Transformational, Servant, Consensus and Collaborative Leadership Style

As I reflect on this course, I have come to know that I aspire to be a transformational leader and believe I am on my way.  I am also practicing being a servant leader and know that I am also a consensus leader where I really do value the opinions of others and take them into consideration when making a decision.  There are also times when I am a collaborative leader and share the decision making with the members of a team.  These types of leadership are important to me as I serve in a highly exposed position and also because I want to be the best leader and follower I can be.

The roles I take on during my workday include:

• Figurehead
• Negotiator
• Coach/motivator
• Team builder
• Team player
• Technical problem solver
• Entrepreneur
• Strategic planner
• Executor

These roles have given me the opportunities to learn on the job.  With each experience, I grow in a number of ways and serve me well in both my leadership and my followership roles.  Some of these growth areas include interpersonal skills, insightfulness, self-discipline, self-awareness, motivation, commitment, empowerment, openness, trust, learning, creativity, self-efficacy, thinking on my feet, ambiguity, and 5-levels of leadership known as position, permission, production, people development and pinnacle.  As John Maxwell states in the Rule of 5, I am here to lead, grow, create, excel and serve those I work with on a daily basis.  I am very lucky to work in such a positive work environment. 

Motivation and Coaching

This week's exercises and learning concepts were very eye-opening for me.  For starters, I found out that I prefer a consensus style of leadership whereas years ago I was more of a direct leader.  I have learned that getting to know individuals and what is important to them is as important as the tasks I assign to team members.  I have learned to empower my direct-reports and allow them to engage and commit to their own workloads using me as their coach and motivator when needed.  I have learned to delegate and am still learning how to not micromanage.  I refer to the Goal Theory in my leadership approach as we are a values-based institution and it is ingrained in my work ethic.  I do provide specific hard goals and try to be realistic in my expectations.  I also try and reward/recognize individuals for work well done.  This is one example of a motivation technique but I am genuine about it and do not give praise for that specific purpose.  I want the individuals on my team to be proud of the work they do not only for themselves but also to know how their work relates to the College as a whole.

However, there is one thing I must do and that is to be more specific when doing annual employee evaluations when it comes to goals for the upcoming year.  We need to develop these goals together with each employee, set timelines and expectations.  And, most importantly, I will need to make people and myself accountable for these goals.  I will need to do this with my boss as well.  I have learned as a follower to listen to my boss for cues on work that might be expected of me, manage ambiguity, and not rely on him to coach and/or motivate me.  I take this into account because of the level at which I serve the College.  I do self-coach and self-motivate rather well.

On a related note, I will now discuss the outcomes of the three self-assessment quizzes I took that had some surprising results.

First, there were no surprises on the team player attitudes assessment quiz.  I have and will always have a strong positive attitude towards being a team member and working cooperatively with others.

Second, I came in at the low end of the average need for recognition and do not require constant reminders that I have done a good job.  What I have learned is that no news is good news.

Now for the third and final assessment on interpersonal skills.  This is where the surprises were revealed.  I took the test by myself and then asked two family members to answer the same questions about me.  The most revealing skill in need of improvement on the checklist is self-confidence. While I think I portray self-confidence, my family members do not. After evaluating all of the results, it has occurred to me that if my self-confidence was in check, some of the items I mention, below, might move off of the list:

I am overly critical
I portray nervous mannerisms in a group setting if I am not comfortable with the content
I am a multi-tasker
I make assumptions about people
I need to learn to get to know people and have them get to know me.
I am indecisive at times and need to get things done that I say I am going to do
I speak too low and too fast
I cannot handle criticism
I am not a good conversationalist and do not participate or listen in unfamiliar conversations
I am too upfront about me and boast too much about myself
I am too serious
I strive for individual attention rather than for the team
I make negative comments about people
I have trouble expressing my feelings
I am too shy and reserved
I tell others what they want to hear rather than the truth
I need to pay more attention to what others are saying
I am not good at getting my point across

The focus on building better communication skills and self-confidence will be included in my personal leadership development plan.  This exercise was extremely helpful by allowing me the opportunity to really look into myself more honestly.

How Flexible is My Leadership Style

I believe my leadership style has grown exponentially over the years to what it is today.  I began my career as somewhat of a rigid direct leader and now consider myself to be a transformational leader. I enjoy being a transformational leader, helping people move beyond their own self-interests and towards the good of the organization.  I also enjoy mentoring and offering professional development opportunities for my staff and watching them grow.  One of the attributes of a transformational leader is charisma.  I consider myself to be somewhat charismatic as I am optimistic, positive, innovative, have a high EQ, lead by example and can articulate the college's vision to the team.

In addition, I see myself as having a mid-level of flexibility as it depends on the situation to determine my level of flexibility.  I try to be as flexible as I can with my staff as I know it would have a great impact on my leadership effectiveness but more importantly, their trust level with me, knowing I can be supportive as well.  I try to assign and reassign job tasks among the group so there is more flexibility in job tasks and ultimate job satisfaction.  I delegate and tend to empower my staff by allowing them to participate during times when their input is very valuable - when it touches upon their work.

My style changes depending on the situation but for the most part, I practice a supportive leadership style because we work in a stressful and ever-changing environment.  I try to be the balance for my staff during these stressful times and chip in when needed.

Influence and Conflict Management Style

Interesting questions raised this week in class. I will answer these two questions in reverse order because of the example I will use.  

How do you respond to conflict in the workplace? 
How do you attempt to influence people in your organization? 

The influence tactics I use depend on the employee and situation at hand.  I try to lead by example and use rational persuasion, inspirational appeal and consultation whenever possible.  I try to always be positive and find that providing clarity through the use of logical arguments and factual evidence, at times, helps team members understand the task at hand and what is expected of them. Sometimes I legitimize my requests to let the team know there is a consistent expectation for all employees to model.  In addition, I try to empower my staff to make decisions that are within their scope of work.

However, sometimes one particular employee is not very rational (acts out) in her reactions to assignments or corrections.  Here is where the conflict management comes into play.  When these situations occur, I begin by not reacting to my "hot button" and take a quick time out to assess the conflict.  Most times I walk away and go back at another time when others are not there and have a discussion with her about how I was not listened to while trying to give feedback and focus on a solution.  One thing I have learned from working with this individual for over a year now is that she does not like change.  She prefers 9-5 work hours with a one hour lunch so she is not taken advantage of.  This is what I am reminded of when I ask her to think outside the box or beyond what she is willing to consider.  I believe I do not meet her expectations of a leader (antiprototype) because I am not a 9-5 supervisor.  I work above and beyond and expect my staff to do the same.  I also take on more responsibility without hesitation when requested by my boss.  However, when I ask her to do more, she says it's not in her job description.  I point out that it is, which she grudgingly accepts.  This is a prime example of hiring for skill and not "fit."  We do not value all of the same things which makes it difficult at times to manage.  She is highly skilled, knows it and expects a raise just because she is good at her job.  I work for job satisfaction and self-actualization, which I am trying to encourage from her.

As a supervisor, I try to influence my staff through the use of innovation and creativity.  I also try to encourage them to be innovative and creative as well. One tool I use to encourage participation is the white wall in my office, which I use for a variety of reasons, i.e., brainstorming, timelines, etc.  This is a highly effective exercise that leaves the team feeling appreciated and empowered.  It helps to provide clarity for not only singular roles and tasks but also shared responsibilities and goal setting (goal congruence).  This exercise allows me to share responsibilities and goals of the team (goal congruence) in a group environment which allows for opinions to be shared and decisions to be made, sometimes diplomatically.  We use a collaborative approach to assigning tasks everyone enjoys and sharing tasks that everyone does not enjoy, i.e., taking minutes. 

Minute taking is a lengthy process that begins with attending long meetings, typing up the highlights, editing them and sending them to the teams of individuals in attendance.  This also requires the tracking of priority items and ensuring they get back on the agendas, approved, and communicated.  This latter part is my job.  The minute-taking used to be my job and when I attempted to delegate this task to the employee mentioned above, she actually said "no, it's not in my job description."  I pointed out that it was but she still resisted.  Rather than reacting negatively to this political blunder, I thought to myself, maybe she has a point here.  I know how much work is involved, which is why I then recommended to the team that we share this responsibility. It was accepted with open arms by most and I chip in as well by taking minutes at board meetings.  However, once mastered by others, this will move to someone else, perhaps my main assistant, to give her some growth and feeling of empowerment by providing an opportunity for internal commitment and meaning of her work.  I would consider her level of influence to be compliant but would welcome ideas on how I could develop her to be more committed. The more responsibility she agrees to take on could actually put her in line for a promotion.  Should I mention this to her?  I have hinted at it but she says she does not want more responsibility - but I know she is capable of more and she has already made strides in other areas.  


DuBrin, Andrew (2016). Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills. Mason, OH. Cengage Learning.

Runde, Craig and T. Flanagan.  "Becoming a Conflict Competent Leader."  Via www.ccl.org/podcast.  Center for Creative Leadership (2017).  "Calming Conflict."  

Advantage of Having a Diverse Workforce

An advantage of having a diverse workforce, says Dr. Lisa Newland, chair of the social work department at Molloy College, is the opportunity for learning from each other.  An example of this is an open conversation that took place in a leadership class I attended this semester.  While Dr. Newland presented a marvelous presentation on diversity, the conversation that took place afterwards was extremely valuable.  We all opened up and shared our experiences with diversity and how we could explore more opportunities for conversations with others who are different than us, whether in thought, culture, religion, educational background, etc.  The key is to remain open.

"Building cultural diversity into the business plan can help a company expand its market" (DuBrin, 2016)  Why is this important?  In today's world, one must be more than globally aware; we must be globally diverse thought leaders.  One advantage of being a diverse workplace is the inclusivity of others who are different from you.  This allows for open dialog and opportunities for personal and professional growth.  It also brings substance to team exercises when there are different ways of looking at things.  Team building is a very important component in today's workplace.  Having diversity among teams greatly adds to the richness of conversations and better outcomes due to expanded opinions.

However, I do have one area that I could use some assistance with:  language barriers.  Recently, I have been working on a project with someone in my organization who is from India.  While he is highly intelligent and a good collaborator, I find it hard at times to understand him.  I feel bad when I ask him to repeat himself but he happily does.  I could use some tips on how to better handle this communication barrier.

This week's activities have greatly helped me grow in my expanding knowledge of diversity.  For example, the generational diversity exercises have been extremely helpful.  While I am aware there are differences between generations, until now, I have not been able to articulate how I can learn from other generations and how I can use this knowledge to assist me with guiding other generations in understanding me.  In addition to generational diversity, I have also learned how to consider the diversity of dimensions in cultural values that each of us bring to the table everyday.  While I may have a strong time orientation, those who work for me may not.  I need to continue to pay attention to these nuances when interacting with not only my staff but others I come in contact with in work teams or other situations.


DuBrin, Andrew (2016). Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills (page 449). Mason, OH. Cengage Learning.