Leading by Example and Direction, Article Review Example

Based on David Rock’s Seventh Step of Quiet Leadership

Effective leaders are able to positively influence he lives of others. Ultimately, these behaviors are based on the personalities of their employees in addition to the organizational culture that has been established. While leaders are required to provide instructions to others, it is important to consider that it is essential for them to model the steps in a manner that provides their employees with a certain level of understanding. In addition to this purposeful modeling, effective leaders always act as positive models in their own work. If they wish others to act a certain way, it is important for them to demonstrate this through their daily behaviors and interactions with others. As a consequence, it is important to understand that leadership is not simply a position of power. Instead, it is important for the leader to recognize his or her influence and use this power in a way that positively influences the work ethic of others. This allows effective leaders to serve as effective coaches as well.

In David Rock’s book, Quiet Leadership, he indicates that it is necessary to motivate people to improve their performance by demonstrating the skills that he wants them to incorporate into their daily practices (Rock, 2007, p. 35). This involves self-realization, which allows an individual to become more realistic in terms of goal creation, as they will become more significantly aligned with the goals of the organization or the company. This sense of oneness could be established among employers especially if they are given the chance to see through matters accordingly; thus, making good sense of the real value that they have for the company as members of the organization. It is important for coaches to be clear about the information they wish for their team members to incorporate in practice, as this will provide them with the ability to determine their level of understanding and help them build skills accordingly.

It is essential to conduct exploratory methods to assess when coaching methods will or will not work. To assess the needs of an individual, it is important for the coach to observe them in action to determine what, if any, interventions are necessary. Based on the observed needs of the individual, the coach must then determine which intervention strategy will be the most effective. Depending on the needs of the individual, these coaching sessions could range from building communication skills to establishing a knowledge base that would be directly applicable to the work of the individual. Coaches ought to make sure that when it comes to this aspect of leadership, they ought to establish the clear idea that the employees are not mere workers of the organization; instead, they are partners who are noted to have a huge contribution on how the business itself will grow. Therefore, coaches must continue to work closely with the individuals they are responsible for training.

To support the coaching relationship, it is beneficial to build partnerships between employers and employees (Spillane & Diamond, 2004, p. 3). This persuades members of staff to act in accordance with institutional policies and contributes to the respect of the coach. It is also important for coaches to determine the value of rewards and to put such a reward system in place to allow employees to understand that their effective work will result in positive consequences (Vroom & Stemberg, 2002, p. 303). Once everything is communicated to employees, it is expected that the workers would be able to decide for themselves whether or not they are to embrace the concept of personal and professional development that they are being offered. This decision would create a huge impact on how the organization grows. However, leaders have the ability to influence such decisions. It is through this approach that employees and administrators would be able to work together as a unified organization geared up to work on a single goal that defines the way of their development as a strong entity with a solid purpose.

References

Spillane, James P.; Diamond, John. (2004). “Towards a theory of leadership practice”. Journal of Curriculum Studies 36 (1): 3–34.

Vroom, Victor; Sternberg, Robert J. (2002). “Theoretical Letters: The person versus the situation in leadership”. The Leadership Quarterly 13 (3): 301–323.

House, Robert J. (2001). “A path-goal theory of leader effectiveness”. Administrative Science Quarterly (Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University) 16 (3): 321–339.

Rock, David. (2007). Quiet Leadership: Six Steps to Transforming Performance at Work. Harper Business Publishing. p. 1-50.