RESPOND TO DISCUSSION 4
JACKYLN
Why study leadership behavior?
The study of leadership behavior is essential to the development of a leadership style that will garner the most impact on production by staff. In essence, if the goal of leadership is to build a team that will get results, the leader must exhibit the actions necessary to motivate the team to work cohesively towards the stated goal.
List the “Building Block of Skills” and discuss the one that will be important to your leadership style.
The “Building Blocks of Skills” refers to behaviors and qualities that impact leadership style and effectiveness. The bottom tier which consists of intelligence, personality traits, values, attitudes, interests are the most difficult to change since they are pervasive and occur subconsciously. The middle tier refers to a leader’s knowledge and experience; and the top tier refers to the behaviors, skills, and competencies. A good leader, however, is able to make the appropriate adjustments to those components based on the situation they are faced with.
Discuss the importance of the “Leadership Pipeline” and its useful framework on leadership competencies.
The leadership pipeline refers to the lessons that help people transition into a top leadership position. It identifies behaviors that are helpful and those that hinder their progression. It also differentiates the behaviors based on the need of the particular organization and the organizational level of the leader. In the end, understanding the Leadership Pipeline model is important for prospective leaders because many people who fail to demonstrate the competencies, work values, and time applications commensurate with their positions will struggle with building teams and getting results through others (Hughs, Ginnett, & Curphy, 2022).
Define “Community Leadership” and how it will help your team-building skills.
Hughes et al. (2022) defines “Community Leadership” as the process of building a team of volunteers to accomplish some important community outcome and represents an alternative conceptualization of leadership behavior. It differs from the leader of an organization because this person possesses no real position of power since there is no selection process, they do not have access to many resources, they cannot offer many rewards to followers, and they are unable to discipline to those do against organizational norms. Being a community leader is beneficial; however, because in most cases, to get the work done void of the characteristics mentioned, community leaders must be able to develop and maintain relationships with followers who are willing to put differences aside for the good of the group. This leader must also be able to mobilize resources which will not only help with the defined goal but also help attract new stakeholders.
RACHELLE
1. Why study leadership behavior?
The thought behind understanding leadership behavior is that researchers could understand how “successful leaders act compared with unsuccessful leaders” and “could design leadership talent management systems allowing organizations to hire, develop, and promote people who have the skills necessary for future success” (Hughes et al., p. 226, 2021). However, studying leadership behavior reaches further than that of any effective leader. Understanding leadership behavior helps one identify leadership style characteristics and aids in applying solid behavioral practices to decision-making, communication, and management style. By studying leadership behavior, leaders can move closer to organizational success by learning to inspire and motivate their teams, promote collaboration, and foster a positive work environment. When an organization understands the makeup of solid leadership behavior, it is more likely to implement strategies to help develop those skills in its leaders. Understanding leadership behavior can also help an organization or leader with conflict management, feedback, and employee satisfaction.
2. List the “Building Block of Skills” and discuss the one important to your leadership style.
The Building Block of Skills includes intelligence, personality traits and emotional intelligence, values and interests, experience, knowledge, and behavior/skills/competency.
The Building Block important to my leadership style is the behavior/skills and competencies block. This block is essential to my style because this is where good meets excellent. This block ties everything all together, the icing on the cake. Also, as mentioned on page 226, the lower blocks are the hardest to change, and this top block is developed over time. The part of this block that most appeal to me as someone who leans toward a more transformational leadership style is that there can be a clear roadmap. For example, in the Leadership Pipeline model, someone supports you above, and you support someone below. The “Leadership Pipeline is a useful model for explaining where leaders need to spend their time, what they should be focusing on, and what they should be letting go” (Hughes et al., p. 239, 2021).
Additionally, this building block includes developing skills and behaviors over time through practice. Considering where I am and where I would like to go, this block must be cultivated within the organization and is much more laser-focused than others. The other blocks develop over time, but more through experiences and in smaller increments.
3. Discuss the importance of the “Leadership Pipeline” and its helpful framework for leadership competencies.
The Leadership Pipeline is a model to help an organization identify what areas and skills a leader needs to grow in in their current role to be successful in the next level of leadership and then spend time mentoring and cultivating those skills. This framework helps the organization identify developing leaders and provide those leaders with the necessary training to prepare them for future leadership opportunities. One premise behind this model is “people who skip organizational levels often turn out to be ineffective leaders” (Hughes et al., p. 243, 2021). Additionally, this framework helps the organization consistently meet expectations at each leadership level as the same message is communicated to different roles. Employees who show potential know the organization invests in their talent, likely leading to retention and job satisfaction. The organization selects and grows leadership which ensures sustainable leadership.
4. Define “Community Leadership” and how it will help your team-building skills.
Community leadership is building a team of volunteers to accomplish something with a community outcome (Hughes et al., p. 245, 2021). Community leadership can play a role in helping develop team-building skills in that there is no reason for the volunteers to be a part of the team other than the leader showing a need and creating relationships to help the action take place. This group of followers has no financial reward tying them to the project. Someone building a team in this arena must have clear communication, excellent relationship-building skills, knowledge of delegating, and a solid plan for executing the group’s ideas. This type of situation is sure to grow someone’s leadership skills because you have to engage in “building social capital,” “Social capital is the power of relationships shared between individuals, between an individual and a group, or between groups,” which is a skill set all on its own (Hughes et al., p. 245, 2021).
