Leadership in Action - Essay Sample

Introduction

Leadership is the competency and art of mobilizing a group of people to act in a manner that allows the institution or an organization to achieve specific goals and objectives regardless of the size. In all business settings, effective leadership is crucial to ensure the subordinates and other members of the management team work applying the most effective strategies to attain the goals of the organization. The most effective leaders are those that inspire others, even though some ideas are borrowed or original (Mohiuddin, 2017). There is effective communication in an organization through effective leadership, and resources at disposal are effectively used without causing unnecessary strain to the organization.

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There are several leadership styles, but all depend on the situation. This analytical paper focuses on various leadership approaches applied in real-life situations, various concepts addressed in Fiedler's Contingency Leadership Theory and Hersey and Blanchard's Situational Leadership Theory, various ways leaders adapt to contemporary changes, and how next-generation leaders are made. The paper will analyze various aspects of leadership, drawing conclusions from Doug Parker, CEO and chairman American Airlines Group and American Airlines, and Donna Murray-Brown, President and CEO, Michigan Nonprofit Association.

Leadership Styles or Approaches

There are several leadership approaches. Some leadership styles are effective while others are ineffective depending on the situation (Li, Gupta, Loon & Casimir, 2016). Most competent leaders adjust their styles depending on the subjects. The most common leadership styles include transformation leadership, where the leaders serve as role models to inspire their subjects. Transformation leaders improve the morale and job performance by connecting their sense of identity as well as the shared identity of the organization. Transformation leadership encourages critical thinking and innovation (Heimann, Ingold & Kleinmann, 2020). A good example of a transformative leader is Donna Murray-Brown, President and CEO, Michigan Nonprofit Association. Since Donna Murray-Brown was promoted to president and CEO of the Michigan Nonprofit organization, she restructured programming along with the staff of composition. She exhibited the mindset to empower all employees in the organization to strive to uphold organizational cultural competency. Donna Murray-Brown created an innovation fund used by various organization members to test new approaches to executing their duties and problem-solving. Murray-Brown also scrapped programs that were financially unstable or no longer relevant to the organization. Murray-Brown also signed pacts with the National Council of Nonprofits, Points of light foundation, and the Independent Sector to leverage national resources to improve and sustain access to Michigan nonprofits. Her efforts have recently been noticed, including the recent honors from Nonprofit Times Power and Influence Top fifty.

On the other hand Doug Parker CEO and chairman of American Airlines Group and American Airlines a transformation and transactional leader. Since Doug was promoted to CEO of the airlines, the company experienced financial issues. Transformation is evident in recent years due to the change of the culture shift that Doug implemented. Initially, the hallway to the office of the previous CEO was heavily guarded, but recently the hallway is open for any employee that needs face-to-face communication with the CEO. The CEO instituted weekly meetings between executives and flight attendants. Doug and his team are currently using technology and face-to-face communication to update workers in different locations on various issues affecting the company. In the interview, Parker stated that he was learning a lot from the employees because they feel more engaged than they previously had. Being a transactional leader, he enabled the company to post a profit of approximately $4 billion after several years of financial instability. The results were part of his focus, considering that the company’s short-term goals were quickly achieved.

Ways of Attaining Successful Leadership

In the contemporary world, the global business environment is competitive and rapidly growing competent, talented, and multifaceted leaders are required at all levels of the organization. In all cases, effective leadership is the chief and the primary driver for expansion, development, and innovation. To achieve success in leadership, a leader must commit to lifelong learning and skill-building. Becoming a successful leader takes time and requires the practice of leadership skills until considerable competency is achieved (Preston, 2019). Successful leaders must seize opportunities and lead their employees towards achieving organizational goals.

Leaders achieve success through various means, which include self-management. Self-management is the act of prioritizing goals, taking responsibility to accomplish the objectives. Leaders should have time management competency, pay attention to details, and manage their emotions as they remain aware of their strengths, weaknesses, and potential causes of prejudice. Through self-management, leaders can handle difficult situations balancing their personal and professional lives (Volmer, Koch, & Göritz, 2016). An overly reserved or inflexible leader cannot manage others.

Strategical Act

Successful leaders act strategically. According to Merrill (2018), current leaders who apply the open-minded approach have shown the highest success level. Leaders achieve success by adjusting their strategies to capture emerging opportunities or handle unexpected situations through business environment assessment. Strategic thinking is cultivated by curiosity, flexibility, maintaining a positive outlook, and focusing on the future.

Being an effective communicator is a means of achieving success as a leader. Through effective communication, the leaders can make precious and succinct elaborations to their employees about the goals of the organization. People must understand their roles to ensure they don’t fall short. Leaders achieve success by mastering effective communication regardless of the communication channel (Preston, 2019). Effective communication is built on a steady flow of both verbal and nonverbal exchanges, which makes a leader approachable and involved regardless of the level.

According to Volmer, Koch, & Göritz (2016), leaders achieve success by being visionary. Leaders achieve success by assessing risks and opportunities. Through effective assessment, the leaders make concrete and clear goals that are beneficial to the organization. Successful leaders inspire optimism and enthusiasm around them. Through vision, the leaders can effectively strike a balance between stability and growth. Through vision, leaders can manage complexity. Managing complexity entails solving issues under rapidly shifting circumstances. Successful leaders can scan the environment in such subtle trends and indicators of disruptive change and institute practices that allow all team members to react promptly.

Teamwork and team building promote leadership success. Team building is crucial, considering that most work environments consist of a diverse and unique group of people with varying personalities, inspiration as well as abilities. Team building in most organizations has been seen to foster innovation and effective communication, which are crucial factors to foster the organizational goals (Mohiuddin, 2017). Through teamwork, long-lasting interpersonal relations are built. The team can also engage in external activities that help create vast and varied networks with clients or even competitors. Team building enhances learning where team members achieve social and emotional intelligence.

Difficult Situations

In an ideal work setting, people should be excited and contribute harmoniously to the success of the organization. Difficult situations are a common by-product of internal and external exchange. Common examples of difficult situations include handling conflicts, avoiding favoritism, avoiding discrimination and prejudice, or handling low-performing employees. Competent leaders handle difficult situations comfortably by listening to difficult employees. Listening to difficult people can be irritating, but leaders understand the employees and identify opportunities to improve the situation through active listening. Difficult situations can be handled by providing clear feedback on various issues. Successful leaders address issues before complaining to the subordinates or team members. According to (Sommer, Howell & Hadley (2016), the most competent leaders provide clear and constructive feedback on issues affecting an organization and means of handling the issues. It is easy to get rid of difficult situations that may go unsolved, thus affecting organizational performance in the future. Competent leaders document whenever they have performance or behavior issues with the employees. Documentation helps provide evidence during sanctions to minimize the risks of disputes.

Difficult situations can be handled through consistency. Through consistency, organizational leadership policies are precise and prevent any form of prejudice. Inclining on certain employees destroys the organizational culture, which leads to frequent difficult situations (Shapiro & Stefkovich, 2016). At times it is difficult to handle difficult situations but with courage, effective leaders make decisions for the good of the organization, for instance, fining employees or dismissing them for instance, Donna Murray-Brown, President and CEO, Michigan Nonprofit Association, dismissed 20 members of the board of directors after she was appointed. Effective leaders handle difficult people by keeping their composure and leading by example. Leading by example includes showing the team how things should be done. The final way to manage difficult situations is to ensure that people are in their right roles. Recent reports from the United Kingdom indicate that 1 in 3 workers are in the wrong profession. Effective leaders try to learn the strengths of their members and place them in more suitable roles.

Conclusion

Leaders must be familiar and set to act on both their employees’ or teams’ physical and emotive prerequisites. By doing it increases employees’ morale and loyalty. To gauge the needs of the employees, most leaders institute employee wellness programs after conducting surveys. Through the surveys, leaders can identify the kind of barriers employees’ face that could be hindering their participation in the attainment of personal goals and organizational goals (Owens, Yam, Bednar, Mao & Hart, 2019). To improve motivation, leaders can use the charismatic leadership style. Leaders should show personal commitments to innovative approaches to issues such as problem-solving to increase employees’ motivation. Through team-building, leaders ensure that subordinates team up effectively, minimizing instances of destructive conflict.