What Makes Kenny So Great?

“Rising through the Ranks,” written by Mike Wynn is one of the popular books on leadership, which explains the importance of leadership and the ways to become an efficient leader. Wynn describes the expectations of an organization from a leader. A leader should undertake certain tasks, such as “short-term, long-term, operational and administrative and ensure the completion of tasks through people” (Wynn, 2008). If a supervisor fails to employ a leadership stance, instead employs a management stance, there are higher chances of risk to lose the effort and loyalty of the people. Adopting a leadership style of supervision has more chances of success as the people always strive for their success as well as the success of their leader.

Leadership comes in all types of styles. No two Army leaders will have the same style. There is a saying that goes around our ranks today, “Your leadership traits strongly reflect your past leadership.” Meaning that you will develop traits and habits that you have seen in your past leadership. Whether they are good or bad, you will not notice them yourself until you think about what you are doing or saying. It takes time to develop as a leader, and you will know when you find your style that works for you and you’re Soldiers.

There are many components to being a leader; a strong leader has to be able to clearly communicate, to intensely inspire others to collaborate in bringing the vision to fruition. James MacGregor Burns a leadership expert introduced the transformational leadership concept he suggested that “the transforming leader as one with the ability to create visions and employ charismatic behaviors, they are purposeful and seek to understand the motivation and needs of their followers (Crowell, 2016). Not only does a transformational leader have the ability to empower and motivate others “transformational leadership emphasizes the importance of interpersonal relationships, and the goal is to generate employee’s commitment to the vision or ideal rather than to themselves” (Sullivan & Decker, 2009). According to Smith, (2011) the ultimate goal of transformational leadership is the leader and the follower to discover meaning and purpose in relation to their work, in addition to growth and maturity. There are four I's of transformational leadership " individualized influence, inspirational motivation, individualized consideration, and intellectual stimulation" (Riggio, 2014). The transformational leader causes changes in both the system and the individual. Creating positive and valuable changes in the followers with the result creating followers who will

Buckingham and Coffman (1999) suggest that good leadership comes from people who look at employees as individuals, rather than a position. Exceptional managers do not observe and critique surface level behaviors and performance. Instead, they look at inner qualities to what uniquely motivates each individual and what their innate strengths are. As a supervisor, I find this to be of the essence. Often times, employees work unhappily in positions for less than desirable pay and little to no recognition. It is, in my opinion, important to acknowledge that you value each employee as a person and you notice the work they do; they are not a disposable and replaceable position that you can fit anyone in to.

As an example from Steve Land, “Chris is a person who strives for perfection. He expects the best from himself; therefore he expects the team that he assembles to also give 100%. This is present in the volunteer hours that he puts forth in the Chamber of Commerce, Wamego Visitors Bureau and the Fireworks” Chris uses his leadership skills to reach success in everything he does, he gives 100% on everything no

(2016). p.33). There are many traits that a leader must have to be able to be successful. Three that come to mind are trustworthy or honest, motivated, and knowledgeable. Ever leader needs to be honest and have the trust of those who are following them. This is essential for any plan or idea to be carried out steadily. Also, open communication cannot happen if one does not trust their leader. Next, a leader must be motivated and have energy. If a leader is not motivated, those who are following them are also not going to be motivated either. Someone has to be able to push others to keep up the hard work to get to where they need to be. Lastly, a leader needs to be knowledgeable. At work, often when faced with something that I do not know the answer to, I go to my charge nurse who is very knowledgeable on almost all situations that may arise. If lacking any vital knowledge, staff under that leader will not have anyone to go to in times of need. This leads to the follower being lost and not knowing what the next step is in their situation. All of these traits are what I like to see in a leader in my work

Becoming a supervisor in any position is a big responsibility. The former way to reach a management position was to perform the duties of the job and climb the ladder so to speak. As attending management college classes, I have learned that just being proficient in all the task is no longer the only requirement needed. Many leadership positions require one to understand motivating employees to enjoy their position and thus perform better. You read in the paper how a new CEO of a different business can just jump into a position and the next company. The new articles show that the right person can find that right direction and all of a sudden, you read that IBM is on top again.

When it comes to working within a system and dealing with supervisors in their leadership roles, I always found them to be a little difficult at times to bear with. I have supervisor named Liv with whom work with. I first found out about her working style through other employees who have worked with her in different departments. Liv was an extreme micromanager as well as a person who would demand some of the employees to stay past their work hours for work that was her own responsibility. Interpersonal conflicts quickly arose at work with everyone feeling that this working for her is not exactly a treat. What I found interesting while researching and observing my supervisor's way of managing and working was that she was always under stress from upper management.

When looking back in one’s career, each manager in the organization leads and develops employees differently. A person can apprehend that each leader has their own leadership style with

He has transformed the company in his short tenure as CEO and has helped bolster others commitment to the organization. As a transformation leader, he is able to bring about innovation and change by creating an inspiring vision, shaping values, building relationships, and providing meaning for followers. He believes that Westlake Hospital can be a great company and his enthusiasm is infective. He promotes the hierarchical organization so that everyone knows who to report to. Information is disseminated through daily huddle where values and vision are reiterated.

Jayson is very good at this attribute. He knows that any good leader must lead by example. If he can’t or doesn’t want to do something, how can he expect someone else to do it. Jayson sets the tone for our department’s success. He knows how to balance having fun at work and getting down to work. He has relationships with all his employees and can laugh and joke with them. But when the time comes to get serious and put in the work, he is the one to spearhead the change and everyone follows suit. He expects his best work for himself and from everyone else. When times are busy you will never see Jayson leaving early to go home. Rather, he will just in the trenches with the rest of the department to ensure that all responsibilities are taken care of and that not one person is carries the collective load. His personality and demeanor demand respect and people want to be associated with him. He leads by example, not by voice. He treats everyone as an equal and his team wants to succeed for him.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect and make an analysis of the general strengths and weaknesses of a leader, provide recommendations, thoughts of overall performance to improve on this person’s leadership style in which practices and theories were utilized most effectively. Upon such, draw conclusions and provide an integration of this leadership practice into my own leadership practice. The accomplishment of this will be achieved by identifying several key practices from published documents surrounding and encompassing the leader, and comparing them to known relative concepts for a holistic view of the approach.

Can a manager also be a leader without it affecting their tasks? It is my belief that within time a good manager will learn to be a good leader. Some say that you are ether born a good leader or not. I don?t believe in that. I think that with the proper guidance one can become a great leader and perhaps the greatest leader the world had yet to see.

If the characteristics that define an effective leader are based on positive traits in the workplace then Josh Martin is an effective leader. His integrity,

For decade’s individuals, companies, and organizations have spent an unprecedented amount of money on researching, molding, modeling and working to define what a leader is and what characteristics make successful leaders. Despite all the research, there is not a quick answer or even full agreement as to what makes an individual an effective leader. The definition of a leader is “someone who can influence others and who has managerial authority.” (Robbins, Decenzo, Coulter, 2015. P.370)