Throughout this semester I have analyzed what
style of leader I believe I am, although I am a firm
believer that leaders are often a mixture of styles
depending on the situation, I feel that I am a supporting or
participative leader. This style of leadership is generally
characterized as encouraging and reinforcing. When using this
style a leader does not just tell or direct the other
person. Instead, the leader shares responsibility for
decision-making. I feel that as a leader you should not only
dictate but also participate and I make an effort to do that
whenever I am in a situation in which I am leading or
supervising a group. Leaders need to be able to tell
subordinates what to do but should also be able to behave in
a manner that backs up what they are saying and this often
involves rolling up their sleeves and participating.
Leadership is defined as “The process of influencing an
organized group toward accomplishing it
goals.”(Huges,Ginnett,Curphy 2006) This may not be possible
based strictly on education or traits but also on your
behavior as a leader. “The leader sets the example. Whether
in the Army or civilian life, the other people in the
organization take their cue from the leader-not from what
the leader says, but what the leader
does.”(Hughes,Ginnett,Curphy 2006) Research shows that a
leader’s ability to build teams and relationships as well as
get results through others stems from the leader’s behavior.
“Leaders seek to motivate employees and develop enthusiasm
for quality with rhetoric, but actions speak louder than
words.” (Nwlink.com 2005) A good example of the importance
of behavior as well as skill comes from our text “Say a
leader provided a group of followers with extremely detailed
instructions on how to get a task accomplished. If the
followers were new to the organization or had never done the
task before, then this level of detail would probably help
the leader get better results through others. But if the
followers were very experienced, then this very same
scenario would be detrimental.”(Huges,Ginnett,Curphy 2006)
As a leader, regardless of your technical ability or
education, your ability to understand your followers and
behave accordingly can be the most important part of your
success. I have found one of the abilities that matter most
when leading a group or team is to be able to read each
individual in that group also to be able to be accessible,
and relatable to each member as well as get in the trenches
with them when necessary to foster an effective environment
for teamwork.
The behavioral approach to leadership describes what
leaders actually do on a daily basis to influence those
around them and attempts to determine the types of
leadership behaviors that lead to successful performance and
employee satisfaction. This approach says that effective
leadership depends on a proper blending of an employee
relationship-centered approach to employees’ needs and a
production-centered approach to getting work done. Albert
Einstein once said, “We should take care not to make
intellect our god. It has, of course, powerful muscles, but
no personality. It cannot lead, it can only serve.” Leaders
can often talk the talk but it is when they can also walk
the walk that they are able to inspire people to do things
they do not believe they can do. Words cannot stand alone;
leaders must demonstrate commitment to the vision and
values.”(lamar.edu 2006) “Leaders can benefit from the
leadership behavior research in several ways. First, the
behavioral approach has served the important purpose of
directing attention to identifying types of leadership
behavior critical to success. Second, the behavioral
approach allows leadership practitioners to focus on
concrete and specific examples of leader behavior. Third, an
outgrowth of behavioral approach has been the development of
competency models and 360-degree feedback
instruments.”(Hughes,Ginnett,Curphy 2006)
There is a growing body of research that indicates that
“somewhere between 30 and 50 percent of managers and
executives fail. These figures imply that up to half of the
leaders in any organization are not going to be able to
build cohesive teams or achieve business results, which
unfortunately leads to managerial
derailment.”(Hughes,Ginnett,Curphy 2006) Derailment stems
from the following patterns; first an inability to build
relationships, were managers were very insensitive to the
needs of their employees. “In Organizations, real power and
energy is generated through relationships. The patterns of
relationships and the capacities to form them are more
important than tasks, functions, roles, and
positions.”(htc.hu.edu 2002)In my experience relationships
in the work environment are often built on being able to
depend on and trust your leader, knowing that they will not
just dictate but be there to help when you need it. Second a
failure to meet business objectives describing how
successful managers took responsibility for their mistakes
and derailed managers tended to point fingers and blame
others. Third, the inability to lead and build a team in
which derailed mangers micro managed even though they were
not experts themselves or chose to surround themselves with
a staff just like them “When a worker is promoted into a
management slot, that decision is most likely based on the
person’s ability and success on the job. What many managers
fail to understand is that effective leadership depends on
the performance of other people. Derailed managers never
fully realize that successful leadership rests on their
ability to influence others to cooperate and participate.”
(Coinsight.com 2003) Finally, the inability to adapt, many
business situations require different leadership behaviors
and skills at different times. Three of the four patterns
mentioned deal with behavior over skill showing the
importance of behavior in leadership effectiveness and
success. The research on managerial derailment identified
flaws such as counterproductive leadership behaviors in the
form of arrogance, insensitivity and untrustworthiness.
These counterproductive behaviors are often identified as
ways of coping with stressful situations but show that even
if you have knowledge you must know how to behave in order
to effectively handle the situation.
We cannot look at the importance of behavior in
leadership success with out discussing emotional
intelligence. Emotional intelligence is defined as a group
of mental abilities that help people to recognize their own
feelings and those of others. EI is a concept coined by two
American psychologists, Peter Salovey of Yale and John Mayer
of the University of New Hampshire, and is an umbrella term
that captures a broad collection of individual skills and
dispositions, usually referred to as intra or inter personal
skills that are outside the traditional areas of general
intelligence and technical or professional skills. In order
to guide others we must first be able to guide ourselves.
“Your foremost job as a leader is to take charge of your own
energy and then orchestrate the energy of
others.”(nwlink.com 2005) You cannot expect those who follow
you to behave accordingly if you yourself cannot do so. To
understand how to behave when leading a group of people you
must understand the nature of those people. “As a leader,
you need to interact with your followers, peers, seniors,
and others, whose support you need in order to accomplish
your objectives. To gain their support, you must be able to
understand, motivate, and often join them. To understand and
motivate people, you must know human nature. Human nature is
the common qualities of all human beings. People behave
according to certain principles of human nature. These
principles govern our behavior.”(nwlink.com 2005) Much
research on leadership today is suggesting that being able
to infer your employees’ thoughts and feelings is essential
for being a successful leader. Research predicts that
leaders who are more emotionally intelligent adopt
leadership behavior that is more participative and produce
better outcomes based on their behavior. Today the workplace
is rapidly changing and leaders are no longer being measured
solely on their academic qualifications or expertise but
also on how well they are able to handle themselves and
others. The ability to handle oneself and those who follow
them is now being used to determine who will be hired,
promoted, retained and let go. Recruiters and human resource
professionals are now testing emotional as well as
intellectual capabilities in the hiring process. The new
feeling in many organizations is that emotional intelligence
is just as important as IQ. When leading a group it is
equally important to not only understand the task but also
the people who will help you get the task done. Leaders
often deal with employee groups that range from small to
very large, understanding that this group comes with many
varying personalities and also how to tailor their behavior
to be effective across these varying personalities can be a
very powerful weapon. Emotionally intelligent leaders are
thought to be better at using their emotions to improve
their decision-making and instill a sense of enthusiasm,
trust and co-operation in their employees through
interpersonal relationships.
A leader obviously needs to be knowledgeable about
their organization and position but also about themselves
and their followers. What makes a more successful leader,
skill or behavior? I feel that the research shows behavior
is just as if not more important than skill in a leadership
role. You must be able to behave in a way that motivates
your followers and encourages them to perform at a level
that will ultimately make all of you successful and you
cannot be afraid to be a participative leader to accomplish
this. No matter the level of expertise, if your behavior is
detrimental you will not be successful. Although I found
that skill and behavior were equally necessary for leaders I
think it is an important trend for organizations to continue
assessing their current leaders and new hires on the basis
of emotional intelligence as well as IQ in order to get the
most effective employees. I also feel that being a
participative leader garners respect and makes subordinates
want to help you. If you know someone is willing to do the
same job as you know matter what their title you tend to
respect them more and want to go out of your way for them.
Reference Page
Huges,Ginnett,Curphy “Leadership, Enhancing the Lessons of
Experience” McGraw Hill. 5 2006
Evans,Lindsay “Leadership”
http://dpt.lamar.edu/industrial/underdown/org_mana/lead
ership.evans_ch5.htm June 2006
Editors CIO Insights “Leadership 2003: Are Successful
Leaders Born or Made?
http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,3959,1309398,00.asp
October 2003
Clark “Leadership and Human Behavior”
http://www.nwlink.com/donclark/leader/leadhb.html
June 2005
Larrosa “Behavioral Theories”
http://www6.htc.hu.edu/cejda/_module10summer02.htm August
2002