Month: May 2018

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Follow the Leader-LDRS 500-ASSIGNMENT 1

Follow the Leader-LDRS 500-ASSIGNMENT 1

 

Bill Gate is the leader I follow occasionally. He is known as a  passionate techie and shrewd businessman. He is the founder of Microsoft and a world-leading philanthropist with his passion for innovation. I followed him on the main social media platforms Facebook and Twitter. Bill tweeted out saying ” my background [in the tech sector] say to me that a data-driven contribution might be an area where I can help add some value,” Bill Gate. I observed certain characteristics that indicate he is a phenomenal leader who can attract followers using his ability to stimulate change, improve the environments and push societal development to the next level. He has made a great impact on my mind and influenced me to learn from him.

https://twitter.com/BillGatesref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Bill, The Visionary Leader

In the summer of 2008, Gates left his day-to-day role with Microsoft to focus on philanthropy. His primary areas of interest in philanthropy have been improving health and helping to relief diseases, such as polio, HIV/AIDS/ malaria which affect young children. He has also given a significant amount of focus to environmental issues. One of his projects includes a clean energy initiative towards global warming. The foundation works to save lives and improve global health and is working with Rotary International to eliminate polio.

As of 2015, Gates and his wife, Melinda,  gifted over $32 billion to charities and scientific pursuits geared to bring first world quality of life to third world regions through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates is a prime example of how a leader can use their status to help others and provide opportunities for those less fortunate he believes that mankind “doesn’t relate to any particular religion; it’s about human dignity and equality.”

Gates’s donations have inspired other entrepreneurs to also make significant contributions toward varying causes, including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. Leaders and citizens alike can learn from Gates’s “selfless derive” to serve and improve the lives of fellow humans, as well as the world itself. One thing to rule out is ” that all lives have equal value and we should treat people as we would like to be treated.”  In return, as a leader, Gates receives happiness by knowing he is providing benefits that will then help shape the planet for those generations to come. He understands what needs to be done and knows how to execute to become more productive and successful.

Creating values for the communities which have a positive impact on society throughout the world. Health equity is one of Bill’s concerns. He wants every person—no matter where they live or what their income level is—to have the same opportunity to grow and thrive. Bill commented on his progress saying ” I’m hopeful we will one day live in a world where a child born in sub-Saharan Africa has the same odds of surviving to adulthood as a child born in Europe or the United States.” His valiant effort has supported the decrease in children’s deaths. Lastly, statistics show that ” The number of children who die before their 5th birthday has been cut in half since 1990, and 86 percent of kids around the world receive necessary vaccinations.”

Gate leveraged this framework to become a legend based on the expert knowledge he pursued and collected. Gates uses emotional intelligence to “channel people’s energy well [so] we can harness their talents to become teachers, work with the elderly, and solve other problems.” He harnessed the passion he developed for industries and communities and made a “conscious choice to stay as open” as he can. “Because when someone decides to tell you their story, what they’re doing is pouring their heart out to you”— he believes it’s his job “[to] listen, and ultimately to pour what [he] hear[s] back into the foundation.” With his visionary ideas, he proposed and executed on his social network to mentor and exchange with others creating a domino effect.

My advice to Bill is to continue using his platform to connect with more people who want to contribute towards cancer. Cancer causes many casualties to many families and can result in irreversible damage to the human body. Bill Gates should keep his eyes fixed on the future and catch on problems prematurely so that he and his followers can anticipate the next move and stop the problem from spreading.

His leadership style aligns with the transformational servant leadership model and should continue using it. Lastly, I would suggest to gates to spread the word that “The first order of business to build a group of people who, under the influence of the institution, grow taller and become healthier, stronger, more autonomous” (Greenleaf, 1977, p.40).

References:

https://twitter.com/CEPIvaccines?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fcepi.net%2Fhttps://blog.ted.com/this-billion-dollar-fund-wants-to-prevent-the-next-epidemic/

https://www.ted.com/speakers/bill_gateshttps://www.biographyonline.net/business/bill-gates.html

Pettinger, Tejvan. “Biography of Bill Gates”, Oxford, UK. www.biographyonline.net, 25th Feb. 2015. Updated 10th February 2018.

Greenleaf, R. (1977). Servant leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness. New York, NY: Paulist Press.

 

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LDRS 500-Unit 1-LA 5

LDRS 500-Unit 1-LA 5

 

Unit 1 Learning Activities

The principle of servant leadership

Servant leadership, which originated in the writings of Greenleaf (1970, 1972, 1977), has been of interest to leadership scholars for more than 40 years. Servant leadership is an approach that runs counter to common sense. Greenleaf (1970) suggested that servant leadership is a unique leadership philosophy that “begins with natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead” (as cited in Northouse, 2018, p. 220). The Communication between leaders and followers is an interactive process that includes sending and Receiving. Servant leaders communicate listening first to serve. Northouse (2018) viewed Listening as a “learned discipline that involves hearing and being receptive to what others have to say” (p.221).

Listening allow us to be aware and help us to discern the information that leads to understanding and have a better conversation. I work as a medical laboratory technologist, dealing with nurses, doctors, coworkers, and students, which requires having an active listening skill to be able to serve. It necessitates listening genuinely with the intention to understand then collaborate with others. Jit, Sharma, Kawatra (2016) examined the choice of conflict management strategies made by servant leaders and found they “exhibited highly rational skills regarding their ability to listen actively and understand the situation and build trust to have a genuine agreement in resolving conflict” (p.600). Servant leaders demonstrate listening to help in the diagnosis of a conflict situation and bring an amicable solution to the table.

Empathy is feeling with people and begin with listening. It’s quality that requires perspective taking and staying out of judgment and reminds me when I have to resolve an issue arisen with two coworkers on their assigned bench. Different opinions and perspectives caused a problem. Recognizing the emotions of other people and communicate them helped in resolving the issue. Empathy It’s a vulnerable choice when servant leader puts followers first; it gives the leader a better understanding, and take action to alleviate their suffering. Northouse (2018) noted, “empathetic servant leaders demonstrate that they truly understand what followers are thinking and feeling” (p.221). It manages emotional turmoil after
conflict and anguishes employee distresses and workplace incivility. Empathy sustains a relationship and brings the best among workers (Jit et al. (2017).

Commitment to the growth of people as noted in Northouse (2018), that servant leaders are committed to helping each person in the organization grow personally and professionally” (p.222). A great leader strives to enable their followers to grow their potential and servant leaders believe if you create the right value and culture, followers will do extraordinary things. A fundamental study by Schaubroeck, Lam, and Peng (2011) explained servant leadership focuses on promoting integration among unit members and
“influenc[ing] the team performance through affect-based trust and team psychological safety. This quality has been modeled in my team lead on a daily basis. She focused on her team members to give us the support needed to meet our work and personal goals. I grew in my profession to take an extra role in my job. Through the leader-followers relationship, servant leader committed to helping followers with intrinsic values that go above and beyond. I believe the commitment to the growth of people is my next endeavor to examine and help coworkers and students to reach their potential.

How did servant leaders expect to make a decision in a culture where managers and leaders in position?

Reference

Jit, R., Sharma, C. S., & Kawatra, M. (2016). Servant Leadership and conflict resolution: a qualitative study. IJMCM: International Journal of Conflict Management, 27(4), 591-612. doi:10.1108/IJCMA-12-2015-0086

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice, Seventh Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN 971452203409

Schaubroeck, J., Lam, S. K., & Peng, A. C. (2011). Cognition-based and affect-based trust as mediators of leader behavior influences on team performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(4), 863-871

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LDRS 500-Unit 1-LA 4

LDRS 500-Unit 1-LA 4

 

Unit 1 Learning Activities

What distinguishes assigned leaders from emergent leaders?

Leadership, as a process, applies to individuals in both assigned roles and emergent roles. Northhouse (2018) explained the two common forms of leadership. “Assigned leadership is based on a formal title or position in an organization. Emergent leadership results from what one does and how one acquires support from followers” (p15).

Assigned leaders derive their authority from their formal positions, unlike assigned leader, when an employee begins taking on tasks voluntarily, helping others complete their tasks better and encouraging consensus among coworkers to leverage commitment to assigned group goals, this person according to Northhouse (2018) is an emergent leader. Emergent leaders garner leadership recognition through the enactment of behavior and characteristics over a period through communication and interaction. Kickul & Neuman (2000) implicit that, “extroversion, openness to experience and cognitive ability were predictive of emergent leadership behaviors. Conscientiousness and cognitive ability were associated with team performance” (p.27).

Some of the positive communication behaviors proposed by (Fisher, 1974) that account for emergent leader “being verbally involved, being informed, seeking others’ opinion, initiating new ideas, and being firm but not rigid” (as cited in Northhouse, 2018, p.8). Regarding communication and behaviors,  certain personality traits examined in 160 participants, three features; Dominance, intelligence, and confidence were seen to shed light on emergent leaders’ perceptions (Smith and Foti 1998, as cited in Northhouse 2018, p.8).  It appears that emergent leader fits the identity of the group in sharing and working towards a common goal.

In the notion of emergent leadership, I would like to share with you my story. Last year, during my shift, I received a phone call from a nurse asking about what to do with the glucometer – it’s not working. In the back of my mind, I had no idea of what to do. Then I responded back to her as to bring the glucometer for fixing as I would provide her with a spare one. That was the beginning of my interest to learn more about the glucometers.

My supervisor explained what I need to do in this situation. During that time, I thought what I could do to help. Then I started to read more about it. Few months after, she asked me to run comparison tests on one of the glucometers to validate the results. I was excited and felt that I was not ready. As she explained the steps, and I followed through, I provided her the results; then I was asked to do a test and have access to deal with these glucometers.

Since that day I finished a course in point f care testing, and I joined the point of care testing team. I started to feel more confident about what I am doing and why I am doing it, to take an extra role in my job, my motivation was to help and serve patient first.

Recently, I am involved in reviewing a new procedure, which I am going to use what I learned from quality management system course that I just finished. One of my colleagues mentioned to me that I am a good tech to look after these glucometers. I am looking forward to improving what I am doing.

I believe I was seen by my previous supervisor and recently my current team leader. I will continue to share my highs and lows, and I will continue to examine further to find what I can do better to improve. Leaders have a vision of a big picture, and a great leader strives to enable their followers to grow their Potential.

Are managers considered as a leader? Are they the two sides of a coin?

Management emerged in the early part of the 20th century. Management is about seeking orders and stability, whereas the leadership function is to produce change and movement. To understand the dynamics of the leader-manager relationship, Northhouse (2018) noted that, “Rosto (1991) contended
that leadership is a multidirectional influence relationship and management is a unidirectional authority relationship. Whereas leadership is concerned with the process of developing mutual purposes, management directed toward coordinating activities to get a job done” (as cited in Northhouse, 2018, p.13).

The functionality of management-leadership relationship resides where management planning and budgeting and Leaders establishing the direction; managers organizing and staffing where leaders are aligning people; managers controlling and problem-solving where leaders are motivating and inspiring (Northhouse, 2018).

In a recent study, Simonet and Tett (2012) explored how “leadership are distinguished by motivating intrinsically, creative thinking, strategic planning, tolerance of ambiguity, and being able to read people, and management was distinguished by rule orientation, short-term planning, motivating extrinsically, orderliness, safety concerns, and timeliness” (as cited in Northhouse, 2018, p.13). Change needs the direction and problem-solving needs emotions with considering the intrinsic and extrinsic factors for these activities to played out in balance; therefore, a manager-leader relationship is essential if an organization is to prosper.

The overlap between leadership and management centered on how both involve influencing a group of individuals in goal attainment (Northhouse, 2018, p.16). Managers- leaders relationship resonate in balance in an ideal way to run an organization.

How do you explain the relationship that occurs in the assigned- emergent leader relation? What is the dynamics that facilitate this relationship?

Reference

Kickul, J. & Neuman, G. (2000). Emergent Leadership Behaviors: The Function of Personality and Cognitive Ability in Determining Teamwork Performance and KSAs. Journal of Business and Psychology  (15) 27. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007714801558

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice, Seventh Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN 971452203409

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LDRS 500- Unit 1-LA3

LDRS 500- Unit 1-LA3

Unit 1 Learning Activities

“Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” (Northhouse 2013, p.5).

Northhouse explicit the definition of leadership in four components: (a) process, (b) requires influence, (c) occurs in a group, (d) involves common goals. A process is the transcend event relating to exchange and interactions between leaders and followers; therefore, leaders reside in this context of which implies that “a leader affects and is affected by followers” (Northhouse 2018, p.5). In the sense of this interaction, leadership becomes available to everyone, which emphasizes that power is shared in the process. So, in this regard, is a leader born or made?.

Northhouse 2018, conceptualized the trait viewpoint of leadership as a “property or set of properties possessed to a varying degree by different people” (p.7). Since leadership is a process; therefore, “it can be observed and can be learned” (Northhouse, 2018, p.8). In my opinion, Northhouse elicited that, leaders have skills to communicate and motivate their followers to engage the leader-follower relationship. Hence, Leaders and followers must be understood in this relation to each other and collectively (Northhouse, 2018, p.6).

Leadership dyadic relationship involves “influencing” a “group” of individuals who have a “common goal” and “mutual purpose” to accomplish and satisfy the unmet needs. In this notion, power is tool leaders use to influence their followers. Northhouse (2018), treated “power as relational concerns for both leaders and followers” (p.11). Therefore, paying close attention to leaders who attend and engage their followers in satisfying the unmet needs and accomplish a common goal. To sustain the functionality of the influence and power in a leader-follower relationship, it has to be a bidirectional connection, where the exchange and interaction take place instead of one step deal. Motivation, empowering, communication and trust in this relationship allow both participants to serve and lead. Great leaders strive to enable their followers to grow their potential. Leadership instrument measures the leader’s personal and professional attributes, so if you cant measure, it doesn’t exist.

Do you think leaders are vulnerable in the leadership process? How they react to it?

Reference

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice, Seventh Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN 971452203409