Reflective Analysis on Leadership
Autor: Moacir Rocha | Publicado: 2013-12-03T22:44:00-03:00



Reflective Analysis on Leadership



In many years running businesses, there is
one thing I have consistently experienced, and that is, leaders need to
convince others of the merit of their ideas, and engage them into actions
toward that vision, inspiring and motivating. However, along the way, there
were many situations that I have struggled to overcome obstacles, which has led
me to rethink about leadership as a dynamic process. 

For the past 10 years I have been on a
journey to learn from leaders who are able to find the best in themselves and
in turn inspire, engage, and mobilize others, even in the most demanding
circumstances, and in fact leaders that get the best results are those who have
the capability to adapt to changing circumstances (Obolensky 2010).
Besides, I have perceived the importance of formal learning, by which
theoretical support allowed me to develop a critical understanding of
leadership in organizational contexts, and more important, it helped me to
develop insights that undoubtedly contributed to my growth as a person and as a
leader.

This essay presents a reflection on my
personal journey and a critical analysis of leadership, based on my work experience
for over 10 years in leadership positions combined with my formal education.
Here I chronicle the development of my thinking on leadership, discussing the
dynamics between formal and informal leadership structures and leadership as a
state of mind.

Over
the last decade, the
flux of organizations and people, with different culture and values, has
increased considerably. Globalization has created a
world market for skilled professionals. International corporations have been
among the first to take advantage of this globalism by restructuring their
approach to their workforce and their way of doing business. Hence, in a world
where the differences of distance, culture and language are of less and less
relevance, leaders have to be more and more contextual, finding meaning in
work, converting emotions such as fear or stress into opportunity, leveraging
connections and community, acting in the face of risk, and sustaining the
energy that is the life force of change. Heifetz (1998) suggests that only
contextual leaders are able to make and implement decisions to help individuals
and organizations adapt and thrive in complex and competitive environments.
Indeed, in
this complex living system, leaders must be visionary, creative, inspiring,
innovative, and courageous to explore new opportunities (Dubrin, Daglish &amp;
Miller 2006). The ability to lead effectively is a rare quality, and it has
become more and more difficult to find genuine leaders.

Despite
the anti-leadership argument, in which it is defended that leaders does not
influence organizational outcomes (Dubrin 2010), I strongly believe that the individual leadership style
is an essential fact in organizational performance. Furthermore, when
considering the impact of leadership, and how to improve the leadership
culture, it is crucial to deliberately analyze all the key factors that may
influence outcomes, evidencing the need of ongoing adjustments and synchronizations
between every component of the organization’s internal and external environment
(Hollenbeck and Hall 2004). 

One of the events through my
career that have shaped my perspective on leadership was when I worked through
the merging of two companies, in which operations were shut down and transferred
to the acquiring company, and many people lost their jobs. Contractor and
Lorange (1998) argue that interactions between two companies can be complicated
especially when there is lack of knowledge of the capabilities of each business.

Working as operations manager
at that time, my role was to elaborate a long-term strategy for the growth of
key business areas from process and technology perspective. Thus, I started
concentrating in identifying problems and developing solution for them. However,
unfortunately, I soon realized that my engagement in embracing new ideas was
not aligned with the interest of some shareholders and even with some managers.
Burnes (2009) suggests that the relationship among stakeholders is crucial to
determine and control the strategic direction and performance of any
organization. 

I
confess that I was very enthusiastic to be an operation manager of a big company.
In my mind, I was there to bring strategic changes to the business and I could
not see any impediment to develop great projects. But truly, this was not the
case. The new company was highly bureaucratic and its decision-making processes
were extremely slow. Staff did not have access to their managers for direction
and many projects were not being completed. Situations that demanded urgent
decisions simply failed because there was no clarity as to who had decision-making
authority. Additionally, many meetings where called to make the same decision,
because often one of the key persons was not present, and the group could not
discuss the issue. I gradually perceived that there was no engagement of the
top management in the decision-making processes, and also it seemed to me that,
despite the organizational belief of collaboration, there were no discussions
and no knowledge sharing. Ireland and Miller (2004) state that the decision
making process requires constant refinement of knowledge gained from previous
experiences. Moreover, formal analysis of techniques, behaviours, personal
characteristics and power politics are all important parts of the decision
making process (Blake
2008).

While I was brought
into the new company to help in the development of innovative operations
strategies, I realized that interest in changes was driven solely by the
immediate short-term demands of specific clients or executives, not by what
could really impact the status quo.&nbsp; Thus,
I decided to write to the President of the company pointing him the problems in
the way we were working and it ultimately resulted in a reorganization, in
which I became an internal consultant. The President, my grandfather, was a genuine
leader; he was passionate
about the business and the people involved in its activities. But for him, and
I agree, the fact of being relative does not qualify anyone to be a good
leader. Of course my grandfather gave me the opportunity to do something bigger,
however my passion and attitude undoubtedly were decisive to start my career as
a leader. In fact, passion motivates self-expression,
providing a deep foundation in values (Bass and Riggio 2006). Naturally I
become more and more involved in my family’s business.

According to
Dubrin (2010) some personal traits of effective leaders are closely associated
with task accomplishment such as passion for the work and the people, emotional
intelligence, flexibility and adaptability, internal locus of control, and
courage. &nbsp;My grandfather recognized my leadership
qualities when I acted as an adaptive leader, setting strategies on both the
customer’s needs and the strengths of the company, attempting to bring all of
the different parts and people of the organization together to work towards a
common goal (Obolensky 2010).

The beginning of my career
was extremely difficult, yet significant in shaping my views of leadership. It
was a period of a deep self-searching as I left a middle manager position to be
part of the board of directors of the company that my grandfather built. I did
not see that as a boom in my career, but a big change of my responsibilities to
the future of our family. Indeed, this was a period of deep reflection on my
sense of identity, personal integrity and my values; a period when I started
understanding that leadership involves formulating an exciting vision to direct
an organization, dealing with change, inspiration, motivation and influence
(Dubrin (2010).

In fact, there are many definitions for
leadership, which is largely about inspiring confidence and supporting people
through the achievement of common goals. But one of my favorite comes from Sun
Tzu in the Art of War: “The way [of leadership] means inducing the people to
have the same aim as the leadership, so that they will share death and share
life, without fear of danger” (Tzu, 2005, p.43). For Sun Tzu, leadership is a
strategy that stimulates relationships that involve a shared vision and
collaborative actions that transcend personal self-interest, where follower and
leader are connected and prepared to both enjoying benefits and taking risks.

I interpret
this merging as the beginning of my generation in the company, in which leadership
was seeing as a strategy, recognizing the importance of relationships to
constantly adjust and synchronize every component of the organization’s
internal and external environment (Hollenbeck and Hall 2004). Tozer (2012,
p.96) argues that leaders need to be good at ‘system thinking’, which is the
ability to analyze activities, moving forwards and backwards along the chain of
cause and effect, in order to identify and understand systems. 

Additionally, my
readings about systems thinking and human communications led me to adopt the
principle that more flexibility means more power to exercise influence on the
system (Senge et al. 1999). The idea reinforced the importance of self-command,
suggesting that the person who has the greatest command on their own behaviour
and attitudes is able to exercise the most influence with others. Bass and
Riggio (2006) supported this notion emphasizing that transformational change
occurs when people choose to change themselves, often by choosing behaviour that
is self-sacrificing in nature. I decided to learn to be a person I would
admire, and develop my personal flexibility and positive attitude.

Unfortunately, when I think
about people and the kind of attitude we have towards our own attitudes, I see
far too many people having a half-hearted attitude.&nbsp; I think we all know that we should have a
positive attitude, but we do not fully own the responsibility for that.

I remember my first class
in the Army when I was eighteen, the commandant asked us to write down the word
A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E and note underneath each letter the numerical place in the
alphabet that each letter represents. That class made me understand that, as
the result, we are hundred percent responsible for the choice of our attitude,
positive or negative.

A
leader must possess a positive attitude because it is infectious. This is why I
prefer to have the unofficial title of CMIHL&nbsp;[Chief Make It Happen Leader]
over my official title in my organization. My official&nbsp;title does not really
define much about the way I will choose to do what I am supposed to do in the
organization. 

In
fact, every person on a team has an official job title that defines what they
are supposed to do in their job; however, a team value for possessing a
positive attitude with a corresponding heart conviction will actually help
inspire each person on a team to be someone who will serve others with a
positive attitude (Anderson
2001).

The
decision to change myself liberated me from self-concept that delivered value
from titles and power roles (Gardner
2006). &nbsp;Besides
it drove me to explore leadership outside the mainstream hierarchical power
structure that could mandate actions through positional authority. Being part
of the board of directors of my family’s company, it really opened my mind and
made me feel free to exercise my leadership in a variety of ways. Additionally,
it made me to see the business as an intermixed system of relationships, a
living organism in a complex living system. Burnes (2009) defends that
organizations are no longer perceived as a static system, filled with cogs.
They are now regarded as self-organising systems in a complex organizational
life support system (Bar-Yam 1997), where it has been incorporated the human
social dimension of organizational life (Burnes 2009). 

For
many times I found myself imagining the ebb and flow of people as they move about
their work, all the process of activities that enable this living organism to
thrive in such complex environment. Senior and Swailes (2010) suggest that organizations
are complex dynamic systems where activities do not happen in a linear manner
demanding people’s ability to self-organize.&nbsp;&nbsp;


I
realized that we could be more attentive to the signs of turmoil that very
often resulted in a disruption of activities, when minor problems exacerbated
others that could become major problems. I saw myself discerning critic of our
company processes and operations, attempting to identify the systemic pain
point proactively, therefore finding solutions to the pain points before they
become chaos.

Indeed
I perceived that people do not worry about situations that have not reached yet
the pain point, and how a proactive approach could reduce the impact to
effectiveness and efficiency of business performance through better
processes.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; This made me understand that
the ability to see and overcome limiting beliefs to jump into a self-transcending
construction (Allen et al. 2011), is a crucial skill of leaders who have to
decide when to act for best advantage, since knowing accurately when to take
actions, will lead to best effects (Needham 2008).

Furthermore,
as organizations are increasingly confronted with complexity inherent in this
new generation of globalised system (De Wit and Meyer 2010), it is evident that
the ability of changing themselves, as well as the adaptability to a changing
environment may be decisive to attain and maintain business advantages (Duhaime
et al. 2012). 

My
view about leadership were always firmly aligned with the idea that effective
leaders are those who convince others of the merit of their ideas, and engage
them into actions toward that vision, inspiring and motivating. Thus, based on
my belief I often attempt to express my ideas for the future, and frequently
perceived that many others could not think that far, and were not able to see
the future I was envisioning. I realized that our managers were failing to
align individual actions with long-term goals, which should occur at all levels
of the organization (Jaques 2006), not only stimulated by senior executives. Moreover
considering the complexity of business environment, people need to be more
involved in long-term goals. Relating this strategy to time horizon, Jaques
(2006, p. 24) states ‘the picture of the future that people vaguely think and
talk about, but can actually deal with, forecast and control by doing things on
a scale that they can feel comfortable. My leadership studies gave the
opportunity to ‘recognize the range of factors that motivate each employee’
(Chreptaviciene and Starkute 2012, p. 164) and use this to achieve competitive
advantage.

Every
organization at some point will face disequilibrium. A certain amount of
disequilibrium helps fuel change in an organization (Plowman et al. 2007),
but too much can cause people to fight, flee or freeze. Likewise, too little
disequilibrium does not provoke people to ask uncomfortable questions and make
difficult decisions. Companies must find the right balances so that disturbance
is productive rather than destructive. Depersonalizing conflict is important to
maintaining the right level of disequilibrium (Plowman et al. 2007).
Disagreements should be focused on the issues, but it is important to understand
the viewpoints of interested parties as well. A culture of courageous
conversation should be instilled so people feel free to discuss difficult
topics (Mone
&amp; London 2010). Thus, disequilibrium is an
important state in the dynamics of an organization, and only resonant leaders
can provide crucial insights to clarify the situation and address emotional issues.


I
was one of the leaders called to speak to the employees immediately after the
announcement that some operations will shut down and many people will
inevitably lose their job. That was a real test to me. After months of talk
about the benefits of the merge, more than 45 people were told that they were
losing their job of years. Everyone was devastated. I realized that at that
very moment my role was to comfort people and give them hope to continue their
lives and so I did it. Thus, I gradually perceived that despite the shocking news,
they started trying to find solutions instead of crying. That showed me the
power of emotional intelligence and therefore contributed to my personal
development. 

Boyatzis
and McKee (2005) suggest that resonant
leaders have the ability to manage the feeling and emotions that
motivate groups to achieve goals, evoking strong emotions and inspiring people
through their positive thoughts and clear vision. Moreover resonant leaders are alike to have a high
degree of emotional intelligence, developing their resonance
through compassion, hope, mindfulness, and maintaining their resonance through
the process of renewal (McKee at al. 2008).

Additionally,
this disequilibrium made me immerge into a deep organizational analysis (Plowman et al. 2007),
driving me to the conclusion that our company assessing risks and our leaders
were not proactively anticipating and influence changes before problems become
critical, which is fundamental as organizations operates in complex adaptive
systems (De Wit &amp; Meyer 2010). 

In fact,
leadership is a continuous process that enables knowledge sharing and promotes
the maintenance of good intelligence moving through the organization (Dubrin
2010). Hence, I understood that organizational structures exercise strong influence
on leadership, as ineffective structures in the systems are not able to promote
the development of employees’ capabilities into their work and communication
flow (Jaques 2006). Further, leadership should be used to generate more
leadership deep in the organization, because organizations are highly
interdependent and it may not be the executive team alone that identifies the
best way into the future (Jaques 2006).

Another
situation that I experienced and really contributed to my thinking about leadership
happened when I started working in this company as an operations assistant manager.
At that time, studying production engineering, I was very passionate about
processes and technology, and so I identified that our company could invest
more in a system to better control our operations as well as improve
communication between our branches. Everyone saw my suggestions as unrealistic
therefore, despite my convincement about the benefits that it could bring to my
family’s business, my ideas were not considered. Nowadays, I see my company
always engaged in operations improvement, as without updated technology in this
complex living system it is impossible to thrive. 

This
experience reinforced the principle that the process of leadership starts when
a person, regardless its formal or informal authority, identify a particular
need and choose to take actions even in the face of obstacles (Needham 2008).&nbsp; In certain
circumstances an actor can emerge and take actions that would be interpreted as
leadership (Quinn 2004).

I
have come to see leadership as a state of mind. Leaders can develop a state of
mind that enhances leadership capacities. It starts with me, and a belief in
myself. A belief in new possibilities, a belief in my abilities to make changes
in the world, and an appreciation that I cannot do it all on my own. My
reflections as a leader have helped me grow and learn as a person, making me understand
that all we need is motivation, inspiration, and sometimes be a dreaming kid.

When
we are kids everything we wish is much easier than it looks like. Building our
own fortune, reach the moon, have the dream job, travelling around the world. The
funny thing is that, we grow and most of those desires remain with us for a
long time. Some of them will continue be only dreams, others may become
reality. However, to make it happen we need to answer a simple question: What
do we want to be when we grow up? Knowing this answer will not be the end of our
search, but the starting point for several others. It is through this question
​​that our future begins to be drawn. It is this question that turns crazy
plans into something quite possible. 

With
me is not different, just like everyone I want the improbable, the surprising,
the innovative. I want to do what no one else would be able to accomplish, I
want to go so far that nobody can reach me, I want to be the discoverer of a
new era, or who knows, the discoverer of a new time. Actually, what I really
want is to fulfill my desires, and like in a child's game, win everything
seemed improbable; the dream job, the perfect family, and why not? Travelling
into the space. 

Being
a leader I gained experience to grow in humility, mature, having
responsibilities. Leadership tests my capacity to innovate, and be ahead of the
time in which I live. It has taught me to not regret my luck. It has taught me
that I must be a dreaming person, and experience the new, looking at the realization
of my desires every day, doing what I like to do, not just what brings me
money. As a leader I learned to be loyal to my values, and always do the best in
what I am engaged, because I am solely responsible for my destiny.

Finally,
as a leader I have learnt that we all can be everything we want to be and when tough
times come, I can set back and simply answer that question: what do I want to
be when I grow up?









&nbsp;





&nbsp;



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