A521.9.3.RB - A Different Kind of Leader

In Chapter 12, Denning discusses his dimensions of leadership. Create a reflection blog that discusses how you will become a transformative leader, one who is interactive and actively connects and participates with others. Include specific examples of how at least three of Denning's dimensions manifest in your own application of leadership.

An interactive leader 'adds and subtracts elements from the leadership palette' that helps to build on 'personal integrity and authenticity' (Denning, 2011, p. 269). This means that a leader is able to orchestrate a team through certain actions and decisions to achieve an objective or mission. This element of leadership is also based on the values of a leader in being genuine to who they are while inspiring and motivating others to action.

Interactive leadership can be considered transformational because it involves an exceptional form of influence to motivate followers to accomplish the task at hand. The use of interactive leadership can work with the innate qualities of the leader along with the leadership tactics to best reach a goal. By selecting the most effective leadership styles in a scenario can help to enlist followers to follow through up to the point that they will go above and beyond. Northouse (2016, p. 161) considers transformational leadership as one that is visonary concerning emotions, values, ethics, standards, and long-term goals of follower's motives and needs as full human beings. There is a charismatic quality as well in being able to communicate effectively in order to make the vision feasible through the perspective of the follower. For my own approach in developing an interactive and transformational leadership style, the qualities that I tend to lean towards are in terms of conversation, feelings, and beauty.

Leadership that is like Conversation

In my current position as a deputy branch chief, I have learned that the most effective way in relating to my subordinates on a deeper level is by conversing with them just like any other person. For example, on Mondays I usually ask how their weekend was while sharing in return. This brings a bit more intimacy because it breaks down the 'professional' barrier and allows a more interpersonal connection. By getting to know my team by having regular chats about their life and well-being allows me to have insight and a pulse on how they are doing while allowing me the leverage as a leader by being respected and trusted not only as their boss, but as a friend as well. Denning (2011) explains the conversational aspect of leadership as the relationship between storyteller and listener as being symmetrical. This means that the conversation is a two-way street rather than one-sided. This approach gives the ability of the listener to respond and give their own inputs in the conversation.

Leadership that has Feeling

To assert my ability as a leader to inspire, I try to invoke positive and energetic feelings into the work atmosphere in my briefings, discussion, and conversations. Work can be stressful and can be seen as something that people do just for their livelihoods. In my position as a boss, I aim to make the workplace enjoyable by relating our jobs to the greater mission on behalf of my organization. I aim to build camaraderie and morale by showing my passion for the job. By doing so, I am able to incorporate passion into my leadership style. Denning (2011, p. 283) emphasizes that passion in leadership is 'another ingredient that is missing from the traditional mode of management.' The passion that I am able to convey helps to motivate others in seeing the vision of what they are supporting and can end up being contagious in making a pleasant atmosphere.

Leadership that includes Beauty

On a similar vein to the feeling aspect of leadership, I aim to depict a narrative that is beautiful as well. Denning (2011, p. 288) relates this to a narrative that is told that reaches the many levels of the self in an aim to reach the 'deeper coherence of the world.' For me, when I talk to my team or the organization at large, I tend to reach out to the deep and rich historical aspects of my organization. The legacy that our organization stands upon is on the shoulders of giants and this is reflected in our story. Romano (2017) notes that our location in Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado is named after an influential researcher in the field of nuclear forensics, Mr. Michael Harkins. He was able to develop innovative techniques in gas analysis that helped to increase our analytical capabilities. I use stories such as these to show my employees the beautiful fabric of our organization's history and that they are part of it as well.

These three focal points that I convey in my leadership in terms of conversation, feeling, and beauty are what I use to communicate. This way of being interactive has helped me to build a stronger relationship with my co-workers and has been beneficial by allowing me to develop the rapport necessary to become an effective leader. From what I learned, professional communication skills takes time and practice to develop as with anything else. To further develop my leadership potential, Northouse (2016) discusses five fundamental practices that enable leaders to get extraordinary things accomplished:

1. Model the way by being the example
2. Inspire a shared vision through guiding people
3. Challenge the process by step into the unknown
4. Enable others to act through building trust and collaboration
5. Encourage the heart by being attentive to the needs of recognition

From these practices and what I know about leadership communication, I will continue on my career path with these in mind in order to hone my leadership skills. Learning about all of these leadership concepts are wonderful in theory, but the true power of it is being able to apply it in the world. Let's see what change I can bring about.

References

Denning, S. (2011). The leader’s guide to storytelling: Mastering the art and discipline of business narrative (Revised and updated edition). San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publishing.

Romano, S.A. (2017, November 17). AFTAC names lab after 'giant' of nuclear forensics. United States Air Force. Retrieved from http://www.25af.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1375243/aftac-names-lab-after-giant-of-nuclear-forensics/

A521.8.3.RB - Cornerstones of Speaking

Have you ever felt like you're talking, but nobody is listening? Julian Treasure in his video, “How to speak so that people want to listen” demonstrates some useful vocal exercises, shares tips on how to speak with empathy, and offers his vision for a resounding world of listening and understanding. He discusses his seven deadly sins of speaking.

In the video about comedian Kevin Hart, the presenter claims, “anyone can learn to tell a good story”.

Using the information from the Treasure and Hart videos, as well as Whalen’s’ Chapters 4 &19, write a reflection blog sharing what useful information you will take with you to perform future presentations. Describe any particular things you do to capture attention.

The emotional feelings of anxiety and fear are common to when about to engage in communication with other people. Whether it is giving a speech in front of a large audience or confronting a team member about an issue, variations of these feelings are bound to happen. The symptoms that can result include increased heart rate, sweaty palms, dry mouth, or blanking out (Whalen, 2007). However, the uncomfortable nature that communicating may give us can provide the opportunity to grow and learn from the experience. By taking the risk of communicating with others, we are able to gain a reward in interpersonal relationships as well as developing our way in effective speaking.

Treasure (2016) gives a method to craft our message through H.A.I.L. which is honesty, authenticity, integrity, and love. By focusing on these guidelines in the way we communicate, we can improve our message by being more direct and genuine to the listener causing them to be more responsive to our message. By being honest with our message, it allows the speaker to the point rather than beating around the bush. This can help to keep the message simple and straight preventing any confusion or misinterpretation of the message. By focusing on authenticity, it allows the speaker to be who they are in terms of speaking from what the message means to them. This can allow passion to arise because it relates to the speaker on personal level rather than superficially. This ties into to the next component of integrity. This can translate to saying what you mean and meaning what you say. You want people to trust what you are saying instead of taking it as a lie. Lastly, by love, this focus is on wishing people well in that you want them to hear the message and to hopefully agree or adopt the viewpoint as well. This is to allow positive discourse and room for constructive criticism if it arises as well. We are all entitled to our opinions so just because a message is not agreed upon does not mean it is the end of conversation. If you allow people to hear your message, then you should be able to let them respond with their thoughts as well. By using these key components in developing a presentation can help me to give an effective presentation by staying focus on my message while doing so in a professional and responsible manner.

To engage an audience, Hart (2016) uses three tactics to get people to listen. The first one is to develop a more personal relationship with the audience by directly acknowledging them. In order to tell a good story, you need to have their undivided attention first. Without the attention from the intended audience, we are not able to fully relay our message. Secondly, when the attention is received, it is vital to maintain the engagement by staying fully committed to the story. This is in the form of expression or actions that give depth to the message. This also relates to the use of vocal techniques such as register, timbre, prosody, pace, and volume (Treasure, 2016). By varying our intonation, sound, and inflection of our voices, the message can be more impactful by adding to the emotional aspect of the message. These additional expressions help to maintain attention to the conclusion of the story. Lastly, practice makes perfect. By constantly refining our way of communicating, we can figure out what works and what does not work. This will ultimately give us our voice and can give us the charismatic persona to be an effective speaker.

For my presentation, I will focus on crafting my message through the perspective of the intended audience while thinking of the tactic and advice given by Hart (2016) and Treasure (2016). By focusing with who will be hearing my presentation, I am able to perform an audience analysis which will allow my message to be given in an effective manner. This will help to ensure that while defining my purpose I am able to break it down into manageable pieces that are memorable and relatable to the audience. McKay, Davis, and Fanning (2009, p. 301) notes that 'choosing the appropriate language, examples, jokes, and overall tone' are all important considerations to have in communication. My other focus will be to record myself and listen to how I sound to ensure that the intonations and inflections are natural rather than robotic. This will help me to be more self-aware and knowledgeable of how I sound to others. Lastly, while crafting my message, I will ensure that I will not commit any of the sins of speaking according to Treasure (2016):

1. Gossip (i.e. speaking ill of somebody not present)
2. Judging (i.e. very hard to listen to somebody if you know you're being judged)
3. Negativity (i.e. not enjoyable to listen to negative things)
4. Complaining (i.e. simple spread of misery)
5. Excuses (i.e. nobody appreciates someone who can't take responsibility for their actions)
6. Exaggeration (i.e. cheapens language and can feel like outright lying sometimes)
7. Dogmatism (i.e. confusion of facts with opinions)

By focusing on the structure of my presentation, layout of slide content, delivery of speech, and overall message with the methods mentioned above, I should be able to give an effective presentation with these items in mind.

References

Hart, K. [Charisma on Command]. (2016, February 22). Kevin Hart's 3 secrets to hilarious storytelling [Video File]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn_L4OPU_rg

McKay, M., Davis, M., & Fanning, P. (2009). Messages: The communication skills book (3rd ed.). Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications.

Treasure, J. [QuickTalks]. (2016, May 18). How to speak so that people want to listen | Julian Treasure (TED talk summary) [Video File]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEkEAFaV818

Whalen, J.D. (2007). The professional communications toolkit. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

A521.7.3.RB - Secret Structure

Watch the TedX Talk by Nancy Duarte titled, “The Secret Structure of Great Talks.” In the video, Duarte describes a few different structures / outlines. She also discusses techniques used by Steven Jobs and Martin Luther King, Jr. For your reflection blog, share what of Duarte’s techniques you might use in your upcoming presentation and how you might use them.

In the lecture by Duarte (2012), the big message is that an idea from the human mind is the most powerful force known to man. The reason being is that it has the potential to change the world. However, the caveat is that the idea has to spread and become accepted by others in order to be effective. If an idea is kept inside the mind of an individual, then that idea has no way of being heard. The differences in the way that an idea is communicated can determine whether it is successful or rejected by the audience. This ties into the discussion that we have discussed in class in terms of message strategy. According to Whalen (2007), there are five effective speaking tools that are used in helping to convey a message being the tone of voice, facial expression, body language, word selection, and delivery. These components help us to communicate not only what we say, but what we intend to do as well. This can be further tied to the ideas of McKay, Davis, and Fanning (2009) in paralanguage, metamessages, and transactional analysis that also can determine the intention behind communication. For my presentation, it will be important to have the messages given for my idea to be as direct as possible so that my vision can be conceived by the audience in a clear way.

The most effective way to convey idea is through a story. Duarte (2012) asks the question why is it that a story is engaging, but typically fails during a presentation? She looks at various examples of story telling to include Aristotle and the three-act structure that includes a beginning, middle, and end and follows up with heroic storylines. In this case, she points out that most presenters take it upon themselves to be the hero of the story. What she found out is that it is actually the audience that has that role because they are the one that has the ability to adopting the idea given by the speaker. The goal of the presenter is to be the mentor for the audience in helping them become the hero of the dialogue. This idea can be used with my presentation as well. My goal will be to provide information on how automation technology in the home can help environmental sustainability, but it is up to the audience on whether or not they will take that call to action.

Duarte (2012) notes that at the beginning of every presentation there needs to be an establishment of the status quo or 'what is' followed by 'what it could be.' The gap between the two should be as big as possible in order to make a compelling case to the audience. This reminds me of the need to develop trust with the audience. According to Denning (2011), we should tell our story to others in order to stop being strangers and move toward becoming acquainted through a bond of trust. This allows a more personal connection to be made that makes the message more relatable because they can trust the message that the speaker is giving. After the initial bond is made, then it is in the capability of the speaker to traverse between these two ideas of 'what if' and 'what could be' to depict a call to action. Every presentation should have a call to action with an ending that describes what could be if the state is attained. For my presentation, the use of a future story helps to share a vision that can be adopted by the listeners. It will be important to tell a story that allows the listener to think about tomorrow's possibilities and to take action from this influence. This story will entail the current technologies that we have today and what it can do if people were to adopt automated technologies to save energy, time, and money. My focus on having a plausible story that is evocative will be an important feature to have in order to have listeners adopt this vision.

References

Denning, S. (2011). The leader’s guide to storytelling: Mastering the art and discipline of business narrative (Revised and updated edition). San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Duarte, N. (2012). The secret structure of great talks [Video File]. Ted Conferences, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_duarte_the_secret_structure_of_great_talks/transcript

McKay, M., Davis, M., & Fanning, P. (2009). Messages: The communication skills book (3rd ed.). Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications.

Whalen, J.D. (2007). The professional communications toolkit. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

A521.6.4.RB - Sustained Change

Author and consultant Daryl Conner focuses on successful, sustained change. He claims that leaders have to create a “burning platform” for followers to change. The burning platform theory is the psychological formula for sustained change. When people truly believe the price of the staying the course is more costly than the cost of changing (the transition), they will not only change, but also sustain the change.

Have you ever found yourself in a group with your colleagues, waiting to for your leader to roll out an important new "change initiative to support a vision?" What sort of approach did the executive use to get everyone motivated and on board with the new ideas? If you are like many people, you may have left such a meeting wondering, "Why the heck did I just waste all that time?" That executive may have fallen into the trap of trying to "wow" you with data and statistics supporting the need for change. After all, there must be a good reason behind the need for change, right?

For your assignment, reflect on your personal or work situation. Share how you have or might now use “a burning platform” in a story to gain the support of your followers to achieve sustained change.

In the video, Galoppin (2011) gains insight that a burning platform needs to become an emotional issue in order to be authentic. This is because it allows the followers to become personally invested in the change that becomes a motivating realization instead. The driving force behind the change is that the price of the status quo is greater than the cost of the transition. This allows the change to not become temporary, but rather permanent from the drive of the business imperative. The sustainability needed for the change reaches full realization through the need for it rather than the want of it. Instead of coming from a place of panic and fear, the most effective method is to come from commitment and courage. Leaders can utilize a burning platform as a catalyst for enduring change if they are able to reach on an emotional level of why it is needed.

The case of the burning man has been utilized in one form or another when attempting to create change in my workplace. Galoppin (2011) notes that change can come from anticipated problems or in an attempt to benefit from an opportunity. For my workplace, this usually comes from optimizing on opportunities to improve efficiencies rather than a dramatic change in a systematic way. The burning platform that was used aimed to move away from using handwritten laboratory bench sheets to an automated process where barcodes were scanned and entered in electronically rather than transcribed. This was in an effort to limit human error and to improve legibility and record keeping for the laboratory. There was nothing inherently wrong about the status quo, but rather this was an opportunity to utilize technology to become more proficient and professional as a national laboratory.

Many employees that work at the laboratory have been there for years and are not too fond with changes, especially dealing with technology. It is something that I have learned when trying to train them up on utilizing the programs and processes that they thought to be more of a hassle than efficient. Even though it was a bit rough implementing the change, it became more smooth after the kinks were worked out in terms of software interface and data processing. A big part of this was being able to make the team see the importance and value of sustaining this change. Some issues may come up and will take some time to resolve from our programming team, but after those problems were fixed the use of the software became more user-friendly. With implementing change such as this, I have found that the best way to utilizing a burning man type of story is to use adaptive leadership in order to connect with followers.

The central point of adaptive leadership is for the leader to focus on the followers and what they need to adapt to the change. Northouse (2016) notes that leaders should be engaged with mobilizing, motivating, organizing, orienting, and focusing on the attention of other. This ties into the behaviors of a leader in regards to the situational challenges that may surface. Whether the issue is technical, adaptive, or a mix of both, the leader is able to provide certain actions to transition the follower through pending change. As a leader, you may ask, “Why do people fear and/or resist change?” Change be stressful from moving from the status quo because it is uncertain. There is the uncertainty of success and the possibility of failure, rejection, and the unknown. However, without attempting change, we are unable to take a risk for that could be for the better. The transition can be managed by a leader to control the stress the change may bring and can do so by providing the support needed in dealing with the change. Change is inevitable and is sometimes necessary for organizations to progress.

Another question could be, “What do people need in order to accept and deal with the change?” One of the most important things that a leader can do when change is being implemented is to have a holding space that allows the follower to feel safe during the change. It allows the followers to vent off any frustrations or pressure that may exist with the change and can allow the leaders to regulate how the change is implemented. One thing I would like to mention is that people need a forum to be able to voice their opinions of the change being implemented. This can be constructive to the leader as well because it may address some oversight that may have been missed by leadership.

Lastly, leaders may ask, “How do I implement change in the workplace?” Leaders have to weigh the pros and cons of change and how it will affect their followers and will need to utilize some form of adaptive change to be effective. A leader can start by painting a clear vision of the change and what it would bring to help followers acknowledge what may happen. As long as the change has a sense of meaning that makes sense then followers will be able to follow through with the change. Another important part on behalf of the leader is to be a part of the change leading the initiative as an exemplar (Weston, 2015). A leader can lead by example and can show what is expected with the change and can show how to proceed forward making the disruption seem less threatening. Overall, using a burning platform can serve as a means to show employees the different future possibilities that they may encounter.

References

Galoppin, L. [replymc]. (2011, November 24). Burning platform - the misunderstanding (part 1/2) [Video File]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwRB0sHpN9E

Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publishing.

Weston, B. (2015, February 23). 10 tips for dealing with change positively in your workplace. LinkedIn Corporation. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-tips-dealing-change-positively-your-workplace-ban-weston/

A521.5.4.RB - Core Workplace Values Assessment

For evaluating my workplace values, I took the 'Core Workplace Values Assessment Exercise' and determined that my values are as shown below:

Develop a Reflection Blog describing your five core workplace values and review how well your core values fit with your current job career path and employer. 

Out of my top nine values that I selected, the top five are as follows (in no particular order):

1. Integrity and truth
2. Having self-respect and pride in work
3. Using creativity, imagination; being innovative
4. Autonomy, independence, freedom
5. Adventure and excitement

From these selected values, I find that they resonate within my career path and current employer. I currently work for the United States Air Force as a Deputy Branch Chief at the Ciambrone Radiochemistry Laboratory. Being in the Air Force, we are expected to live our life abiding through the core values of integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all we do (Secretary of the Air Force, 2014). This is something that is ingrained into us during our time in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program and further tested at field training. This is one of the reasons that I chose to go into the Air Force because of the character trait of integrity being highlighted as being an important value in not only a leader, but just as a person. This goes along with truth because it helps act as a moral compass in doing what is right even when no one is looking.

My second value is having self-respect and pride in work. This also ties with the core values of the Air Force, especially in the third core value being excellence in all we do. This is focused on having passion in continually improving and innovating for the Air Force in order to maintain our status as the number one military in the world. This is important because it gives us a sense of pride and ownership to accomplish and perform to the best of our abilities.

In my job at the Ciambrone Radiochemistry Laboratory, I am able to use creativity and innovation by applying different scientific techniques to better our processes in analyzing our data. A major part of it is being able to stay at the forefront of scientific discovery in order to apply better methodology. This is a challenge, but it helps with having many outstanding and knowledgable employees who are subject matter experts in their respective fields. The challenge is being able to collaborate to work not only as a work group, but as a team that is dependent on each of our capabilities (Denning, 2011).

My fourth value, independence is something that is important for me that I do not really have control of in my current job as an Air Force Officer. I have taken an oath to serve and protect the people of this nation and do not have full autonomy of what I am able to do. I have somewhat of a say through putting in requests and applying for certain jobs, but ultimately, it is what the Air Force needs me to do that I will do. This is part of the second Air Force core value of service before self. This key point looks at taking professional duties over personal desires and is something that I have chosen to commit to.

Lastly, the fifth value is on adventure and excitement. Due to having the Air Force having control of my career path, I have been able to experience somethings I never thought I would be able to have the chance to. I have been able to work as a Program Manager of a modeling and simulation branch, followed by being an Operations Officer of an research and development facility, and now the Deputy Branch Chief in the Ciambrone Radiochemistry Laboratory. I have had many wonderful opportunities and have been given the chance to meet outstanding people along the way.

Discuss how your values influence you and share what, if anything, you are going to do about these results?

Based on the results from this assessment, I have been able to get into a reflective state of mind. This kind of introspection helps lead to critical thinking that allows me to evaluate about my situation in an authentic and reasonable way (Nosich, 2012). It has given me time to think about my career so far and what I care about intrinsically. Some of these intrinsic features come from the bonds I have been able to make with co-workers along the way that have become great friends. It is this sense of satisfaction that goes beyond money or other tangible things. According to Deming (1987), it was  pointed out that management should remove barriers that rob people of their right to pride of workmanship. If the workers feel as though their work is meaningless, it will be hard to motivate or inspire them to reach goals and may end up creating a toxic environment. For me, this rings especially true because even on tough days at work, what keeps me moving forward is the overall goal that we are fighting for and that is to support the warfighter in defending our freedoms against our adversaries. This value really fits into having self-respect and pride in my work because of the mission that I am a part of.

Share which of Denning’s four values best represents your organization. Describe what about your organization’s culture leads you to this conclusion. Explain how your organization transmits its values throughout the organization. Discuss what other workplace values might serve the organization better.

Out of Denning's (2011) four values, the one that best represents the Air Force is a mix between pragmatists and ethical values. It is pragmatic due to their values in supporting the mission to fly, fight, and win in air, space, and cyberspace and strategic vision in accomplishing these goals as defined by the Secretary of Defense (Secretary of the Air Force, 2014). On the other hand, the Air Force has a sense of ethical values because it aims at treating all of their stakeholders (e.g. civilians, contractors, military members, veterans, allies, etc.) as humans rather than assets and are socially and environmentally conscious of the politics of the world today.

In my four years of service active duty so far, I have seen these two values through many organizations and leaders. Many of these values are indoctrinated by going through a commission program through ROTC or Officer Training School (OTS). These values are common and constantly preached throughout the Air Force by the leaders of the organizations on a regular basis. As for other values that may serve the Air Force better, I think the traditions and core values that it is founded upon back in 1947 as departing the Army as the Army Air Corps have served it well. It is backed by the thousands of veterans who have served and are still valued by those currently service today.

References

Deming, E.W. (1987). Transformation of today’s management. Executive Excellence, 4(12), 8.

Denning, S. (2011). The leader’s guide to storytelling: Mastering the art and discipline of business narrative (Revised and updated edition). San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Nosich, G. M. (2012). Learning to think things through: Critical thinking across the curriculum (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Secretary of the Air Force. (2014, November 12). Air force culture (Air Force Instruction 1-1). Washington, DC: United States Air Force.

A521.4.4.RB - Listening

In your reflection blog, reflect on recent examples when you were an 18-second manager or examples when someone was being an 18-second manager to you. Share how listening in this manner negatively impacted the situation or your relationship with that person. Reflect on how better listening and clarifying language might have positively affected the outcome.

By using the healthcare industry as an example, Peters (2009) points out that doctors on average listen for about 18-seconds before interjecting and giving their opinion. The downside to this is because the patience is the number source in regards to their ailment. If a longer period of listening was practiced, then it would allow the doctor to gain a number of pearls or enough facts and insight from the patient to describe their issue without any interruptions. This prevents the doctor from jumping to conclusions too prematurely and gives time to the patient to speak without feeling rushed. This concept shows the importance of listening in an organization. According to Peters (2009), the single most influential strategic strength of a business is not the plan, but rather the commitment of listening to each member of an organization.

From my own experiences in my career field, I have been fortunate to have managers who were more akin to mentors for me. They were patient enough to allow me to ask questions as a new employee in order to get a better understanding of where I was coming from. This allowed them to hear me out rather than use a listening block such as assuming through mind reading or advising before hearing the whole about the entire situation. This made me feel like my opinions and thoughts mattered and that validated me as a new employee to the team. It allowed me to learn, develop, and assimilate to the team and become a well-informed employee.

On the other hand, I have had experiences with managers in other functional groups who were 18-second managers. An example of this includes our Information Technology (IT) Help Desk that deals with technical problems with hardware and software issues on computers, telephones, and other electronics. The workers in this area are more like 10-second managers because they diagnose IT issues through a series of steps by trying to resolve it through general solutions while progressing to more advanced solutions. It makes it seem impersonal, but they are trying to resolve many common issues that people may face and if the solution they give them are not working then they will inquire further to help fix the problem. They use a mind reading type of listening block that progresses into effective listening when the problem is not easily solved.

Based on these two examples from my experience, there are times when being an 18-second manager makes sense, but other times when it is detrimental to the success of others. As I progress into my career field, it is important for me to listen to other employees to understand what issues they may identify in the organization and to help them out on a personal level when they need it as a friend. By utilizing real listening, it allows us to understand someone, enjoy their story, learn something about them, and allows us to help them if they are in need (McKay, Davis, & Fanning, 2009). This aspect enables us to form bonds and deepen our relationship with our co-workers. This kind of relationship can strengthen organizational morale because we are able to connect and understand each other on a more interpersonal level.

Listening is considered both a commitment and a compliment in communication (McKay et al., 2009). It is a commitment because the listener has to put aside their own bias to hear out what the other person is saying and it is a compliment because it takes times and effort on behalf of the speaker to do so for the listener. Listening make up communication in a unidirectional sense, but becomes two-way when the information is heard thoroughly and the listener is able to respond based on what was said. The four components of effective listening are as follows:

1. Listen actively (paraphrase, clarify, give feedback)
2. Listen with empathy (know that everyone may be dealing with a struggle)
3. Listen with openness (do not prejudge or selectively hear)
4. Listening with awareness (compare with your own knowledge)

By harnessing the power of strategic listening by authentically hearing and understanding what members of an organization are expressing can be the greatest strength of a business. The employees that work with producing the output of a business can sometimes have a different perspective compared to those in upper management and may see things that leaders may overlook. Thus, it is vital for leaders to take the time to listen to hear from their followers in order to gauge their thoughts and opinions that can be vital in making decisions on behalf of an organization and the vision moving forward.

References

McKay, M., Davis, M., & Fanning, P. (2009). Messages: The communication skills book (3rd ed.). Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications.

Peters, T. [Tom Peters]. (2009, December 7). Tom Peters' leadership thoughts: Listening. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwB7NAvKPeo

A511.9.3.RB - Course Reflections

Revisit your original definition of leadership from Module 1. Would you make any changes to your definition of leadership? In what ways have learning about these leadership theories informed your own view of leadership? What type of leader are you or do you aspire to be?

"My definition of leadership follows similarly to what has been discussed in the readings for this week. My personal definition of leadership is the ability for a leader to inspire followers towards not only achieving a goal, but for both parties to also improve and push each other to become better than they were before. Leadership is a personally invested process for a person that begins by being immersed in a cause or mission and being able to convey the same vision to others. Leaders are able to compel others to support and work towards a goal or cause because they are motivated enough to do so."

My initial definition of leadership was strikingly similar to the concept of transformational leadership. From what we learned in class, transformational leadership involves an exceptional form of influence that moves followers to accomplish more than what is expected of them (Northouse, 2016, p. 161). The particular aspects that I referred to is the idealized influence and inspirational motivation components for this concept. These two aspects are the top factors for this along with charisma. This type of leadership changes the morality and increases motivation of the follower, but both the leader and follower transforms for the better in a reciprocal manner. It represents the process aspect of leadership that is elevated from transactional leadership and focuses on the follower through the vision of the leader. This synergetic effect is one of the most profound influences of leadership that can be reached through transformational leadership--both subjects affect each other for the better.

"This helps to distinguish between the dichotomy between management and leadership through assigned leadership and emergent leadership (Northouse, 2016, p. 8). For example, a person can be assigned a position in a company by being in-charge of a team, but may only have position power and not be necessarily inspiring or able to really improve their workers to become better. The boss in this case may be able to manage well and meet the deadlines as set out by the company, but does not transcend this on a personal level as leadership would."

The second paragraph that I followed my explanation of leadership with focused on the the difference between management and leadership. This goes back to one of the key lessons of this course that aimed at differentiating between the two. Sometimes, the two concepts can be perceived as being interchangeable when they are not. They have similarities, but fundamental differences. Leadership aims at influencing people and management aims at optimizing processes (e.g. planning, organizing, staffing). Leadership can have managerial aspects and managers can use leadership techniques, but the concepts for each can be analyzed separately from each other.

"One of the points that really resonates with me from Northouse (2016, p. 6) is that leadership is transformative and changes the mental capacity of both the leader and follower to accomplish something greater than expected. In a sense, both parties supports each others with the initial jolt given by the leader. Thus, to lead means to influence others in order to reach a goal that is driven by inspiration on a deeper level."

The third paragraph again reflects transformational leadership and spotlights the notion of change. Leaders without followers is void of the potential to have influence. Hence, the relationship between leader and follower acts as the social link where interactions can create significant societal or organizational progress. The way that this is done can be through a variety of means including Path Goal Theory, Leader-Member Exchange Theory, Authentic and Servant Leadership (Northouse, 2016).

"In the article by Zaleznik (1977, p. 70), the distinction between managers and leaders follows along this trend in that leaders take a personal and active attitude towards goals whereas a textbook manager can be more impersonal. This is only in the sense of a manager that only cares about reaching a goal without care for those who helped to reach the goal and at what cost. Managers can exist without having that sense of care for their workers. An experience that I have encountered that relates to this was when my boss would delegate work without much detail and then leave work early many times during the week whilst everyone else working overtime to cover for all of the tasks needing to be accomplished before the next day. This felt very impersonal and gave the impression that they did not care for the job and was just doing it for the money and that was it. They did not care for the actual mission nor the people which adversely affected morale and the reputation of that boss."

Going back to the leadership and management dichotomy, this paragraph delves deeper into the differences between the two. In the impersonal version of management, workers are not seen as 'followers' but as a disposable asset where no relationship exist other than the positional aspect of an organization. There is no emotional care that is needed or really necessary to conduct business as needed. This dry and detached depiction of management shows no leadership. Leadership can be void of care, or for that matter, ethics as well, but this would be considered coercion or domination instead.

"The transformational aspect of leadership is what separates a leader from a regular manager because it goes beyond the assigned leadership and goes as being emotionally and personally invested in the well-being of the individuals. A respectable leader cares about their subordinates on a level that goes beyond the mission. The leader is able to care so much that they are able to inspire their followers to push harder than ever before. This is something that the military does care about and it reflects on aspects of what Winston and Patterson (2006, p. 12-13) focuses on in terms of mental, spirituality, emotion, and physical energy. Leaders are able to transcend beyond reaching a goal, but can change individuals on a personal level to transform for the better through inspiration. That is what I would consider a leader."

My final paragraph reflects leadership by hinting at the servant, adaptive, and authentic concepts in relation to the transformational approach. I touch upon different methods without being able to distinguish between the theories. Ultimately, this class has brought a greater depth to what my understanding of leadership was after completing college, commissioning through AFROTC, and entering the workforce as an Officer in the USAF. I still agree with my initial definition and interpretation of leadership, but have a greater understanding between the different approaches and am able to separate the different approaches. The various perspectives that I have in regards to leadership now is more refined than ever before.

With my better understanding of organizational leadership, the type of leader that I aspire to be starts with continuing to harness my own natural inclination towards the servant leadership while understanding myself better through authentic leadership. I hope to be able to embody transformational leadership as I hone my interpersonal skills as a leader and continue to learn from my subordinates and colleagues as well. I am both a follower and a leader and have a lot of more developing to do as a person. There are many experiences I have yet to encounter that will test my abilities as a leader as I progress through my career and life itself. Leadership is a process and one that is ever evolving within ourselves whether we realize it or not.

References

Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publishing.

Winston, B.E. & Patterson, K. (2006). An integrative definition of leadership. International Journal of Leadership Studies, 1(2), 6-66.

Zaleznik, A. (1977). Managers and leaders: Are they different?. Harvard Business Review, 55(3), 67-78.