Week 7-Improving Leader Ship discussions

 Task 1:

share at least THREE takeaways from the readings/videos/self-assessments on leadership (200 word minimum).  

Reading Videos:

Why credibility is the foundation of leadership | Barry Posner 

Ken Blanchard – Servant Leadership

Act Like the Leader You Want to Be

https://hbr.org/video/5236216251001/what-makes-a-leader

Reading Files:

Please see attached files “leader Ship Files”

Task 2:

 leave TWO replies on your classmates’ posts 

Post 1:

 Why would anyone follow you? By Barry Posner. “Why credibility is the foundation of leadership.” Throughout this video, there are many good questions that the speaker poses, and I found myself trying to answer those questions myself before the speaker revealed what he believes to be the answers to the question of what it means to be a good leader. The first thing I did was to think of every possible question and then started asking myself and making some connections, and eventually found the answers to the questions I had asked myself. Following someone is often a sign that they can rely on them, they can trust them, and they also feel safe with that person. Barry mentioned so many things that made me think of the relationship that I have with my older sister. I’ve always looked up to my sister, whom I consider to be my role model, and she has always been the leader of my siblings. Every time I have a problem, I turn to her for help. She is one of the only people I trust to tell me to do stuff I am afraid of doing even though it may scare me. It also makes me feel safe when she asks me to do something because I know that as a result of it, I will be able to achieve the results I want. There are four characteristics that I have also taken away from the video, and they are honesty, trustworthiness, credibility, and having a personal point of view is also one of them. My sister is one of those leaders who acts and does what she says. That’s one of the reasons that those examples made me think of her. 

Thanks,

Algburi

Post 2:

 The first takeaway I have this week is from the Barry Posner YouTube Ted talk. He made an excellent point that leaders in order to be leaders need to have followers and demonstrate credibility. Credibility consists of honesty, competency, inspiration, and forward looking. Leaders also want to keep learning and not accept the status quo. A great example of this is a boss who demonstrates credibility is more likely going to have workers follow their lead and share the same or similar vision.

The second takeaway is from the Ken Blanchard video on servant leadership. Servant leadership is where leaders serve first and then lead second. Ken made it clear anyone can be a leader and he listed three things that make a good servant leader. One is to have clear goals of what you want to accomplish. Two is to give praise to those who have earned it. The third thing is to redirect people if they are going off the path and not performing up to the standards that you expect and set. These are all great things to aspire to do and act for leaders. My current employer tries to promote servant leadership within the company. Servant leadership shows the leaders in the organization care about others.

My third and final takeaway is from the leadership challenge reading. They list five practices of exemplary leadership. Model the way is where leaders must walk the walk and model their behavior if they want buy in from others. Inspiring a shared vision is where the leader has an attractive vision in the future that others share as well. Challenge the process is third. This is where the status quo must not be accepted, and adaptive change must take place. The fourth is to enable others to act, this is where trust and collaboration occur between leaders and the active followers. The final practice is to encourage the heart, which is when a leader gives praise and shows appreciation for others’ work.

Thanks,

Hadden

their daily actions, they demonstrate
their deep commitment to their beliefs
and those of the organization.

2. Inspire a shared vision. People
describe their personal-best leadership
experiences as times when they imag-
ine an exciting, highly attractive future.
They have visions and dreams of what
could be. They believe in those dreams,
and are confident in their abilities to
make extraordinary things happen.
Every organization or social movement
begins with a dream or vision—it’s the
force that creates the future.

Leaders envision the future by imagin-
ing exciting and ennobling possibili-
ties. You need to make something
happen, to change the way things are,
to create something that no one else
has created before. Much as an archi-
tect draws a blueprint or an engineer

builds a model, before starting any
project you need to have a clear vision
of what the results should look like—
and connect it to the past, to the history
that got you to where you are. You
can’t command commitment—you
have to inspire it. You have to enlist
others in a common vision by appealing
to shared aspirations. Unity of purpose is
forged when you show your people
how the dream is a shared dream and
how it fulfills the common good. When
you express your enthusiasm and
excitement for the vision, you ignite
passion in others.

3. Challenge the process. Challenge
is the crucible for greatness. Every per-
sonal-best leadership case involved a
change from the status quo. The chal-
lenge might have been an innovative
new product, a cutting-edge service,
groundbreaking legislation, an invigo-
rating campaign, a revolutionary turn-
around, or the start-up of a new plant
or business. It could also be dealing

Leadership Challenge

THE FIFTH EDITION OF THE LEADERSHIP
Challenge marks 25 years since the

book was first published. We’ve spent
three decades researching, consulting,
teaching, and writing about what lead-
ers do and how everyone can learn to
be a better leader. We’re honored by the
reception we’ve received in the profes-
sional and business marketplace.

The Leadership Challenge is about how
leaders mobilize others to want to get
extraordinary things done. It’s about the
practices leaders use to transform values
into actions, visions into realities, obstacles
into innovations, separateness into solidar-
ity, and risks into rewards. It’s about
leaders who create the climate or cul-
ture in which people turn challenging
opportunities into remarkable successes.

We persist in asking the same basic
question we asked when we started our
journey: What did you do when you were
at your personal best as a leader? We’ve
talked to men and women, young and
old, representing every type of organi-
zation, at all levels and functions, from
many different places. Their stories,
and the behaviors and actions they
describe when they do their best,
resulted in the creation of the Five
Practices of Exemplary Leadership:

1. Model the way. Titles are granted
—behavior earns you respect. Exemplary
leaders know that if they want to gain
commitment and achieve the highest
standards, they must be models of the
behavior they expect of others. To Model
the Way, you must first be clear about
your guiding principles. You must clari-
fy values by finding your voice and affirm-
ing the shared values of the group.

Eloquent speeches about common
values aren’t enough. Leaders’ deeds
are far more important than their
words when constituents want to
determine how serious leaders really
are about what they say. Words and
deeds must be consistent. Exemplary
leaders set the example by aligning
actions with shared values. Through

with unexpected economic downturns,
personal betrayal, loss of physical abili-
ty, natural disasters, civil unrest, and
technological disruption. Leaders ven-
ture out—they don’t sit idly by waiting
for fate to smile on them. Leaders are
pioneers, willing to step out into the
unknown. But leaders aren’t the only
creators or originators of new prod-
ucts, services, or processes. In fact, it’s
more likely that they’re not. Innovation
comes more from listening than from
telling. You have to constantly be look-
ing outside yourself and your organi-
zation for new and innovative products,
processes, and services. You need to
search for opportunities by seizing the ini-
tiative and by looking outward for innova-
tive ways to improve.

Since innovation and change involve
experimenting and taking risks, your
major contribution will be to create a
climate for experimentation in which
there is recognition of good ideas, sup-
port of those ideas, and the willingness
to challenge the system.

When you take risks, mistakes and
failures are inevitable. Proceed anyway.
One way of dealing with the potential
failures of experimentation is by con-
stantly generating small wins and
learning from experience.

4. Enable others to act. A grand dream
doesn’t become a reality through the
actions of a single person. It requires
team effort. It requires solid trust and
strong relationships. It requires deep
competence and cool confidence. It
requires group collaboration and indi-
vidual accountability. Leaders foster
collaboration by building trust and
facilitating relationships. This sense of
teamwork extends far beyond a few
direct reports or close confidants. You
have to engage all who must make the
project work—and, in some ways, all
who must live with the results.

Constituents neither perform at
their best nor stick around for long if
you make them feel weak, dependent,
or alienated. Giving your power away
and fostering their personal power and
ownership will make them stronger
and more capable. When you strength-
en others by increasing self-determination
and developing competence, they are
more likely to give it their all and
exceed their own expectations. Focus-
ing on serving the needs of others, and
not your own, builds trust in a leader.
And the more people trust their lead-
ers and each other, the more they take
risks, make changes, and keep organi-
zations and movements alive.

5. Encourage the heart. The climb to
the top is arduous and steep. People

L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e A u g u s t 2 0 1 2 3

LEADERSHIP PRACTICES

G e t e x t r a o r d i n a r y t h i n g s d o n e .

by James Kouzes and Barry Posner

become exhausted, frustrated, and dis-
enchanted, and are tempted to give up.
Genuine acts of caring draw people
forward. Recognize contributions by
showing appreciation for individual excel-
lence. Such recognition can be one-to-
one or with many people. It can come
from dramatic gestures or simple actions.

Part of your job as a leader is to
show appreciation for people’s contri-
butions and to create a culture of cele-
brating the values and victories by creating
a spirit of community. Recognition and
celebration aren’t necessarily about fun
and games, though fun and games
abound when people encourage the
hearts of their constituents. Neither are
they about pretentious ceremonies
designed to create some phony sense of
camaraderie. Encouragement is, curi-
ously, serious business because it’s how
you visibly and behaviorally link
rewards with performance. Make sure
that people see the benefit of behavior
that’s aligned with cherished values.
When they are authentic and from the
heart, celebrations and rituals build a
strong sense of collective identity and
community spirit that can carry a team
through extraordinarily tough times.

FFiivvee PPrraaccttiicceess MMaakkee aa DDiiffffeerreennccee
Exemplary leader behavior makes a

profoundly positive difference in people’s
commitment and performance at work.
Leaders who more frequently use The
Five Practices are much more effective.

The more you engage in The Five
Practices, the more you have a positive
influence on others. Leaders who engage
in these practices are more effective.
For example, they create higher-per-
forming teams; generate increased
sales and customer satisfaction; foster
renewed loyalty/commitment; enhance
motivation/hard work; promote higher
involvement and engagement; win new
customers; increase fundraising and
gift-giving; extend services; reduce
absenteeism, turnover, and dropout
rates; and boost recruitment rates.

Over a five-year period, in organiza-
tions where leaders are identified by
constituents as strongly engaged in using
The Five Practices, net income growth
was nearly 18 times higher, and stock
price growth nearly three times higher!

Engaging in these Five Practices
makes a big difference no matter who
or where you are. How you behave as
a leader matters—a lot. LE

James Kouzes and Barry Posner are coauthors of the 25th

anniversary Fifth Edition of The Leadership Challenge: How to
Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations (Jossey-
Bass). Visit www.leadershipchallenge.com.

ACTION: Engage in the five practices.

by John Parker Stewart

areas of results-based leadership: 1) create
purpose; 2) deliver excellence; 3) devel-
op self and others; and 4) lead change.

The LEAD NOW! model helps you
to identify behaviors that you need to
improve. First, identify your focus areas.
Define gaps between your capabilities to-
day and where you hope to be in the future.
Closing the gap involves either leverag-
ing a strength or overcoming a deficiency.

The model’s four quadrants describe
well rounded leadership:
• Quadrant 1: Create purpose (Extern-

ally Focused Business Results). A leader
is responsible for defining the group’s
vision and strategy. Creating Purpose
identifies what the organization stands
for, what it is going to do, and how it is
positioned in the marketplace. This
involves studying the competition,
knowing the customer, analyzing
industry trends, setting strategy, and
communicating effectively to others.
• Quadrant 2: Deliver excellence (Inter-

nally Focused Business Results). A leader
is responsible for deliver-
ing operational excellence—
translating the strategy
into day-to-day execu-
tion. This involves clear
decision making, the
ability to build consistent
and measurable process-
es, continuous improve-
ment, and behaving with
integrity.
• Quadrant 3: Develop

self and others (Internally
Focused People Results).

Leaders must value learning. This involves
seeking personal improvement oppor-
tunities, building and managing team
dynamics, honing technical expertise,
managing time, coaching and develop-
ing others, and managing ego.
• Quadrant 4: Lead Change (Externally

Focused People Results). Leaders are respon-
sible for creating and championing beneficial
change efforts. This involves influencing
key decision makers, sponsoring change
projects, empowering stakeholders,
encouraging innovation, managing
resistance, and making change stick.

Determine which of the four quadrants
is most relevant for either leveraging a
strength or improving a weakness. Then,
identify the dimension that applies. Pro-
gress in the dimension directly impacts
your success in the entire quadrant.

By using the LEAD NOW! coaching
model, you can greatly improve your
capacity to lead and achieve. LE

John Parker Stewart is author of LEAD NOW! A Personal
Coaching Guide for Results-driven Leaders (Executive
Excellence Publishing). Visit www.johnparkerstewart.com.

ACTION: Use the LEAD NOW model of LD.

THE STORY IS TOLD OF A
Boston merchant who

sold his business and
possessions in 1849, and trekked across
America to the gold fields of California
to seek his fortune. Day after day, the
young man prospected but came up
empty. His only reward was a growing
pile of rocks. Discouraged and broke,
he was ready to quit when an old,
prospector said to him, “There’s gold
in these rocks.” He picked up two of
them and smashed them together,
revealing several flecks of gold. He
then said, “Son, you are so busy look-
ing for large nuggets that you’re miss-
ing these precious flecks
of gold. The patient
accumulation of these
flecks has brought me
great wealth.”

Like this young
prospector, many leaders
seek major experiences
that will vault them to
success and enable them
to shine. But real
progress in leadership
skills and talents are
developed one seeming-
ly minor fleck at a time. From small,
continuous efforts come major gains.

Hotel founder J. Willard Marriott
noted: “You can’t improve 1,000 percent
in one thing, but you can improve one
percent in a thousand things.” Over his
career, J W Marriott learned that it takes
many small flecks patiently and persis-
tently acquired over time to generate
desired performance. You can’t expect
leaps of progress over night. It takes
persistent, patient effort over time to expe-
rience major gains in your ability to lead.

Yes, leaders need to focus on their
strengths, but also be aware of their
weaknesses to prevent mistakes that can
derail their careers. In coaching execu-
tives, I let them know of areas that
impair their effectiveness. Often they
reply: “So, what do I do about it?”

In response, we created the LEAD
NOW! model. Leaders must achieve
aligned and positive results from four
perspectives: 1) their people; 2) busi-
ness; 3) the marketplace (external); and
4) their organization (internal). These
four points of view encompass the four

Leader Growth
Improve your LD model.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

4 A u g u s t 2 0 1 2 w w w . L e a d e r E x c e l . c o m

http://www.leadershipchallenge.com

http://www.johnparkerstewart.com

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