Daneen, I think your summary of this article offered an important perspective shift for me. When I read your third point about how we need to shift our “leadership concept from person to processes” (daneen85, 2018). I was at first slightly put off by this idea. My initial understanding of it was that leadership happens through processes and systems rather than through people. As I read your articulation of it however, I came to understand that the idea is more about leadership being a process rather than it being specific traits that a single person poses. This concept of leadership is something that is imperative in a “society that is facing rapid environmental change and globalization” (daneen85, 2018). While I think there is still a place for hierarchical leadership, this idea of flattening our leadership structures could prove invaluable because staff in different roles do understand the needs and demands of the role they are in better than someone who is in a management position.

In lieu of that, to answer your question I think that whether I would be satisfied with a group that where 70% of staff were bought in to this leadership as a process style would really depend on what role the 30% of staff who were not bought in occupied. While I think that flattening a leadership structure to engage more in the process of leadership is valuable and would be most effective if everyone was bought in, I think it would also be easier to continue to operate in this model if lower level employees were not bought in. In much the same way that Northouse (2016, p. 233) says that servant leadership is not effective for everyone, I am not sure that leadership as a process would work for everyone. I think as we evaluate our leadership structures and systems, it is important we remember that while a specific structure may be established, different staff may need different forms of leadership in order to succeed. The responsibility of this falls to the leader. This is demonstrated through the SLII® model as presented by Northouse (2016, pp. 94-96).

References:

daneen85. (2018). Unit 3, activity 2 – rank, talk, write. [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://create.twu.ca/daneen85/2018/10/13/unit-3-activity-2-rank-talk-write/

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice, Seventh Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.