Strategy #3

After completing the exercise at the beginning of Chapter 10 in our text (Obolensky, 2014) I realized that I am considered to be a leader who likes to involve my team, I am high on people and low on goal. After going through this text over the last six weeks I believe that my thinking has changed a lot, hence this is the reason that I believe my strategy when working with others has become more in-tune with that of “strategy 3” (Obelensky, 2014, pg. 172).  This strategy is “used either when the leader does not know or chooses to hold back to allow others to discover the solution.

This is an important strategy for me because currently I am working in an environment which has a very old way of thinking and leadership skills. A lot of information is passed down from the top to the bottom and the manager is doing a lot of the work. In this environment the employees are kept on a short leash and are not exercising any creativity or leadership skills. I believe that my organization would be a lot more efficient if we had individuals making their own decisions instead of waiting for the manager to make it for them. I believe in the empowerment of employees, if I can sit back to a certain extent and let my employees begin to solve their own issues; then perhaps I can breed a culture of independent thinkers. By carrying out this strategy I would like to shy away from a dependent culture which floods my managers and leaders with extra work.

In our reading we talk a lot about empowering employees and avoiding the “vicious circle for leaders” (Obelensky, 2014, pg. 162); in the vicious circle followers will ask for constant advice from leaders, this will cause concern, followed by a leader taking on a more hands on approach, followed by lower employee confidence. The problem with the vicious circle for leaders is that this is a never ending cycle in which leaders will breed a culture of dependency. By me allowing my employees to figure issues out, I am instead breeding a culture which allows employees to flourish and know that I am okay with them making their own decisions.

I can understand how perhaps “strategy 3” calls for a lower focus on goals, but I believe that when I first become a leader and I am trying to build a relationship with my followers, this can be an essential move in the long run. Obelensky (2014) tells us that “Leaders get the followers they deserve, followers get the leaders they deserve”. This quote makes me feel like the product which I create as a leader will follow me for my time of being in charge of a group. Once a certain behavior is embedded into the culture of a group, it might be difficult to change with the same leadership in charge.

I fully believe that as a future leader, I will make it my main focus to use “strategy 3” from our Obelensky text to mold my team. I believe that once we have the people skills down and we are running as a strong team, then perhaps we can shift gears and move onto a more goal focused strategy. Goals are very important to maintain as a leader, but goals cannot be accomplished efficiently without a strong team to work with.

References:

Obolensky, N. (2014). Complex Adaptive Leadership: Embracing Paradox and Uncertainty. Farnham, Surrey: Gower.