A633.7.3.RB_CliffordMarc

Leader Follower Relationship

Over the last six weeks as I have been involved in this course I have learned many lessons regarding both leadership and followership.  I have always been a leader that believes in the will and skill of people. People want to produce the best possible results and seek to be successful in what they do.  I have always believed that there is a real risk that a leader can “get in the way” of success, and that the true role of a leader is to share a vision with the team, and then provide the training, resources, and motivation to go after the vision.  However, despite having a good foundation of thoughts and feelings I have never considered leadership outside of a traditional hierarchy; I have felt that the hierarchy is important so that each player knows how they fit into the system.

During this course I have learned of the importance of flattening out the leadership structure.  One particular lesson that I have learned is that the structure should not be flattened from above; the skill, ability, knowledge, and persuasiveness of the leaders should not be driven down, like hammering a nail, to the level of the rest of the organization.  The rest of the organization should be brought up to the level of the leader by empowering, listening, following, and waiting (Obolensky, 2016).

Given the complexities that are involved in leading an organization in today’s business environment, there are multiple leadership strategies that are effective in varying circumstances.  Obolensky (2016) narrowed them down to four: tell, sell, involve, and devolve. The tell strategy is not necessarily a command and direct method.  Tell can include teaching and showing someone how to do something or providing necessary information so they can accomplish a task.  Sell involves relaying the importance of the task and ensuring that their is awareness of the benefits.  The goal is for ownership to be transferred from leader to follower. Involve is a pull strategy used “either when the leader does not know or chooses to hold back to allow others to discover the solution” (Obolensky, 2016).  Devolve is the strategy to use when there is high skill and will, and the environment is established for people to “get on and inform in a routine way” (Obolensky, 2016).

Obolensky (2016) provided an assessment by which a leader can evaluate his or her use of the different leadership strategies.  After taking the leadership strategies assessment I calculated the percent of my responses for each of the four strategies; S1: Tell, S2 Sell, S3: Involve and S4: Devolve.  I then plotted the results in the skill/will matrix:

As can be seen in the matrix, I responded to the questions using the S1: Tell strategy the least, the S2: Sell and S4: Devolve strategies a bit more, and the S3: Involve strategy the most.  Obolensky (2016) noted that “If the sum of your S2 and S3 scores is higher than the sum of your S1 and S4 scores, then you might be working too hard!” However, he also indicated “The key point is that a crucial skill is to be able to move effortlessly between each leadership strategy.”   Based on my scores it appears that I may need to improve my ability to use the S1: Tell strategy. When I look at myself in the leadership mirror that is exactly what I see! I struggle when I have to tell people what to do. I prefer to involve myself in a task, show people how to do it, and then invite them to join me.  Once they are involved and have demonstrated their capability I fade away in the background. Obolensky (2016) noted “It is not about which style is better or worse. It is about which strategy has the best chance for success.” There are times that each strategy is appropriate and should be used; I need to recognize those times and ensure that the appropriate strategy is being employed to ensure “the best chance for success” (Obolensky, 2016).

Reference

Obolensky, N. (2016). Complex adaptive leadership: Embracing paradox and uncertainty (2nd ed.)
New York, NY: Taylor & Francis