Circle of Leadership

A633.6.4.RB – Circle of Leadership

 In my current section we have a very strong level of followership and upward leadership.  Figure 9.5 in the Obolensky text (2014) shows the “vicious circle for leadership”.  Within this circle the following happens: 1. Follower asks for advice – this demonstrates low skill to the leader. 2. The leader then gets concerned. 3. The leader now feels he or she must take a more hands on approach. 4. This then leads to the follower having lower confidence. 5. This lower confidence makes the follower think they need to defer more.  This situation is partly to blame on both the leader and the follower.  The leader should take a more active role in training and mentoring their individuals so that the follower has the confidence and skills required to make the right decisions when faced with a situation.  In my current organization we are not only encouraged to make decisions at the appropriate level we are expected to.  My supervisor briefs all personnel when they enter the section that we have all been selected to be in the office because we have proven ourselves and we are trusted.  This initial feedback automatically sets new personnel in our office up with a boost of confidence.  The article Managing Your Boss discusses developing and managing relationships with your boss (1993).  The article states that a good working relationship with your boss can help accommodate differences in work styles.  I think this is key to helping with this cycle as well.  If you can develop a good relationship with your boss you will know the times you need to seek their approval or advice.  A good tip would be to simply ask your boss what they would like to be informed of.  I think this would surprise some leaders and managers however, it would help you establish a framework of things which need the bosses’ approval and things you could handle at your level.  This thought would also help the boss to empower and delegate.  If you show the initiative and your boss notices this he or she may be more inclined to delegate the decision making down to your level.  According to the Obolensky text (2014) behavior breeds behavior and this give and take relationship between leader and follower will grow and the follower should be able to move to a more level 4 or even 5 follower.  Once you can learn the leader’s preferences the vicious circle should be drastically reduced.  Not saying that all leadership involvement should go away.  The leader of any organization should have a good understanding of what is going on at any given time however, does not need to be in every minute detail of the way things are going.  I think a better circle that a leader can develop is: 1. Establish a relationship with those you expect to be followers in the unit. 2. Set clear ground rules for the things you want your people to approach you with. 3. Empower your personnel to make decisions at their level within the organization. 4. Mentor your personnel and train them so they clearly understand the goals and objectives within the organization. 5. Reap the benefits of a workforce who are all level 4 or 5 followers. 

Within my current organization we do not have different departments such as finance, accounting, and operations we have separate functions.  We deal with unit inspections, wing wide exercises and complain resolution.  We all report to one individual who manages all three functions.  This is the type of circle he instilled when he took over.  He met with all personnel in the section (10 others) in a group and individually.  He went over his goals and how he liked things, he discussed each individuals responsibilities and set clear objectives for all of us.  He let us all know what he needed to know about and this was pretty much just for his situational awareness.  He does not get down in the weeds and if one of the people on the team makes a decision he will stand behind us and support us.  This attitude toward leadership and his ability to embrace upward leaders helped our office win the best Inspector General office within our Major Command.  This was out of 20 other Inspector General offices. 

 

Gabarro, J. J., & Kotter, J. P. (1993). Managing Your Boss. Harvard Business Review, 71(3),

150-157.

Obolensky, N. (2014). Complex Adaptive Leadership (2nd ed).  New York, NY: Taylor &

Francis Group.