the things that separates leaders from followers is the ability to step away from the crowd and express opinions or ideas which might not always be popular.  It’s easy, perhaps, to support the status quo in an organization, and easier still to become invisible withing a large organization by simply doing your job without seeking any extra work or attention.  However, I wish to be more than just a worker-bee within my organization.  I hope to improve the departments that I work in so that they run more smoothly and efficiently than they do currently, and I have several ideas of how to go about doing this by making simple changes in the way the departments are organized.  However, speaking out has the potential to attract negative and unwanted attention, both from people within the organization who are afraid of change and those who feel that their own positions might be threatened by my decision to take a more proactive role within the department.  Speaking out can also be nerve wracking because it puts a private idea in a public forum where it can be discussed, debated, and possibly derided by other employees.  However, an individual might have the perfect idea to improve a company’s productivity, but that idea is useless and meaningless unless it is shared with other people and implemented within the organization.

In discussing the fear of public speaking which plagues many professionals, Forster (2005) suggests that people are afraid of being the center of attention and of running the risk of embarrassing themselves in front of a large group of people, some of whom might have the power to aid or limit the individual’s ability to rise within the company.  However, although I am as afraid of speaking up in small group settings as many people are afraid of giving speeches, I recognize that this is a fear I must overcome if I wish to progress beyond a junior position at the college.  While I believe that I possess many good leadership qualities, they will do me no good at all if no one else is aware that I have them.  And, among these qualities, are my ideas for improving my department, making it crucial that I learn to assert myself during department meetings, one-on-one sessions with my supervisors, and in casual conversations with colleagues.  It is certainly safer to keep my head down and avoid making waves within the department; as Forster (2005) points out, “creativity and innovation imply constant change and constant evolution, and many organizations and their employees can find this prospect threatening and stressful” (p.328).  However, I am also aware that I am a young employee who intends to stay at the college (if possible) for my whole career.  Many of my colleagues who currently resist change within the department are senior members of staff who are nearing retirement age.  Thus, eventually they will no longer work for the college, leaving a leadership gap which I can fill with my enthusiasm and my new ideas for improving productivity within the department.  It is important that I begin to make a name for myself as someone who has good ideas and is not afraid to ‘sell’ them to others now, rather than waiting until those who might reject my ideas have retired from the organization  After all, every leader will encounter people who resist their ideas and offer negative critiques rather than constructive criticism, and I may as well begin developing a thick skin now so that I might eventually assume a greater leadership role within the department.

I intend to develop my ability to speak out about my ideas and concerns through a series of ‘baby steps’ in which I start small and work my way up to presenting some of my large-scale comprehensive ideas to the entire department.  I believe that this approach will help to lessen my nervousness about appearing foolish in front of my peers and superiors by allowing me to practice my presentation and public speaking skills over time so that I might eventually find that I am no longer frightened of speaking my mind.  For example, there is currently a small controversy amongst clerical staff at the college concerning how individuals use the staff lunchroom when they have visitors from off-campus.  Some people believe that the staff lunchroom should not be open to anyone other than clerical staff as it offers a brief respite from faculty and students and a place to convivially chat (or gossip, depending on your mindset) with like-minded individuals.  A petition has been circulated amongst the departments looking to ban all outsiders from visiting the staff lunchroom.  Although I personally believe this is not a good idea, as it creates an unnecessary hierarchy amongst administrative staff, I made excuses to avoid signing the petition for fear of aligning myself on the wrong side of a contentious issue.  Next time I’m asked to sign it, I will politely refuse and let my coworkers know that I believe we should be able to have guests in the lunchroom because we’re all adults and capable of exercising good judgement about who we bring into staff facilities.  This may seem like a non-issue, but it is an important one within my workplace and a good starting place for me to develop my exterior voice at work.

I also intend to begin keeping notes and lists of the ideas that I have to improve some of the procedures that we use in the Admissions Department, as I believe I have some good ideas to streamline some of our paperwork processes in a way that would simplify the overall procedures, thus making it easier from both a training standpoint and in our daily working behaviors.  I don’t yet think that I’m ready to bring these ideas to my supervisor, but I intend to try and voice my opinions in our monthly staff meetings so that I can get used to asserting and defending my position on certain topics.  I hope that each time I voice my opinion I will become more confident, thereby providing myself with the positive reinforcement that is necessary for me to become a strong and proactive leader within my department.  Although Forster (2005) suggests that gender may play a role in an individual’s ability to assume certain leadership qualities, with women tending to speak out less during meetings and agree with others for the sake of the overall team, I would like to believe that I do not have to become aggressive in order to get my point across.  My department is staffed primarily by women and my supervisors in both Admissions and Learning Services are both women, so gender dynamics do not come into play as often as they might if I was in a more typically masculine organization.  However, I do need to become more assertive if I wish to climb higher within my department, and I hope that these small steps will allow me to grow more confident and outspoken so that I can come to be viewed as leadership material over the next few years by my superiors.

As both the Forster (2005) and Hesselbein (2004) texts have emphasized, speaking alone isn’t enough to ensure the good communication skills necessary to assume a successful leadership position.  If I wish to take on greater responsibility within my department, I must greatly improve my active listening skills so that I can better learn the concerns of my coworkers, superiors, and clientele.  In order to develop my active listening skills, I intend to first put aside all unnecessary distractions both in the the office and the staff room during breaks.  I have a tendency to hide behind my Blackberry in social situations, allowing this technological device to replace real face-to-face conversations.  This often prevents me from engaging in social and professional conversations and can also hinder my ability to get to the root of what someone is trying to say to me because I am distracted, which can be off-putting to whomever is speaking to me.  I don’t mean to be disrespectful to my coworkers or appear uninterested in what they are saying; instead, my Blackberry has become a defense mechanism that I use to appear busy when I feel uncomfortable or nervous.  However, as Hesselbein and Shinseki (2004) state, “leaders find out what their people are thinking, saying, and doing by using that most important communication tool:  listening.  By listening carefully, you can even hear those messages behind what a person is actually saying, the equivalent of reading between the lines” (p.52).

If I wish to become a true leader, I need to stop hiding and start really listening, for as it stands now I’m missing a great deal of what goes on in the office by virtue of my own insecurities.  For example, I found out through the department grapevine that I had been considered for a lateral move which would have allowed me to devote all of my time to one department rather than splitting it between Admissions and Learning Services.  However, most of the discussions about this position took place in the staff lunchroom, where I had effectively secluded myself behind my Blackberry.  If I had been more involved in lunchroom discussions, I might have become aware sooner that I was being considered for the position and might have casually mentioned to my supervisor that I was interested in the department shift.  However, my somewhat antisocial behavior gave the impression that I wasn’t a team player and that I probably wouldn’t be interested in certain opportunities within the department.  This is an attitude that I’m going to change immediately by leaving my Blackberry in my desk except when it’s absolutely necessary.  In such a way I will become more involved and invested in both professional and social conversations, thereby demonstrating to my superiors that I am much more personable than I might outwardly appear.

Forster (2005) acknowledges that engaging in active listening can be difficult at first, so I don’t expect to change my behavior overnight.  Instead, I intend to practice self-awareness so that I might become more engaged in conversations within my workplace.  Rather than spending a conversation thinking about what I will say next, which can lead to interruptions and a lack of true involvement in the subject at hand, I will focus on the speaker and use direct questions in order to clarify what is being said.  As Forster (2005) states, active listening requires “self discipline, patience, and altruism” (p.101), characteristics which I intend to nurture over the long-term so that I might become a stronger, more involved, and more empathetic employee and coworker.

My ability to give and receive constructive criticism is another area which I wish to develop and enhance over the next five years, and is the skill-set which I believe may be most beneficial to my overall growth as a leader.  Currently, the two departments in which I work take very different approaches to feedback.  As I stated earlier, my supervisor in Admissions believes that any negative criticisms should be bolstered by an acknowledgement of what the employee is doing well.  Conversely, in Learning Services there is a decided lack of positive feedback from our superiors, and an unwillingness to receive any criticism from those who don’t hold positions of authority.  This has created an atmosphere which breeds discontent amongst more junior members of staff, and I have found, personally, that it effects my daily work because I’m never acknowledged when I do a good job, only when something goes wrong.

Forster (2005) states that “feedback should focus on behavior not personalities” (p.108) and that an employee’s mistakes should be used as an opportunity for positive change rather than punishment.  While there is little that I can do within the Learning Services department to change my supervisor’s attitude about giving and receiving constructive criticism, I intend to change my own behaviors so that I am more receptive to receiving feedback from others.  This will hopefully demonstrate that I have a positive attitude and will encourage my coworkers to engage in constructive criticism rather than negative complaining which doesn’t go anywhere or enact any real changes.

I believe that the position that I hold within Admissions and Learning Services has provided me with an excellent chance to view two very disparate management styles.  For example, when I make a mistake in the Admissions Department, my supervisor does not make a big deal about my error, and instead will take me aside privately to point out what I could have done differently.  Conversely, in Learning Services, my supervisor uses any error by an employee as ammunition to be used at a later date to undermine and embarrass the employee in front of other staff and clients.  Other senior members of staff have learned to follow the supervisor’s example, creating a workplace environment which is rife with gossip, complaining, and personal attacks.  In retrospect, I now understand a little better why I have perhaps been reluctant to share my ideas for that particular department, since my Learning Services superiority frowns on initiative, change, and any sign of independence in her employees.  In Maximum Performance, Forster (2005) points out that “the main problem with negative feedback is that this only tells people what they should not be doing, not what they ought to be doing” (p.108).

As I’ve seen in Learning Services, a constant barrage of negative criticism undermines a workforce’s ability to see themselves as a cohesive team and can create a toxic environment that negatively impacts on employees’ focus, self-esteem, and sense of camaraderie.  Thus, going forward I will always give positive feedback to my coworkers when I am discussing an area which needs improvement.  I will also, as Forster (2005) suggests, make a point of being highly specific rather than vague so that my coworkers understand more than what they’ve done wrong and can see ways to improve their performance.  Most importantly, I intend to use the negative attitude of my Learning Services supervisor as a growth opportunity, using her traits as a model of what not to do as a leader.  In order to become better at giving and receiving constructive criticism, I will work to become more reflective, a better listener, and will be careful to use a neutral and non-threatening tone when offering constructive criticisms to other people.  Additionally, I will learn to not take constructive criticism personally, and will look at it as an opportunity to improve my performance so that I might eventually assume a greater leadership position at the college.

This reflective assignment has been highly instructive as I strive to develop a personal philosophy of leadership which I can use to facilitate my progression within the college.  Although I initially believed that communication was limited to what we say to each other, I have since learned that non-verbal communication and listening skills are equally, if not more so, important when we are trying to relate to one another on an interpersonal level.  Additionally, by engaging in a detailed analysis of active listening, constructive criticism, and speaking out in the workplace, I now have a better understanding of both my strengths and weaknesses as a future leader.  I have come to realize that I cannot let my fear of failure limit my workplace performance.  If I wish to become a strong leader within the college, I must become more adept at taking risks, speaking my mind, and engaging with my coworkers at a more in-depth level.

References

Forster, N. (2005). Maximum performance: A practical guide to leading and managing people at work. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Hesselbein, F. & Shinseki, E.K. (2004). Be, know, do: Leadership the Army way. San Francisco: Josey-Bass.