Using Power Responsibly

 “Being powerful is like being a lady, if you have to tell people that are, than you are not” (Russ Forester).This is one of my favorite quotes, when I think about the powerful people that I have met in my life, this quote pretty much sums up their behavior. Many of the powerful people which I have met in the past have never forced thier power on me, you just knew to respect them by the way that they carried themselves. When I think of how I can become powerful, I try to emulate this type of behavior by creating power through my social skills.

I always felt like my father was a powerful man, he did not have a lot of money, but if he ever needed something done, people would line up just to accomplish this task for him. My father was always kind and people responded to this behavior, he was never mean to anyone and he created his power through friendship. He always used to tell me, “People will always help you in your time of need if they know that you would do the same for them”; he always knew how to develop sources of personal influence to gain power.

Sources of personal power are defined by “expertise, attraction, effort, and legitimacy” (Cameron & Whetton, 2012, pg. 288). These are characteristics which I learned from observing someone like my father; and as an adult today, I put them into practice. I use my expertise to establish that I am a knowledgeable person on the subject matter, showing others that you do know what you are talking about instills confidence in your abilities. Attraction is an important tool to use also, appearances give a great first impression; it is important that our appearance is a good representation of who we are. Effort, I learned at an early age that showing effort will win over others instantly. “A high level of personal effort is one of the most highly prized characteristics of employees because it means that they are dependable, reliable human resources” (Cameron & Whetton, 2012, pg. 289). As a kid, when I was on a team I knew I could gain power and influence if I could display how much effort I put into my performance; being a reliable person gains the trust of others. Overall my main focus is to gain legitimacy, “being a legitimate person increases acceptance, and acceptance is a key to personal influence” (Cameron & Whetton, 2012, pg. 290). When I am working on gaining power I have to be a legitimate force if I am to lead others.

            In my eyes, a powerful person not having to say that they are in charge, speaks volumes about their personality. Someone who does not have to say that they are powerful is a sign of being a confident person. People who are confident in themselves and do not have the need to throw their weight around easily become likeable leaders. Growing up my goal has always been to be a likeable leader, I have always felt that “you can catch more bees with honey than vinegar”. I have always felt that I am a likeable person and as a leader this makes others more comfortable with having an open and honest relationship with me. When people can have confidence and trust you, “this makes you much more emotionally accessible as a leader” (Cameron & Whetton, 2012, pg. 288).

            Overall having these characteristics which I have learned from people like my father, and other role models in my life, I have been able to create power with those around me and create good relationships with my superiors. With my bosses, I am able to find a style that fits both of our needs, be sympathetic to the pressures they face, and at the same time use their time and resources to my advantage. The way I see things, power can come from how many people you have in your corner, the bigger my team is the more powerful I can become. The way to keep the most amount of people on my side is by using my power in an effective way and not abusing it, also by using my power to help those around me. It is important to see that power can be passed on to an individual, but for them hold on to that power, it will take the help of those surrounding that individual.

Reference:

Whetten, D., and Cameron, K (2011). Developing Management Skills (8th Ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ. Pearson/ Prentice Hall

   

The Importance of Coaching and Mentoring

            When I was at the golf range golf driving range my coach observed me, told me to move my foot about three inches to the left, and then I instantly hit the ball a lot straighter. What had just happen? I asked myself this question as I was watching my ball sail to the exact location I wanted it to. I then proceeded to take my next swing and had the exact same result; then it hit me, I had just realized the effects of having a great coach by my side. This coach did not break me down and completely change my swing, he simply told me I am doing fine; I just needed one or two adjustments. I had finally seen the importance of having a coach first hand, but maybe I should have realized this sooner since many people have been doing this for me all my life.

            Rather it be playing baseball at the park with my dad, or learning to lead a whole division of sailor’s in the middle of the sea; people have been coaching me all my life. Many times having a coach was someone that I could bounce ideas off of, it has been said that “an important role for a coach to play might just be an open ear, or a shoulder to lean on” (Stewart, 2008). The reason for this is that a coach is meant to be there for someone who is already skilled, and has a good idea of what they are doing. A coach is there to enhance your skills, they need to be able to spot your flaws, and find a way to improve your skill set.

            The relationship between an individual and their coach needs to be a strong one, you need to be able to take criticism from your coach, if it is to be a successful pairing. Many organizations have implemented the need for coaching and mentoring programs which specialize in giving constructive criticism to an individual. Some organizations have even adopted a program where it is mandatory to give criticism, so that an individual can learn from their mistakes (Shannon, 2008). Organizations like these feel that American’s are not good not good at giving criticism due to our culture, this is why they say that they have learned to not fear feedback, and instead embrace the feedback.

            Enough cannot be said about the importance of having a coach, but we also need to talk about the importance of having a mentor. A mentor is different from having a coach because a mentor is someone who will teach you and share their lessons with you. “A mentor can also help with more traditional support, such as educational benefits which might be provided through work” (Labbad, 2013). A mentor is also someone who might take you under their wing and help you rise in an organization. Recently it has been known at my organization that I will be completing my MSLD, since this information is now known, I have had several offers from individuals who wish to take me under their wing and help me reach my potential. Many people in upper management want to find talent which they can mentor, “this helps both individuals rise and establish power and loyalty where they did not have it before” (Azerello, 2013).

            Coaching and mentoring are both essential to an organization, finding the importance in creating and molding new talent is a popular practice among many organizations. There are many executives which find this practice fun and very productive, some executives would even say that “it keeps them energized, and they learn from the experience” (Stewart, 2008). It is evident that programs that contain mentoring and coaching end up helping everyone; the individual, executives, and the organization all benefit from these activities. This is a great way of doing business, investing time and energy in employees will pay off in the long run. Companies with mentorship programs are breeding their future leaders, and molding them to fit the personality of the organization; only great things can come from this type work in the office.

References:

Stewart, s. (2008). Importance of Coaching and Mentoring, retrieved from:

http://library.books24x7.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/searchresults.aspx

Labbad, D. (2013). Coaching and Mentoring Are the Key to Leadership Development, retrieved from: http://library.books24x7.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/searchresults.aspx

Shannon, P. B. (2008). Learn Not to Fear Feedback, retrieved from:

http://library.books24x7.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/searchresults.aspx

Azzerello, P. (2013). The Cheapest and Most Effective Way to Develop Your Workforce, retrieved from:

https://azzarellogroup.com/articles/The%20cheapest%20most%20effective%20way%20to%20develop%20your%20workforce-Azzarello%20Group.pdf

  

              

The Different Roles of a Leader

For this assignment, I want to talk about a team which I am a part of on a daily basis, my family is a big team and rather we like to or not, we have to work with each other every day. It is easy to equate my family to a business or a team, many times I will have to use the techniques which I have learned in the MSLD program, so that my family can work much more efficient. Many times I will read about different behaviors which I can reflect on, there are also different roles which I play in my household. As I read about some of these roles and the effects they can have on a team, I often find myself trying to work on my leadership skills. The two roles which we are focusing on this week in class are, task-facilitating roles, and relationship-building roles.

I find that playing these two roles, I can improve my team, it can be a challenge to constantly maintain these two roles since there are so many different personalities involved on my team. Generally as a team member, I find that I tend to play more of a task facilitating role, I know that I am often referred to as the “task master at home”; and that is generally because I tend to push my team members to reach their potential. Because I do see myself as the leader of my team, I know that I have to be urging by imploring team members to stay on task. In our text it talks about how being “enforcing may create resistance when the team is already experiencing high levels of pressure” (Cameron and Whetton, 2012, pg. 513), I have realized this resistance on many occasions, constantly playing the task-facilitating role can have a negative side to it.

Many times, I will find that my children do need to be pushed, so I am often engaging my team to accomplish the mission. My team might see this as me being pushy, but I see it as a way of me “enforcing team rules, standards, and maintaining agreed upon procedures” (Cameron and Whetton, 2012, pg. 513). As I actively engage my team to complete the mission and reach their goals, this requires me to also monitor their progress. “Monitoring consist of checking on progress, developing measures of success, and helping to maintain accountability for results” (Cameron and Whetton, 2012, pg. 513); unfortunately this can also be viewed as being pushy.

 Finding the correct balance, while playing a task-facilitating role can be challenging, my biggest fear is that my role will go from a task-facilitator to a blocking role. Sometimes a team can have someone who plays a blocking role, at times while trying to make sure that task get completed, I can see that I have instead taken on a role which creates negative feelings. When I am conducting myself as someone that plays the blocking role, I begin to become “dominating, overanalyzing, overgeneralizing, and fault finding” (Cameron and Whetton, 2012, pg. 513). I understand that this is a problem, exercises such as this one, help me reflect on my behavior and leadership skills. I have to realize that this type of behavior can “potentially inhibit a team from efficiency and effectively accomplishing its task by crushing morale” (Cameron and Whetton, 2012, pg. 516).

As I go through the MSLD course, I become much more in tune with my actions and the way that I can behave in a team. Being able to know which mistakes I am making when in the leadership role, have helped me understand myself, knowing that I still do have room for improvement keeps me interested in the different techniques which I am learning throughout the MSLD program. In the past I have caught myself making these mistakes, but I did not know the effects that my behavior can have on a team until now. I am constantly trying to improve team cohesion and collaboration, but until now I have not known which key mistakes I am making. Understanding which role I play in a team will help me improve my leadership skills, by improving my leadership skills, I know that in the future my team will be much more effective.

Reference:

Whetten, D., and Cameron, K (2011). Developing Management Skills (8th Ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ. Pearson/ Prentice Hall

The Things That We Work For

Yes, we all like to be paid, but money is not among the three most important reason why we work. Andy Mulholland shares his insights as to what those three things are.

Create a blog entry discussing each of the motivators identified in this video and discuss their impact on you; additionally identify 3 additional motivators that have a major impact on you.

            When you look at some of the best professional athletes in the world we constantly see people taking smaller contracts to play on a team where they can be recognized on a larger scale or can compete for a championship. What drives many of these athletes is not a bigger pile of money because to them there is no difference between 120 million or 140 million, there is something much more important than money for many athletes. Many professional players want to be interested in the team and goals they are playing for, the fact that they can learn more from a better team, improve their skills, and to be adored and valued by the fans that cheer their names.

            These are the same goals which Andy Mulholland talks of in his four minute video. Now we are all not professional athletes but everyone looks for these three reasons in life no matter where it is coming from. Whether you are in a relationship, a family, or at your job; these are the three reasons that many people wake up every day. This hits home for me because lately I have not felt this way about my current job and I have the feeling that it is getting close to that time where I will be moving on.

            When I think about interesting work, I think about work that moves me, makes me laugh and smile, and most of all work that motivates me to be better. I want to know that I am making a difference in an organization and not just another busy bee worker. I believe that many people feel that way in this world but unfortunately they are stuck due to many different circumstances.

            Expanding our skill set, this is the second reason which Andy gave us and it is just as important as the other two in my opinion. Expanding our skills is what helps us continue to grow so that one day we can land that dream job. I always dream of a job where I am happy, interested, and feel important but I also recognize that no one in this world will hand this dream job to me. I have to gain valuable experience, work my way to the top, and take that job. We all want certain things in life, the difference in my opinion between achieving these goals and continuing to just dream about it, is that some individuals in this world are willing to work hard for what they want.

            The third motivator which Andy gives us is the fact that we all want to be recognized and valued as individuals. At my job we have a saying which is very discouraging and reflects on the culture of my organization we call workers “just a warm body in the chair”. Sometimes we feel like we are just another number or a warm body in the chair to keep things running. There is no sense of accomplishment, and recognition is just a pat on the back once in a blue moon; a large part is due to the industry that I am working in now but I know this will not last for long. The fact that I think about moving on every day of my life is proof of what Andy spoke of in this video, no matter how big my paycheck is I know that I will never be satisfied.

            For me I have my own three motivators which I also value aside from the three that Andy mentioned. I believe that change, upward mobility, and having a true and lasting bond amongst a team are what I would want from a job. It is funny because I could not wait to get out of the military four years ago but now I credit these three reasons to my eight year stint in the U.S.NAVY.

            These three reasons are fairly simple to understand because I believe that these are almost the basic needs of a human. I need change because I like to keep things exciting, fresh, and new. I value upward mobility because I want to feel like my hard work is taking me somewhere I have never been before, promotions are important even if I get paid the same amount.

 Last but not least there is something which I have been missing over the last four years since exiting the military, and that is a strong bond amongst a team. Now I know that not everyone will always get along in a team but I am definitely missing the strength that a team can have when there is an obvious bond present. When I was in the military we did such good work because we knew how each other worked and could foresee their next move. In our line of work this type of bond was important but I have to admit that it was much more than just work. Our bond made work fun, the weekends that we spent together to the pranks which we would pull on each other makes me constantly think about one of the best work environments I ever had. It did not even feel like a job at times, there was something truly special about the work that I did many years ago when I was out to sea; it was a period when I grew the most, had interesting work, felt recognized, achieved upward mobility, found constant change, and created bonds which I still think about to this day.

If I could find a job where I had all of these different reasons to come to work, maybe I would never retire. Perhaps I would jump out of bed in the morning as if I was a school kid who had a field trip that same day. I am sure that my hard work is guiding me to this dream job, it is a need which I feel that I have to fulfill. When I look at these needs I can see that many of them are related to the “hierarchical needs theories” (Whetton and Cameron pg. 345) which were developed by Maslow and Alderfer. With all of the reasons which were mentioned we tackle the need for self-actualization, esteem, belongingness, growth, and existence. These are all personal needs which cannot be over looked, these are the basic needs which many working individuals crave.

Reference:

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011). Developing Self-Awareness. In Developing Managment SkillsEighth ed., pp. 46-55, pp. 97-103). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc   

  

            

Supportive Communication

            There is a growing problem in my organization throughout the operations department amongst some of the newer employees which have been hired to take over the positions of the “baby boomer generation”, the employees which are soon to be retiring. There is a huge difference in the way that people communicate at work and I definitely think that supportive communication is necessary with this blend of younger and older generation of workers. It needs to be said that we no longer live in an era where we can just attack someone personally and hope that they get better at their job. There are many techniques to be a successful manager or leader and improve a work environment. We have to understand that times have changed and we are no longer in the 70’s or 80’s when many of the people who are retiring now started working.

            To understand supportive communication we need to understand the difference between coaching and counseling, these are two very different techniques which need to be used when the timing is right. Coaching is a situation where managers must pass along advice and information and counseling is used when trying to correct a deficiency like attitudes at work (Whetton and Cameron pg.245). Many times where I work at it seems that counseling and coaching are blended together, this type of behavior from an employer or manager creates negative moral and employees begin to feel unappreciated at work. I have seen many times where an accident at work is punished in the same manner as someone who constantly shows up late to work. This is not a fair way to punish a good employee who had an accident, I feel like it is an old fashioned outlook on handling employees and used more like a scare tactic.

            Another factor which I find that many of the younger and newer employees are having issues with is how they are approached by some of the senior employees. I think that many of the senior employees need to approach subordinates by acknowledging their true feelings and making sure that their thoughts are communicated authentically (Whetton and Cameron pg. 265). It is obvious that many times senior employees will act out how they are feeling in destructive ways, it seems that they are much more confrontational and place labels on the individual.

The senior employees will say things at work like “you are doing it wrong” or “you are incompetent”, this is not the right way to handle a situation. This type of behavior is an evaluative type of communication where an employee places judgement on a direct individual. As stated in our text “supportive communication is descriptive not evaluative” (Wheton and Cameron pg.248), the better way to handle conflict like this would be in a descriptive way. When approaching a problem in a descriptive way the common practice is to talk about what happened rather than talking about the person involved.

It is important for your employees to remain confident in themselves rather than being attacked, these type of negative correctional tactics can cause an employee to be submissive and paralytic over time, Paralytic behavior can be caused by an employee “being too afraid of the consequences of their decisions” (Forbes). Once an employee starts to become afraid of making decisions it is very hard to get great leadership qualities from them.

I believe that it is imperative that my organization understand what is going on in the operations department. I feel as though someone from our organization needs to step in and make sure that the training of the younger individuals is controlled by an organizational developer which is familiar with supportive communication. It is important that our company realize that their new hires will be the future leaders and we need to instill that notion into the training of our future leaders. I believe that even though the more senior employees do have the experience to make the better decisions, it is also important for them to keep the newer employees involved in the decision making process. We need to breed leaders within the organization not just people that will comply with orders.

References:

Boss, J. (n.d.). How To Overcome The 'Analysis Paralysis' Of Decision-Making. Retrieved June 20, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffboss/2015/03/20/how-to-overcome-the-analysis-paralysis-of-decision-making/

Whetten, D., & Cameron, K. (2011). Developing management skills (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

Decision Making

I often question rather I am making the right decision at my job, throughout my life, and with my family. These are all places in which people have to constantly make hard decisions which at times can be life changing; it is important how we come to a conclusion with all of our decisions. In the MSLD program I have been lucky enough to receive a lot of work which has been geared towards self-reflection and  self-improvement; it is important for all of us as leaders to take a look in the mirror and decide who it is we are and how we make decisions. The following questions are meant for us as leaders to understand our learning styles and self-reflect on what type of leaders we are when it comes to decision making.

1.      What are a few words that describe your decision-making style?

While I was watching this video I picked up on a few key words which made me reflect on how good or bad a leader I can be at times. I was actually a bit concerned after watching the video and thought to myself that I still have a lot of work to complete so that I can be a better leader. I think that when it comes to decision making I am a risk-taker, self-motivated, and assertive; when I want something there is nothing that will get in my way. On the negative side I realized that at times I can be impulsive, delaying and even paralytic. It seems that there are two sides to me and I need to find a way to meet somewhere in-between. While reading an article I find that sometimes a paralytic behavior at work can also be called “analysis paralysis” (Forbes); this behavior can sometimes be attributed to the fact that the decision maker is worried about too many variables which may arise on account of their decision.

2.      What are the opposites of the words you choose?

The opposite of the words I choose to describe my decision making skills are safe, unmotivated, timid, and confident. Some of these words I am glad I do not associate with myself but there are times when I do wish I could relate better to some of these words. The word safe can be a good thing and a bad thing; it is usually good after a bad decision has been made. For the most part I do not like the word safe because it feels like it is always the easier more logical decision to be made, the problem is that it is hard to improve yourself in life if you are always taking the safe route.

Being confident in my decisions would definitely be something which I could benefit from. ”Self-confidence is the fundamental basis from which leadership grows. Trying to teach leadership without first building confidence is like building a house on a foundation of sand. It may have a nice coat of paint, but it is ultimately shaky at best” (INC). This statement is a good representation of how I feel about myself at times, I know I might look and sound like a leader on the outside but on the inside I am not confident yet. Over the last year in the MSLD program, I have come to understand that without confidence it would be almost impossible to lead a group of people if I do not believe in myself first.

3.       Could you see any benefits to making decision using an approach that is based on either the opposites or somewhere in-between and what outcomes would you expect to see?

I think if I can find a happy medium where I am confident yet safe at the same time while continuing to be self-motivated and logical I can succeed at a better rate no matter where I am at. There are many times when I know that I have to stop and force myself to think outside of the norm, I realized this when I read a quote during a class which I took a couple of months ago which changed my outlook on life. The quote said “To resist our tendencies to make right or true that which is merely familiar and wrong or false that which is only strange” (Matthew Taylor). To me what this means is that we have to force ourselves to look at things from an opposite point of view and not just shut the door on something because it is “too” different. If I can overcome my normal tendencies and points of view and force myself to at times be different I think that the outcome would definitely be a positive one.

References:

Dao, F. (n.d.). Without Confidence, There is No Leadership. Retrieved June 20, 2015, from http://www.inc.com/resources/leadership/articles/20080301/dao.html

Boss, J. (n.d.). How To Overcome The 'Analysis Paralysis' Of Decision-Making. Retrieved June 20, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffboss/2015/03/20/how-to-overcome-the-analysis-paralysis-of-decision-making/

Taylor, M. (n.d.).

Time Manegement

So I have decided to write this bog about the upcoming week which I am about to have. I am going on a two week vacation while I am a full time student working on graduate courses. Immediately the thought of this idea makes me cringe, just knowing that I will somehow have to find the time to complete schoolwork while on vacation makes me feel so stressed. It would be easy to take a semester off, but I have goals to accomplish and taking time off is not what I had in mind.

 Stress is something that has become normal to me since I have been a full time worker, student, parent, fitness fanatic, and avid NY Mets baseball team fan; recently I also took on the duty of being a t-ball coach. So as anyone can imagine with all of that on my plate stress cannot be far away, because I have such a busy schedule I have had to find a way to cram all this in while still getting the right amount of sleep in every day.

I like to think that I am fairly good at keeping track of all of my daily objectives and I also believe that my time management skills are definitely good enough to get me by. Now even though I am currently successful with my time management, being the person that I am I have to ask myself “can I get better at time management?” The answer to that question is yes; after reading this week’s assignment I was glad to see that I would learn another useful skill which I will be able to use throughout the rest of my life.

So in general I do believe that I have good time management skills and so far they have helped me succeed; but as I said before there is always room for improvement. One of the new techniques which I would like to adapt into my weekly routine is one which probably my professor would not be the happiest about but I can see the importance in mastering this skill. The skill which I am talking about is to “read selectively” (Whetton and Cameron pg. 125), by reading selectively I am reading the way that an individual would usually read a newspaper, and that is to skim through parts of it and reading what is most important. Up to this point I have tried my best to read what I am assigned but I think that if I can get good at this technique I will be able to save myself at least a couple of hours’ worth of work.  If I can reduce a couple of hours’ worth of work per week I know that I will be able to lower my already high stress levels which I will be faced with while on vacation.

The next area which I will attempt to improve my time management skills will be an area which I usually drive myself crazy with; I need to “have a place or everything and keep everything in its place” (Whetton and Cameron pg.125). The one area where I lose so much useless time is looking for random things in my house, this is something which I really need to work on. I know that it might seem like a very minuet task to accomplish, but working on this technique can save me at least thirty minutes a day. I honestly believe that if I added all of the time which I spend a day looking for items which I have misplaced it would total at least over two hours a week and a whole lot of less stress which I would have to deal with when I am rushing out of my house.

Last but not least my third technique which I will use to improve my time management and decrease my stress levels will be to “do something productive while I wait” (Whetton and Cameron pg.126). This is essential to me making up time when I feel that I do not have it. This week I have used this technique and assured that I finish some of my weekly assignments during down times at my job so that I can get ahead of my weekly assignments. This is proving to be very useful as I know that over the next two weeks my access to the internet and a computer will be very limited while I am on the road. Finding time during which I do not have during the week is essential to my success and I truly believe that my stress levels would be even higher were it not for all of the extra time that I have taken advantage of since reading my text.

I believe that there are many techniques which can help a manager be successful, time management in my opinion ranks amongst the highest. Too many times I have felt like much of America where my life is spinning out of control and I no longer find the “me” time which I used to have during my early and carefree 20’s. I know that my life has changed over the last half decade but that does not mean that my stress levels need to increase. I believe that with the proper management tools and techniques I can gain control of my life once again, it just takes a bit of knowledge, practice, and time management.

Reference:

Whetten, D., & Cameron, K. (2011). Developing management skills (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.