The Ineffective Leader : An Effective Leader

Leaders are most effective when they are able to attain cooperation among all the members and make them feel the purpose of doing their tasks. It is important for them to research on the characteristics of high performance teams so that they also have it as their standards in leading their people. Some of the important activities that a leader should be good at are persuading, communicating, and motivating people (Tracy, n.d.).

Leadership. We all know great leaders when we see them. They are the one who inspire us, they are committed and honest. Winston Churchill, General Patton both exemplify the qualities of a great leader. But how often do we think about the qualities that make a leader substandard. We all know from the leaders who did bad things. Adolph Hitler always comes to mind but was he a bad leader or just a bad man. In this week’s class paper, we read about the pitfalls of a bad leader. In her article” The Value of Valuing Employees Six ways leaders inadvertently curb innovation, motivation” author Christine Comaford explores the six factors that are detrimental to a leader and their leadership abilities. In my following paper, I am taking a look at those six pitfalls and the different strategies an organization can initiate to correct those drawbacks.

Lack of Character. For a leader to have commitment from his followers, it is important to have strong character traits. Trust and integrity within a manager’s scope of ethics are a must for an effective leader. Without them, employees will not have respect for their manager, and respect is earned, not expected simply because of a person’s job title. Employees require a feeling of supportiveness from their boss when they are faced with challenging situations. Knowing that your manager will “have your back” will build confidence throughout the team, and give employees the ability to share open dialogue and stretch their creativity without fear of repercussion.

Leaders who participate in dishonest practices regularly make an environment of recompense inside of the association that is helpful for deviant worker conduct that parallels that of the pioneer (Trevino and Brown, 2005). Employees will watch the moral judgment of their CEO or overseeing chief and are frequently liable to mirror, regardless of the possibility that such impersonation constitutes acting unscrupulously. Generally, regardless of whether a pioneer is compensated for his or her conduct will likewise help focus the probability of representative impersonation. A few powers make despicable comments, verbally ill-use, exclude, and put down their subordinates. Exploration and media reports recommend that turning into a casualty of leaders ' coldhearted treatment is a negative ordeal for workers, impeding to their prosperity and the proficiency of the association. Abuse by leaders has been alluded to in a few ways, including interpersonal shamefulness, oppressive supervision social undermining, oppression, and tormenting (Hoel & Cooper, 2001). Albeit every conceptualization has unpretentious contrasts, they all include workers ' observations that some of their principal mental needs are hindered by a power figure. Abused workers react contrarily to pioneer abuse and are more prone to take part in freak conduct, damaging standards of thoughtful behavior and of productive creation (Bennett & Robinson, 2000). These standard

Maintain disciplined attention. A leader needs to help people be focused on the work and not to avoid it.

I believe that having the knowledge, and a clear understanding about the responsibilities of a leader will have a tremendous effect on the outcomes that such a leader is able to achieve. During one of my assignments as the team leader of a translation project, called “Scan Eagle”, our team was tasked with translation of drone manuals for the Afghan National Army (ANA). This was a time sensitive project and it required a strong personnel and time management in order to have the product ready for the customer in a timely manner and free of errors. At the end of the first week, I noticed that some of my team members were not as productive as the rest. As a leader, I decided to talk to them and give them a chance to explain their lack of productivity in compresences to their peers. I also wanted to know why they were not able to deliver the quality product, which was clearly stated at the beginning to be the ultimate desired outcome of the project. I approached the situation in a calm manner and allowed the soldiers to elaborate on their shortcomings and how we could improve them. At the end of our session, I was able to identify their problem as a lack of proficiency in the target language. I was able to reassign them to a different position and keep them committed to the project, and get to use their skills in a different section. As a result of that decision I kept the team intact and we were able to deliver the product on time to the

Several attempts have been made over the years to explain the characteristics of an effective leader. Trait, behavioural/style, situational-contingency and transformational theories are some of the theories that have been proposed to explain these

Chip Conley made a very notable statement in his lecture that many leaders forget (2010). It doesn’t matter what position that you hold in an organization, we are all still human. In my opinion, to be a successful leader one must always remember that there are influences outside of work that affect the employees personally. A good leader must balance the professional expectations of performance measurement, but also should consider events in an employee’s personal life that can affect the performance of their assigned tasks. Aguinis states that there are five factors that indicate a consideration competency: the leader supports the employees’ projects, is inquisitive to the employees’ personal life and well-being, supports and encourages

Leadership comes with responsibilities. Taking an organization to places it has never been, through new ideas and change, aids in building a responsible organization. Effective leaders tend to surround themselves with a group of individuals with different perspectives and not necessarily like themselves. Moving into a leadership role often involves letting go of some of the assignments and responsibilities held in the past. As the leader, enable others to deliver results and complete tasks. The work may get done faster and more effectively if the leader is involved, but enabling others to deliver results will lead to a more productive and cohesive team. Each individual possesses their own unique traits and abilities used to provide results for their team. Team members need confidence from their leader that allows them to accomplish goals that have been asked of them. Leaders should help create a comfortable environment for their colleagues, who in turn, enjoy coming to work

Listening is another important aspect of being a good leader. Being able to listen to others and being aware of their problems can help people become comfortable coming to you with their problems. It also shows a lot about a person character if they can listen to others and understand that even though they have not been faced with this problem they can understand how it would make someone feel. Also, not trying to undermine what a person says or create an environment where a person does not feel what they are saying is

Philip (2008) has listed 7 common traits in the characteristic of leadership. The characteristics are empathy, consistency, honesty, direction, communication, flexibility and conviction.

Having a knowledge and effective leader in an organization is highly important because the way the leader leads will determine the outcome of the business. The person I believe who is successful at leading and implementing change will be my current supervisor Mr. William Kizer. Although Mr. Kizer is relatively young, he has the education and experience that aids him in his leadership qualities. William encourages and support his team, he gives feedback and also listens to suggestions and implements suggestions made from the group unlike other leaders who only implements their suggestions. Our unit finds placement for children that having difficulties being placed in foster care or a group home. Since the nature of the job can be so stressful, Mr. Kizer, makes sure that there is a balance between family time and work time. He is also capable of filling in for any staff member when they are out. That in itself is a good attribute of a leader. I have worked in departments before where my past supervisors did not know how to complete my job. In addition, Mr. Kizer takes his team out on a retreat quarterly so that we can be revived. He possess the qualities of a good listener, he is responsible and has effective communication. Those three qualities helps him guiding his team to success. According Kotter (2005), Great leaders get others to move in a direction that is sensible for themselves,

Currently our leadership is not effectively reaching and motivating our team. We have been noticing decreased productivity and we believe that this is a direct result of leadership falling short in

True leadership is about continuing to learn ways to get the most production out of those around you. It is setting an example through action, as well as by the words you speak. Although leadership can involve taking control of situations or being in charge, it is not limited to these aspects. Leadership is the ability to guide individuals in the right direction, but an integral part of leadership is also knowing when to take the back seat and follow. Leadership can be as significant as determining legislation as the President of a country, or seemingly as small as choosing another's idea over your own. If it is most conducive to forward progress, it is the right choice. That is the true mindset of a leader. However, in order to be a leader you require a variety of qualities. A good leader is one who doesn’t know everything: trying to imagine that effective leadership is related to knowing everything is one of the most dangerous misconceptions in the field of leadership. So as much as the final decision and responsibility lies with one individual, it is important for him/her to gather other peoples’ opinions or views and respects them

There are many examples of poor leadership behavior in today’s workplace. Inadequate leadership can be detrimental not only to a team within an organization, but also to the entire organization itself. I believe it is vital for upper management to ensure that their leaders are properly trained and aware of how to handle certain situations and employees. When a leader’s weaknesses are overlooked, large problems occur.