A521.9.4.RB_DellElceCamila

A521.9.4.RB – Reflections on Leadership

            In this chapter, Stephen Denning opens up about the different dimensions to leadership and how they work with some people and how they really do not work for others. The important question is, what makes them true leaders? “True leaders do not lead because they are expecting something in return. They lead because they have something to give. They may get something back, but this is a contingent event, not the goal. They give with a spirit of generosity. They are relatively ego free” (Denning, 2011, p. 281). What does he mean by “ego free”? Ego free is the individual who is not concern with his or her personal gain, on the contrary, he or she is concern about the organization’s well being and working as a team. He goes on into explaining the leadership that presents feeling. In other words, the kind of leader that demonstrate passion for what he does or what he believes on. Having passion for what you do changes everything, specially the way my leading skills would be in the near future. If I take this dimension into use for future leadership positions, I will enforce and ensure my followers feel what I feel. That is the power of influence and passion. If your audience can feel the passion, they know what they follow is truthful and genuine. They can trust me.

            Moreover, I can say I am guilty of trying to pursue order in my work place. Denning explains that the “Apollonian culture emerged as a result of the forces of bigness and consistency. In fact, the control mode sets out with the best intentions—that of establishing order out of the potential chaos into which large organizations would otherwise tumble” (2011, p. 286). Needless to say, extremes of this case can never be good. Pulling extreme remedies for order can very much weaken the very first priority, achieving harmony. Therefore, this does have a tremendous impact in my future leading skills. I will try to find a happy common ground, where order is important but maintaining harmony is the priority of the company.

            Additionally, another way to be “a different kind of leader,” is by learning about leadership as situational. This dimension does manifest in my own application of leadership since I am well aware that not everyone works the same way. “The basic premise of this approach is that different situations demand different kinds of leadership. To be effective, a leader needs to adapt to the demands of the situation” (Denning, 2011, p. 292). At this moment, I am training an individual that has background with been a Medical Assistant. When it comes to training, it is harder to teach someone who has already developed habits, whether they are good or bad. Sarah Pavey explains why are bad habits hard to break and she suggests, “the main reason that bad habits are hard to break is down to what researchers call our “cognitive script”—these are the unconscious, automatic thoughts that we have when we encounter a situation. These unconscious thoughts are based on previous experiences. So, if the situation is one that we’re encounter many times before, we engage in ingrained behaviors without thinking about what we’re doing” (2015, para. 7). Therefore, I try to adjust my training habit to their knowledge and seem to be working.

            Another good example of how Denning’s dimensions manifest in my daily application of leadership is by storytelling. When I go to work and I see some of my coworkers frustrated, I tried to tell them a similar story to reflect a positive outcome and that way avoid them reflecting their frustrations with patients. “The use of narrative opens up leadership capabilities that are not available to someone operating solely in the traditional management mode of command, control, regulation, and optimization” (Denning, 2011, p. 269). Lastly, using the leadership that fits the modern need is another dimension that I currently use. While it is hard to let go of what you already know, I welcome everyone’s ideas to supplement or implement into the work environment.

References

Denning, S. (2011). The leader's guide to storytelling: Mastering the art and discipline of business narrative. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

Pavey, S. (2015). Breaking bad habits: Overcoming negative behaviors. Mind Tools, Ltd. Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/bad-habits.htm