4. Effective followers is someone who is high on critical thinking and involvement. They like to actively contribute to team and the organizational goals. They are self-motivated and perform the tasks with enthusiasm. They are not worried about conflict generally speak their ideas out to their teammates and the leader. They are ready to handle any conflict. They have self-initiative. They are described as courageous proactive independent and good in decision making and problem solving. 5. Pragmatic followers is someone who has a moderate level of engagement and portray a moderate level of critical thinking depending on the situation. They are uncommitted and wait to see where things are going before they take action. They are the ones who are always stuck in the middle. self-initiative is low.
DELEGATION Is a process of assigning responsibility and authority for accomplishing objectives, to a subordinate or a group of subordinates. In other words, the act of empowering to act for others/ on behalf of others. A leader should delegate to his subordinates so they can prioritize their time and energy to other tasks, it helps increase the productivity, it helps to train and develop skills of the subordinates and to overall reduce the stress level in the hierarchy of the organization. A leader should delegate tasks like paperwork, routine matters, solving issues between employees, tasks with developmental potentials and technical matters but should not delegate matters related to the management levels financial and key aspects of the deal
The process to delegate 1. Explain the need & why the employee has been selected. 2. Set objectives to include deadline & level of authority 3. Develop a plan 4. Establish control check points 5. Hold employee accountable 6. Commit it in writing
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC
Week 10 - Team Leadership TEAM VS GROUP A group is a collection of individuals who coordinate their efforts and focus on individual performances and goals using their own abilities. A team is a group of people who share a common goal, information, insights, perspectives and collective responsibility towards decision making. They seem similar but the two are different when it comes to decision making and teamwork. In a work group, group members are independent from one another and have individual accountability.
The differences between Group and Team: the group members do not share responsibility, but team members share the responsibility. The group focus on individual performances and goals, whereas the team members focus on achieving team goals. The group produces individual group products whereas teams produce a collective shared products based on everyone contribution. Group members work more independently with more motivation to achieve personal goals whereas team members tend to have shared responsibility
The advantages of teamwork 1. Synergy 2. Avoidance of major errors 3. Faster & Better decisions 4. Increase job satisfaction 5. Quality of work improves there is continuity as well 6. innovation
7. Commitment to goal achievement 8. Development of Self-motivation 9. Pooling of resources, ideas and expertise 10. Stimulates 11. Providing continuity, even though one team members leaves the team 12. Empowerment 13. Needs fulfilment
The disadvantages of teamwork 1. Pressure to conform to group standards of performance and conduct 2. Resistance to the team effort from impinging on autonomy 3. Social loafing 4. Groupthink 5. Intergroup conflicts 6. High level of pressure and stress
The characteristics of effective teams: Team effectiveness has three main components 1. Task 2. Relationship 3. Process
Team leader’s role in creating effective teams A team leader provides guidance and instructions to a working group about the project and task in hand. The leader is in charge of delegating the work and setting goals, establishing clear roles, responsibilities and expectations and overseeing progress towards goal achievement and also if needed coaching the team members. Team leader often serves as de-facto mentors for the team, even if they don’t have a manger titles. Team leader should empower the team members to make good smart decisions. Encourage listening and positive feedback to motivate the team spirits. Develop trust among the team and encourage a growth mindset.
Organisational role in creating effective teams For a team to be truly effective, its members must unite with the same vision and be motivated to bring that vision to life. They must share clear measurable goals and be committed to each play their part in the overall success of the group. The management should provide unconditional support, resources and adequate information’s as required by the team. Post activity reviews and dialogue session facilitate team learning by 1. Analysing reasons for success or failure. 2. Reviewing what went well & what can be improved 3. Discuss perceptions & assumptions.
There are 4 types of teams: 1. A functional team is also known as problem solving teams. Functional teams are permanent and include members of the same department with different responsibilities. This is a typical topdown management approach commonly found in organizations. 2. A cross functional teams are made of individuals of similar hierarchical levels from various departments and sometimes it includes experts from outside the organization as well. These teams handle specific tasks that require different inputs and expertise. Its crucial that different personalities and perspectives are embraced, and individual strengths are fully capitalized.
3. Self-manged teams. Generally, individuals in self-managed teams are employees of the same organisation who work together. The aim of this team is to reach a common goal. They operate without managers and are relatively autonomous, sharing responsibility and leadership. 4. A virtual team are made up of individuals who work in different physical locations and who use technology and collaboration tools to achieve a common goal.
Team creativity is the innovation of novel and useful ideas which are relevant to processes, services, products and procedures by a team of employees working together. Organizational practices to enhance team creativity include providing the teams with the following 1. Adequate and quality resources 2. Appropriate recognition and rewards 3. Flexibility and minimum amount of structure 4. Supportive climate and culture
Following are the steps to improve creativity: 1. Brainstorming 2. Encourage individuality 3. Provide a stimulating environment 4. Facilitate anonymous suggestions 5. Act on good ideas give praise and positive reinforcement 6. Continue to hire diverse talents
How to lead creative followers: Set goals, provide resources, support their ideas and suggestions, listen to their ideas by giving them a fair chance to present the working model of their ideas, reduce the time pressure but support them to be on track. Follow positive reinforcement and rewards system to motivate and encourage their creativity. Team decision making advantages are improved quality, shared responsibility, better understanding and higher level of commitment. Team making disadvantages are it could delay the process of decision making, at times it may not be beneficial for the organization.
Determinants of effective team decisions: The most important being the effective leadership. Trust and communication with clarity are also some keys elements here. Members traits and values which also include that they are operating not from a personal agenda but for the overall betterment of the organization. Sometimes small teams are better to reach on a decision faster and effectively.it also depends on the relationship between team members – their friendships understanding& respect towards each other and also the members status importance in relation to the team
A leader should lead by an example. Be that Role model Teacher, coach or mentor or facilitator, Initiator, Consultant, Arbitrator and the Coordinator for his subordinates. Three parts of the effective meetings: Effective meetings need structure, order and ground rules. Without these elements they can go on forever and accomplish a thing. 1. Identify objectives. Be very clear of the purpose of the meeting and what are the goals you like to achieve by the end of the meeting. 2. Prepare the agenda and cover the agenda in the allocated time for the meeting. Start the meeting on time. 3. Summarize and review assignments and end the meeting on time.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
A talk by the expert on Leadership and Governance for SUSTAINABILITY It was a quiet an interesting talk about the role of leader in governance for sustainability. The speaker Dr Wesam spoke about how the pollution( air and water) is a silent killer. The more population creates more waste which in turn creates pollution. In we today’s world we are living unsustainably that’s our issue. Environmental degradation is happening at an accelerating rate. We are not thinking of the environment. Cost of global warming is natural disasters, haze, floods, climate changes. The damages of the extreme weather costs billion of dollars. He shared information of climate change in China, in Asia and the pacific. Air pollution costs cash and lives. He spoke about the importance of the quality of the health. The way forward is sustainability and he explained the importance of sustainability. Three spheres of sustainability environmental aspects, social aspects, economic aspects. We have to maintain for the future generations by practising sustainability. These are the aims to be achieved for sustainability as a development progress. He shared about the three big ideas – renewable energy from the sun, solar energy and wind & flowing water.
He shared with us about the sustainable development goals or global goals. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
No one can achieve sustainability alone. We need integration from all aspect’s society and governments, global collaborative actions are required to attain sustainability. 6 principles of sustainability leadership. 1. Worldview 2. Network 3. Boundaries 4. Influence 5. Complexity dynamics 6. Self-leadership
Importance of leadership in governances. We have a lot of regulations for air pollution water pollutions etc we have policies in place but yet we are failing to protect the environment. Maybe because it’s a leadership issue than the governance issue. There are rules the issue is it is not followed. It getting complicated to integrate economic aspects. No right to pollute environment to make profits. Leadership plays a very important role here. Right actions are required. Improve the systems keep the sustainability as a prime goal. A good governance needs the three factors State → creating a favourable political legal and economic environment. Market → creating opportunities for people Civil society → mobilizing people participation
In conclusion government needs to have good laws, institutions and processes in place to ensure accountability stability and justice for all. Our leaders have to move the society towards a preferred direction. We need to create the mindset for sustainability From a young age create mindful and responsible citizens, include in our education system, cultivate attitude of sustainability and make it a part of your daily life so we can leave a beautiful legacy for our coming generations.
Week 11 - Leading self managed teams SMT, is a group of employees within an organization who share the responsibility of planning and executing their work, without the supervision of a manager. Under this model, team members take ownership of their workflow, processes, schedules, roles and more. SMT is also known as self-directing teams or self-maintaining teams or self-leading teams or self-regulating teams. The Socio-technical systems theory are about collective optimisation and development. Here, the emphasis is on achieving excellence in both the performances and the work of employees. The theory is also about the social aspects of people and society, and the technical aspects of organisations and processes.
Nature of self-managed team Operate without managerial supervision High job satisfaction High commitment Make structural and operational decisions Responsible for tasks as a collective whole Variety of technical skills Versatile and flexible
In an organizational structure, both traditional and SMT structures are prevailing. The differences between them is following 1. Authority – in traditional team structure play the authoritative roles where in SMT structure teams play the role of leader and the follower 2. Expert – traditional structure teams become an expert in their areas whereas in SMT structure teams become champions and cheerleaders. 3. Teacher – traditional structure members act as teachers whereas in SMT structure members act as resource allocators.
4. Problem solving-traditional structure members act as mentor, on the other hand SMT members become boundary managers 5. Coordinator-in traditional structure team members coordinate between the activities where as in SMT team members facilitate quitting. Both structures are suitable for organizations depending on the nature of the operation, size and management of the organization.
Advantages of self-managed teams include increased productivity, enhanced innovation, increased team spirits and motivation, reduced pressure on managers, highly motivated employees, grater ownership of the tasks to be performed. decision making is designated throughout the team, team members are responsible for time keeping, scheduling and productivity, keep operational cost down because of reductions in managerial ranks and increased efficiency. A sense of trust and respect can evolve between team members. Disadvantages of self-managed teams are- a concept of groupthink may take over, where individuals ideas are put up on the back-burner in favour of conformity to team norms, some team members desire more management intervention, SMT often take a long time to set up and execute effectively. Some employees are not right candidates for such teams they need more training and commitment otherwise team can flounder and lose motivation
Characteristics of effective self-managed teams: Have clear missions & high-performance standards Take stocks of equipment’s, training facilities& other resources team needs. Spend significant time to planning & organizing to use available resources and assess members technical skills.
High levels of communication. Guidelines for improving SMT: Create the culture for such team, gauge interest from possible team members, offer training to employees, provide guidance, infrastructure, define team objectives and goals. Develop team rules and decision-making standards the norms. Ensure there are adequate resources, create a sense of empowerment, recruit and train team facilitators, offer positive feedback as a way of growth. Don’t react on the first crisis.
Four stages of group development 1. Forming – high commitment, low competence – members come committed but have not developed competence in working together. 2. Storming -less commitment, some competence- members become dissatisfied with the team as they develop confidence. 3. Norming – variable commitment, high competence- commitment changes while competence remains constant. 4. Performing- high commitment, high competence – commitment and competence remain high.
SMT facilitators team building activities 1. Open forums to resolve interpersonal conflicts 2. Create opportunities for social interactions 3. Increase mutual acceptance & respect between members 4. Highlight the mutual interest of team members 5. Increase team identification 6. Use team-oriented incentives to foster team work
Distributed Leadership in SMT A collection of roles and behaviours that can be divided, shared, rotated and used sequentially or concomitantly in a SMT environment. High involved management also plays an important role for the success of the self-managed teams by moving power, information. Knowledge and rewards further down the organization and by creating atmosphere of empowerment and motivation
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC
Week 12 - Charismatic and Transformational Leadership The word ‘charisma’ comes from the Greek word ‘charis’. It means gift or grace (Edinger, 2012). The term ‘charisma’ refers to a special power that some people have naturally that makes them able to influence other people and attract their attention and admiration (Cambridge Dictionary, 2021). According to Soanes (2002) the term ‘charisma’ refers to attractiveness or charm that can inspire admiration or enthusiasm in other people. According to Riggio (n.d.) charismatic leadership refers to the interaction between a leader’s personal charisma, the followers’ reactions to the leader, and situational characteristics. Leaders with this style rely on their personal characteristics to inspire people to get things done.
4 behaviour attributes that distinguish charismatic leaders is: 1. Dissatisfaction with status quo 2. Compelling nature of the vision 3. Use of unconventional strategies for achieving desired change 4. A realistic assessment of resources needs and other constraints for achieving desired change.
10 traits of a charismatic leader: 1. Creating a compelling vision 2. Finding a convincing motivation 3. Expressing personal values 4. Being a role model 5. Establishing clear, desirable goals 6. Showing empathy and compassion 7. Taking risks 8. Thinking creatively 9. Exuding confidence 10. Working with purpose
Advantages of charismatic leadership style Charismatic leaders usually display a great level of confidence to convince a large audience. They know themselves very well and try to bring people together to achieve the organisational goals. Charismatic leaders are usually adaptable and possess the power to make the followers feel comfortable with the environment and the circumstances they are in regardless of the reality on the ground. Charismatic leaders do well in time of difficulty/crisis where they can demonstrate their outstanding devotion to the cause and lead everyone out of the difficulty. These leaders usually have clear visions to chart the direction of their organisations
Disadvantages of charismatic leadership style While self-confidence is excellent, it is also possible that charismatic leaders may sometimes become over-confident and start exercising narcissism (personality disorder/manipulative behaviour) which may threaten the harmony within the organisation. Therefore, some experts argue that too much charisma sometimes does more harm than good. Charismatic leaders are often busy in building their self-image to distinguish themselves from others. They sometimes overestimate themselves and can even end up believing that they are above everything and everyone else. Likewise, they are very interested in keeping their leadership intact and may be reluctant in turning controls over to others.
With diverse personal characteristics, charismatic leaders may create an illusion that nobody in the organisation is capable like them, and therefore, they must not be replaced. This creates challenges for organisations which may decide to replace the leaders to give opportunities to others, bring in fresh ideas, and perhaps try something new.
Socialised and personalised charismatic leaders: The socialized charismatic leader (SCL) is one who possesses an egalitarian self-transcendent and empowering personality. Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Bill Clinton, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Angela Merkel, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jack Ma are some of the political and business leaders who have demonstrated outstanding personal qualities and characteristics in their activities. The personalized charismatic leader (PCL) is one who possesses a dominant, Machiavellian and narcissistic personality. Adolph Hitler, David Koresh and Donald trump are few examples of personalized charismatic leaders.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC
Week 13 - Authentic Leadership J.M. Burns first articulated the idea of transformational leadership in 1978 before Bernard Bass expanded on it almost a decade later. Burns proposed two leadership approaches for getting work done: transactional or transformational. Transformational leadership is a theory of leadership where a leader works with teams or followers beyond their immediate self-interests to identify needed change, creating a vision to guide the change through influence, inspiration, and executing the change in tandem with committed members of a group; This change in self-interests elevates the follower's levels of maturity and ideals, as well as their concerns for the achievement.
The difference between charismatic leadership and transformational leadership is: charismatic leadership gravitates around the leader and the persona of the leader. Transformational centres around a common vision and focuses on improving and evolving all team members to reach another level. All transformational leaders are charismatic but not all charismatic leaders are transformational Transformational leaders often exhibit four unique characteristics: • Inspiration motivation: Transformational leaders may inspire and motivate people by providing a clear vision and communicating that vision. When joined together with “Idealized Influence,” the two characteristics represent the transformational leader’s productivity. With clarity, a transformative leader can readily inspire their people
• Idealistic influence: Idealized Influence denotes the leader’s function as an ideal role model for followers. A transformative leader exemplifies the characteristics that they seek in their team. In this instance, the followers regard the leader as a role model to imitate • Intellectual stimulation: Transformational leaders encourage their followers to be creative and innovative and to question the status quo. • Individualized consideration: Transformational leaders show genuine care for their followers’ emotions and needs, and they assist them in self-actualization. The individual attention to each follower contributes to the development of trust among the organization and its members and its authority figure(s).
Transactional leadership is a style of leadership that focuses on order, structure, and goaloriented planning. A transactional leader will directly tell their team what to do—as a result, this leadership style prioritizes maintaining the status quo, rather than challenging it. Steward leadership is a form of leadership that focuses on others, the community and society at large, rather than the self. Many senior leaders and executives across the globe appear to ‘naturally’ move into a stewardship mindset at a ripe age or when their careers have matured. Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy in which the goal of the leader is to serve. This is different from traditional leadership where the leader's main focus is the thriving of their company or organization. A servant leader shares power, puts the needs of the employees first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible. Instead of the people working to serve the leader, the leader exists to serve the people.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC
Level 5 Leadership Jim Collins publication ‘Good to Great” where it says that an organization’s success is even more closely connected with the quality of its leader than initially believed. His book introduced a new term to the leadership lexicon- Level 5 leadership. Over a five-year period, Collins conducted a research project to discover what distinguished so called “good” companies from “great” ones Level 5 leadership is an essential factor from taking the company from Good to Great, but its not the only factor. There are multiple factors that lead companies to the journey of greatness. Level 5 leadership challenges the assumption transforming the companies from good to great requires larger than life leaders.