In your reflection blog, consider how difficult
it must be for a leader to grow into a person who can lead a system-wide change
effectively. Perhaps you remember leaders who attempted system wide
interventions but failed because they were not capable of pulling it all
together. On the other hand, you may know leaders who were able to do what you
thought would be impossible. From your point of view now, what is required for
a leader to be successful?
I am someone who is moved easily by examples of advertisement
like the Apple commercial for their campaign “Think Different”. This commercial displayed images of some of
the most important leaders and change makers in the 20th
century. It is so easy to get stuck in a
rut of constantly feeling like you could be doing more, but decide to stay put
with where you are because reaching those goals might feel totally unachievable. I feel like this is a subject that occupies
my mind quite often. This Leadership program
has really helped me understand that goals do not have to be impossible if you
set your mind to something and understand how to implement successful
strategies, both in my personal life and professional life. So the question becomes not asking yourself
if it “is even possible to reach these goals”, but instead “what can I do to
make it happen?”
I came
across a quote from Claudio Fernandez-Araoz, an Argentinian author, speaker,
and global expert on talent and leadership.
According to BusinessWeek, he is one of the most influential executive
search consultants in the world. According to Fernandez-Araoz, “the world would
be a better place if the right people were at the top, and if we could become
better at identifying our high potentials, and if we could become much better
at motivating and developing them.” (Fernandez-Araoz,
2014). What stands out to me most is Fernandez-Araoz’s comment about
potential. I feel that now, more than
ever, seeking out candidates who have potential is far more important than
competency or experience. Fernandez-Araoz
pointed out that the world market is running short of critical talent for a
variety of reasons, but the solution to this is not just hire someone from
another company who offers experience, but to instead as a company, become
better at identifying high potentials within your own organization and motivate
them to achieve success (Fernandez-Araoz, 2014). In order to retain and motivate these types
of high potential employees, the culture needs to be an environment that helps
these individuals thrive. Developing a
culture that encourages curiosity, insight, engagement, and determination, from
what I believe, will really help encourage a system-wide change.
Out of all
of those characteristics, I think curiosity is the most important followed by
determination. Brown noted that data
surveys and feedback, mixed with a fitting intervention strategy, encourage a
higher success rate for a system-wide change (Brown, 2011). I feel that curiosity is necessary to have as
a leader to even begin the first step.
Curiosity in a leader, to me, means they are constantly learning, constantly
interested and asking lots of questions to always gain more insight and
knowledge into their environment and the interactions that people have with one
another. Curiosity allows leaders to
develop a stronger understanding for their organization, department, coworkers,
competitors, and customers. While I can’t
speak for everyone, but I love asking questions and finding out more about a
topic or a person. I enjoy hearing other
people’s stories, life or work related, to help me get a better understanding
for who they are and what they’re all about.
It’s nearly impossible to gauge someone without asking questions about
them.
Curiosity
allows leaders to gain insight and develop a plan that can encourage more
engagement, determination and motivation.
Motivation is another key factor in developing a system-wide change, or
even just a change in general (Brown, 2011).
As I have mentioned in previous reflection blogs, one of my professors
from my undergraduate university had an incredible knack for motivating
students. With motivation, naturally
comes determination because you are always wanting to better your self. When the employees or students around you are
feeling the same way, the culture and environment starts to develop into a
productive and healthy competitive, but encouraging state of production. I’ve always felt that when you are in an environment
that encouraged curiosity and determination, the people around you are all
working together to discover new problems and adapt new changes to be more
productive. As a leader, I feel like
this is a good environment for developing a system-wide change program.
Leaders
need to lead by example through their own enthusiasm and determination to
achieve their goals, as well as lead through motivation and encourage healthy curiosity. These traits can be implemented in a lot of
different organization, as it develops a healthy foundation for change. Once this type of culture has been injected
into the current environment, I feel like developing a change plan will be
easier. The employees will be motivated
and encouraged by the idea of change because they are curious and want to be
better. This will also help to set up
goals and encourage productivity, giving everyone something to work toward.
While it
seems easy to implement this philosophy into your personality, I can see where
it could be very difficult as well. I
can only speak for myself, but in some areas, I do think I would struggle implementing
such a change. In one way, I am highly
determined, engaged, and curious; however, I lack the toughness to encourage
that in others. I try to lead by
example, but if someone doesn’t like my leadership style or my enthusiasm, I
wouldn’t be comfortable forcing it on them.
I came across another quote from Warren Buffett stating that “the
difference between successful people and very successful people is that very
successful people say “no” to almost everything.” (Warren Buffett, New York Times, 2014)
Buffett goes on to conclude that by saying no, you are giving yourself more
time to accomplish so much. This is definitely
another area where I struggle with, is saying no. I am willing to take on way more than I can
handle, and as a leader, it’s more important to have the insight and
understanding of the situation and what is needed and what is not. I recognize these traits as my weaknesses,
but I also know that they have their benefits too. With that said, there is a lot to be learned
from weaknesses and failure, so a leader who is successful in implementing a
system-wide change needs to recognize that failure will happen, but we can all
learn from these setbacks and grow from them.
I remember my professor would talk about the various jobs and life
experiences she had and how those experiences gave her valuable insight and
opened her eyes to a new set of ideas and dreams to achieve. Just because something feels difficult or off
track, doesn’t mean that there isn’t opportunity to grow and develop new insight
from it. A leader, especially one trying to implement a system-wide change or
encourage motivation in employees, should have the understanding and curiosity
to recognize that these experiences offer new opportunities that should be
explored. As cliché as it sounds, it’s a
lot like the little girl at the end of the Apple commercial opening her eyes to
the possibilities and opportunities. All
of the leaders depicted in the commercial, in one way or another, represent
these valuable characteristics a leader must have. I also think the methods they chose to
inspire the people around them represent the type of motivation and
determination that they encourage in their environment.
References
Brown,
D. (2011). An experiential approach to
organization development (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
Eight
Things The World's Most Successful People All Have in Common. (2014). Retrieved
November 18, 2015, from
http://time.com/12670/8-things-the-worlds-most-successful-people-all-have-in-common/
Fernandez-Araoz,
C., & Bernstein, A. (2014, October 7). The Future of Talent Is Potential.
Retrieved November 18, 2015, from
https://hbr.org/2014/07/the-future-of-talent-is-potential/
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