LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK PAPER1
Running Header: LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK PAPER 1
Leadership Framework Paper
Brennan A. Morris
Western New Mexico University
Gallup Graduate Studies Center
Abstract
The childhood game of “Follow the Leader” can give great insight into the complexity of leadership. The five basic leadership characteristics, intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity and sociability, outline an effective leader, especially when it comes to working with people. Leadership is about people and culture. With positive determination and solid integrity, a leader can successfully motivate the group to accomplish anything. However, a leader with no integrity could be detrimental. From Hitler to Jim Jones, history has shown what a charismatic leader can do with effective leadership without any from of ethics. However, place some solid ethics into the equation; the world could be participating in one of the best “Follow the Leader” games of all time.
Leadership
Everyone remembers the game of “Simon Says.” Where on person is picked to stand in front a group of people and show people what they need to follow, or mimic. People look and listen for the commands that are tied to the secret phrase “Simon Says.” If one fails to follow the commands completely, that person is out of the game. As the followers dwindle because of simple mistakes, the person in front makes the tasks more difficult and tricky, so that just one person is left. The commands get faster and faster until finally one person is left standing. Similarly, in the game “Follow the Leader,” the chosen leader takes his or her group through various mazes of twists and turns, and the followers must follow diligently. Each member of the group strives to impress the leader and the group, so they would be chosen to be the nextleader. The one who demonstrates true desire and skill in “following the leader” is most likelychosen to be the next leader. Sometimes, children put it to a democratic vote; whereas, other children have the leader choose his or her next successor. Nonetheless, one can see that humans have been taught to lead at an early age. However, the question still lingers, what is effective leadership? Is it a game of “Simon Says” or “Follow the Leader?” Or, is it something a little more?
Northouse (2010) states, “Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.” (pg. 3) Each of the characteristics must exist together in order for effective leadership to be implemented. When one looks at the childhood game of “Follow the Leader,” one can see the influence the child leader has on his or her followers because the objective is to be the best follower, achieving a common goal. When the common goal is reached, the child leader then chooses his or her successor, the best follower. As the game continues, the previous child leader joins the rest of the group but only for a short time; because, that former child leader is devising a plan, learning the process, to become the leader once again. He or she is finding ways to make the next game even more interesting andcreative. The child is working on returning to the leadership position bylearning to be more of an effective leader. Now, I am not saying that the huge corporations in the world today are all playing the game “Follow the Leader.” But, the same methodology is taking place. The subordinates work hard to follow the leader or leaders in order to be selected a future leader; and when they are selected, they try and become the best leader possible by becoming innovative and effective. So, in reality, do childhood games offer insight into the complexity of leadership? I believe they can.
The Process
When it comes to leadership, individuals must accept that it is a process that they must endure in order to gain quality skills, traits and behavior. “Process implies that a leader affects and is affected by followers.” (Northouse, 2010, pg. 3) When a person is in a position to lead, he or she must establish a relationship with the group.Fullan, (2001), states that a successful enterprise is successful only because of its people. He further states “it is actually the relationships that make the difference.” (pg. 51) People are important, but an effective leader will build relationships to motivate the group to accomplish the goal effectively and honestly, ethically.Just like in the game, the leader is affected by the followers. If the leader chooses an obstacle to overcome that many of his or her followers can’t accomplish, the end result is that he loses his position because they don’t want to play anymore. The leader must take heed when it comes to working with his or her group, forming a positive relationship.
Through these relationships, the leader learns to adapt, adjust and feel out the needs of the workers. Northouse, (2010), explains that leadership “is not a trait or characteristic…but rather a transactional event.” (pg. 3) An effective leader will learn from his or her followers through the simple engagementwith subordinates, communicating to understand ideas and situations, and adapting to a new situation when necessary, situational leadership. (Northouse, 2010) These traits are not born; however, they are learned as the leader experiences each individual situation. Although some leaders are gifted in learning the process easily, most have to learn through experiencing leadership, a trial and error method. When a child is ousted from the “Simon Says” game, he or she sits and strategizes new methods, so he or she can stay in longer, maybe even oust the leader. The strategy isn’t meant to be mean or scrupulous, but it is only meant to make the new “Simon Says” leader better in the next round. So, in today’s world, the ousted leader may be on the side lines trying to figure out how to make the next go around effective and meaningful. In a perfect world, leaders should be perfecting themselves, learning from the mistakes and building on the triumphs.
When it comes to the traits of leadership, five components come to mind: intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity and sociability.(Northouse, 2010) Every human has these traits; nonetheless, it is how they express these traits to their fellow human beings.As a process, each leader gains intelligence and confidence in their situation. In my personal experience, as an assistant director for a performing arts group, I did have some intelligence and confidencein leading a team. However, as I lead the team through various years, I gained more intelligence and confidence. My first tour, I had minimal experience in choral conducting, which showed itself during my first rehearsal experience. However, as I continued with learning the craft of choral conducting, I gained experience and confidence in being in front of the group. Rehearsal times became more engaging. The program as a whole became more effective for both the tour members andI; because, I started to listen to those around me, which taught me to gain more confidence in leading that situation.
The Influence
An effective leader will base his or her leadership on an ethical relationship. Since leadership is a relationship between the subordinates and the leader, the leader must provide true leadership using honesty, dignity, a touch of authentic leadership. Albert Lansing, (1959), discusses Shackleton’s voyage down to Antarctica, and the difficulty he faced in surviving in the harshest conditions. Northouse, (2010), states that authentic leadership is leadership that “is transparent, morally grounded, and responsive to people’s needs and values.” (pg. 237) A leader must be somewhat transparent; however, if the subordinates lose confidence in the leader because of his or her transparency, where is the point in being authentic. A leader should be engaging and authentic when it comes to establishing a relationship; however, the leader is not in the position to make friends. He or she must realize that when push comes to shove, then the leader must take his or her position and shove. Lansing, (1959), recorded Shackleton as an engaging leader; however, Shackleton’s main concern was the survival of his men. At times, he had to shove them to do actions that they didn’t want to do; but in the end, the result was survival. Shackleton knew it, even if the sailors didn’t. So, authentic leadership does have its place in influencing groups, but leaders need to make sure there is still a line drawn between subordinates and the leader; they are still the leaders.
When influencing groups, a leader also needs to take into consideration the multicultural aspect of leading. People are similar in that they are human beings; however, people are very different when culture comes into the picture. Northouse, (2010), discusses global leadership behaviors that a leader needs to understand in order to gain an understanding of the situation. Since leadership is a relationship between people, the leader should understand the people he or she is leading.Influencing people requires that the leader knows the situation, knows the people and knows the common goal. Similarly, part of situational leadership comes from understanding the people, so the leader can adapt to the situation. A leader must know his or her people by understanding their culture. When a person, any person, goes out of their way to learn another’s culture, understand that culture, and become part of that culture, the group responds positively. They see that small glimpse of authentic leadership and begin to build a trusting relationship. In the video vignettes from the Leadership in Focus Series, a U.S. company had a problem with cultural differences when it came to gender and race. Gene Kohn brought to Japan an architect team who had female team leader. In a culture where women were not part of leadership, this situation became a difficult working environment. The company could’ve forced the team on the Japanese culture, ruining their reputation; or they could replace the leadership and established a building relationship; so in the future, Japan men could see the influence women can have. It was good to hear, that the company chose the latter. (Kohn, 2007)
Leaders are not there to change the culture, but to learn from the culture, so they can influence through positive relationships, the common goal. Even the horrific ideals of Hitler and Jim Jones started out with a positive outlook on life and the situation. Hitler pushed nationalism and patriotism. He pushed the power of the German people. (Bergen, 2002) A proud people as they were, the German people needed a charismatic leader to restart their economy. With corruption in the government, the German people looked to Hitler to re-establish their pride as German people, and Hitler used propaganda and charismatic speeches to create pride and positive nationalism in Germany. (Bergen, 2002) However, the situation started to turn when Hitler began to use fear in order to corral the German people into accepting the mass murder of innocent lives. (Crowe, 2001) Jim Jones offered a better life for those who were suffering and needed a purposeful life. (Parrish, 2009) In fact, Jim Jones left his church as a young pastor because they wouldn’t allow African Americans to be part of their congregation. Therefore, he established his own church with the idea to accept all people into his faith. However, his charismatic leadership turned into fear and many perished because they had no other way out. (Parrish, 2009) Both of these leaders came to the people with respected ideals; they understood the culture and the people. When they gained their trust, the charismatic leaders with out any ethical values turned their transformational leadership into fear; resulting in mass casualties and the Holocaust
In past experiences as a leader, I learned that culture was very important. When I was in Italy, I found out that time is not a priority. The concert was scheduled for 7PM; however, when the time came, there wasn’t a single soul in the auditorium; the concert coordinator wasn’t even present. Against company protocol, I waited. In fact, I waited until 9:30PM. At that time, I looked out into the auditorium and saw that it was packed with people, standing room only. We performed one of our best concerts that night. If I hadn’t broken company protocol, the group would’ve performed to an empty auditorium. After that performance, I knew that understanding culture was something that had to be a priority. The rest of the performances in Italy were totally against company protocol; however, I know for a fact that the people of Italy were influenced.
Achieve the Common Goal
Determination, integrity and sociability are also influential to the process of leadership. Determination “is the desire to get the job done and includes characteristics such as initiative, persistence, dominance and drive.” (Northouse, 2010, pg. 20) When a leader creates that relationship through the process and influence, he or she must now motivate the group to accomplish the common goal, achieving success. Achieving the common goal starts with a vision or purpose. When the leader identifies the vision or purpose of the organization, the process of motivating the subordinates to success becomes easier. The Path-Goal Theory “emphasizes the relationship between the leader’s style and characteristics of the subordinates and the work setting.” (Northouse, 2010, pg. 125) The point of Path-Goal leadership is to understand the workers and indentify the needs necessary to “enhance employee performance and employee satisfaction by focusing on employee motivation.” (Northouse, 2010, pg. 125) Basically, the leader finds what makes his or her group tick and capitalizes on that strength in order to turn out the best product, very effective in education.
Transformational leadership is probably the highest form of leadership around. “Transformational leadership is the process whereby a person engages with others and creates a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both the leader and the follower.” (Northouse, 2010, pg. 172) Probably the best form of a leadership because the leader has formed relationships with his or her followers. If the leader uses a bit of Path Goal Theory to remove obstacles, therefore, allowing the group to continue down their path, transformational leadership just increased its productivity. Intellect and confidence rear its head as the leader continues to influence the group to accomplish the success. If the leaders focus on what is ethical, the use of transformational leadership shouldn’t be labeled as dangerous. Northouse, (2010), explains that sometimes transformational leadership could lead to “hero leadership” or an elitist group. However, if the leader establishes good ethics on what is right as a whole versus what is wrong and selfish, “transformational leadership appears to be a valuable and widely used approach.” (Northouse, 2010, pg. 2010)
Conclusion
In the end, leadership offers many insightful characteristics; there isn’t just one leader type. The methods may scour the brain every now and then, but the reality is a leader is an individual leading other individuals through life’s path. Transformational or path goal theoryleadership needs to rely on the five major components: intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity and sociability. With the five characteristics, a leader then can learn from his or her mistakes, increase his or her awareness with those around him or her establishing culturally sensitivity, and continue to motivate the group to accomplish the goals set before them. While the process is being learned by the leader, the leader needs to remain ethical in making decisions. Leadership is about people because it is people leading people. If there is no moral or ethical ground, history could repeat itself in the end.
Northouse, (2010) gave some powerful insights on the different aspects of leadership. Looking at myself as a future principal, I would have to say that I tend to focus on the Path-Goal Theory of leadership with some team leading attributes mixed in. I do want to venture into being a transformational leader, but I need to work on my sociability skills. Leadership is learned behavior; however some learn faster than others, especially when it comes to working in a particular situation. In a school system, it is product that matters the most, student achievement. As a principal, I hope to provide a collegiate atmosphere where I can focus on removing or avoiding obstacles, so my teachers can do what they do best, inspire young people. With a growth in transformational leadership skills, the end result would mean an effective school. If the team reflects leadership, I better apply my skills to learn more about every situation, so I can be the best leader in the game “Follow the Leader,” creative, engaging and innovative.
References
Bergen, D. L. (2003). War and Genocide: A concise history of the Holocaust. Boulder, CO: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Crowe, D. M. (2001). The Holocaust, Historiography, and History. In S. Totten & S. Feinberg (Eds.), Teaching and studying the Holocaust. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.