LEADERSHIP STYLE REFLECTION

Leadership Style Reflection

Business Administration 3500

University of Missouri

Ella Morris
LEADERSHIP STYLE REFLECTION

As of right now, my biggest leadership role was last summer with my neighborhood
swim team as the Head Coach. I supervised over 200 swimmers, 8 coaches, 16 assistant coaches
and over 300 parent volunteers. I took pride in this position, because I wanted it since I started
swimming when I was 5 years old. I had to compete with people who were much older and had
more job experience than I did. However, I knew this position like the back of my hand and
spoke to all the previous head coaches to make sure I knew exactly what I was doing. By taking
all these steps to learn the role, I accomplished my goal and got the position. This job was mostly
concerned about managing people and making sure everyone was doing their job to make the
swimmers and parents happy.
My leadership style is a collaborative leader, which does not surprise me at all. I have
always known that one of my biggest strengths is empathy and that I work best in leadership
teams. In every aspect of my life, I always try to surround myself with people who inspire me,
because then I can be my best, motivated self. However, I know that this leadership style is not
what most people think of when they hear the word leader. Most people think of a leader as
someone who knows exactly what to do and tells subordinates what they want them to do. This is
not my approach at all. I tend to get input from the team and then decide what is best. According
to author Dick Van Dierendonck, there is a leadership form called Servant Leadership; “Servant
leadership is demonstrated by empowering and developing people; by expressing humility,
authenticity, interpersonal acceptance, and stewardship; and by providing direction. A high-
quality dyadic relationship, trust, and fairness are expected to be the most important mediating
processes to encourage self-actualization, positive job attitudes, performance, and a stronger
organizational focus on sustainability and corporate social responsibility.” This leadership style
goes beyond the collaborator style in that I enjoy empowering other people and do more than
simply connecting them to other leaders (Dierendonck, 2011, p.1287). The textbook also uses
this servant leadership mold and tells the reader that this style of leadership, “is also very
consistent with connected leadership, reflecting the shift from the leader as hero to being the
enabler of others” (Hayward, 2015). However, this style does not always work well in different
settings. When it comes to making hard decisions on my own, I struggle. I always need input
from other people to make sure I am choosing the right decision. Also, because I like to
empower people, I hate to confront people if they are not doing what they are supposed to be
doing. I know that ultimately everyone has to have these tough conversations for the better of the
relationship and the company.
My leadership role as a head swim coach worked perfectly with my leadership style. I
worked primarily with 7 other coaches. We all knew each other very well, so I was comfortable
telling them what I needed from them. When a situation would arise, I would talk to all 7 of them
and see what the group consensus was. The previous head coaches had the same approach and it
tended to be the best way of running the team. According to the Harvard Business Review, there
are four parts of being a collaborator, “playing the role of connector, attracting diverse talent,
modeling collaboration at the top, and showing a strong hand to keep teams from getting mired
in debate.” For the swim team, I was the connector in that I coordinated with the parent
representatives to let the rest of the coaches what to do as well as coaching with the swimmers. I
was also strong at attracting diverse talent when choosing who the other coaches would be. I
hand selected the ones corresponding with the specific age group that they would work best with.
Collaboration at the top looked like coaches meetings with the parent representatives. Often
times other parents would like to get involved, but we preferred to meet in private, which brings
me to my next point. I would prefer to just talk to the specific people, so that not every person
LEADERSHIP STYLE REFLECTION

slightly involved on the team needed to be there. It works much better than getting the opinion of
everyone else (Ibarra, Hansen, 2011). Having this leadership role really made me realize how I
work with others and how I can set new goals to become a better leader.
From here, I would like to work primarily on my confrontation skills and learn how to
become better at decision making. First and foremost, I would like to apply for more leadership
opportunities within the University of Missouri. I am currently in a business fraternity and one of
my goals is to run for a couple positions. I have been in this organization for two years now, and
I feel ready to take on a leadership position. Another goal I would like to accomplish is to start
an organization on campus. I know that in doing so, I will grow more in an entrepreneur sense
and gain an understanding of what it is like to start something completely new.
LEADERSHIP STYLE REFLECTION

REFERENCES:

Hayward, S. Connected Leadership. [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved

from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781292104799/

Ibarra, H, Hansen M. (2011). Are you a Collaborative Leader? How Great CEOs Keep Their
Teams Connected. Harvard Business Review,
https://www.computerworlduk.com/cmsdata/whitepapers/3401607/areyouacollaborativeleader.p
df

van Dierendonck, D. (2011). Servant Leadership: A Review and Synthesis. Journal of

Management, 37(4), 1228–1261. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206310380462