Transition from manager to leader case study

Need for leadership is the hot topic in organizations these days. There is a clear difference between management and leadership although they are equally valuable for the survival of the company. In simple words, leaders are those people who make the directions while gaining support and commitment of every stakeholder by motivation so that the goals can be truly achieved. Development into a leader is not easy; in order to become a leader, the managers need to move through leadership transitions. The basic challenges to become a leader include: involving and also delegating others; being empathetic and developing listening skills; to innovate and to foresee creativity in ideas; clear communication that involves emotional appeal too (Mccall, 2010). The transition from a manager to a leader involves identifying and realizing about self; the actual three elements which make this transition possible are motivation, practice and feedback, and training. Until and unless a person learns to develop the required values, the skills cannot be helpful for the managers.
Leadership is believed to be an in-built ability which cannot be learned; but this is not the actual case in reality. A manager can become a good leader when he passes through the tough phases of transition successfully. Companies invest in their managers to make them leaders (Abbasi and Aqeel et al., 2011); leadership development is a process which is full of transitional junctures where either the person can become successful or get detracted. I completely agree with the author because leadership itself involves dealing with challenges and proving that the person possesses the potential of leading (Mccall, 2010). Leadership is not merely about having the required business skills or knowledge, it is an art where presence, integrity, compassion and inquiry all integrate together to deal with the complexities of the modern world. The leader is completely aware of what we are going through and acknowledges the need to change. The leader recognizes the survival pattern and takes control of the situation. The leader is the person who believes in what has to be done so that authentic change can be implemented. The most important thing is that leader has to become the change himself and this is how the followers can be influenced; so, before making others act, the leaders is the person who becomes the change and then focus on doing the right things (Mandele, 2004). Until and unless an individual passes through this phase successfully, leadership cannot be ensured and this definitely is not a smooth or easy process.

EXECUTIVE DECISIONS

If I was in Anne’s role, I would have made sure that external updates are present with me and in particular, I would have involved my team to come up with good ideas rather than only depending on myself. Building strong networks is very important when reorganization is to be done; I would have made sure to get involved in other divisions too while aligning the business strategies with the changing market dynamics. In the role of Jeff, I would have made sure to get involved in communication with all my colleagues; it is not a good signal to lack communication. First of all, I would have observed all those people and identified what was their motivational point. And then, I would have made sure to let them know that I trusted them and would involved them in each and every step so that they are aware that they are being valued (Abbasi and Aqeel et al., 2011). With delegation and trust, I am sure; I would have gained much more creative ideas and strategic insights from my employees. Not only this, but more commitment is gained and misunderstandings are removed which makes sure that as a team, the employees trust the leader and the leaders also trusts the employees and delegates responsibilities to them. In order to implement a change in organization, the most important aspect is to make everyone involved and communicate effectively with them so that there is no resistance and the change can be successfully implemented.

References

Abbasi, A., Aqeel, A. and Awan, A. (2011). The Effectiveness of Leadership, Performance and Employee Involvement for Producing Competitive Advantage with a TQM Orientation: a Conceptual Framework. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 3 (4), pp. 83–90.
Mandele, L. (2004). Leadership and the inflection point. [S. l.]: [De auteur].
Mccall, M. (2010). Recasting leadership development. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 3 (1), pp. 3–19.