Reflection Leadership and Organizational Change

Question: Discuss about the Reflectionfor Leadership and Organizational Change. Answer: Topic and Explanation The most impactful aspect of leadership is its diverse dynamic and integral sense of responsibility within the organizational setup. Most importantly, the interlock between leadership and teamwork is a crucial aspect for both effective management and successful achievement of organizational goals and objectives. In my understanding, leadership is instrumental towards the effective work of teams; which in turn form the various departments that hold various functions within the company. The effect of leaders within teams, especially transformational leadership, should not be undermined. Leaders internalize the mission and process it into a vision for the future. They then communicate it in talk and action, therefore, inspiring the rest to follow towards the achievement of the set goals and objectives. Consequently, the role of leadership in team formation, development and implementation is an integral and important determinant of teams' and organizational success. My appreciation for the unique relationship between leadership and teamwork stemmed from my experience participating and later nurturing teams within my organization. A leader seeks the individual success of each team member through coaching and guidance. Consequently, each member self-improves leading to the better cohesiveness of the team as a whole. Therefore, the role of leadership in team development and growth consists of a more personal approach; a cultivation of personal and professional relationships that inspire organizational culture towards success. Therefore, transformational leadership is not only aimed at developing a business vision and culture; it also involves following through with the execution of laid out plans through coaching, guidance and active participation to set an example through conduct. Academic Link Leadership is one of the most discussed aspects of business and management. However, the complexity of the concept is easily overlooked. Needless to say, the importance of leadership to teamwork is an undeniable fact. Leadership offers the moral and hierarchical guidance required for team success. Haas and Mortensen (2016) stipulate that team effectiveness is determined by the availability of enabling conditions. They determine some of these conditions as compelling direction; strong structure, supportive context, and a shared mindset. The role of leadership is to avail these and many more enabling conditions to ensure that teams work in a cohesive and effective manner. Morgeson, DeRue, and Karam (2010) support this ideology by discussing the functional leadership theory. According to the theory, the role of leaders is to satisfy the needs of the team; thus, provide all that is required for the team to effectively execute its mandate. Therefore, the role of a leader is to determine t he factors required for team success, provide the said resources, evaluate their implementation and offer guidance and corrective action where need be. Geothals et al. (2004) quote that leadership is not a solo act, rather it is a team effort that is composed of winning strategies characterized by the we not the I philosophy. Therefore, leadership does not equate to giving commands and orders; it is the establishment of common ground between leadership and team members to develop a working relationship that is centered on effective communication and sharing of a common goal. Motschnig and Ryback (2016) highlight the dynamic nature of leadership within teams. The authors stipulate that leaders have to invest both their mental and emotional entities into team development. For instance, leaders need to consider the existence of diversity and differing standpoints within a team. Therefore, their need to be swift problem solvers cannot be undermined. On the other hand, leaders need to emotionally identify with team members to effectively understand them. The need to have empathy, patience, and sympathy among many other emotions cannot be overruled. Therefore, leadership is a complex yet necessary aspect of team development and success. It is a multi-faceted concept that has an undeniable effect on organizational success. Leader Example As described, the functional leadership model defines the role of a leader as "the responsibility to do or get done what is not being effectively done by the team". The role of a team leader is to provide all the necessary factors to promote cohesiveness and effectiveness of the team. However, my past experience with leadership has mainly looked into the functional aspect of the team; it was aimed at evaluating performance and streamlining member responsibilities. Though this is, in fact, the role of leadership, there was little input into the personal and career development of team members. Therefore, I would use the newly learned perspective of leadership to mentor and motivate team members towards self-satisfaction within their team responsibilities. The development of a one on one relationship with team members would be advisable if possible. Therefore, my aim in the leadership position would be to induce a better communication culture that takes a mentorship perspectives aimed at helping team members' self-development as a way to improve team cohesiveness and communication. Leadership now means taking a more vision-oriented approach rather than merely production results. Further, this can be interpreted as an employee-oriented approach that aims to foster a sense of belonging for team members. Through personal growth, team members are able to establish their career paths; thus promote higher levels of productivity. Furthermore, incorporation of leadership in management also translates to actively leading by example. Therefore, teamwork processes would need to be tackled on a hands-on basis through active participation as one of the team members. Past execution processes alienated management from the groundwork of team task execution. However, active participation is likely to offer a fresh perspective on challenges exper ienced within the teams, as well as required resources for organizational success. Employee Example Contrary to the manager example, the employee perspective is easily achieved through the informal leadership factor. Despite my authoritative position within my department, I find an informal approach potentially having more effect within the employee aspect of leadership. Informal leaders are those that function apart from the formal hierarchy of authority. Thus, my leadership approach as an employee is centered on the professional and personal relationships with team members. This is likely to have a better effect because informal leaders are more approachable within the workplace setup. As constantly emphasized teamwork inefficiencies often stem from inadequate communication. Therefore, this approach is likely to succeed because approachability opens channels for honest feedback within the team. This informal perspective would take up the concept of a partnership as team members would view me as one of them. Communication between colleagues could potentially offer more insight on team inefficiencies compared to a hierarchical aspect of communication. To better execute leadership as an employee; the most crucial aspect would be to lead by example. This would require an internalization of the goal of the team, as well as the formulation of a way to achieve said goal. Therefore, this translates to the establishment of my departments vision and making it the creed by which I live. Consequently, in a peer kind of set up, it would be easier to influence my colleagues towards following in my footsteps towards the realization of the determined vision. All in all, the integral nature of leadership within teams is a crucial factor often not considered in organizations. Taking advantage of team communication and functional leadership within teams is sure to transform both personal and organizational performance. My goal in this capacity would be to show that leadership is not only implemented by management, but its rather a dynamic concept that is at the disposal of leaders within the company in various capacities. References Goethals, G.R., Sorenson, G.J., Burns, J.M., 2004. Encyclopedia of leadership: A-E, Volume 1. ed. SAGE. Haas, M., Mortensen, M., 2016. The Secrets of Great Teamwork [WWW Document]. Harv. Bus. Rev. URL https://hbr.org/2016/06/the-secrets-of-great-teamwork (accessed 4.7.17). Morgeson, F.P., DeRue, D.S. and Karam, E.P., 2010. Leadership in teams: A functional approach to understanding leadership structures and processes. Journal of management, 36(1), pp.5-39. Motschnig, R., Ryback, D., 2016. Transforming Communication in Leadership and Teamwork: Person-Centered Innovations. Springer, Gewerbestrasse.