Final

Final Paper Jessica Triplett BUS 691 Melanye Smith 07/08/13

Final Abstract

In this paper I will explain what characterized my personal best leadership experience. I will describe who was involved, where and when it took place, and who initiated it. I will talk about what approach I applied to the situation, what type of leadership I would classify myself as in this situation, and what motivated me to engage in the project. I will convey how I challenged myself and others? I will talk about what I aspired to achieve, how I built enthusiasm and excitement, how I involved others, and how I fostered collaboration. I will review how I built trust and respect, how I built the capacity to excel, and what values and principles guided the others and me. I will describe how I set the example, how I progressed from one milestone to another, how I recognized individuals, and how I celebrated success. Lastly I will reveal what lessons about leadership I learned from the experience.

Final Final Paper The leadership situation that I will use that characterized my personal best leadership experience would be when I was the captain of my basketball team in college. I went to a small community college and the coach of the team was brand new to the school. To be honest, it seemed to me as though he was fairly new to the game of basketball. I have no idea how he got the job but he did.

The people who were involved directly were my team mates, the coach, and I. The where was Colorado Northwestern Community college and it was the 2005-2006 season. The reason I consider it my personal best leadership experience is because I was the one who initiated it. I stepped up because I saw a role that needed to be filled and problems that needed solutions. I saw teammates who needed more to become better and I wanted to help. It was that desire to help that also made me aspire to achieve. Basketball is statistical so there were many statistical goals that we came up with as a team that we hoped to achieve. There were other achievements that I brought to the team personally. Basketball is a team sport and I think it is essential that each player knows his role on the team. I aspired that everyone would find their most successful role and like it. I tried to accomplish this through my leadership style. In addition, specific drills at practice carry over into games. Therefore, it is imperative that the players attend practices to ensure they know their role. I aspired to achieve perfect practice attendance because as the saying goes, practice makes perfect. While I understood that perfection is optimistic, practice certainly would not make us worse. I added incentives to be gained at the end of the season from perfect attendance, other than the strides of achievements made as a team working together, to encourage these aspirations.

Final

4 Contemporary leaders are trained to value and acknowledge each person. Contemporary

leadership reflects progressive ideals of equality and collaboration in leadership. Contemporary trends encourage leaders to co-exist and collaborate with subordinates rather than to dictate or rule over them. Contemporary leadership promotes the creation of leaders rather than managers. The assigned leaders name to the team was Mr. David Beaver; he was the coach and because he was so new to the team, and it seemed to the game, he quickly chose a contemporary leadership approach to leading the team. There are several different contemporary leadership approaches. There is the transformational theory which focuses on the leader and employee working together for the greater good. The theory places strong emphasis on one individual engaging others and creating a connection that elevates the level of motivation and morality in both the leader and the follower. Transformational leadership merges ideals and focuses to unite both the employee and the manager. Transformational leadership promotes change. The key to transformational leadership is to actively listen and institute pertinent suggestions. There is the transactional leadership theory. Transactional leaders view the leaderfollower relationship as a process of exchange. The transactional leader uses his/her position in order to encourage desired behaviors and tends to gain compliance by offering rewards for performance or threatening punishment for non performance and non compliance. The transactional leader does not focus on the individual needs of the follower, nor does the transactional leader focus on the personal development of the follower. Transactional leaders are usually influential because it is in the best interest of the follower to do what the leader asks. Under each of the transformational and transactional leadership types there are several subcategories of type. Mr. Beaver was trying to use the transformational leadership style that was

Final inspirational. His knowledge of the game was not great, so instead he chose to go with inspirational motivation to lead. He articulated an appealing vision of the future and challenged us to reach high standards and expectations as a team. He provided encouragement and optimism. However, unfortunately, for us he provided very little directive. This is where the situational leadership framework would have been quite useful in

understanding the leadership applied to this situation. Mr. Beaver was very focused on friendship and good relationships with the girls on the team but he lacked any focus on goals or strategy. The situational leadership theory is based on task and relationship behaviors. The four basic leadership styles are based on task behavior as one axis of a graph and relationship behavior as the other axis. Style 1 or directing is a high task and low relationship style. The style 1 leader uses above-average amounts of task behavior and below-average amounts of relationship behavior. Style 2 or coaching is high task and high relationship style. The style 2 leader uses greater-than-average amounts of both task and relationship behaviors. Style 3 or supporting is a high relationship and low task style. The style 3leader exhibits greater-thanaverage amounts of relationship behavior and below-average amounts of task behavior. Style 4 or delegating is a low relationship and low task style. The style 4 leader uses below-average amounts of both relationship and task behaviors. Mr. Beaver used style 3, high relationship and low task, to coach and lead the team with. Generally style 3 would be used for followers who have high competence and variable commitment. The problem was that most of the players on the team were freshmen who were new to college level playing, strategy, and styles of basketball. Lucky for me, this opened the opportunity for me to emerge as a leader myself. For example, Mr. Beaver would open the floor at practice to discussion of possible offenses or defenses that we could use. He was really nice

Final about trying all the suggestions that the team put forth. In the end though, there were several of my ideas that prevailed strategy wise because I could communicate the reasons and strategies behind them when the other girls could not. I could prove that a certain defense was superior to another for reasons one, two, and three. I had the ability to point out during play and during a

walk-through the pros and cons of a variety of offensive and defensive strategies. I was lucky to be able to compliment Mr. Beavers high relationship/low task style with a high relationship/high task style because I had the knowledge and the ability to direct. I believe it was why he chose me to lead as captain. Mr. Beavers style of high relationship and low task was not appropriate and ineffective because the players did not have the competence and knowledge to be able to be successful without some strategic direction. Mr. Beaver needed more direction and less support for his leadership to become more successful. The transformational leadership approach he chose to go with could have been a good decision with more directive behavior added to it. The appealing future and the challenges he set motivated us. But we did not have the tools or the direction we needed. It was the only missing element in his style and approach to being our coach. My leadership style is high relationship and high task. I consider my path goal style to be the participative style and supportive. The participative leader following the path-goal theory works directly with the followers to ensure that what needs to be done is accomplished. The leader involves the workers as participants in the overall process by requesting ideas and suggestions in order to increase the satisfaction of subordinates as well as their effectiveness. This method of relating to subordinates naturally increases their job satisfaction and makes it more likely for goals to be reached.

Final As the captain of my team, I was fully concerned with each and every player on the team. In order to be successful, there has to be chemistry and flow on the floor as well as off. Being a path-goal leader means continually being supportive of the subordinates. The leader

believes in their individual skills and is dedicated to helping one and all to succeed. An example of this type of leader is the individual who stays in contact with employees each step of the path. Moreover, he is concerned not only with performance but also with the emotional well-being of his workers. He is connected with the employee as person and not just as a worker. This aspect of path-goal leadership helps create a friendlier work environment that is beneficial to everyone. As expected, each of my subordinates, or team mates, had a personality all their own. I had several subordinate characteristic types on the team. My style of participative and supportive did well and was appropriate to approach and motivate most of my team. Those who I found that I was unable to personally motivate I was still able to motivate through others on the team. There were a number of tasks to accomplish to become a successful team. In a vaguer overview of basketball, the main tasks are pass the ball, score points, defend the basket, and rebound the ball on both ends of the court. While our team did not do well overall, I know that my style was effective because as the season progressed our numbers in each category only got better and better. Although in basketball there is no one right way of achieving a goal, as is generally true with path-goal style, I do believe that the path-goal leadership approach would be useful in understanding the leadership applied. I believe this because knowing ways to help your subordinates overcome obstacles is what good leadership is all about. Understanding your subordinates characteristics is extremely important because understanding them will help you to connect with them and create relationships. Relationships will help efficiency, help motivation,

Final and help get things done. Leaders who show the way and help followers along a path are effectively 'leading'. Teams focus on accountability and commitment. They form for a purpose and operate

through norms and shared expectations. This was how I involved everyone on the team and how I fostered collaboration. I built trust and respect by holding myself to the same, or higher, standards of accountability and commitment that I expected from everyone on the team. Teams form through an intentional process. The starting point was having team members begin by sharing their individual strengths. Who felt they will need help on certain aspects of their game? I asked the team to individually assess themselves and share results using respectful communication. The goal was not to judge differences, but to open up their minds so we could make room for everyone to participate. I had seen groups fail because members did not pull their weight, were not accountable, and did not really collaborate. I thought that a thorough discussion about the meaning of teamwork often and a challenge really helped. We constantly assessed and challenged the team to assess how we, as a team and individually, would hold ourselves accountable for our goals. In addition, I recognized and acknowledged out-of-the-box thinking. I found that rewards for innovation and the invitation for inspiration often fostered collaboration, built respect, and built the capacity to excel. The values and principles that guided me and others fall to high ethics. Ethics is central to leadership because of the process of influence, the need to engage followers to accomplish mutual goals, and the impact leaders have on establishing the organizations values. There are 5 principals of ethical leadership. Looking back on the situation, I can honestly say that I feel like I used each of those principals in some capacity or another to guide me and my team. Principal 1 is a leader respects others. A leader treats others as ends rather than as

Final means. A leader shall treat other peoples values and decisions with respect, allow others to be themselves with creative wants and desires, and approach others with a sense of unconditional

worth and value individual differences. I have already talked about how being a path goal leader helped value my teammates as individuals. The respect certainly did not detract from my leadership. Principal 2 is a leader serves others. A leader is follower-centered, which is based on the altruistic principle of placing followers foremost in the leaders plans. A leader has a duty to help others pursue their own legitimate interests and goals. It is a leaders job to be stewards of the organizations vision; in serving others they: clarify, nurture, and integrate the vision with, not for, organization members. Leaders have an ethical responsibility to make decisions that are beneficial to the followers welfare. Serving my team was a way to serve achievement for us all. Principal 3 is a leader shows justice. Ethical leaders are concerned with issues of fairness and justice; they place issues of fairness at the center of their decision making. Leaders shall adhere to principles of distributive justice. Leadership behaviors will be such that all subordinates are treated in an equal manner. In special treatment/special consideration situations, grounds for differential treatment are clear, reasonable, and based on sound moral values. While there were teammates that I preferred to be around more than others, when it came to the team I never treated anyone differently. Everyone got the same rewards and the same reprimands, including me. Fairness and equality was a factor that helped in collaboration as well. Principal 4 is that a leader manifests honesty. Honest leaders are authentic, but also sensitive to the feelings and attitudes of others. Leaders are not deceptive. Leaders tell the truth with a balance of openness and candor while monitoring what is appropriate to disclose in a particular situation. Leaders dont promise what they cant deliver, dont suppress obligations,

Final 10 dont evade accountability, and do not accept survival of the fittest pressures. Also, leaders acknowledge and reward honest behavior in the organization. This is a big quality that I hold high in everyday life, and so it really was something that meant a lot to me to stand firm and deliver to my team. I was honest in all aspects from individual to team issues. My honesty earned me a lot of respect from my teammates. I believe it really helped the team feel comfortable being honest with each other too. Principal 5 is a leader builds community. Leaders take into account purposes of everyone in the group, and reach out beyond their own mutually defined goals to a wider community. Concern for common good means leaders cannot impose their will on others; they search for goals that are compatible with everyone. My service to my team is how I helped to build community. In addition, we tried to involve the entire campus throughout our seasonal efforts. As a team we challenged the school to show support for us and all of the athletic programs. The two most important principals that guided my leadership were a leader respects others and a leader manifests honesty. The other principals would not have worked as successfully without these two. You cannot serve dishonestly. You cannot show justice dishonestly. You cannot build community dishonestly. You cannot serve others without respecting them. You cannot show justice equally without respect. You cannot build community without having a respect for the community you are building. Having respect for others and manifesting honesty truly helped cultivate the other principals and that is why I think that they were, and are, the two most important principals. The lessons about leadership that I learned from that experience have stuck with me through time. Leaders dont always do the right thing even when people are looking. Part of being a leader is being human. Mistakes will be made, by everyone, and the sooner you realize

Final 11 that and the sooner you figure out learning from them is the key, then the better leader you will become in time. Leadership is hard. It doesnt matter if you have been a leader for years, have been promoted for the first time yesterday, have voluntarily stepped into it, or have been forced into the role. Leading others is hard. Anytime you are dealing with other human beings, things will not be easy. When you become responsible for others, at times it can seem and feel near impossible to find success. However, when you connect and lead even a few people successfully it is incredibly rewarding. You will never be able to lead everyone. I think that people will find throughout a personal and professional life that you cannot connect and lead everyone in every group. This is where putting others on your team and surrounding yourself with great people is the key to success. Your leadership style has to be you. People dont follow others that they perceive as fake. Genuineness is immeasurably one of the keys to successful leadership. While trust from your team, co-workers, boss, friends, and family is almost always built a bit differently, it is almost uniformly destroyed in an instance when people dont trust you. Focus on being real, being you, and leading people naturally from within. If you try to be someone you are not people will take notice. When they do, it is often the end of any respect you have earned. The end of respect for you means the end of your role as leader.

Final 12 References House, Robert J. A Path Goal Theory of Leader Effectiveness. Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 3 (Sep., 1971), pp. 321-339. Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2391905 Northouse, P. (2013). Leadership theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.