I do agree with the author that toxic leadership works in direct opposition because
toxic leaderships create a toxic environment that may silence members of the
workplace or simply make them uncomfortable to be around the leaders that show
toxic behaviors. I personally can vouch that having toxic leadership affects your
workplaces morale and success in goals trying to be attained. When it comes to
fostering inclusivity I think its more important to have designated work activities
that can challenge and help our performance and effectiveness within our groups. I
would have to say that mission and alignment would make the best changes to
diminish to toxicity in workplace. Mission would include 100% participation to
have an aligned goal to making changes in the workplace to improve effectiveness
and performance, In my experiences with toxic leadership I find best to do with
our leadership chain what we call an "assimilation" to gather of the team members
under the leadership and where we can openly disclose any issues within our
workplace without having said toxic leader there to hear to avoid retaliation or
anyone feeling uncomfortable. Yes I do agree that if a leader is toxic it will
effect how the employees act. And how they preform there job if the leader is
causing a lot of issues it’s safe to say that no one will be doing there job. There
are many different ways to motivate other people. You could simply motivate
someone just by telling them they are doing a good job or there works looks
nice. When you do simple things like that it makes the person want to continue
doing a good job so they will continue to get praised for doing something right.
This will motivate the person to keep working hard. There are many different
things that a company can do if they have toxic leadership. You could get rid of
the leader that is causing the problems. You can sit down and talk to the toxic
person and let them know that what they are doing is not okay and is causing a
problem for the work place. There are many different approaches you can take
when dealing with a toxic person. Toxic leadership is a direct counter to diversity
and inclusion because toxic leadership is the absence of opportunity and only
serves to create exclusion. Toxic leadership will favor nepotism, narcissistic
tendency, control over freedom, and clique formations. It'll validate conflict over
collaboration.To me the primary method to motivate inclusion and diversity is by
answering the next part, (what to me is a priority in creating diversity and
inclusion within performance/effectiveness) encouraging freedom, mastery and
meaning in their work. People engaged in active learning are more likely to be
open to new experiences and people. Those who can find meaning in what they
do naturally want to share that feeling with others. Those allowed freedom in their
work are more likely to want to approach others of their own accord.I think the
primary way the rocket model can remove the potential of toxic leadership through
alignment. If everyone is agreed and in line with a singular purpose or goal it
becomes much more difficult to act against the unity that has formed amongst the
team or organization. Yes it does. Toxic leadership is a direct counter to diversity
and inclusion practices. Diversity and inclusion practices will involve building
equitable opportunities and placing value to having people of different backgrounds,
age groups, ethnicities etc together for a greater good or collaborative effort.My
career coach always says "different doesn't mean wrong, there's more that binds us
than what separates us". You can motivate others to be more inclusive in the
workplace by having or creating open dialogue, breaking barriers and avoid
prejudice, stereotypes and preconceptions that are built around bias. When you
bring talent to the table by hiring a diverse group of people, you build trust and
value to why they were hired. The right talent will promote creative thinking,
analytical thinking and mastery. The Rocket Model is a great tool for building a
best performing team. This model will align why we support the same mission,
provide resources for everyone to support and build the team as well. This model
will also diminish the potential for toxic leadership by holding leaders accountable
so that there's 'buy-in' and everyone from the leader down is committed to the
success of the team or the project. After reading the article I can agree that
direct opposition to diversity and in inclusion practices do a fact the workplace. If
a leader gives off a negative impression of themselves and towards the other
employees it does often received giving back. It is proven that very often that if
the environment is negative the feedback and effort put in is also negative. I
think if you motivate yourself to be positive in your leadership skills I think that
positivity will rub off on other employees and overall in the work environment.
When it comes to a positive and work environment the performance levels usually
are higher which will follow in effectiveness and finishing the goals. It has been
shown that if we are happier in our work environment and with the people
around us we are more likely to work harder towards the end goal. So in the
fact that the environment is negative the outcome will also be negative. After
reading "The Anthesis to Diversity and Inclusion" article by Stephanie Hinshaw, I
think about past bosses and organizations I use to work for. Toxic leadership can
destroy a company and make a workplace a toxic cesspool to come into everyday.
Toxic leadership work completely in opposition to the principles of a healthy
organizations diversity and inclusion practices. There are a wide array of way to
motivate and include others in ideas and changes that happen everyday at the
workplace. At my work my managers come to us to get our thoughts on new
changes before pushing it into effect. This allows us to give constructive feedback
on positives and negative's of the changes and allows us to prepare for the
changes that will ultimately impact us as the workers. We also attend High
Performance Work Operations "HPWO" meeting to come up with solutions to
problems we are seeing and share feedback with the rest of the cross functional
teams. We have seen large improvements with hiring workers that may not have a
lot of experience but they have a good attitude and are willing to learn how to
do things the right way with our organization rather hiring someone with 20 years
of experience and has a bad attitude and is unwilling to break bad habits and
learn the we that we do things. I think the mission, talent, and courage sections
of The Rocket model can help diminish the potential of toxic leadership. If
everyone agrees on the mission together you have a large amount of people all
working together to accomplish the same goal. Having the right talent for both
leaders and followers is important to keep each other in check. Lastly courage is
very important to have in addressing problems and downfalls of poor management
and leaders. By addressing the problems head on before they become toxic is key
to preventing the spread and collateral damage. After reading the article "Toxic
Leadership: The Antithesis to Diversity and Inclusion", I completely agree that
toxic leadership works in direct opposition to diversity and inclusion practices. The
negative traits and negative environment stop the ability to have individuals be
engaged or diverse in opinions and options.
The beauty of diversity in a work environment is having the option to realize
everyone has a unique style of communication and thought process. Allowing each
individual to have the ability to express themselves not only promotes individual
growth, but it also inhibits innovation. In my role as management, I have to be
very open minded when it comes to hiring the right candidate. With the pandemic
things changed immensely. It went from being able to be picky on the candidates
you interview, choosing the right person based off their experience to being open
minded and now choosing the person who might not have the background but is
willing and able to be trained. I honestly prefer this over the past. I enjoy seeing
an individual flourish. I am big believer in development through training courses
and on-hands training. These activities help them find meaning in their role as
well as their career development.
Organizations can utilize the Rocket model to diminish toxic leadership by
ensuring there is a unified mission statement that models diversity and inclusion.
Top Management should be vigilant of those leaders who are toxic by doing
constant check-ins with departments and ensuring that toxic leadership doesn't
continue within the organization. I will state that toxic leadership works in direct
opposition to diversity and inclusion practices. Leaders are promoted in
organizations to teach and share positive experiences with followers. A toxic leader
will display traits that are unbecoming of management. Blaming others, not taking
responsibility for errors, and disrupting workplace environments, are a few ways to
display their narcissism. Leaders with these tendencies detract from teaching others
about the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. The successful
leader will omit negativity to showcase diversity and inclusion practices. Creating
and using tools to engage, teach staff of the benefits of inclusion, will help
motivate followers. Rewarding performance and inclusion of decision-making efforts
will also motivate staff to believe in an inclusive workplace environment. Fostering
an inclusive workplace takes a great deal of effort. Performance and effectiveness
is taught at a level by leaders. Recruiting and hiring staff to share responsibilities,
will become a valuable tool to create an inclusive workplace. I believe you benefit
from hiring followers with high levels of achievement orientation and designing
work activities to promote autonomy, mastery, and meaning. It takes a group effort
to improve skills and enhance workplace environments of inclusiveness. Companies
can use components of the Rocket model to make positive changes to diminish
toxic leadership. It can begin by defining the company mission to everyone,
especially new staff members. This will define what the company expects
employees to use to create high-performing teams Knowledge of rules to abide by
for immediate success. Taking an active role and commit to learning and using all
available resources to become successful. After reading the article about toxic
leadership, I can conclude that toxic leadership works in direct opposition to
diversity and inclusion practices because the negative traits both attract the same
behaviors and do not allow for positive interactions. I can motivate others to be
more inclusive in the workplace by displaying inclusive behaviors such as positive
reinforcements, being an example in the workplace, and leading my group in a
way that promotes positive outcomes. When it comes to fostering an inclusive
workplace, I think designing work activities to improve autonomy, mastery, and
meaning brings about high performance and effectiveness. A workplace that focuses
on the job position and develops a job for employees to gain just as much as the
company gains will have lower turn around rates and higher productivity rates.
These workplaces find a median between what the company needs and what the
employer needs. Using the rocket model an organization can set a standard at the
workplace on how to act and what kind of behaviors and attitudes are accepted.
Another change that an organization can make to create-high performing teams is
to hire staff that are capable leaders as they will set the tone for future workers.
Inclusivity takes practice. You’ll get there by giving your employees a voice,
learning to listen, and discovering who they are. Without psychological safety,
people won’t risk being themselves at work. They may show up to meetings, but
they’ll sit quietly, feeling they aren’t truly welcome or wanted. They’ll be afraid
to actively contribute or share opinions that differ from the majority. Before your
employees can trust you, you must demonstrate your trust in them. Treat them
like adults capable of managing their time, not like suspect adolescents. Invite all
team members to share their opinions. Own up to your errors, and encourage
others to do the same, making it clear that mistakes are inevitable and human.
Embracing vulnerability will make your employees feel psychologically safe. For
instance, business leaders might believe they’ve adopted an inclusive mindset just
because they encourage maternity leave and offer a nursing room. Meanwhile,
they’re sustaining antiquated parenting conventions that minimize the roles of
fathers and other caretakers. I would agree that toxic leadership absolutely works
in direct opposition to diversity and inclusion practices. There are many reasons I
agree with the author, Stephnie Hinshaw, Ed. D. First, and perhaps most important
is that in order to be a good leader, you must first be able to follow, toxic
leaders lean too close to narcissistic tendencies, or are fully narcissistic which
would make it virtually impossible for them to ever follow because they already
know everything.
A way to motivate others to be more inclusive in a professional setting is
education. In terms of diversity and inclusion, ignorance is the enemy of bliss.
Fostering an inclusive workplace should include a balance of both hiring followers
with high levels of achievement orientation and designing work activities to
improve autonomy, mastery, and meaning because in order to get better at
something you must first be taught and given the opportunity to learn, but you
also need those who are able to teach others. That's where hiring nothing but
followers could cause a potential issue. If you hire nothing but followers then who
will lead?
The Rocket Model is a set of tools, or blueprint designed to boost the performance
of a team by analyzing a team, discovering issues within the dynamic of the team,
and providing the team's leaders with beneficial activities and tools specific to that
team in order to help guide the team towards improved performance while
eliminating toxic leadership and raising awareness to diversity and inclusion. I agree
that toxic leadership works in direct opposition of inclusion and diversity. When a
leader possesses toxic leadership traits, they tend to blame others for mistakes,
engage in unethical practices, use followers as scapegoats and even fail to mentor
or teach followers. Essentially this behavior creates a negative environment where
followers are less likely to be engaged, less apt to share ideas with the team, and
have adverse effect on employees. Having worked in an environment such as this,
a job I once enjoyed became a chore. I showed up to keep things moving and
earn a paycheck, but I kept to myself and didn't speak out because I knew nothing
would change. On one particular performance I brought up a few items, even
attached a document to the review and then we both signed it. When it was sent
to the Director's office for final signature, the supervisor removed that document. It
never made it into the review. My mistake was trusting it would be in the final
review. I learned I should have made mention of the document in the notes section.
I felt betrayed and ultimately found a new position away from the toxic
leader.Fostering an inclusive workplace requires communication, collaboration, leading
by example. Admit shortcomings and also provide an environment that everyone
feels like they have an opinion. Finally team members should feel valued.I think
hiring followers with high levels of achievement orientation would be better.
Performance and effectiveness can be fostered through mentoring over time. In a
perfect world, leaders would want to hire someone with all of these qualities.The
Rocket Model shows us that with the right talent, mission, resources, buy-in and
norms you can achieve results- At the very foundation, it is important to understand
the mission and have the right talent to build on. However, buy-in is one of the
most important pieces. When a leader achieves buy-in, it is effectively stating that
the team trusts the leader and other followers, but also comfortable to share ideas
and collaborate with one another. He or she feels like they are part of a
functioning unit. I would argue toxic leadership works in direct opposition to
diversity and inclusion practices. To foster inclusive environments, diverse opinions
need to be heard. Toxic leaders tend to be narcissistic and think they know better
than others. With this in mind, it is critical organizations that are committed to
diversity and inclusion hire the right leaders and provide them with strong training
to increase their ability to lead in an inclusive manner.
Getting both elements right puts you at a significant competitive advantage. To
survive and thrive in the future, organizations need to do more than simply
diversify their talent pools. An inclusive workplace is important for organisations to
achieve desired outcomes. It provides a harmonious work environment where
employees have mutual respect and appreciation for one another, come together to
leverage their diverse experiences and knowledge to co-create solutions. Some of the
benefits of inclusion for children with (or without) disabilities are friendship skills,
peer models, problem solving skills, positive self-image, and respect for others. This
can trickle down to their families as well, teaching parents and families to be more
accepting of differences. Invest in leadership development: Hold toxic leaders
accountable for their behavior. Make it clear that other, less non-toxic leaders, can
and will replace them if they don't change their ways. Offer coaching and other
behavior change resources for those willing to improve. To achieve high-performing
teams you must treat them as individual people. Leaders of engaged work teams
create shared goals, align goals with individual skills and aspirations, establish fair
measures, delegate responsibility and authority, and reward individual contributions.
The Rocket Model is a framework and set of tools for boosting team performance.
It can be used to diagnose team dynamics, and to provide leaders with specific
tools and activities to improve team performance.
Yes, I agree with the author that toxic leadership works in direct opposition to
diversity and inclusion. On an organizational level, according to Kinicki (2021),
creating a climate of psychological safety among teams encourages individuals “to
speak up and present their ideas and less likely to take disagreements personally.”
So, this type of atmosphere produces more team creativity, diversity, and inclusion.
However, toxic leadership is more of a hierarchy or bureaucratic type of leadership
where control is the strategy and negates the idea that your voice matters. So, I
believe setting up relationships of trust and cohesion will allow individuals to feel
more comfortable expressing themselves and sharing ideas that will help better teams
and the organization.It would be ideal to hire all achievement-oriented followers.
However, the reality is we do not all have the same educational background nor
were born with that “fire in the belly” as mentioned by Hughes (2022). So, I
believe designing work activities to improve autonomy, mastery, and meaning is
more important. Plus, achievement-oriented followers are more likely to be
disengaged whereas teamwork yields more creativity and productivity.I feel the
Rocket Model boils down to purpose, teamwork, credibility, and accountability that
yield great results. By using the Rocket Model to diminish potential toxic leadership
and create high-performing teams, organizations need to implement missions for what
they are trying to accomplish after bringing awareness. They need to set up norms
or rules and make sure individuals are committed, engaged, and credible to reach
the best results. At the same time, make sure all necessary resources (time, funds,
facilities, etc.,) are accessible. I totally agree that toxic leadership works against
diversity and inclusion practice. It does have a negative impact on followers and
organizations as the author stated as well. I agree because a toxic leader is selfish,
abuse power, does not listen to feedback, and the list goes on. All of those traits
have an impact on everyone that works with the leader. Others can be motivated
to be more inclusive in the workplace by listening to employees, good
communication, and creating an inclusive work environment. You don't want anyone
to feel left out. For me, designing work activities to improve autonomy, mastery,
and meaning is more important. I believe those are more important because you can
kind of control how things are ran because you are teaching and doing activities to
portray how you want your work environment. Using the Rocket Model, changes
that an organization can make to diminish the potential for toxic leadership and
create high-performing teams are to focus on the positives to avoid having a
negative impact on the organization. Make sure everyone is on the same page and
know employees strong parts. Just overall knowing how each other operate and
what they are good at and what they aren't. After reading the authors topic I would
have to agree that toxic leadership works against diversity and inclusion practices.
A toxic leadership style doesn’t focus on the people and without the people you
can’t be successful. You have be able to communicate with your team in a way
that makes them feel heard and appreciated. They need to know that their voice
counts.
I think you can motivate people by being an engaged and active leader. People
have a tendency to follow their leaders and perform based on their actions and
expectations. If you are a leader that isn’t involved, the your team is not going to
be engaged and as a result everyone fails.
I believe that designing work activities to improve autonomy, mastery, and meaning
is more important. If you hire high achievers, but you aren’t a good leader, the
team will fail. With good leadership you can make anyone a high achiever. I have
seen first hand how effective a team can become with good leadership as well as
how quickly a team can become disinterested with bad leadership. After reading the
authors topic in my opinion I would have to agree that toxic leadership works
against diversity and inclusion practices. The thing that sticks out to me is the word
“toxic” meaning poisonous, very harmful, or unpleasant. For example, toxic leaders
do not show any empathy, does not care about team, or boosting organization
morale, and provide negative impacts towards their employees causing an
uncomfortable environment. Several other follow-on factors will be affected from this
type of leadership style.You can always think back to when you were a follower
because we were all followers at some point in our life. I would say that leading
by example and from the front will assist in motivating others to be more inclusive
in the workplace. Also, include your peers and teams in decision-making when
changes that will affect the team. Understanding your team and having empathy will
help and never ask anyone to do anything that you’re not willing to do. When it
comes down to fostering an inclusive workplace, I feel the most important thing is
designing work activities to improve autonomy, mastery, and meaning. Instill in your
team members to speak up when changes arise that will overall affect their team
so adjustments can be made. If your team know that their word can be heard, and
leaders will listen will make a better high-performing team to accomplish the overall
task. Building a team that has aspirations to grow is promising for the
future.Organizations can use the eight components of the Rocket Model to change
the potential toxic leadership and create better performing teams. The most important
thing is to identify the situation and all the constituencies affecting the team and
not assume. They best thing is to share information to make sure everyone is on
the same page about the challenge that are affecting the team. Then, move forward
to ensure the mission is clear and define what the team is trying to accomplish.
You must identify you have the right people on board, define the rules, get the
team to buy-in, have the resources, courage and enjoy the results and winning
spirit. After reading this week's readings I do agree with the author that toxic
leadership works in direct opposition to diversity and inclusion practices in the
workplace. I agree because toxic leadership creates an uncomfortable and hostile
work environment. Toxic leaders do not respect their team's opinions or input. This
will cause low morale and frustration, and block creative thinking among team
members. More importantly, it will cause team members to be less motivated and
unmotivated team members have low production and unacceptable
performance.Motivating others can often be a difficult task, however, it is do-able.
Creating a safe space allows team members to provide and receive feedback. To
listen to the needs and desires of team members and make adjustments that will
benefit everyone involved. Always give constructive criticism and reward
accomplishments. Designing a work environment to improve autonomy, mastery, and
meaning is more important to performance and effectiveness. Doing this gives team
members a sense of empowerment over what has been learned. Using the Rocket
Model, organizations can diminish the potential for toxic leadership and create high-
performing teams by providing a model of team effectiveness that provides
prescriptive and diagnostic advice. The Rocket Model tells leaders what steps to
take and when to take those steps when building new teams. It can also be used
to help leaders understand where existing teams are falling short and what must be
done to get them back on track. Toxic leadership is definitely "a thing", and it
certainly detracts from an organizations opportunity for diversity and inclusion within
leadership. Using religious organizations as an example, many have toxic leadership
within the liturgical staff. Although it would seem as though in these type of
organizations that the senior pastor has the only and final say, because usually they
are the creators of the organization, they normally exclude others from the decisions
regarding what to preach and/or promote within the church. Many times, the
financial component of tithing and offering clouds their judgement and they carry
about in an unsavory fashion with the funds they are to oversee. They often times
allow their egos to lead the way and incite petty arguments over their followers
from giving into "desires of the flesh". They do not accept criticism well, because
supposedly everything they do is instructed by a higher power that has
communicated with only them, convincing the followers of the same. Even when
these leaders say things that are contrary to the beliefs many families hold within
their own households they are afraid to speak up, for fear of being
ostracized.Motivating others to be more inclusive in the workplace includes being
inclusive in ones own activities. Encouraging people to speak up and voice concerns
when things seem out of place, tasking the leader to listen to those concerns and
work with the staff to address them and correct any misgivings. Allowing for
constructive criticism is big, as well. People feel like they are subject matter experts
and therefore could not do an even better job, when in actuality constructive
criticism would encourage them to go the extra mile toward understanding.I think
designing work activities to improve autonomy, mastery, and meaning would foster
inclusivity moreso than hiring people that are already masters of their crafts.
Empowering people to learn their role and create their own meaning behind it
within the parameters of the organizational goals gives people more ownership of
the role and the feelings that arise from doing what they are asked within that
role.Utilizing the Rocket Model, an organization can alter toxic leadership by
ensuring both the team and the leader is aligned with and cohesive with the goal
and the measures to meet the goal. Being abreast of the team individual skill sets
and mastery should create a team that can meet those goals. I really enjoyed
reading this article on Toxic Leadership. The rest of the title alone answers the first
part of this discussion question. "The Antithesis to Diversity and Inclusion," shows
that these practices work in direct opposition to diversity and inclusion practices.
Some of the traits and behaviors of toxic leadership will give the opposite reaction
that a good leader is trying to accomplish. Behaviors like, using followers' fears to
incite action, lying to mislead followers, pitting others against each other, feeding
followers false allusions to make them seem more powerful, being incompetent;
misdiagnosing problem or not addressing incompetence, failure to develop and
mentor/teach other leaders, and the one that stuck out to me the most was not
allowing criticism of any kind (even constructive). All of these, and more that were
mentioned in the article, insight and create a team that does not want to work
together for a common goal or even individuals who do not wish to follow the
leader. Which is the opposite goal of a good team leader.A good leader can
motivate others to be more inclusive in the workplace by demonstrating these
qualities as a leader. They can first be aware of their own bias, be empathetic,
treat individuals like human beings, be passionate about learning, and be committed
to diversity and diverse opinions. Also, when we are fostering a more inclusive
workplace it is more important to design work activities to improve autonomy,
mastery, and meaning. This will aide in the processing of everyone learning
together. Not just looking for employees to hire that may have been successful or
had the opportunity. That does not give those who have not had the opportunity a
chance to show they can be successful in this as well.When we look at the Rocket
Model, we can see some changes that can be made in an organization to lessen the
chances of having a toxic leadership set-up. One of those would be to make sure
everyone is aware of each members strengths and weaknesses. Not as a competition,
but as a placement of best roles and assignments so each member is successful in
their task.
I say toxic leadership actually promotes diversity and inclusion. It seems to me that
the there IS a need for toxic leadership types at times to keep things somewhat
balanced. Like the The Yin and the Yeng. Without balance, there would be no
diversity... without diversity, there would be need for inclusiveness. without
inclusiveness there would be no balance... and you get the picture. I would say that
I do agree with the author—toxic leadership works in direct opposition to diversity
and inclusion practices. The statement is made that if leaders do not listen to
others’ opinions or suggestions, that would lead to someone potentially
micromanaging or would take on all of the work. This would lead to a toxic work
environment and is a great example of why it is important to focus on both
diversity and inclusion practices.
I believe that leaders can always work on motivating others, especially to be more
inclusive in the workplace. Some examples of this could be:
• Be aware of your own biases and understand your shortcomings. Utilize your
team members as support to create the best possible “product”.
• Ask for help! Do not be afraid to ask others for guidance and lean on
others for support.
• Be open to diversity in the workplace; seek diverse opinions, opportunities,
and ideas!
When it comes to fostering an inclusive workplace, I believe that the most
important thing is to design work activities to improve autonomy, mastery, and
meaning. Hiring others will never solve the problem; there needs to be guidelines
set in place prior to onboarding others.If we utilized the Rocket Model, there are
changes that organizations could make to diminish the potential for toxic leadership,
and in turn create high-performing teams. Its’ main focus is find the problem within
a team dynamic, and provide those managers or leaders with the ability to improve
their overall team performance, using tools or activities.
I agree with the author 100 %, I personally had to deal with toxic leaders and can
totally say my voice was never heard. Leaders need to practice or educate
themselves on how diversity can benefit an organization. I would motivate my team
by working together get to know them a little more personal. I would ask their
opinion and ask them for feedback. I also would recognize their handwork and
encourage to have weekly meeting to share new ideas. I would design work
activities to improve autonomy, mastery, and meaning. I have seen many new hires
with great education but does not mean they had the abilities or experience to
master a position, I rather hire within and train, educate, and coach them. Using
the Rocket Model, organization can change to avoid toxic leadership is by let
leaders understand what the organization goals and values is and what is the
organization expectations. Organizations have to encourage leaders to learn from
team members or employees and assign orientations and training on how they can
improve their abilities to lead. In reading this week's learning topic, I have to say
that I agree with the author. I believe toxic leaders work against diversity and
inclusion practices, an example of this is a toxic leader does not value teamwork
nor do they empower others instead they set people against each other.The perfect
way to motivate others to be more inclusive in the workplace is to lead by
example. If you show others that inclusivity works and brings your team together
and can also lead to better productivity, then it can help change their mind and
motivate them to do the same.When fostering an inclusive workplace, I believe it is
more important to design work activities to improve mastery and meaning. When
leaders allow their followers to think for themselves and come up with their own
ideas in accomplishing a task, this creates confidence and brings meaning to the
work and task at hand. The followers will develop skills and knowledge in an area
they feel comfortable in which in turn will make them feel accomplished. With
using the Rocket Model, organizations can change and eliminate the potential for
toxic leadership by making sure the team is aligned with and understand the team's
mission and must also understand what the ultimate goal is. Secondly, leadership
needs to know who their team members are and what their skills, abilities and
strengths are and assign tasks accordingly, this will create a high-performing team.
I completely agree with the author, toxic leadership works against diversity and
inclusion practices. My reason for agreeing with the author is that a toxic leader
will initiate a negative environment by any means necessary. Im not saying that a
toxic leader will make all his followers negative but the ones that are will continue
to make the work environment uncomfortable for the ones that don't conform.I think
a good way to motivate others at work to be more inclusive is to do team building
exercises and also by having weekly meetings. That way everyone is involved and
topics that may cause issues can be discussed. Also this would be a good time to
tell the team about the good they or doing or even to shine the light on an
outstanding employee. When it comes to fostering an inclusive workplace I think its
more important to design work activities to improve the autonomy, mastery and
meaning. You can hire people with high levels of achievement orientation but that
doesn't mean that they will be good workers or workers who are willing to learn.
I would much rather build my team, teach them and watch them grow. The article
highlights good points on how toxic leaderships is not only something that's
happening in many work environments, but can be a bad cycle as many followers
are influenced or molded to become toxic themselves. I do believe it has a direct
impact on diversity and inclusion. I have seen scenarios where due to leadership
misguiding their subordinates leads to a very uncomfortable work setting where you
don't even want to come in to work or there are constant misunderstandings
amongst workers and administration.Can this be changed? It certainly can, but it all
has to start with not only leadership, but overall the organizations vision. I have
attended many Professional Development training sessions where we focus on
diversity and inclusion and unfortunately they don't include the voice of the
workers/staff. If you don't allow for opinions of those who are at the forefront of
any job to be part of structure, then you are just creating a plan that may or will
fail. When you want to talk about diversity then it's important your team is diverse,
that simple. Setting goals is essential to being successful, but it's also important to
know when to adjust such goals and not fall in to the trap of failing the mission
due to what I call simply fear of accepting failure. Toxic leadership stifles everyone
around them until their voice is the only one heard. Dissenting opinions can be
helpful for the team as no one person has all of the answers. The team can discuss
ideas and come to a group consensus ensuring buy in happens.I motivate my teams
to be more inclusive by pushing servant leadership. We support the workers, treat
everyone with respect, practice active listening, and above all treat others how we
want to be treated.If I could I would hire followers with high levels of
achievement. Unfortunately, they don't come around very often. I usually pick
people from within and coach them in leadership skills. Out of necessity I would
design activities to improve autonomy, mastery, and meaning.Using the rocket
model, teams can adjust the norms to root out the toxic behavior, and get buy in
from all team members for the new expectations. Additionally setting a team goal
instead of an individual goal that is specific and measurable should shift the focus
to the group instead of the individual. When thinking about diversity and inclusion,
leadership is a key point. Leaders play an important part in influencing the actions,
attitudes, and behaviors of their followers. Toxic leadership is the type of leadership
that is destructive to members of a team and a overall workplace. It's the selfish
abuse of power on the part of the leader. I believe that toxic leadership works in
direct opposition to diversity and inclusion practices. Leaders are to influence and
uplift their team members, toxic leaders are only concerned with personal gain
which would have a negative effect on diversity and inclusion practices.I can
motivate others to be more inclusive in the workplace by actively participating in
events with my team members, listening to their concerns , and their feedback. I
would also host leadership classes once a month allowing different companies to
come and host workshops. When it comes to fostering an inclusive workplace, what
do you think is more important to performance and effectiveness I honestly feel like
it's always best to hire someone who's qualified, but to leave opportunity for others
to work up to that position as well. The reason I feel it's best to have both is
because the person who may not be qualified at that exact moment could end up
doing better in that position than the person who was originally hired. I'm speaking
from experience.I worked for a produce company several years ago, I was a
customer service representative, to fast forward the story the business suffered a
great loss, and had to do a business chop,I was one of the lucky ones who got to
stay , but my position requirements had increase I handled finances, assisted in
hiring more drivers, and still did my customer service duties. When the business
was able to hire more people for different positions again I applied for a finance
position, but was denied because I didn't have my bachelors at the time. The
person who was hired had the education , but didn't possess tenacity. That business
ended up going through four people before they finally found someone able to
fulfill the position and I moved on.Changes organizations can make to diminish
toxic leadership using rocket model would be to allow companies, or individuals
who decide to buy into the business to take leadership classes before coming on
board . Businesses should also give more opportunities for individuals to allow their
workmanship to show their capabilities to be hired for other positions in the
organizations.
A leader must possess the ability to communicate effectively, be decisive, influential,
honest, empathic, resilient and fair to name a few characteristics. Influence is the
liking of a particular person with the effect of character. It almost seems as if a
leader has to be a saint to be effective. Ways to develop future leaders is to
constantly provide them with the training needed to become a leader. This could be
accomplished by having employees attend conferences or classes to help them refine
their leadership skills. I also believe we are all humans and we all make mistakes.
If we feel overwhelmed we should be able to express that and have a few
moments to release that. Breaks should be mandatory for everyone.
In the section of the 2009 Newsweek article discussing the Chrysler bankruptcy, Lee
Iacocca said (Halpert, 2009, "But Chrysler has been in trouble before, and we got
through it, and I believe they can do it again. If they're smart, they'll bring together
a consortium of workers, plant managers and dealers to come up with real
solutions.
From this quote it seems to me that he suggests the CEO reach back to his whole
team right down to the plant and dealership levels for input on how to turn around
the ailing company. I think this is in line with my comments that a toxic leader
will make decisions in a vacuum, and not solicit input from the rest of the team.
