Communication

What it takes to be a Leader MGT 380 Leadership for Organizations 18 July, 2011 What it takes to be a Leader There are so many lessons to be learned from day to day in life, more specifically within an organization. This course has helped to sync some of my own mental synapses in regard to my past leadership experiences and what kind of leader I want to be personally. This course is a little bit more than just an in depth look at the different leadership styles and what makes them effective or ineffective. The three main areas I’m going to focus on are the strengths and weaknesses of contemporary business leaders, the effect of power and influence on leadership and finally my personal leadership perspective and how I plan on applying it to my future as a great leader. My personal job and career situation is a unique one, I work at a pharmaceutical manufacturing lab in Iowa called Boehringer Ingelheim, as a supervisor however, right now I am stationed in Bagram Afghanistan. My other career is a Radiology Specialist with the Army, my rank in the military is E-4 or Specialist so to relate that to a civilian role I would say that I would be an intermediate employee with anywhere from 3-6 years of on the job experience or a registered diagnostic x-ray technologist at a hospital. This unique employment situation allows me to parallel two different career progression roles at the same time, we’re going to explore the decision making process between these two groups as there are similarities and differences. Leadership Decisions Being in the military provides a very interesting perspective on how decisions are made, quite frequently decisions surrounding day to day operations are delegated at leadership levels far above my level and I typically have little or no involvement in making operational decisions. As a Supervisor at the lab I work at it is a different story, my actual title is “Team Leader” basically I’m in charge of three different areas on third shift and approximately 30 employees. An important role as a team leader is to make sure that the resources of our group are being used, Receiving feedback on your performance regardless of what it may be is an invaluable tool to measure your success by; there have been many times where I’ve wished I could receive some form of input on a project or assignment. I mean how does an employee know if they are on the right track or if he/she needs to make changes to their work to meet a standard or end result' Feedback is another way we get fulfillment from a job, when we are assured we are doing things well than it’s far more likely that we will repeat the behavior to ensure we get the same results. You train a dog in the same manor, you reward the desired behavior so the dog repeats it on command and you discipline the negative behavior to deter the negative actions or outcomes. One of the major flaws of my current leadership is that they do not receive negative input or feedback very well it has been observed that the leadership takes great personal offense to any corrective suggestions; this is a barrier to effective leadership that I will cover shortly. In order to receive constructive criticism and use it to improve upon your end result takes a fair amount of self-confidence or assurance in one’s personal abilities, often times a person’s pride or ego will spark a defensive reaction to criticism, this criticism is not intended to question the leaders authority to lead the organization, only to assist in achieving a desired end result by the organizations people. Often times in my personal example the leadership is offended, because they feel they should be the subject matter expert on all things relating to the organization, where this is simply not the case, I feel this is where the next echelon of leadership has failed in communicating the roles of my current leadership. My organization is comprised of many levels of medical professionals covering all aspects of patient care, while the leader of this organization is simply a personnel leader with no formal medical education and therefore should understand when it is appropriate to allow the subject matter experts to make the decisions in an operational or patient care situation. In all honesty no one enjoys getting negative feedback; however the mature individual has the opportunity to process any negative feedback received and use it to improve upon the particular situation to better their skills for similar occasions in the future. Power in Feedback An effective leader will convey the goals and objectives of his/her subordinates in a formal manor as to ensure there are no questions about the assigned tasks. I feel that contemporary leadership has a tendency to fear negative feedback therefore they avoid it. When the tasks are completed or if there are issues pertaining to the completion of the tasks they can be addressed at various levels within an organization based on its overall structure, however without clear guidance there is opportunity for misinterpreted instructions or mistakes in task completion. An effective leader will communicate positive feedback about the success of the completed task like I mentioned earlier this reinforces that employees are doing exactly what the leadership expects of them and gives the employees a sense of fulfillment knowing that they have done well. There formal rewards like compensation for completing a task or informal rewards such as positive feedback or the occasional “good job” from the leadership. If an employee doesn’t feel appreciated or if there is a lack of feedback then there is no reason to continue exerting the same level of effort towards a successful end goal. While some people are motivated by internal intrinsic satisfaction, knowing they are doing the right thing or feeling of success, it is far more effective to receive formal feedback. Finally in a high stress or high demand work environment it is very important to maintain a positive level of morale, and unfortunately if there is no positive feedback being relayed from the leadership the overall morale of the organization can suffer from a lack of fulfillment. On the contrary, if simple praise or positive feedback is given then the members of the organization will feel more motivated to continue to be successful and organizational morale will benefit as well. Leaders must communicate Communication is a process which is comprised of both simple and complex components. The term communication is difficult to simply define because there many different definitions of communication. In 1928, author A. Richards offered in my opinion the best definition of communication. “Communication takes place when one mind so acts upon its environment that another mind is influenced, and in that other mind an experience occurs which is like the experience in the first mind, and is caused in part by that experience” (Wallace, 2009). Effective Communication In order for leaders to be successful they must be able to communicate, this requires certain skills of oral and written communication in which to perform their jobs and instruct their subordinates. People use verbal communication every day in almost all aspects of life but it is necessary to develop these skills in order to articulate workplace specifics, effective verbal communication is far more than just being able to address people or to verbalize an issue. To effectively communicate a person has to be able to address a wide range of audience in order to convey a message or give instruction, when a leader fails at ensuring their message is received then the verbal communication loses its effectiveness. Although it seems that sending and receiving information is easy for everyone to accomplish, everyone knows that there can be barriers that can get in the way while trying to relay a message or to express a feeling or emotion. These barriers can present themselves in a more inconvenient and detrimental way when a person is part of an organization. Some of the basic barriers are emotional and physical as well as ineffective listening which is receiving and interpreting communication. (Zalabak, 2000) Communication barriers can affect both the receiver and the sender to hindering communication. Emotional barriers effect communication because individuals communicate information built on their personal experiences and expectations or opinion of the person giving the information. This is one of the major keys is my personal organizations communication failures, and is also considered ineffective listening mentioned below, as I said earlier the current leader of my organization is not a medical professional so when he insists things be done in a manor inconsistent with typical protocol in the medical field he loses credibility with subordinates. Physical barriers can be anything from distance or technology malfunctions, another good example of a physical barrier is different languages, when there are different languages being used between the sender and the receiver of a message it is easy to mix up information. One of the most common communication barriers is triggered by ineffective listening. Ineffective listening is the failure to hear or retain what the other party is conveying. There are numerous reasons for this, like the credibility of the source or a possible lack of experience on the behalf of the source, the topic being discussed may be too effortless or possibly too complicated for the listener. Several different tactics may be used to overcome communication barriers as a listener, examples are to find information inside a discussion that can be valuable to you, assess, break down, and employ critical thinking, avoid interrupting until the speaker has completed his topic, take notes, avoid distractions like cell phone usage or allowing your mind to wander. Situational Leadership Every member of an organization has the capacity to learn, this includes the leadership of that organization. Being able to learn and adapt to many different situations and apply leadership techniques that are pertinent to the situation is a key in today’s modern organizations. My unique employment circumstances allow me to be a subordinate on a typical weekend at drill in the Army National Guard, and be a leader the rest of the week, so as I observe my leadership and mistakes that are made I’m learning to adapt my own skills as a leader to ensure I don’t make the same mistakes. Leaders should be mindful of their egos and learn from constructive criticism. Leaders should accept that they are not the subject matter experts in all things concerning the organization, they are not expected to be and it is actually beneficial to the organization to allow the subject matter experts to make subject related decisions under their supervision. Inspirational Leadership = Effective Leadership With inspiration comes power and influence, if you have ever played organized sports you probably have a coach or team mate who was a good overall communicator, they inspired the team and brought out the best in all the members of the team, these are the same types of credentials that make a good organizational leader, and no matter how you break it down, it all comes down to communication. These people who have the characteristics to be good leaders also exemplify a great amount of power and influence, effective use of this power is a challenging skill to master, while speaking and writing well are necessary for effective communication another major skill that I have noticed that my current organization is the ability to listen... to truly listen, when we feel a leader is honest and sincere we will naturally value that leader and he will have the power of influence because we trust their decisions. We are motivated when we have a sense of meaning; a sense of purpose, that our concerns are being heard, our fulfillment drives us to want to achieve more to work harder. Leadership is simply a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience. To inspire your workers into higher levels of teamwork, there are certain things you must be, know, and, do. These do not come naturally, but are acquired through continual work and study. Good leaders are continually working and studying to improve their leadership skills. I know this all seems redundant but this is the biggest thing that I have learned throughout this class, an open mind and an eye for constant improvement will be some of the best materials to learn from. Being an (effective) leader is far more than just being in charge and barking orders, I’ve learned that communication with subordinates, both vertically and horizontally is an invaluable tool to understanding and relaying instructions in an organization. An effective leader must be able to accept their role within the organization and not assume roles that aren’t theirs. An effective leader should motivate their subordinates by their actions and by giving praise when it’s due as well as tactful constructive criticism or counseling when appropriate. Having a respectful relationship with employees keeps them content in knowing that they are a valuable member of the organization and their concerns or interests are valued by the leadership because they are respected. However just the opposite has occurred in my present organization, the subordinates feel as if the leadership doesn’t have their best interests in mind, but only a personal agenda to be completed by the organization to improve the quantity of tasks or reflect superficial success upon the leadership, in essence just making a personal list of (organizational) accomplishments directly imposed by the leadership regardless of the actual goals and objectives for the organization, perhaps if the intentions behind the objectives where more clearly communicated the negative perception could be avoided. What I’ve Learned The biggest single thing that I have learned about Leadership in an organization is that employees are an asset instrumental to the success of an organization, in order to have a successful organization the employees must be on board with the goals and objectives communicated from the leadership. Another key take away from this class as I reflected upon my fellow classmates and the experiences they shared about their organizations and issues related directly to ineffective or simply poor leadership styles. I feel it is up to us to learn from past and present experiences with leadership failures and adapt and overcome to the challenges that we will face as leaders in organizations. A successful organization relies on communication at every point throughout that organization starting at the top; this is basically the foundation of which to build your leadership repertoire to be an effective communicator and an effective leader. References: Wallace H, C. R. (2009). Written and Interpersonal Communication: Methods for Law Enforcement. (Fourth Edition) Prentice Hall Zalabak.-Shockley. S. P. (2009) Fundamentals of Organizational Communication, (7th ED) Boston: Pearson Education. Yukl, G. (2010). Leadership in organizations (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson