leadership 22jan12

Running Head: Leadership – A Support Communication and Motivation 1

Leadership: A Support Communication and Motivation

Pranayi Ghorpade

BUS600: 1129 Management Communications with Technology Tools

Week 6

Dr. Barbara-Leigh Tonelli

January 22, 2012

Pranayi GhorpadeWeek 6 Assignment: Leadership – A Support Communication and Motivation 2

Introduction

Leadership plays one of the vital roles in any organization. Emerging successful

organizations are true examples of the strong leadership foundation. The term, leadership has the

management scope and their communications has a tremendous effect on the performance of the

employees. Eventually, this further gets identified as a strong leadership foundation to manage

organization communications effectively. An effective leader is an inspiring person who focuses

strategically (Richmond, 2011), analyze problems and honor customer commitments on time.

Many people believe that leaders are born to be strong and influential. Good leaders are

made, not born. However, anyone can be a strong leader as long as determination, open-

mindedness, and optimism are learned and developed. If you have the desire and willpower, you

can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a never ending process of self-

study, education, training, and experience (Jago, 1982). To inspire your workers into higher

levels of teamwork, there are certain things you must be, know, and, do. These do not come

naturally, but are acquired through continual work and study. Good leaders are continually

working and studying to improve their leadership skills; they are not resting on their laurels.

Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and

directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. This definition is

similar to Northouse's (2007) definition — Leadership is a process whereby an individual

influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.

In most of the organizations, the influence of managers is most clearly seen in the leader

role. Formal authority vests them with a great potential power. Leadership determines, in large

part, how much power they will realize (O’Rourke, 2010, p4). Although your position as a

manager, supervisor, lead, etc. gives you the authority to accomplish certain tasks and objectives


in the organization, this power does not make you a leader, it simply makes you the boss. Being

a boss is not the same as being a leader. Bosses inherit subordinates. Leaders earn followers. The

positive news is that people want to be led. They look for someone who inspires them and who

believes in who they are and what they do. Leadership differs in that it makes the followers want

to achieve high goals, rather than simply bossing people around. A person who is willing to work

hard to accomplish her goals in the face of challenges would, indeed, make a great leader. In his

book, “Cases in Leadership”, Rowe (2007) highlights this concept of assigned leadership by ones

position and then displaying emergent leadership by influencing people to do great things.

Problem Statement and Application

The success of any project is completely tied up with the leadership decisions. A project

cannot be initiated unless the senior management agrees to the business need of the new project,

product or, the service. The success criteria are verified, and the influence and objectives of the

project stakeholders are reviewed. Mostly clear descriptions of the project objectives are

documented including the reasons why a specific project is the best alternative to satisfy the

business need. This documentation is thoroughly reviewed by the senior leadership and then a

decision is made as to whether the project should be continued, delayed or discontinued. Only

when the leadership is satisfied, the budget is approved and the contract is signed. I have been

managing project management activities from past 6 years now, I discovered that no matter you

keep striving hard to meet your project deadlines, you really need to have Leadership support to

meet client expectations and stay ahead of schedule. I have observed a strong connection

between the project delivery and the leadership communication. It’s a driving factor that helps

you take decisions and deliver successful projects.


Working as a Project Manager, I noticed a considerable difference between a manager

and a leader. Leaders do not do everyone’s work; in fact they delegate and empower others to do

their work. If you are like many leaders, you became a leader because you are good at getting

things done. You are probably willing to work hard for long hours in the interest of making

things happen. Now, your focus has to shift to getting things done through and with other people

rather than doing it yourself. This change in focus is a common struggle and a point of frustration

for many new leaders. Since you already know how to get things done on your own, you might

get frustrated with people who do not get things done as quickly or to the same quality that you

could do them. You might feel the pressure to take over a task so that you can ‘just get it done’.

Rather than coach someone else on how to do it properly. Maybe you hold onto tasks that you

enjoy doing rather than giving them to someone else. Or, you might feel stressed by the constant

interactions, communications, and work necessary to get things done through others. You might

simply feel better when you do it yourself. In such cases, resist the urge to hold onto tasks or to

take them away from the people on your team. Instead, focus on developing your skills at

connecting with, inspiring, and coaching others. Because we recognize this part of the transition,

it can be difficult for many people. An effective leader creates a sense of shared ownership.

When you see a leader as part of the team, you feel being identified and team feels supported in

their communications due to the leadership support (Eikenberry, 2011).

According to the recent survey findings done by Weisman Success Resources (2011), the

performance of a strong leader depends on their effective communications with their teams and

70 percent leaders reported their success is directly linked with their employee’s productivity and

on time project delivery. On the other hand, 50 percent of those unsuccessful leaders also found

the effective team communication within an organization is a key factor.


Leadership - Problem Solving Model

Performing leadership role is not an easy task and most of the leaders keep struggling to

work on increasing their employee performances. To meet this challenge, everyday there are

several meetings held and managers, leaders, operation heads are engaged in variety of

discussions around this topic to boost employee moral towards work and contribute to their

success in the organization. An effective leader may not need this at all. Effective leadership

always has a strong vision to be successful and deliver differently without compromising on

quality with end to end accurate communications. Susan M. Heathfield (2011), a human resource

guide, in her article, “Leadership Success Secrets,” commented that leaders demoralize their

employees when they do not communicate well and do not know what and why are they doing.

In my company, each quarter, an employee gathering is addressed by senior leadership. There is

global communication sent out for such conference meeting. An executive leader addresses the

employee conference for an hour. He ensures and instills the company’s vision in the employees

such a way that the each employee’s conscious mind thinks that their performance is linked with

the organization growth. Such a leadership communication always permeates the workplace,

develops trust and you become open, collaborative, demand excellence and deliver on

commitments for the organization growth.

Motivation is another key driver for demanding excellence from the employees. When a

team leader or a project manager does not have answers to the problems, situations and conflict

issues within a team, a leadership encouragement has a halo effect. The example that comes from

a strong and focused leadership discussion drive has a positive effect on the motivation of the

employees and builds trust between the team and management (O’Rourke, 2010). While

managing a team competently is an important part of leadership, a good leader must also pay


attention to the individuals within the team. Andolsen (2008), in his paper, “The Ingredients of a

Good Leader”, emphasized leadership motivation is utmost important to keep the team up to

speed, ensuring committed deliverables are met and acknowledge both progress and problems

judiciously without obstructing the team’s effort. True inspiring leaders always develop enough

motivation necessary to assist their team and organization through the difficult challenges.

According to US Fed News Service, Gen Lorenz (2010) clearly stated, “people don't quit

their jobs; they quit their bosses” and ineffective leadership in the organization. A leader must

approach a challenge with an eye toward crafting a solution to meet their organizational needs. A

leader must look at each challenge, develop a plan and push for success. As part of their plan,

leaders must develop the motivation necessary to assist their organizations through the

challenges. After all, a motivated work force can bring a change. I completely agree with the

author’s statement. People are motivated if they feel they are valued in the organization and this

value is demonstrated by the rewards given to them. Most of the employees are motivated by an

opportunity to grow, accomplish, and apply their professional skills to meet new challenges.

Public recognition of good performance always creates positive reinforcement (PMBOK Guide,

2008). As a manager, a good strategy for me will be to give the team all possible recognition

during the tenure of the project rather than after its completion.

Leadership Research on Potential Solutions

What makes a person want to follow a leader? People want to be guided by those they

respect and who have a clear sense of direction. To gain respect, they must be ethical. A sense of

direction is achieved by conveying a strong vision of the future. When a person is deciding if he

respects you as a leader, he does not think about your attributes, rather, he observes what you do


so that he can know who you really are. He uses this observation to tell if you are an honorable

and trusted leader or a self-serving person who misuses authority to look good and get promoted.

Self-serving leaders are not as effective because their employees only obey them, not follow

them. They succeed in many areas because they present a good image to their seniors at the

expense of their workers. If you are a leader who can be trusted, then those around you will grow

to respect you. To be such a leader, there is a leadership framework solution “Be-Know-Do” to

guide you to come to possible leadership solution.

Be – a professional who possess good character traits, loyal to organization, takes

responsibility and performs selfless service

Know – yourself, your job, your organization, other people human nature, needs and

emotions and the leadership styles for trusted work culture

Do – implement, supervise, evaluate, motivate, train, coach, and provide direction in

terms of goal setting, problem solving, planning and decision making.

As per United States Military Army (1983), the above leadership framework solution has

been working for them past many years now. Likewise, this concept is modernized with mere

change in wordings to meet the global strategy of growing business organizations. Due to the

recent developments in the technology of the Internet, the World Wide Web has been made one

the most important means of potential communication solution for organizational leaders.

The 21st century is known for the advances in technology that we are able to enjoy today.

Business Leaders has also taken advantage of what the communication technology can offer by

utilizing every means possible to connect with people across the globe. This makes all means of

communicating around the world in the 21st century the most innovative in the history of

business. Leaders can address their employees at a given time across the world offices for their


business solutions, organization updates and ensure they keep their workforce aligned with

organization vision. The way the companies are expanding their global presence through

acquisitions and mergers, there is sheer need to be a multicultural leadership to keep their

presence known in the global business environment. Often, such leaders are utilized to

communicate potential solutions to their intercultural workforce to meet corporate strategic

needs. Daniel Yankelovich (1999) in his article, Magic of Dialogue – Executive Excellence

stresses the importance of cross cultural leadership communication being only solution to build

honest tie-ups with people from different cultures.

Research have shown that the solutions coming from the leadership in any organization is

all about relationship building, instead of handling business issues concerning strategies, visions

and plans (Mercado, 2002). Leadership cannot exist in the absence of dialogue with their teams

who agree to be led. Sponsoring ongoing dialogue that invites dissent and disagreement requires

skillful confrontation from a leader (O’Rourke, 2010). When leaders manage communication

effectively, their solutions are accepted by the employees, their work relationships get stronger,

well informed, and purposeful. Trust levels are higher when both leaders and their teams follow

the proven solution in the given organization. This way, they are more engaged and in sync with

organization goals and promote ethical work environment.

Leadership Results – Decision on a Solution

When a problem or situation for decision making solution occurs within an organization,

there are typically several alternative social mechanisms available for determining what solution

is chosen or decision reached. These alternatives vary in the person or persons participating in

the problem-solving and decision-making process, and in the relative amounts of influence that


each has on the final solution or decision reached. Quite literally, organizations operate by

people making decisions (O’Rourke, 2010). A manager plans, organizes, staffs, leads, and

controls her team by executing decisions. The effectiveness and quality of those decisions

determine how successful a manager will be. Managers are constantly called upon to make

decisions in order to solve problems. Decision making and problem solving are ongoing

processes of evaluating situations or problems, considering alternatives, making choices, and

following them up with the necessary actions. Sometimes the decision-making process is

extremely short, and in other situations, the process can drag on for weeks or even months. The

entire decision-making process is dependent upon the right information being available to the

right people at the right times.

The decision-making process begins when a leader identifies the real problem. One way

that a leader can help determines the true problem in a situation is by identifying the problem

separately from its symptoms. A successful leader does not just attack symptoms; he works to

uncover the factors that cause these symptoms. All leaders want to make the best decisions.

Realistically, leaders or managers operate in an environment that normally doesn't provide ideal

resources. For example, they may lack the proper budget or may not have the most accurate

information or any extra time. So, they must choose the best decision making solution possible

with the information, resources, and time available.

Time pressures frequently cause a manager to move forward after considering only the

first or most obvious answers. However, successful problem solving requires thorough

examination of the challenge, and a quick answer may not result in a permanent solution.

Effective leaders must be able to approach difficult decisions or situations with the entire

continuum at their disposal (Lorenz, 2010). Thus, a manager should think through and


investigate several alternative solutions to a single problem before making a quick decision. Few

of the best known methods for developing alternatives are through brainstorming, nominal group

technique, and Delphi technique (PMBOK Guide, 2008). Managers must identify the advantages

and disadvantages of each alternative solution before making a final decision. The result of final

decision making answer depends on several factors, such as the nature of the task, the abilities of

the group members, and the form of interaction.

Managers are paid to make decisions, but they are also paid to get results from these

decisions. Positive results must follow decisions. Everyone involved with the decision must

know his or her role in ensuring a successful outcome. To make certain that employees

understand their roles, managers must thoughtfully devise programs, procedures, rules, or

policies to help aid them in the problem-solving process. In an interview taken by Pooja Biraia

(2010) for the topic, “Qualities of India’s Successful People”, Chanda Kochor, Managing

Director and CEO, ICICI Bank highlights leadership and confidence as her recipe for the success

at work. In her own words, she says, “If there is a challenge, your shoulder ought to become

broader and your back becomes straighter. Confidence is important. Two, you have to be the

sponge that absorbs stress. Else, it passes down to the team and they cannot function efficiently.”

Leadership Implementation Strategy

Getting the workforce to listen to what you say, read what you write, or look at what you

show them isn’t easy (O’Rourke, 2010). How, then, one can persuade the workforce to pay

attention to your message and cooperating with you is in their best interest? The answer here is

to implement a corporate strategy. Implementing corporate strategy requires a team effort headed

by your organization's leadership team. Each person involved in change management has their


responsibilities, and it is important for the entire organization to understand the role of leadership

in strategic implementation to make delegating responsibility more effective.

Strategic leadership plays an important role in strategy implementation. Strategic

leadership is the process of transforming the organization into a successful entity. Strategic

leadership inspires and motivates people in the organization to work together to accomplish

organizational objectives. Strategic implementation of any kind of new company policy or

program requires participation from all of the departments that will be affected. Management

needs to create a structure that identifies various group leaders, the responsibilities of those

group leaders and an accountability system that insures that the implementation team meets its

timetable for getting the new program or policy in place.

Implementing change or any new strategy within a company requires a feeling of urgency

on the part of the entire company. It is the job of management to create that urgency by

explaining to the staff why the implementation is necessary. Leadership needs to help the

employees understand how the company benefits from the new implementation, but it also needs

to get the organization to see the setbacks of not making a change. One of the most important

corporate communications strategies that you should get a full grasp of involves maintaining

business operations and concepts to their simplest levels, as far as communicating them to the

members of your team is involved. Given that the members of your staff has very different ways

of learning the different concepts thrown their way, you should be able to explain relevant

concepts so that the least experienced member of the group can understand it. Just make sure that

you do not simplify these concepts in such a way that you would be leaving the important

aspects out of the equation (O’Rourke, 2010).


Organizations often implement or does their corporate strategy change in phases. The

company leadership needs to be able to identify when each phase of a strategic implementation is

complete and be ready to transition the company to the next phase. For example, if the company

is bringing in a new software program for customer management, then the first phase of the

program may be to implement it in the sales department. Management needs to identify when the

proper alterations to the software have been made that will allow it to be implemented in other

parts of the company. A strategic leader knows when to take calculated risks and excels in

decision making. Being able to adapt to marketplace changes and take advantage of new

opportunities as they present themselves is an earmark of being a strategic leader. Strategic

implementation is critical to a company’s success, addressing who, where, when, and how of

reaching the desired goals and objectives. It focuses on the entire organization. Implementation

occurs after environmental scans, thorough analysis, and identifying strategic issues and goals.

Implementation involves assigning individuals to tasks and timelines that will help an

organization reach its goals.

Leadership Success Measurement Techniques

Leadership is the critical factor in the success of any organization. A key question facing

organizations today though is how do you measure and assess leadership potential and skills?

How do you know if a person is a leader? More specifically, can this leader/manager deliver the

goals of the organization? If employees and customers are happy, those are signs that the

company’s leadership is communicating the vision and the values correctly and is rewarding

them appropriately. Leadership capital is not recorded on the balance sheet. Neither is it


calculated in any other financial performance measurement. The most critical assets of today’s

organizations are in the minds and imaginations of its people.

Managers measure success in terms of goals met, projects managed, dollars saved and

made, and people organized. Many managers use leadership of one type or another to accomplish

all of these things (Kathleen, 2009). Usually the cycle of information and resource management

continues to be compressed from year to quarter to week to hour to minute in all organizations.

As managers, it becomes tempting to quickly make the decisions and allocate resources quickly

and effectively.

Future growing organizations are now demanding a team of senior executives –

knowledgeable about both individual processes and overall corporate goals. Now, in the 21st

century, the challenge facing companies is how to create these strong executive teams – and

ensure that they operate to the maximum benefit of the organization. Today, organizations have

realized that they need to develop their capacity to exercise leadership. Successful organizations

don’t wait for leadership to come along. They actively seek out people with leadership potential

and expose them to career experiences designed to develop potential. It is built out of the

investments made in building people’s capacity to lead, investments in people’s lives.

Apparently this does not mean, mere providing leadership training to identified potential, but

organizations should facilitate this with careful selection, nurturing and encouragement so that

dozens of people can play important leadership roles in a business organization.

If we really need to measure success criteria for ethical and successful leadership, then

organizations need to decide on the leadership style and behaviors which will equal success in

their particular field. Leaders need to suit the complexity of the businesses they run as well as

being able to adapt to constant flux and change. Bill Gates, for example, is able to assimilate


huge amounts of complex and often contradictory data and change direction. Mr. Gates was a

relatively late convert to the internet, but his personal belief and mission transformed Microsoft

to meet the challenge. The most appropriate leadership style will be dependent on the nature of

the business as well as its mission and vision. Successful organizations are those who firstly

identify where they are, then measure their current range of skills sets and finally identify the

profile and traits of the most suitable leaders to achieve the dream. Leadership today is all about

transformation, inspiration and having the will to succeed. Success stems from the selection,

measurement and development of the right people to make the dream happen in the organization.

Alan Chapman (2006) introduced modern model for management and leadership in the

21st century. It's an interpretation of the 'personality' of good ethical modern management and

effective leadership. As such it's not a process or technique - it's an attempt to characterize and

measure good modern ethical management and successful leadership. Named as P4 (Purpose,

People, Planet, Probity) model, which are the four cornerstones of sustainable success in any

modern business venture, and a maxim for today's management and organizational philosophy.

According to his model, “The aim of all good modern organizations is to reconcile the

organizational purpose (whether this be profit for shareholders, or cost-effective services

delivery, in the case of public services) with the needs and feelings of people (staff, customers,

suppliers, local communities, stakeholders, etc) with proper consideration for the planet - the

world we live in (in terms of sustainability, environment, wildlife, natural resources, our

heritage, 'fair trade', other cultures and societies, etc) and at all times acting with probity –

encompassing love, integrity, compassion, honesty, and truth. Probity enables the other

potentially conflicting aims to be harmonized so that the mix is sustainable, ethical and

successful”.


Conclusion

In conclusion, I understand wearing a leadership hat is not a ball game at all. Each week,

you should spare some time with your team, recognizing them and understanding your team

expectations from you. Leadership does not come by birth. It comes through several years of

experience, self determination and dedication. I would argue that it is not enough to hope that

organizations send their identified employees to leadership training once a year. In order to

develop leaders a deliberate approach is needed, becoming a leader is not magic. It is important,

leaders should be able to motivate the workforce and this can be done simple as using the right

words and tone when a leader addresses them. The strong decision making challenge is simply to

study the alternatives and choose the best solution for implementing leadership strategy. As long

as you strike the right balance between being friendly and being professional in your corporate

communications, you should be able to use your relationship with the team members of your

business to boost your over-all productivity and efficiency.

Another important aspect of leadership is to propagate organization’s vision within their

employee strength. Where there is no vision, people lose trust and do not perform at their best.

A clear vision describes the organizations future desired state. Take for instance, Microsoft's

vision of "A personal computer in every home running Microsoft software”. This simple vision,

yet very powerful phrase can be used throughout the organization hallways, internal web pages,

conference rooms to remind everyone of the vision. In a nutshell, one who works hard to fulfill

his goals in this competitive world of challenges would, indeed, make an effective leadership

impression on his team and of course, become a true leader in his professional career.


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leadership 22jan12

Documents

fed news service

strong leadership foundation

leadership framework solution

leadership success secrets

indias successful people

strategic implementation

senior leadership

abi inform global