This weeks readings and EIAs have been about teamwork, leadership, and communication. These are topics I find very interesting because they are a part of everyday life. Teamwork is a part of almost everything I do, leadership is a necessary part of teamwork, and without communication neither teamwork nor leadership would function. Teamwork is best defined as a group of people working towards a common goal. Pfeffer and Sutton summarize how important leadership is by sharing how many books about leadership there are on Amazon.com and that since 1975 there have been over 15,000 peer-reviewed articles about leadership published. Clearly leadership is a topic that many want to know more about and many are willing to pay to become better leaders.
Pfeffer and Sutton discussed what bad and good leaders do but they did not discuss at length different leadership types. I found this article by Robyn Benincasa about the six leadership types and when to use them. This article poses that management and leadership are two different things. According to Benincasa managers are there to make sure the team has everything they need to be successful and get the job done smoothly. A leader can prove useful to the manager and a leader is based on talent and is inspiring to the team. Benincasa cites a 2000 Harvard Business Review study by Daniel Goleman on kinetic leadership (Goleman, 200). Kinetic leadership basically means knowing when to use different leadership styles; assessing the situation and applying the best leadership method with a degree of fluidity. The image below is a matrix of Goleman's six different leadership styles.
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| Image Source: http://www.comindwork.com/weekly/2013-08-12/productivity/the-six-leadership-styles-goleman |
My reflection this week is more about the followers rather than the leaders. In every group I have worked in there is usually one or two people who are shy and do not find sharing their thoughts easy or enjoyable. I wanted to find an article that spoke specifically on how to best lead these team members without making them feel uncomfortable. I found this article on how to best encourage quiet employees to speak up. Also I really enjoyed the piece about Pentland's research because I am always making an argument for how important communication is and one of my personal goals is to become a better communicator in all areas of life. This week's readings are helping me to achieve that goal.
Benincasa, R. (2012, March 29). 6 Leadership Styles, And When You Should Use Them. Fast Company. Retrieved July 15, 2014, from http://www.fastcompany.com/1838481/6-leadership-styles-and-when-you-should-use-them
Goleman, D. (2000, March 1). Leadership That Gets Results. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved July 15, 2014, from http://hbr.org/product/leadership-that-gets-results/an/R00204-PDF-ENG
Benincasa, R. (2012, March 29). 6 Leadership Styles, And When You Should Use Them. Fast Company. Retrieved July 15, 2014, from http://www.fastcompany.com/1838481/6-leadership-styles-and-when-you-should-use-them
Goleman, D. (2000, March 1). Leadership That Gets Results. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved July 15, 2014, from http://hbr.org/product/leadership-that-gets-results/an/R00204-PDF-ENG
I agree I would have like to have learned more about the different leadership styles. I like the graph you added. It is clear the leadership styles with positive impact on the overall climate all included cooperation. While the Commanding and Pacesetting styles could be effective, they are not the preferred styles. I see them used so often though. Utilizing and respecting input from all members of a team is beneficial and has a more positive outcome.
ReplyDeleteI liked the advice for getting quiet employees to speak up. I hope managers are as concerned as you when it comes to hearing from all members of a team.