MBA530_ week 6_ Discussion_Post 1

The leadership skills and behaviours that I have selected for the adaptive leadership toolkit

include intelligence or intellectual ability. The intellectual ability of the leader affects the

performance of the organization. For example, Steve Jobs, one of the most successful leaders,

was very intelligent on the product and design. Leaders must have higher intelligence than the

people they are supposed to lead. The intelligence of the leader includes having strong verbal,

perceptual, and reasoning abilities. Antonakis, House, and Simonton (2017) found a curvilinear

relationship between IQ and perceived leadership. Essentially, as the IQ increased, the

perception of the leadership increased. However, the study found that being too intelligent was

not good for the leadership; the best score is a little higher than the non-leaders.

These changes will positively impact the result in the next employee engagement surveys in

several ways. First, it will give confidence to the employees that new changes will be

implemented. Moreover, the leader is intelligent and aware of the achievability of the set goals.

Overall, employees will feel more confident in the leadership skills and abilities of the leaders.

Moreover, interpersonal skills will increase the level of personal relationships between the

leader and the employees.

Self-awareness

Establishing the ability to reflect on your actions, your inward and outward responses, is crucial

when attempting to improve the perception of leadership and the true intent of leadership. Ask

any skilled poker player; everyone has a tell. Even if you think you are hiding a reaction, the

odds are someone will see your truth. Instead of masking and hiding throughout the workday,

take the time to learn how to become self-aware, see the opportunities for change and

improvement and find worth in those adjustments. Taking those steps and trying can help

reshape a person's instinctual responses. If you walk into work and declare you are going to

have a bad day, odds are you will. Instead, if you walk in and say you are going to have a great

day, the odds are far better you will indeed have a decent day. The same can be said for

regulating yourself and being aware of how you interact with people and your actions that

impact the business and the people around you. The alignment of my suggestion to work on self-

awareness directly speaks to the following questions from the engagement survey, "Provides

allows for growth will be the tricky part. For the years referenced on the survey results, these

questions did not score well; this perception was not an anomaly it was the norm. Once the

individuals work on themselves and learn to express themselves honestly and respectfully with

integrity, they will notice a change. With scores as low as they were, any improvement will be

seen. However, with the amount of damage done over the years, it may take a year or two for

leadership to regain the trust lost and see a decent increase in the scores. It will be an actual test

of commitment; will leadership still try to fix what is broken if the reward for that change is not

swift? It will be up to all parties involved to create a positive result regarding trust, ethics, and

self-awareness in the following survey.

question in the engagement survey?

The leadership areas I believe need to be improved are recognition/praise and

and efforts are valued and not just a random number. Every company I have worked for that was

a success were able to tap into the power of their people. The easiest way that this is

accomplished is by showing the employees that you seem them for more than just a drone and

that their contributions are what make the company move forward and allow the company to

access success.

Survey Questions: Training and Development

"I have received the training I need to perform my job responsibilities"

"My supervisor talks with me to help me determine my training and development goals"

With improvements to the training and development departments the company can encourage

growth and pride in the ones job within the company. No employee wants to go through the day

frustrating and it became exhausting after a while. I know when I know how to do something the

expected way it makes me feel relaxed and I enjoy the task much more than trying to guess the

best way to complete the task or worrying that I will get in trouble for doing it incorrectly.

scheduled. Employees want to feel empowered and that management is aware and appreciative

of the hard work that they put in to make the company a success. While it won’t be a drastic

overnight change, in the long run the survey results will be more positive as the employees will

feel valued.

Communication

Communication involves many factors that can compromise the delivery. Providing integrity,

eye contact all play a part. If you lack in one, it could not only disrupt the intent it could

compromise the entire fabric of the team. If you provide valuable information but are yelling, it

will not be heard for its intended value. It will be received in a negative light. Suppose you

whisper, with your head down, while explaining new and exciting changes to the company. In

adequately, all that opportunity is lost. The questions that speak to communication are,

"Promotes an environment in which employees feel free to make suggestions and complaints,

and my supervisor lets me know where I stand and what is expected of me." Communication is

a two-way street. It's the most collaborative thing a team can do to organize chaos, create

change, or keep things on a steady path.

Converging values draw you to similar questions. Diverging views introduce you to new

answers" (Grant, 2021).

A leader who takes the time to share ideas and explore opportunities for themselves and their

employees is a way to create a team that works together instead of against each other. The

questions on the survey relating to empowerment and engagement are, "I feel encouraged to

come up with new and better ways of doing things; my work gives me a sense of personal

accomplishment, recognizes employees based on merit, i.e., accomplishments, successes, and

when people work extra hard to meet our goals they are rewarded accordingly." Each of these

questions utilizes communication and self-awareness, as mentioned above, but also speaks to

the need for leadership to be engaging and engaged in the day-to-day functionality of the team

and the betterment of the employees. Creating opportunities and rewarding efforts may help

empower workers to maintain their momentum each day. A group of people who feel

undervalued and underutilized creates a disconnect between the mission of the business and the

in a car with properly inflated tires, a seat belt strapped across you, and a full tank of gas and

windshield wipers to wipe away the rain? Yes. There are ways to get by, and there are ways to

do things properly, efficiently, and productively. Creating opportunities to communicate,

become self-aware, empower employees, and engage in their success will lead to a well-oiled

team with a goal and the ability to meet those goals together.

References

Antonakis, J., House, R. J., & Simonton, D. K. (2017). Can super smart leaders suffer from too

much of a good thing? The curvilinear effect of intelligence on perceived leadership behaviour.

Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(7), 1003.

Toma, S. G., & Marinescu, P. (2013). Steve Jobs and modern leadership. Manager, (17), 260.