Leadership Manifesto

When You Know Better, You Do Better

Over the last few weeks, I have read a wealth of material on different leadership and different styles. My learning has included reading peer-reviewed articles, my course textbook on Leadership, videos and Powerpoints on how to become a better and more effective leader, and having discussions with classmates on different aspects on leadership. I will share my top five lessons that I feel that I have learned from this leadership course embedded within this blog.

First, and most importantly, I have learned what makes a great leader as well as what makes a not so great leader. Most importantly, I have had to come to the realization that my leadership efforts fall somewhat in the middle of both great and not so great.

My grandfather use to always say, “Baby, when you know better, you are supposed to do better”. To this day, my mother repeats this phrase when she is trying her best not to say, “I told you so”. I use this phrase to apply this to my current leadership effort. Taking into account all of the information I have learned over the last nine weeks in this Leadership course, I have no other option but to improve in the area of leadership.

I have been able to identify what I care about most (in regards to leadership and my followers), as well as what others may perceive me to care about most. I am both excited and eager to retake some of the assessments that I have completed where I ranked myself in certain leadership areas. I have also started on a leadership professional development plan that I intend to share with the leaders who report to me. My desire is to first begin with becoming more of a servant leader, as I truly believe that this is the root and basics of leadership. Without a servant’s attitude and heart, one could easily be seen as just a manager. I want to influence others through the skills and new knowledge that I possess. I am in a key position to implement leadership changes within the departments that I oversee. It would be my hope that other departments recognize changes over the next few months and inquire about what may have brought such great changes about.

Leadership trickles down into the roots of a team. I have learned that the leader has the potential to set the culture for all followers. Followers are more likely to follow leaders who they can trust. In order to gain the trust of followers, the leader has to show confidence, determination, and intelligence. It is difficult for anyone to follow another if they are not confident, determined, or intelligent.I can attest to this because these have always been the traits I looked for when new leaders came to the organization where I work. It is also difficult to establish an effective working relationship with someone who may lack these traits.

My declaration as a leader is that I will take all that I have learned to become a better leader for my followers, my superiors, and for myself. My first priority is to do a better job of getting to know my followers so that I can exhibit empathy and support when they need it. I will remove the barrier that has been in place that required me to remain behind an invisible gate when it came to discussing personal matters with my team members. I have began to share more with those that follow me as well as with my supervisor and I can honestly say that it is a good feeling to have someone ask about your children by name or to remember an important event that you have previously shared with them. I feel that this is a process I have already began working on.

I know that I am a naturally caring person. I want followers to be able to grow and learn from me and I from them. There is a lot of work to be done on my behalf but I am definitely up for the challenge. I have found some of the leadership assessments online and will begin incorporating them into the performance reviews for the leaders that I currently supervise. I will also plan to have followers re-evaluate me on assessments where the interpreted scores revealed that I had areas that needed improvement.

Overall, I have wholehearted appreciated the Leadership Couse, the material provided, the related videos, and the feedback from those who have read this blog as well as my discussion posts. I plan to continue using this blog but on a monthly basis. I plan to share how the leadership changes I am making are impacting the followers and work environment. I hope that you all will continue reading and providing me with constructive criticism and feedback, as it is my hearts desire to do better for the simple reason that I now know better.

Can A Woman Really Lead?

 Women in leadership has become a common topic when within businesses and professional settings. It seems to be more noticeable these days when there are more women in leadership than there are men. It is so common, that it is believed to be socially accepted at this point. Women have taken on more leadership roles and are preparing themselves early to begin leading. Mothers and fathers are preparing their daughters in their school age years to be leaders. They are empowering their daughters and affirming their abilities to be able to lead in any setting that their hearts will desire.

In my church, the senior Pastor and Apostle is a woman. At the organization that I work for, the center’s Executive Director and Assistant Executive Directors are women. As the Program Director over the organization’s Child Caring Institutions (group homes), I too am a woman. Women have proven that we are more than capable of leading in senior or high ranking positions.

As I began to advance in my career, I did not find that it was difficult to do so. There was not much competition and there was not any stigma within the organization. I do not believe that the organization set out to hire or purposely promote women; however, for some reason, there are majority women preparing themselves for leadership. This is not to say that men do not prepare themselves, but the men in the organization did not seem to care to work as hard for promotion or advancement as the women did. I am lead to believe that within my organization, men are comfortable or complacent with where they are.

I believe that women are equally as capable of leading as men are. They are not better leaders, but are equivalent in their abilities to lead. Women no longer have to fight for a spot in leadership, and they are not seen as “less than” when compared to men in leadership. When allowed to earn their spot in the leadership spotlight, women seem to have a better skill of empowering or influencing their subordinates than men do. For example, most women are more empathetic and understanding of individuals, making them more easy to talk to. Their subordinates feel that they are “cared about” and are approached with personal conversations because of this. When a woman is able to influence her subordinates to perform better just by being who she is, she is considered (in my opinion) as powerful. She is able to win her team over and they are willing to follow her wherever she leads.

Men in leadership have seemed to be less empathetic and lead by the book versus by their natural personalities. Maybe not all men, but the majority of them do not believe or see the importance of being empathetic and understanding to their subordinates and often focus only on getting the job done.

When I as hiring for a Program Supervisor position a few years ago, I often looked for the individual who would be able to step into an already challenging role and be able to influence the already established team to change the culture of the environment. When I had given a male applicant the ability to try out this role as an Acting Program Supervisor, he came in and was focused on the vision and mission that I shared with him. He performed exactly as I needed him to in order to reach the overall goal, which is to ensure a safe and therapeutic environment for the children in the program who were currently in foster care.

When I hired a female Program Supervisor to work the opposite shift as the male, the entire milieu responded to her at a faster rate than they did with the male Program Supervisor, who worked the second shift. The female was not only able to come in and meet the goals set for her position, but she was able to build such a rapport with the staff that they began going over and beyond in their roles to make sure that they were pleasing to her. She valued their personal needs (family/work balance) and engaged in personal conversations with them frequently. She would ask about their family members and remembered their birthdays and other important and special events of the staff.

The male supervisor was nice, friendly, approaching, and understanding, but he lacked the characteristic to be personable. Nonetheless, they were both able to meet the needs of the staff and the youth that we serve. Both proved to be capable and valuable assets to the program. Their methods of operation were different; however, they were both able to improve the program in different ways. The female supervisor possessed the qualities that the male supervisor did not. Again, I want to stress that a woman is equally capable of leading in the same capacity as a man and they can both reach the goals using different methods and styles of leadership.

Leadership Legacy

Leadership Legacy - What do I want my leadership legacy to be?

When a person thinks of the word legacy, the thought is usually about what one would leave behind to his children, grandchildren, and their children. In the professional world, one who is in leadership may often think about what his or her leadership legacy might be.

When I think about my own leadership legacy, I wonder what others will perceive my legacy to be. It is important that others see the hard work that I have put into my role as their leader and how hard I have worked toward making the vision of the company a reality. If I ask myself the question, “What do I want my leadership legacy to be?” I would have to say that I want my leadership legacy to be that I have taught others the importance of putting Christ in the middle of all that you do.

At the root of all things should be the spirit of Christ. I have lived by this motto since I was a young child. My sisters and I would always ask each other after we had major arguments or even physical fights, “is this like God?” and then we would eventually hug and make up. As I entered high school, I would ask myself the now famous phrase, “What would Jesus do?” and then make up my mind if the behavior I was about to engage in would be pleasing to Christ.

In my current senior leadership role, I am not allowed to do a lot of talking about spirituality; however, when I am asked questions about myself or my leadership style, I speak freely about my desire to please Christ and my belief that my role within the company is a part of God’s purpose for my life. When I am asked to speak more about the principles I operate by, I explain that I believe that every decision, every action, and every new connection should involve Christ in the middle. If I do not see a way to ensure that everything is Christ-led, I will not move forward. So far, operating with this belief and by this principle has worked for me.

My belief in this principle is what I believe keeps my grounded. I literally ask myself if what I am preparing to do has room for Christ and if I do not believe there will be room for Him, I will not move forward. Since being in this role and making others aware of this belief, I have been able to establish partnerships for my program with spirit based organizations. The youth in my programs receive free life coaching and mentoring through my church. There is another church that provides mentoring and independent living programs for free as well. The involvement of Christ centered and spirit based relationships has proven to improve some of the views that the youth in my programs have about Christ.

I believe that my legacy of putting Christ in the middle of all that you do has been my consistent theme over the last fourteen years with this company. Although I am not able to walk into a room and openly speak about spirituality or the Lord, I am finding more and more opportunities to do so without having to initiate the conversations. Through these opportunities, I am able to share testimonies of how I have advanced in my career and without hesitation, I am sure to share how it was the Lord that led and guided me throughout the process. I’m asked so often about how I got to where I am now in my career, and there is no way to tell my story without including the Lord and what He has done for me. So any individual who I have had this type of conversation with knows that I credit my advancement to Him.

Although I am not able to initiate these conversations, I speak boldly when I am asked. When there are victories to celebrate for my programs, I give honor to God first. When there are celebrations for other employees, I am sure that we take a moment at the beginning of the event to pray over the food and give praise to God for the individual or event that we are celebrating. Whether positive or negative, I give reverence to Christ for allowing the opportunity for new things. My departments know that I start each day with prayer and that I take time throughout the day to say thank you.

Now, without any intentional influence, I have staff members who do the same. They begin their day with prayer. They bless their lunch before eating. They take time to thank God when things have worked out I the department’s favor. They reference Christ in department victories. I am known for always using the line in my supervision meetings, “as long as Christ is at the middle of all things, you can trust the process”. This statement seems to give an end to worry over those things that we do not have any control over. My subordinates and co-workers have grown fond of me bring this type of positive attitude to difficult and challenging situations and have adopted the same mindset with facing challenges.

Can you adapt?

Can you adapt?

This week in my leadership class, I read a very interesting chapter on adaptive leadership. The chapter discussed how well a manager is able to get his or her followers to adapt when faced with obstacles, changes, challenges, or problems.

As I read the chapter, I mentally assessed my own abilities to encourage my followers to adapt to changes and thought about the creative methods I often employ when I really want their buy in without me having to do a lot of “selling”. After completing my own mental evaluation of myself, I thought for quite a long time about how unadaptable I am as an employee. While I have always been a person that has been eager to take on new and challenging tasks and assignments, I have also been one who fears changes.

Part of my fear is rooted in my need to be in control. When the outcome of a situation cannot be reached by me directly, I develop a sense of anxiety, which in the end makes me less productive. As I thought more and more about this, I realized that in order for me to overcome this inability to easily (and willingly) adapt to new changes, I have to learn to trust my supervisor’s leadership. After all, when I am employing changes within my departments, a lot of the presentation to my team includes several reminders of their ability to trust me.

This mental contemplation helped me to not understand myself, but to also understand what my staff maybe experiencing when I am presenting changes to them. I had never considered that they may also be dealing with anxiety and fear, as I have always assumed that their lack of enthusiasm about some changes was rooted in their dislike of learning new things. If I am honest with myself, sometimes I just am not mentally in a place where I am ready to learn new things either.

I have learned this week that adaptive leadership requires a leader to be able to help people change which may include helping them to understand the reasons why changes are needed. This should also include the honest conversation about how rocky the road of change may become. The leader must be proactive, strategic, and thorough in his efforts to motivate his team. The leader’s behaviors are most important when demonstrative adaptive leadership.

In the majority of my situations, I now realize that I did not have confidence in my leader, and feared that he may not have known what he was doing or where he was actually leading our team. His behaviors were convincing that he believed in himself and he was unable to answer many of the questions asked of him when changes were being brought down the pipelines. This left me fearful of my own abilities to perform well, because I did not feel as if I was receiving adequate guidance from my leader.

Keeping this in mind, I understand even more now, the importance of ensuring that my behavior demonstrates confidence so that my staff can feel safe in knowing that I am leading them down the right paths. This also builds trust. If I am able to prove that I know what I am doing as their leader, they will be more confident in following my leadership.

Similarly, I have to also keep in mind how much support I must give to those who are hesitant to get on board as well. As much as I feel that I need support in similar challenging situations, I have to also ensure that I give an even greater amount of support to my followers, since I know firsthand how difficult it may be to adapt to new changes.

In order to support and build staff confidence, a leader has to demonstrate that he is knowledgeable, experienced, and most importantly not afraid. The leader must show confidence in order for his followers to have the same. Being available to provide guidance and direction to employees also makes them feel more comfortable and helps to build trust that as they head down the road of the “unknown” that they know you have their back and that you will not stand by and just allow them to fail. After all, the fear and anxiety associated with change derives from the fear of failing.

Adaptive leadership requires the leader to know ins and outs of the game plan prior to giving it to his followers. He should be prepared for questions and show enthusiasm about the changes being made. Building trust and confidence are the key factors in successfully assisting followers to adapt to changes. If a follower is not able to trust their leader, and does not have the confidence that their leader will lead them in the right direction, then he will most likely not be able to perform at his best.

Servant Leadership  

These two words coupled are becoming more common and more popular among business leaders in Corporate America. Before 2016, I personally had never heard of servant leadership. As I began advancing in my own career, I began hearing the two terms used together as a pair more frequently. The terms signify a type of leadership that puts others first. The term “servant” can be defined as a person who performs a duty or service for other people. The term “leadership” if often defined as the position or act of a leader. Together, these two terms refer to the leadership style where leaders serve their followers.  

I have been reading a book for my leadership class titled, “The Learning of Love: A Journey Toward Servant Leadership”. This book was written by William B. Turner of Columbus, Georgia. Part of the reason why I have this book to begin with is because I attended a workshop many years ago where it was being given out for free.  Because I am also from Columbus, Georgia I thought I would give the book a read. This book has given me a great viewpoint to servant leadership and helped me to better understand the intention of this leadership style.

In the book, Turner describes how he had great role models who were leaders in his family. His father and grandfather were known in Columbus for running successful million dollar companies such as the W.C. Bradley Company and Columbus Bank and Trust (CB&T) which was later renamed as Synovus Financial Corporation. His family was well known in the Columbus, Georgia area and were successful in completing numerous community projects. In this book, he describes servant leadership as the leader being at the bottom in an effort to support those individuals who actually perform the work. I enjoyed reading this book because as a successful owner of many businesses, he gave all of the praise to his workers and made them feel as though they were of such value to his company.

As I read this book, I have to compare the information to how much of a servant leader I currently am to how much of a servant leader I wish to be. By reading this book and taking in the information I am learning from my leadership class, I have realized that I am not that much of a servant leader as I desire to be. When I completed the Servant Leadership Questionnaire (SQL) this week as a homework assignment, I was a little disappointed at the results. The result revealed to me that I lack in my efforts to give back to the community and in the area of empowering others. Because my results were what I considered to be low, I have made these two areas goals of which I plan to advance in.

As I look at my current role, I can clearly see how I lack in empowering others. The textbook from my leadership course defines empowering as the freedom to be independent. The book suggests that managers empower their subordinates when they allow them to make decisions on their own and have their own level of control. I struggle with this greatly. The managers that report to me are responsible for making decisions regarding the lives of young adults. If the wrong decisions are made, the result of making a poor decision could mean citations, fines, or even program closure.

I have never worked under the leadership of anyone who has exhibited this style of leadership so I have not been able to witness firsthand what this may look like or even feel like. I am a believer of treating employees well, so learning to demonstrate servant leadership will not be that hard of an adjustment to make. I also believe that when employees are treated well, they are more likely to become devoted to the work they perform and will most likely demonstrate loyalty toward their teammates or supervisor.

Servant leadership will help companies with retention and with motivating employees. It is a method that supervisors could use to boost employee morale. It makes the employee feel valued and like what they offer to the company is appreciated. It puts the supervisor is a very humbling position. This makes the employee feel like an equal when working with their superiors on assignments. There is a huge difference in feeling like you are working with someone versus when you feel like you are working for someone. When you feel that you are working with someone, you feel that you are an equal part of the team and that your contributions are significant toward the end result.

Servant leadership can also be viewed as a biblical principal. Below are a few scriptures from the Holy Bible that support the servant leadership style. Below the scriptures, you can also find a short Biblical video clip on Servant Leadership.

Matthew 20:26
It shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,

Matthew 23:11
The greatest among you shall be your servant.

Mark 9:36
Then He had a little child stand among them. Taking the child in His arms, He said to them,

Mark 10:43
But it shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.

Mark 10:44
and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all.

Luke 22:26
But you shall not be like them. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who leads like the one who serves.

Servant Leadership (short video)

Motivating Followers - Can you do it?

Motivation
The dictionary defines motivation as “the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way”. As a manager in the workplace, it is often quite difficult to identify these reasons. Sometimes, the employee may not even know what motivates him or her. In my Leadership course this week, we explored the Path-Goal theory which contends that followers motivation is believed to be dependent upon the leadership style and behaviors of their manager.

I want to discuss this theory a little more in detail. This theory suggests that motivation plays a major part of employee performance. It also suggests that the leader’s behaviors plays a major part in employee motivation. The Path-Goal theory defines four leadership behaviors that impact the productivity of employees or followers. The behaviors are directive, supportive, participative, and
achievement oriented. I believe wholeheartedly in this theory and believe that I have been able to switch between these styles in different situations in my current role. To help readers of this blog to understand and identify the differences of each leadership behavior or style, I will share examples of how I have exhibited each behavior in different scenarios that occurred in my workplace.

Directive Leadership
This leadership style gives clear instructions to followers and includes exactly what is expected of them.

Example: In my role as a senior leader, I have five middle level managers that report directly to me.
They have been reporting to me that there are issues with hiring staff to fill the currently vacant positions for hours that are needed on the weekends. The example I would like to share of how I demonstrated directive leadership is that I advised the manager of the direct care staff to develop new staffing patterns that would consist of schedule changes to cover the hours that are currently vacant. This could mean developing 10, 12, or 16-hour shifts on the weekends with fewer hours during the week. This could also mean that she conduct a series of group interviews directly instead of waiting for Human Resources to do them as a way to expedite the hiring of new staff. The decision and method of solving this problem was left completely up to the manager. I advised that I would be available to help problem solve if she needed me and gave her 30 days to come up with a solution to this issue.

Supportive Leadership
This leadership style ensures that the follower’s well-being and human needs are taken into consideration. Managers are friendly and approachable when exhibiting this style of leadership.

Example: I manager Case Managers who are responsible for conducting admission meetings with new youth being placed in our programs. The admissions process usually takes about three hours to complete. As a child caring institution, we are expected to accept admissions 24 hours a day. The Case Managers conduct meetings and meet with youth daily and throughout each day. When an emergency admission occurs, I make sure that I am supportive of the Case Manager in the best way that I can. Sometimes, I will conduct the admission for them. I might also just assist them with the paperwork or intake process. Other times, I have adjusted their upcoming deadlines to accommodate for them having to conduct a last minute and unplanned admission. When an admission must occur after hours, I make sure that I stay as late as they do so that it does not feel that they are left there
while the rest of the office is gone home. I adjust my duties and become an assistant to them during the admissions process, while allowing them to still take the lead on the admission but also showing them that I am there and that we are a team.

Participative Leadership
This leadership style allows followers to have input toward important decisions.

Example: Last week, I met with the Program Coordinator and discussed the need for staffing
assignments to be changed. One of our program has youth who are housed in three separate cottages. Each shift has one supervisor assigned to oversee the operations of all three cottages. This method of operating has presented many challenges over the last few years. One of the suggestions I made was to hire a third supervisor and assign one supervisor to each cottage. The supervisor would work a split shift so that first and second shifts have supervisory oversight. Before making this change, we sat and had open discussions with the two current supervisors to hear their thoughts about the suggested change. They provided their input and suggestions of how to implement such changes and
ensure that the plan was successful. We took their ideas and suggestions into consideration and made final decisions based on their feedback of where they felt staff should be assigned and how the new way of operating should flow.

Achievement Oriented Leadership
This leadership style challenges staff or followers to work to their full abilities. This style sets high
expectations and then motivates staff to meet them.

Example: Case Managers are responsible for caseloads of twelve youth. Each youth must remain current on their medical and dental appointments. They must attend school daily. The case manager is responsible for ensuring that appointments are met and that the youth attend school every day. They must also conduct two face to face meeting with the youth and hold a monthly meeting for each youth that includes all parties involved in the youth’s case. This is a lot of work! I have set expectations that there must be 100% compliance in each of these areas, since  these are areas where the state of Georgia also expects there to be 100% compliance. To assist them with meeting these goals, I meet weekly with them during supervision meetings and check in with the progress for the month. I often try to give them suggestions on how to increase productivity so that they are sure to meet these monthly goals.

I believe that the use of these four leadership behaviors are surely to motivate youth. The theory
states that the style used may work for one situation but not necessarily all situations. A leader must know which style to employ and when to apply it.

Leadership & Retention

This week, I reviewed an article titled, Leadership’s Role in Employee Retention. I found it to be an on time read for me because retention is an area of leadership where many leaders seem to struggle, including myself. The article suggests that retention is related to ineffective leadership. It suggests that turnover can be decreased by managers developing active relationships with their subordinates. By doing this, staff feel like they are a piece of the overall picture. The belief is that the influence that a manager has over his or her subordinates is the reason that the staff either stays or leaves their job.

I can totally agree with this viewpoint. As I was reading the article, I began to reflect on the relationship that I have with my manager and how it influences my performance. I then began to think about previous managers I have had and how the relationship might have impacted my performance in previous roles. I can agree with this notion because when I felt that I have a positive and active relationship with my supervisor, I went over and beyond, as I felt like my role was more of partnership with my manager. When I felt like I was just a subordinate to my manager, although in a leadership position, I found that I was less enthused and often felt like I was working to earn or keep a position within the company, which lead to continued feelings of exhaustion and stress.

The article also contends that it is important that managers ensure that their staff fit the roles they are assigned. Turnover is directly related to inadequate staffing if staff are put in roles or given assignments that they may not have the abilities to effectively perform. This might also be seen as a setup for failure if there is not sufficient training being provided along with the expectations of assigned roles. The matching of the staff and the role is the responsibility of the leader. Although the staff has a small responsibility in communicating whether or not they feel if they can perform adequately in the role they are assigned, it is the overall responsibility of the manager and a good manager will ensure that the person fits the role.

I believe it works against a company’s goal, vision, and mission to place employees in positions in which they have not proven to be capable of performing. The employee will not gain satisfaction from this type of ineffective leadership and will not work for a long period of time in a role of which they feel inadequate to perform. A satisfied employee will work harder and longer for a company and will most likely only leave the company if their personal lives begin to conflict with the job. Ensuring employee satisfaction is one of the best ways to retain staff and improve retention and turnover rates.

When an employee has a good working and active relationship with his or her manager, they are able to communicate more effectively. Effective communication allows for the employee and manager to exchange thoughts, ideas, and opinions about not only the work being performed, but about their professional relationship as well. When an employee can communicate effectively with their manager, they feel as though they are being heard and that together, they are contributing to the overall mission of the organization. This type of relationship gives the employee a sense of belonging and they see themselves as a piece of the puzzle. When employees feel like they play a significant role in the overall operations, they are more likely to remain with their company.

Keeping the goal of reducing turnover or improving retention in mind, managers should aim to ensure that they are actively engaged with their employees. They should hold one-on-one meetings with them and make sure that they feel included in improvements and changes made to better the work place. Managers should make an effort to let the employee know that their “piece of the puzzle” is essential to the success of the work environment and to meeting the company’s goals. When the employee feels valuable, they find satisfaction and see themselves as an important and relevant partner. They feel like they are an asset and worth something to the company and to their manager.

The overall message I received from the article was that staff want to be appreciated, feel included, and be satisfied with what they contribute to their employers. When they receive these important components, they will be less likely to leave their employers for reasons other than those that are beyond their control. They not only want to fit in at their workplace, but they also want to feel like their role is significant to the success of the company. They also want to feel like they have a good working relationship with their managers and they value each other. They active relationship piece is important because this is what motivates the employee to exceed performance expectations for their manager.

Reference:

Covella, G., McCarthy, V., Kaifi, B., & Cocoran, D. (2017). Leadership's Role in Employee Retention. Business Management Dynamics, 7(5), 1-15.

Perspective Taking: A Lesson Learned

Perspective Taking

In my role at my place of employment, I am responsible for overseeing the operations and administrative duties for group homes that provide services to youth ages 14 – 18. These youth have been identified as having severe emotional and behavioral challenges. The group homes are secured locked settings that limit free access and movement of youth and provide staff complete control over the living environment. The youth we service have experienced a significant amount of trauma in their pasts and as expected, they act out their feelings through aggressive and self-injurious behaviors. Because their needs are so severe, the guardians and placing agencies have decided that they require a living environment that provides maximum watchful oversight.

In my role, I supervise five middle managers who collectively supervise about 50 other individuals. The goal of each of the programs is to ensure that the youth we accept into the program are able to learn independent and daily living skills so that they are able to successfully transition back into the community. My expectation is that all staff, on every level, conduct services in a manner that ensures and takes into account the safety and well-being of the youth first. Some of the challenges that the middle managers face is that not all staff view safety and well-being the same way. Many of the staff do not have children of their own and some have never worked with youth with such severe needs; therefore, they lack the knowledge and understanding that is required in order to make sound decisions that are in the best interest of the youth and in line with the program’s goals.

Staff are trained to monitor and control their assigned environments. Staff engage daily with the youth and are able to quickly build a rapport. They begin to bend on the rules and underreport incidents as a way to “help” the youth and to show “compassion”. Staff misunderstand their roles and begin acting more like friends to the youth, failing to realize that the youth need consequences to their actions, structure, and guidance. By lowering their expectations for the youth, the staff are showing the youth that their behaviors are acceptable and that there is not a real need to change.

I had to learn to take the staff’s perspectives of their roles into consideration when trying to assist their managers in coaching them. They fail to realize that the youth have not had consistency, stability, structure or adequate parental guidance for most of their lives. They spend so much time with the youth that their boundaries and roles become blurred. They see their leniency as a way to help the youth move through the program, when in actuality, they are failing the youth.  Instead of addressing the staff’s underperformance, I had to spend time with them and observe their interactions with the youth. I began having brief one-on-one meetings with most of them in my efforts to understand why it appeared that they could not meet the expectations of their roles. I gained a lot of understanding by taking this step and helped me to shape my thoughts about the performance. There is a genuine concern for the well-being and safety of the youth and I can ascertain that the staff really do mean well. From the managerial standpoint, their behaviors look as if there are boundary issues and that the staff are unable to meet the expectations of their roles.

Perspective taking means that you are able to understand the perceptions or viewpoint of others, even when it may be different from that which you have always believed. This was an important lesson I had to learn. I have not always possessed the ability to take other’s perspectives into account and was used to only seeing things in the way that I believed to be right. If the performance of others looked differently that what I believed it should, then that person’s performance was wrong. It was not until I learned how to “put myself in others shoes” that I learned the importance of taking others viewpoints into consideration. It helps me to understand matters from a different level and teaches me to be more subjective.

In the situation described above involving my workplace, it is essential that managers be able to understand the perspectives of the staff. Although their perspective on their roles with the youth hinder the achievement of the youth’s program goals, the overall goal of ensuring safety and well-being is still achieved. In a sense, the staff are also exhibiting perspective taking by putting themselves in the shoes of the youth that they serve. Perspective taking is a great trait to possess because it also serves as a way to build relationships.

Below is a one-minute Youtube video that gives a quick example of how important it is to take the perspectives and considerations of others into account.

Superheroes Social Skills - Perspective Taking:

Who is she?

Elicia ....Who is She?

There is a lot to learn about me, but for the purpose of this public blog, I will share just a little. I will begin with explaining the most important hats that I wear.

I am originally from the good state of Georgia where I was born and raised. I am a follower of Christ, a mother, daughter, sister, friend, student, and boss. Below, I‘ll describe a little bit of each of these roles so that my readers can get to know just a little bit about me.

A Follower of Christ.
I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior at the young age of five. I attend church faithfully and try my very best to be a light for others to see. I do not believe by any means that I am perfect or that I have all things together. I do believe that I have come a long way and that I have influenced those in my life to make positive life changes for the best. I love my Shepherds and am proud to be follow the leadership of such bold and fearless people. I honor their lives and bless God for the role that they hold in my life. They play a major role in the development and growth that I have experienced over the last few years.

A Mother.

I am a mother to one adult child. I hope to be a grandmother to many in the future.

A Daughter.

I am the middle daughter to my mother and was the oldest daughter to my father. My mother and I are very close and I cherish our relationship with all of my heart. My father passed away in 2013.

A Sister.

I have four sisters and no brothers.

A Friend.

I do not have many friends. I have one best friend who I have been friends with for over 25 years. She is like family to me and we go through all of our life challenges together. She has always lived out of state so we try to visit each other’s home at least once a year. We travel together at least once a year. Outside of this friend, I have about six other individuals that I consider my friends. We meet up once a month to play cards and hangout for food and drinks. In terms of my friendship, I require individuals to qualify for this benefit. I believe that I am a very loyal and caring friend and I do not offer my friendship freely.

A Student.

Currently, I am enrolled in the Masters of Public Administration program at Troy University. I have recently applied for readmission to this program after having taken a four year break due to some personal issues I began experiencing.

A Boss. 

I have always had a desire to help others and am currently in a field of work that serves the public. I oversee group home programs for youth who have severe emotional and behavioral challenges. They come to our programs with very troubled and traumatic pasts. These youth need guidance and direction so that they are able to learn how to effectively function in society in an acceptable manner. I have about 50 staff who report to managers under my leadership.

When I am asked about who I am, I am proud to say that I am all of these things and more.

What is this about?

This blog will be about me and my understanding of the important issues related to leadership and public administration. This blog will include my thoughts on leadership and my understanding of how the different types of leadership styles should apply to certain situations. I hope that the information I share via this blog will be useful to others. I hope that this blog will be a way for leaders who come across it to discuss the different types of leadership styles, issues, and concerns so that individuals have a place for helpful discussions.

This blog will be updated weekly, as I plan to post information learned about leadership and the different styles I read about during my current leadership course. While I plan to post more than once week, readers can be sure that at least once posting will be made to this blog weekly.

This blog can be found my visiting the web address https://leadershipandpublicadmin.blogspot.com. This web address should be available to the public and does not require a login in order to access the information.

Why am I blogging?

The purpose of this blog is to share information regarding leadership principles so that others who are in leadership positions can evaluation themselves by first identifying their own leadership style. Self-reflection is the most important type of assessment because it allows individuals to see their strengths and weaknesses for themselves and then develop their own plans for self-improvement

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