Leadership as Action

1
Leadership as Action

• Defining, Describing and Exploring the Concept of
  Leadership

2
Todays Agenda

• Introduction to leadership
• Exercise
• Discussion of professional written communication.
• Examples of internal update memos.
• Examples of client-oriented update memos.
• Discussion of effective reporting.
• Leadership as Action
• Five skills for leadership in any position.
• Exercise

3
Introductory Exercise

• Half of Class
• Think of the best boss you have had.
• What behavioral attributes did they have? Make a
  list.
• Other Half of Class
• Think of the most admired leader you have known
  or studied enough to know well.
• What behavioral attributes did they have? Make a
  list.
• Do this as individuals, then work together to
  compile a complete list to share with the class.

4
Written Communication

• Guest speaker Paul Sterling
• Memo format will vary based on project and
  purpose of memo.
• Please see example memo on website for more
  guidance.
• Submit draft of first memo on Jan 24th for
  feedback.
• If your project is in early stages, discuss those
  aspects of the project you know (i.e. we are
  still trying to set up a time to meet).

5
Example CommunicationMGMT 414

• Paul Sterling

6
Project Issue Status External Client

• From Paul Sterling
• Subject MLIM Project - ACE Security Status
  9/16/2001
• Dear B -
• Per our discussion earlier today I wanted to
  provide you with a detailed status of the MLIM
  projects ACE team security review.
• The ACE team has completed their regression of
  the MLIM security fix we received last Thursday. 
  There are 4 severity 1 defects that still need to
  be addressed by ABC Corp.  I am speaking with A
  and C Thursday morning to understand their plan
  for fixing these defects.  Of somewhat more
  concern is that the ACE team is now in the
  process of completing their comprehensive
  security audit of MLIM.  This should be complete
  in 4-5 working days.  There is the distinct
  possibility that the ACE team may encounter
  additional security defects as they complete this
  audit.
•  
• Of most concern is the fact that the nature of
  some of the severity 1 defects still open will
  prevent MLIM from being released to production. 
  There is still some time between now and the
  scheduled release of MLIM 1.0, however the LCAIT
  team is fully allocated with MLIM 1.0 tasks and
  cannot accommodate additional tasks related to
  security at this point without some impact to the
  schedule.
•  
• I'll update you on the status as this issue
  develops further. Please feel free to contact me
  if you have any questions.
•  
• Kind Regards,
• Paul
•  
• Paul Sterling

7
Project Issue Internal Client

• From Paul Sterling
• Subject CLD Date-Based Release Scenario
•  
• I promised you all a date-based scenario for CLD
  release on May 1 - here it is.  This still allows
  for the one-week of business data entry as
  previously agreed.
•  
•          Legal Fees cutoff (and all current
  jobs)  Wed 4/23
•          CLD Database ready for data entry
  Thurs 4/24
•          CLD system release complete Thurs 5/1
•  
• Please let me know if you'd like to pursue this
  option further or if you have questions.
•  
• -paul
• Paul Sterling
• Sr. Program Manager LCAIT

8
As for the best leaders, the people do not
notice their existence. The next best, the
people honor and praise. The next, the people
fear and the next, the people hate. When the
best leaders work is done, the people say, We
did it ourselves
Lao-Tzu
9
Leadership as Action

• Defining leadership?
• The influencing process of leaders
  and groups toward effective achievement
  of organizational goals and objectives.
• Leadership involves
• Group work (ranges from small to very large).
• Influencing people toward goal achievement
  through communication of ideas, gaining
  acceptance of those ideas, and then motivating
  followers to support and implement the ideas.
• Motivating individuals and teams toward common
  organizational objectives.
• Being an agent of change while helping others
  cope with change.

10
Leadership vs. Management

• Some managers are leaders, but not all are.
• Some leaders are good managers, but not all are.
• A manager gets work done through the efforts of
  other people.
• Focuses on implementing a vision. Includes
  planning, organizing, motivating, and
  controlling. Task-focus.
• A leader creates a vision.
• Communicates that vision and moves the
  organization toward that vision. People-focus.
• Managers do things right.
• Leaders do the right thing

Bennis
11
Leadership and Culture

• A leaders influence on organizational culture

Leader
Structure and Strategy
Reward System
Hiring Decisions
Role Model
Culture
12
Trompenaars Cultures
Egalitarian
Incubator
Guided Missile
Person
Task
Eiffel Tower
Family
Hierarchical
13
History of Leadership Theory

• Trait Theories
• Behavior Theories
• Task-oriented behaviors
• Employee-oriented behaviors
• Contingency theories
• Current theories and research on leadership

14
Leadership Roles

• Interpersonal
• Interacting with others through influence and
  motivation.
• Informational
• Monitoring, disseminating and communicating
  information to others.
• Decisional
• Managerial roles involving decision-making and
  idea generating.

15
Levels of Leadership

• Individual
• Measured through your leadership assessment.
• Group level
• Experienced through your projects.
• Organizational
• You will have organizational leaders as mentors,
  as role models, as bosses.
• Societal
• What is the role of the societal leader in your
  project and future work?

16
Leadership as ActionSkills for Leadership at
Any Level

• Self-Leadership
• Self-Management
• Inspiring, motivating and persuading others
• Planning, problem solving and decision-making
• Strategic change leadership

17
Leadership Practicum Projects

• All projects should begin this week.
• Contracts should be signed by next week.
• Contracts should be detailed outline of
  expectations you will be evaluated on whether
  or not you achieve these goals.
• Reminder about Wednesday
• Self-leadership
• First Discussion Quiz