Our readings for this
week focused on teams!Northouse(2007) writes teams
are “organizational groups composed of members who are interdependent, … share same
common goals, and … coordinate their activities
to accomplish these goals” (p. 207).Jackson
and Parry writes that thinking in terms of teams challenges the traditional
understanding of leader and followers.This
is especially necessary as companies become more flat in their hierarchical
structure.The concept I must like about
teams according to Jackson and Parry is how thinking of leadership in terms of
teams allows anyone to step into the leader role.
So What?
As I think about teams
I am reminded of a recent Facebook
picture of a group of little boys from Africa.Along with the picture is the story of how “an anthropologist proposed a
game to the kids in an African tribe. He put a basket full of fruit near a tree
and told the kids that whoever got there first won the sweet fruits. When he
told them to run they all took each other’s hands and ran together, then sat
together enjoying their treats. When he asked them why they had run like that
as one could have had all the fruits for himself they said: ‘‘Ubuntu how can
one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?''The post then goes on to translate Ubuntu to
mean “I am because we are.”
Now What?
Often in the American
culture, a person strives to take the lead and gather followers.However both the readings this week and the Ubuntu term
challenges me that success is only possible when each person does his/her part
while working in harmony towards a common goal with others.Sometimes that will require you to lead and other
times it will require you to be an active member of group.Whichever role you find yourself in at the moment,
remember as part of a team, the success of one is really the success of all.
Since starting this course on leadership,
I have struggled to see how followers were accounted for within many theories
we have focused.Most of the focus has
been on the leader and their style, behavior or approach to leadership.And then… this week the focus was on not 1
but 4 theories:situational
leadership, contingency
theory, path-goal
theory and leader-member
exchange (LMX) theory.Finally, we reached
theories that understand the leader doesn’t function in isolation but is
influenced by and works in connection with their followers. As I read the 4
theories, path-goal theory stood out to me because it focuses on how the leader
motivates the followers to accomplish their goals.
So what?
The theory reminds me of the movie “Remember the Titans” and how Coach
Boone works to bring together a team made up of white and black students, who
recently went through school desegregation and are forced to play together for
the first time.When the team is
initially formed, they function as two separate teams unable to move beyond the
“obstacles” of racism and the inability to understand the “other.”Coach Boone understood to form a cohesive team;
he needed to move the players beyond their “obstacles” by defining the goal, clarifying
the path, removing obstacles and providing support.Everyone on the team wanted to reach the goal
of winning however it would not be possible if they could not move past their misconceptions
and fears of each other.It was central
as the coach for Boone to help the players understand they had the ability to
come together and become winners.
Now What?
As I reflect on how Coach Boone motivated his team using
path-goal theory, it reminds me of my experiences as Director of College
Diversity at King’s College.At the time, I did not realize I utilized path-goal
leadership by defining the goal, clarifying the path, removing obstacles and
providing support for my students as they navigated the educational structure.For many underrepresented students attending
college, the process at times is overwhelming.Like the Titan team, they are in a new experience and struggle to understand
the “other”.For many, the “other” is their
classmates that do not understand their live experiences, professors that teach
differently or an educational system with historical institutional racism
issues.This theory challenges me to
incorporate leader behaviors of directive, supportive, participative and
achievement-oriented leadership behaviors.As Northouse
writes, I will need to adapt my style to the situation or motivational need of
each student.
