Friday, February 27, 2015

A633.7.3.RB - Leader Follower Relationship

When I think about myself as a leader and what I would want from a leader, I always think about the followers first and how I can help them grow and be successful.  In my current job, I try to implement this strategy through some of the tools I have learned throughout this program.  After taking this assessment, I found that it was fairly accurate to how I current take steps to be a leader.  I scored 9 points in the strategy 3 section (involve), 4 points in the strategy 4 section (devolve), 2 in strategy 1 (tell), and 1 in strategy 2 (sell). 
For the strategy 3 (involve), I think this most closely resembles my actions as a leader.  I am very people oriented because I often feel that with my skill set and personality, being people oriented will help reach the goal.   I also think that I scored highest in this section because I often times question my decisions and whether or not I am leading the right way.  My lack of confidence is something that I feel I have learned to develop a lot more with the help of the courses I have taken in this program.   Aside from lacking confidence, when I feel that there are a variety of right answers to a solution, I tend to let the follower make the decision, not because I feel my decision would be inaccurate, but because I feel like it will help to empower the individual and take on more ownership of their tasks. 
The second category I scored highest in was strategy 4.  Strategy 4 is also very similar to the way I try to lead throughout the day.  Especially in my current job, a lot of the followers are very knowledgeable in their particular tasks, so I feel that I do not necessarily need to intervene with their decision making process, unless I feel it hinders us reaching our goal.  The followers here know the boundaries and the rules, so I am simply a monitor in the situation.   Both strategy 3 and 4 and styles that I felt I naturally gravitated toward, but never really understood how to ‘own my voice’ in them.  I have started to learn to develop and grow this voice throughout the program and it has helped me greatly with understanding different situations and making the right leadership call for those situations. 
I started my current job around the same time I started this class.  This was my first opportunity to really be in a leadership role in a company where my actions and decisions are widely seen and speculated.  I was very nervous at the beginning, but it paired nicely with the conversations we were having in the class.  I have learned that there are a variety of different ways to lead and that the way I was gravitating toward could be successful.  This has helped my confidence grow overall, as well as allowed me to implement different strategies suggested in our readings throughout the course of my position.  I would like to further work on developing my voice and learning about situational actions to take.  I feel I still struggle with leading a group that is a lot more knowledgeable about different tasks.  While I am always eager to learn, I also recognize that people see that as a lack of ability to lead.  I feel that working on my questions to ask and strategies to develop in my leadership role will help others see me as someone who is eager to learn, but also has a lot to offer.


Obolensky, N. (2010). Complex adaptive leadership embracing paradox and uncertainty. Farnham, Surrey: Gower.

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