My recent promotion inspired me to consider which situations I might be most effective in as a leader. Unexpectedly, I found myself drawn to better understanding the situational approach to leadership section(Hackman & Johnson, 2013). According to the Least-preferred Coworker(LPC) scales self-assessment related to Fiedler’s Contingency Model of Leadership, I scored high LPC as a relationship-oriented leader. I have excelled in a vast dichotomy of situations, whether in or out of my comfort zone. I can appreciate the LPC. However, I agree when Hackman & Johnson(2013 p. 80) express concern about the shortcomings of this model. In my recent experience, leaders are most effective if they can adapt their behavior to fit their subordinates’ needs and abilities rather than expecting all subordinates to fit nicely into one category. According to Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Approach, different follower behavior requires different leaders and leadership styles (Hackman & Johnson, 2013, p. 84).
I never thought of myself as an exemplary follower but rather as a misplaced leader.
After taking the Followership Style Questionnaire developed by Robert Kelley, I can better understand my current followership style (Hackman & Johnson, 2013). I scored evenly in both the Independent Thinkin Column(52) and the Active Engagement Column(52). According to the assessment, I fall into the “Exemplary Followership” quadrant with high independent/critical thinking and high engagement scores. After taking time to read and better understand followership roles according to the text, my scores reflect my propensity to think for myself and take the initiative, often exceeding the expectations of my supervisors (Hackman & Johnson, 2013). Both as a student and an employee for FORBES' top 20 corporations, I never thought of myself as an exemplary follower but rather as a misplaced leader. I always understood follower to mean what the text defines as a passive follower or someone who relies heavily on a leader’s direction and barely meets expectations. Learning that the passive followership style is one of many helps me see how students and employees can be competent, independent thinkers who select employers with similar missions and goals.
Employees have different emotional capacities based on seniority, experience, and personal inclination.
A leader must be able to work with followers (read, not leaders) at different levels of maturity, both emotionally and in the workplace. In today’s workforce, offices are comprised of many generations. Employees have different emotional capacities based on seniority, experience, and personal inclination. In multi-generation groups, it is even more important to acknowledge the benefits of a situational leadership approach, and it provides opportunities to learn vital communication skills for leaders and followers that otherwise may never be learned.
The Traits Approach to leadership communication styles attempts to answer the long-debated question of whether leaders are “born with it” or maybe it’s Maybelline. Trait Leadership theory investigates what biological and psychological characteristics make one an effective leader.
Maybe it's me, and maybe it's them, maybe it's Maybelline
Maybe it is them, the leaders were born to lead, and one can only be born to help guide others through the trials of life. Or maybe it is me, and I need to understand better that people all make choices to build their image and reputation to manage how others view them, and leaders are entirely made by perception. Or maybe, as the saying goes, it’s Maybelline. After reading Hackman and Johnson’s commentary on chapter 3, full of hope, I move beyond the Traits Approach. I postulate that the old adage has fooled followers and researchers alike that a leader must be born, and the rest of us are just out of luck. People can become leaders. Just like Maybelline makeup promises to make our outer appearance look as beautiful as we feel inside, with a bit of practice, determination, and a teachable spirit, Leadership communication skills can be developed over time.
"with a bit of practice, determination, and a teachable spirit, Leadership communication skills can be developed over time"
I like to think that our actions speak louder than our biological makeup. If we can choose to put makeup on our faces to look different, then we can practice skills and learn to start our lives over on a clean slate. Bad leaders can become good leaders if they want to put in the time and effort(and compassion), weak leaders can be strong, and followers can channel up from exemplary followers into leadership roles in the right circumstances. And ugly ducklings can grow into beautiful swans.
If we can choose to put makeup on our faces to look different, then we can practice skills and learn to start our lives over on a clean slate.
Hackman, M. Z., & Johnson, C. E. (2013). Leadership: A communication perspective (6th ed.). Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.
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