Category: Response

Norm did an excellent job articulating an employee development plan for his manufacturing company. He briefly defined what a hybrid organization entails and then discussed how it encourages creativity and innovation while building trust and citizenship behaviours amongst employees. More specifically, the strong link between trust leading to innovation.

I thought it was interesting to read that a manufacturing company was determining ways to integrate technology into customer support initiatives such as using Skype. Furthermore, how management of the company is planning to send out customized product videos with each order quote. Norm had an interesting approach to his employee development plan that I really liked, where he used the Myers Brigg personality test to determine strengths and weaknesses of team members. I believe that a leader can use this test to create powerfully dynamic strategic teams to work together to stimulate innovation. Furthermore, this knowledge can safeguard against major personality clashes that inhibit cohesion within the organization, which is an important attribute to foster innovation and creativity. Within people-technology hybrid companies, they understand the enormous value of not only leveraging internal resources such as employees, but also external forces such as customers acting as ambassadors of the brand (Kandampully, Bilgihan & Zhang, 2016: p. 155).

Thank you for sharing your experience. Looking forward to reading more posts!

Christina

References

Kandampully, J., Bilgihan, A., & Zhang, T. (Christina). (2016). Developing a people-technology hybrids model to unleash innovation and creativity: The new hospitality frontier. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 29, 154–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2016.07.003

I found Dawn’s post to be very insightful with regards to her experiences related to Andragogy. Dawn has first-handed experience in working with adult learners and how the 6 concepts of Andragogy effect learning. Whether in a Masters program or teaching adults in a professional setting, evidently the 6 components need to be implemented to ensure adults are committed to learning the material. In order to accumulate knowledge or skills, adults need to understand the reasoning behind why they should learn something, embody a readiness to learn, have intrinsic motivation (to accomplish a goal) and there must be immediate application for the material (Conaway & Zorn-Arnold, 2015). In addition, adults are self-directed and can draw upon their deep reservoir of experience to further facilitate learning.

In response to Dawn’s question: “Having not been in another profession, I wonder if this is also a common experience for leaders in other areas?”

I believe that it is very similar in a large array of professional settings. With my experience working in the financial industry, I would conclude that the 6 components of Andragogy apply. Employees will seek education to get licensed if they believe that taking the exams will accomplish their goal of working in the financial industry. Evidently, they have to have the intrinsic motivation and readiness to learn in order to devote their time and resources to studying an exam. Since the exam is quite difficult and adults are self-directed, many adults take the initiative to seek out workshops and courses that can help facilitate learning the complex financial concepts. Taking the exam has an immediate application because employees can be financial brokers and help families with their wealth management once they become certified. However, I am not sure to what extent having a large reservoir of knowledge and experience helps with this kind of exam. Perhaps if an individual has a background in finance or accounting; however, those without any experience can also write the exam.

It was fascinating to see that adults in most areas of life apply the concepts of Andragogy unknowingly; the concepts that inspire and motivate adults to learn. It is also interesting to see how the brain evolves as it matures by observing how children learn and comparing it to how adults learn.

Thank you Dawn for writing this post! I really enjoyed reading it as it challenged me to draw on my own reservoir of experiences and apply the concepts that I learnt this week. Looking forward to reading more!

Christina

References

Conaway, W. & Zorn-Arnold, B. (2015). The Keys to Online Learning For Adults: The Six Principles of Andragogy. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299540188_The_Keys_to_Online_Learning_for_Adults_The_Six_Principles_of_Andragogy

Monica, I really enjoyed reading your inspiring article! She asked the question: “When is delegating not helpful to an employee or how much risk can you take?”

I believe that delegating is not helpful to an employee when they do not have the prerequisites or competence to complete the task. One of the characteristics of team effectiveness that Larson & Lafasto define is called “competent team members,” whereby the individual(s) should have the proper store of knowledge and experience to complete the desired task (Northouse, 2017: p. 377-378). Although an employee should be challenged and pushed outside of his or her comfort zone to grow, the task should still be in their breadth of knowledge and skill set. Delegation is an important tool that leaders need to fine-tune to build and grow an organization. It is the art of consistently reproducing the leader and exponentially growing skills, output, and results.

A rule of thumb that an article recommends to consider when a leader is trying to determine if he or she should delegate is called “The 70% Rule” (Schleckser, 2014). According to Schleckser (2014), the leader should delegate if the individual can perform the task at least 70% as well as the leader. Evidently, the most difficult part of delegation is for a leader to give up control and trust that the task will be completed to the best of the employee’s ability (Schleckser, 2014). This requires an understanding that the employee may complete the task using a different approach than the leader; however, the leader must value the time that can be reinvested into higher-level priorities vital to the growth of the organization. If the leader needs the task to be completed at 100% performance level, then the leader should not delegate the task (Schleckser, 2014).

Thank you for your post! Looking forward to reading more!

Christina

References

Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: theory and practice (Eighth ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Schleckser, J. (2014, Aug 14). When to delegate? Try the 70% Rule. Inc. Retrieved on October 28, 2018, from https://www.inc.com/jim-schleckser/the-70-rule-when-to-delegate.html

Thank you for your wonderfully written post, Norm! I really enjoyed your insights on servant leadership. Norm posed the question to readers: “What are practical ways a Servant Leader can balance thinking about the day-to-day processes and the long term? Do you have an example of a leader who had achieved this balance?”

As noted, the struggle for servant leaders is focusing on long-term objectives while overseeing present operations. In response to your question, I think that a servant leader needs to focus on top priorities that will have the biggest impact on the vision of the organization, which means being committed to followers’ personal and professional growth. By helping followers grow, the leader will empower them to take on more responsibilities and projects, boosting creativity and innovativeness (Spears, 2002: p.29). The goal of empowerment is to ultimately develop more leaders at every level within the organization (Russell & Stone, p.152). By delegating, it creates richer decision-making as various perspectives are implemented, increases commitment to goals, boosts self-confidence and job enrichment, and lastly, allows more time for leaders to focus on day-to-day operations (Russell et al. p. 152). Through serving others and developing their full personal capabilities, servant leaders will create an organization where the lives of those cultivating the vision feel nurtured and cared for themselves, resulting in increased motivation and results.

With the servant leadership philosophy, the leader must first determine the direction and vision of the organization and then flip the hierarchy upside-down. I believe that as long as the servant leader has a clear and concise goal for all the followers to understand and if he or she focuses on the day-to-day operations of serving others, the leader will reach Maxwell’s 5^th level of leadership. The 5^th level of leadership means that the leader has connected and developed a relationship with followers, amassed results for the organization, developed people to the point where they credit the servant leader for their success, and ultimately, earned followers respect for who the leader is and  what they represent (Maxwell, 2015). At this point, a strong community has been built that is unified to accomplish a specific vision because the servant leader displayed empathy, stewardship, and subtle persuasion (Spears, 2002: p. 27-28). Servant leaders develop followers by modelling desirable behaviours. A leader that has done this would be the leader of my church back home whom always seeks how to add value to others’ lives. He always refers to himself as a shepherd and frequently asks others how he can better serve them. As a result, the church is one of the fastest growing churches in Ottawa.

I believe that the more clear and concise a leader’s vision is, the easier it will be for that leader to determine how to grow and train followers so that they feel more empowered in both the personal and professional setting. I’m not sure if this is what you meant by practical but I think by doing that, people will become motivated to focus on the day to day operations.

Christina

References:

Maxwell, J. (2015, August 30). John Maxwell 5 Levels of Leadership Full Video. Retrieved October 27, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe6XacmIZms

Russell, R. & Stone, G. (2002). A review of servant leadership attributes: developing a practical model. Leadership and Organization Development Journal 23(2).

Spears, Larry C. (2010). Character and Servant Leadership: Ten Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders. The Journal of Virtues & Leadership, 1(1), 25-30.

In Matt’s blog post, he reflected on the work by Linda Elder, and Richard Paul (2012) titled The Thinker’s Guide to Analytical Guide. The book discusses the importance and value of reasonable people making good decisions while following an “intellectual standard” or process (Elder et al. 2012: p.8). The authors argue that having a system in place reduces falling into old decision-making routines and provides a structure to evaluate situations. In addition, Matt discusses the authors’ main points that they recommend, which consists of significance, clarity, accuracy, depth, breadth, and fairness. I find that each of these key points can be directly related to Northouse’s core leadership traits including self-confidence, intelligence, determination, integrity, and sociability (Northouse, 2017: p.23-25). A leader must be self-confident and determined in order to practice breadth by seeking out others’ perspectives. An effective leader must embody sociability because they must have depth in their social sphere to encourage people to share their point of view. A leader must be intelligent to focus followers on important issues (significance) and to make a complex problem understandable (clarity). Lastly, a powerfully effective leader must be grounded by strong values, such as integrity and fairness. Evidently, Northouse’s leadership traits and Elder and Paul’s guide to critical thinking are interconnected.

I valued how Matt clearly and concisely articulated a breakdown of how one can utilize critical thinking in everyday life. As I am writing my paper on a leader in my sphere of influence that embodies critical thinking, I have applied the process that has been illustrated in this blog post and discovered that my leader (unknowingly perhaps) uses each point of the criteria before making a decision. Undoubtedly, this has likely had an extraordinary impact on his success as a leader in an up and coming technology company. Furthermore, I related it to how I make decisions in both my personal and professional life; I believe that there is room for growth because I am underutilizing accuracy and breadth.

Looking forward to reading more thought-provoking posts!

Christina

Elder, L., & Paul, R. (2012). The thinker’s guide to analytic thinking: How to take thinking apart and what to look for when you do. Tomales, California: The Foundation for Critical Thinking.

Northouse, P. G. (2017). Leadership: theory and practice (8th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Georgeena found an interesting article on critical thinking that relates to wisdom and integrity. She defined critical thinking then drew links to Northouse’s core traits of leadership including self-confidence, intelligence, determination, integrity, and sociability (Northouse, 2017: p.23-25). Northouse’s leadership traits are significantly interconnected with wisdom, excellence, and integrity.

Undoubtedly, acquiring the ability to make quality judgments through the medium of critical thinking increases wisdom because an individual is learning through others’ store of knowledge and experience. In addition, it requires that an individual embody self-confidence whereby he or she does not cling tightly to long-held beliefs that the ego may try to protect. Critical thinking forces leaders to be open-minded, recognizing that others may have a better understanding. However, others must trust the leader to share their perspective; this requires that the leader displays sociability. Critical thinking requires relentless determination to discover the truth of the matter. Furthermore, humility and intelligence to understand that one’s perception of the world is inevitably skewed. As the Socrates stated, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing” (Lodhi, 2018). Evidently, true wisdom is found by being radically open-minded and recognizing that unlocking the knowledge in others is the key to excellence. Enduring success cannot be maintained unless a leader has his or her decisions rooted in integrity. In every decision, integrity must be the backbone. Ultimately, by becoming a better decision-maker, the discipline of excellence becomes reachable for a leader.

I thoroughly enjoyed Georgeena’s post as it inspired me to make connections between Northouse’s core leadership traits and critical thinking that I would not have made otherwise. I will take these newfound connections and weave them into my critical thinking assignment. Looking forward to reading more posts Georgeena!

Christina

Lodhi, A. (2018, June 2). Socrates on Wisdom. Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/the-only-true-wisdom-is-in-knowing-you-know-nothing-5789c8994cc6

Northouse, P. G. (2017). Leadership: theory and practice (8th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Dizzybutterfly reflected on the profound insights of John Burroughs in his writing, “The Secret of Happiness is Something to Do” (Watson, 1951: p. 3). The basic premise that the book conveys is that the spark of life exists when our hearts are on fire lit by our passions. Passion is the engine that spurs our life in a meaningful direction, filling us with purpose and a zest for life.

I loved how Dizzybutterfly made the connection between Burroughs’ writing with servant leadership whereby an individual desires to share their passion with others, leading to emergent leadership and mentorship. If famous figures did not follow their passions, and therefore engage in mentoring others, the world would never have reaped the fruits of their labour. For example, Steve Jobs had Bill Campbell as a mentor and Bill Gates had Warren Buffet as a mentor (Rashid, 2017). After a mentee achieves excellence, emergent leadership characteristics come out, and they wish to give back through the act of mentoring. For example, Steve Jobs eventually mentored Mark Zuckerberg. Servant leaders wish to see their followers grow, accomplish their aspirations, and ultimately reach their full potential (Northouse, 2017: p.236). Servant leaders, such as the leaders named, are focused on empowering and adding value to the community at large. They likely would not have been as effective nor revolutionize society if following their passion wasn’t at the forefront.

I also enjoyed how Dizzybutterfly made it personal by sharing the desire to mentor and to develop others at this point in his/her career. Since I recently began my career, I am at the opposite side of the spectrum as I am looking for mentors that I can learn from. However, I have hopes of eventually experiencing emergent leadership and thus mentoring others that share my passion (once I have achieved excellence). Not only must I share my knowledge and experience that I have collected over the years but also demonstrate servant leadership qualities in all aspects of the mentorship. I want to inspire others to become servant leaders, embodying strong moral ethics by putting the needs of others first. Thank you Dizzybutterfly for this inspiring blog!

Christina

Northouse, P. G. (2017). Leadership: theory and practice (8th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Rashid, B. (May, 2017). 3 Reasons all Great Leaders have Mentors (and Mentees). Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianrashid/2017/05/02/3-reasons-all-great-leaders-have-mentors-and-mentees/#7f5a698113f9

Watson, L. E. (1951). Light from Many Lamps. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.