Enabling
Leadership at all Levels
According to George Mason University (2017), the term “Action
Research” is defined as “inquiry or research in the context of focused efforts
to improve the quality of an organization and its performance.” In other words,
the type of research defined by teams at George Mason University is aimed at
fixing a problem. One of the greats problems faced by organizations today is a
lack of communication and collaborating throughout different layers of leadership.
This problem becomes quite interesting when the perspectives of people at different
levels within the organization are shared, which is exactly what I explored within
my own team.
Interview with Superiors
Upon
completion of three informal interviews of supervisors in my organization, I
was somewhat shocked to hear how consistently they shared a perception of
organizational harmony and thriving employee-manager relationships. One
superior commented “we have great collaboration in this organization between managers
and employees” (M. Basil, personal communications, 2017). When I asked the
second leader how well they think our organization embraces upward leadership,
this leader responded “very well!” (Andrews, A, Personal Communications, 2017).
The final leader said that in this organization, they are proud of how quickly
followers step up and take the leadership role both inside the team and outside
of the team (T. Rozario, personal communications, 2017).
Interview with Subordinates
I
couldn’t help but ask (to myself of course) – am I working in the same
organization as these people?! At first I feared that my feelings were just an
outlier, but the perspective of the followers was proven to be quite different
upon my continued interviews. Compared to the responses of the management team
in my organization, subordinates were generally much more hesitant to open-up during
our informal interview/correspondence. When asked what the greatest challenge
in the group was today, the consistent answer I received was an intimidation
factor from leadership. As a result of this intimidation factor, many
subordinates don’t feel comfortable offering their experiences or opinions.
This
feedback is clear to see in team meetings, such as the weekly staff meeting.
Employees sit stiffly around the conference room table with their pens and
notebooks ready to go, but they all look towards the head of the table while
the manager speaks for almost the entire hour. During this interview, on subordinate
used strategy sessions as another example of a time his voice is not heard. Once
a month our team meets to discuss negotiation strategy, and people are
encouraged to share their own experiences so we can learn from each other. The
problem with this, explained the interviewee, is that the manager typically does
most of the talking. Also, since the manager attends, the employees don’t feel
as comfortable talking about areas where they struggled in a specific
negotiation. This means the employees are attempting to highlight their strengths
in front of the manager instead of sharing helpful experiences with their
peers.
Implications of the Interviews: Building a
Better Organization
The
initial implication of this interview is that we have a serious disconnect in
the perceptions of leaders and followers. I will say, however, that there does
seem to be a clear alignment within the leadership community and within the
follower community – the two groups just don’t meet anywhere near the middle. In
a way, I was comforted to receive the confirmation that most employees are
seeing the same opportunities for change as I am. This didn’t comfort me
because I wanted to know that my feelings are “popular” or “right.” Instead,
this comforted me because it gave me hope that truly impactful change can be
made in my organization.
I believe the key to building a better organization at my
company is to help people understand the criticality of leadership at all
levels. When organizations practice leadership at all levels, employees across
the enterprise understand exactly what the organization is trying to
accomplish, what they need to achieve as an individual contributor, and how to
prepare for the unexpected (Obolensky, 2014). According to Lanng (2014):
Establishing an
environment which offers employees in various levels with leadership
opportunities opens the floor for a much more collaborative workspace resulting
in a place where employees aren’t afraid to discuss ideas with each other, and
in doing so present stronger, more well-thought-out ideas to higher-level
management. This collaboration can prove critical when informed business
decisions need to be made, increasing the likelihood of feedback and input from
employees at all levels.
One
of the easiest ways to help business leaders understand how critical two-way
communication and complex adaptive leadership is to the company is to explain
the correlation between skilled leaders, passionate followers, and a strong
competitive advantage. According to Yates (2017), “skilled leaders are the
driving force of successful businesses. They set and communicate the vision,
motivate people and determine the tone for the culture. The difference they
make can’t be underestimated.” Complex, adaptive leaders manage organizations
with clear processes, flexible strategies, and advanced systems, which enables
people to act quicker and more effectively (Obolensky, 2014).
Understanding
My Role as a Change Agent
I am currently at a level within my
organization that might just enable a better chance at having an impact. I am
not a manager, so my ideas may be received better at the worker level. At the
same time, I am progressing into a strong leadership role and have been given high
visibility assignments, so I have the attention of some managers that I don’t normally
have access to. I plan to use this unique position to promote leadership at
every level within my organization.
First, I must be better about challenging
mandated approaches if and when I believe they could be supplemented by
strategic ideas from the rest of the team. I have to make these challenges
around my peers with the hope that doing so will help them gain the courage to
speak up as well. In addition, I plan to introduce the coaching style to
managers in my organization because I do not believe this concept has ever been
understood or practiced up to this point. To accomplish this, I will make a conscious
effort to follow the grow model, which uses questioning to enable others to
find their own way through the issues they are faced with (Obolensky, 2014).
Resources
George Mason University. Retrieved August 23, 2017 from https://gse.gmu.edu/research/tr/tr-action
Lanng, C. (2015). Here's how to
foster leadership on all levels. Entrepreneur. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/233947
Obolensky, N. (2014). Complex Adaptive Leadership: Embracing Paradox and
Uncertainty (2nd ed.). New York, New York: Gower Publishing.
Yates, J. (2017). The leadership manifesto: developing leaders at all
levels in 2017. HR Zone. Retrieved from https://www.hrzone.com/talent/development/the-leadership-manifesto-developing-leaders-at-all-levels-in-2017
No comments:
Post a Comment