Lauren Tank's Leadership Blog

Definition, week 5

2013-02-20T01:32:53Z

Last week's definition: Leadership means stepping up and taking on a deliberate approach to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust.

This week's definition: Leadership means being aware of one's own personal values as one assumes responsibilities for the direction of others, taking deliberate approaches to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust.

My definition of leadership has morphed and expanded this week due to the readings we have read. Both "Ground your leadership vision in a personal vision" and "Deciding what you believe" have further convinced me that leadership involves a great deal of self-awareness in order to be successful. The eight leadership pairs of themes from "Deciding what you believe" go hand and hand with the deliberate approach from last week's definition, as deciding one's stance on leadership is crucial for success in that leadership must have direction and goals. A leader must analyze her own personal values and transform them into leadership values through careful reflection, while also deciding upon her preferred approaches to leadership. This way, a leader will have enough expertise and command of her role to be able to successfully lead her followers.

References:
Lee, R. J., & King, S. N. (2001). "Ground your leadership vision in a personal vision." Discovering the Leader in You: A guide to realizing your personal leadership potential (pp. 31 - 54). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc.
Terry, R. (2001). "Deciding what you believe." Seven zones for leadership: Acting authentically in stability and chaos (pp. 20 - 40). Mountain View, CA: Davies-Black Publishing, Inc.

Definition, week 4

2013-02-16T15:31:48Z

Last week's definition: Leadership means being a role model in command of one's role, whether officially defined, or unofficially formed by distinctive traits that make one successful.

This week's definition: Leadership means stepping up and taking on a deliberate approach to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust.

This week's definition changed due to the course readings. For example, in Daniel Goleman's "Leadership that Gets Results" several approaches to leadership were explored in detail, noting the benefits and drawbacks of each. These approaches included the coercive, authoritative, affiliative, pacesetting, coaching and democratic styles, all of which demonstrate excellent qualities of leadership that convinced me that leadership involves composed roles played by the leader in question. Rath and Conchie's article noted that people look for the qualities of hope, stability, compassion, and trust in a leader; therefore, a leader is one who instills these qualities in those who follow along with leading in such a defined method.

References:
Goleman, Daniel (2000). "Leadership that Gets Results." Harvard Business Review, 78(2), 78-90.
Rath, T. & Conchie, B. (2009). "Understanding why people follow." Strengths based leadership: Great leaders, teams, and why people follow. (pp. 79 - 85). New York: Gallup Press.

Second Week Definition

2013-01-27T07:18:30Z

Last week's definition: I believe leadership means being an outstanding role model of an individual in some aspect of life or business. It means having courage, responsibility, and self-motivation to achieve goals, set standards, get things done, or brave new horizons.

This week's definition: Leadership means being a role model in command of one's role, whether officially defined, or unofficially formed by distinctive traits that make one successful.

After reading both the StrengthsQuest article and the analysis of role assignments, I am beginning to see leadership qualities that emerge from having defined traits or roles and thriving within them. As the role analysis article demonstrates, students succeed at accomplishing tasks when assigned definite leadership roles, such as starter or moderator, which I think allows for leadership due to the focus and responsibility within those roles. Similarly, the StrengthsQuest article notes certain characteristics that when fully refined and realized, allow for any individual to become a leader due to one's own strengths and defined traits, or, undefined roles, in a similar manner.

References:
De Wever, B. B., Van Keer, H. H., Schellens, T. T., & Valcke, M. M. (2009). Structuring asynchronous discussion groups: the impact of role assignment and self-assessment on students' levels of knowledge construction through social negotiation. Journal Of Computer Assisted Learning, 25(2), 177-188.

Clifton, D., Anderson, E., and Schreinder, L. (2006). StrengthsQuest: Discover and develop your strengths in academics, career, and beyond.New York: Gallup Press. Pages: 26 - 70.

My first definition of leadership

2013-01-23T20:53:33Z

I believe leadership means being an outstanding role model of an individual in some aspect of life or business. It means having courage, responsibility, and self-motivation to achieve goals, set standards, get things done, or brave new horizons.