Dr. Barbara Kellerman

Dr. Barbara Kellerman, expert on leadership and followership and author of numerous books including, "Bad Leadership: What it is, How it happens, Why it matters", spent her day at SNC lecturing involved faculty and students on her developed perspective and experiences of leadership. Dr. Kellerman is very educated on the subject of 'Leadership' and has traveled around not only the United States but also around the world teaching the world about the knowledge she has on two very important subjects: Leadership and Followership. She has studied leadership for several years and received her PhD from Yale University in Political Science. Although Dr. Kellerman has a broad understanding of Leadership she chose to focus on the negative aspects of Leadership in her half hour lecture she presented at SNC. She began her presentation by introducing herself and informing us that "the leadership that we know and love is changing". Is this a statement that you would agree with? I personally agree with it because just like everything else, things change with time. Everything changes with time and there is no way of stopping it. However, I believe that the leadership changes are headed in a positive direction because the study of Leadership is a more recent study that is only going become more developed over time as our knowledge on this subject expands. Dr. Kellerman started a new blog called "Lame Leaders / Fed Up Followers", in her blog she likes to highlight a leader for each blog and criticize their failures. Through her examples of "Lame Leaders" I thought about times where maybe I didn't reach up to my full potential as a leader. Through these experiences, I was able to learn and grow from them which I think has given me a better perspective of Leadership. Do you think that a leader can fail in certain ways and learn from the experiences and grow into an even stronger leader? Can you think of a time where you failed at being a leader and turned your weaknesses into strengths? In her lecture she stated that, "we cant have good leaders with out good followership and we can't have a bad leader without bad followership". What do you think she meant by this statement? I think that I am just going to have to partially agree with this statement. I think that you can have a good leader and good followers but I don't agree with when she says that you can't have a bad leader without bad followership. In a group I am involved with at SNC, I have noticed throughout the three years I have been involved that the leadership is not as strong as it used to be, but because it is not as strong as it was I don't think that it is because of bad followership. I think that a good leader promotes good followership and it is easier to be strong with a strong leader, but if there is a bad leader in place, I don't think that it necessarily means that there is bad followership. I think that it puts the followers in a bind where it is not as easy to succeed but I don't think it automatically leads to bad followership. Can you share any experiences of good or bad leadership/followership that you have had throughout your life? Although I didn't agree with the negative style she used while talking about leadership, and I personally prefer focusing on good leaders to highlight good leadership I still think that it was important that we did focus on a lot of bad things within the leadership content. We can focus on good leaders and learn from many of their experiences and strategies but it is also important to study the negative parts of leadership for educational purposes as well. P.S. I dont know why it didn't space out my paragraphs, I cant figure it out so I'm sticking to one big paragraph!

Chapter 11: Developing Strategic Leadership

Many leaders receive feedback that they need to be more strategic. The text defines strategic leadership as "Individuals and collectives enact strategic leadership when they think, act, and influence others in ways that promote the enduring direction, alignment, and commitment of the organization." Treating strategy as a learning process allows individuals to work on thinking, acting, and influencing skills while focusing on how the organization strategically operates.
One way practice strategic leadership is through viewing strategy as a learning process. Strategic Learning Process (SLP) can be done in five steps: 1. Assessing where we are, 2. Understanding who we are and where we want to go, 3. Learning how to get there, 4. Making the journey, and 5. Checking our progress. Leadership must emphasize strategy as a learning process in order to develop a strong strategic culture inside an organization. This will help the organization focus on the right things to create growth and maximize resources, develop strategies, and create a learning culture that helps the organization perform at a higher level.
A personal example of strategic leadership is in my job as a Mary Kay Beauty Consultant. Although I am my own boss, I am a team member to my unit. We needed to qualify for a car in March, so around December we assessed where we were, and set a goal. Our Director (leader) helped us set individual goals as well as an overall strategic plan in order for our unit to reach our goal. We researched and used our skills in order to "learn how to get there." Individually, we made the journey by selling and recruiting (we had to sell about $5000 more product by March). We checked our progress at the end of March when we achieved our goal and became an 8-time car qualifying unit. Later, we discussed ways we each gained commitment through the process and ways that we could improve.
What do you think about strategic leadership? Does it discourage change? Whether it is using the five steps or an example of how a better learning culture was created, can you think of an example where an organization you've been involved in practiced strategic leadership? Any ways you or your organization can improve strategically?

Chapter 6: Development Programs for Educational Leaders

 Education is something that is very important in the United States and around the world today. This Chapter focuses on teachers and the administrative side of leadership within the education system.  Personally this was a very different way to look at leadership. Was it for you? This chapter begins by describing the characteristics of an educational leader that the book describes as perceptions of their development. These characteristics are the leaders entry into the public schools as classroom teachers and their expertise as educators. Although, we have to look at educational leaders within a broad perspective which is called the sociopolitical context. This is defined as the external  forces that influence the process of education and the dynamics of leadership within a school setting. Personally, I see this as the things that occur outside the school setting that influence how our educational leaders act and lead within the classroom. Do you think what happens to an educational leader affects how they act within the classroom? I do, I remember during elementary school I had a teacher who was working for their masters and this defiantly affected her performance within the classroom.
This chapter also looks at the background and contextual factors that can affect and educational leader. How you are raised and what occurs within your background would definitely affect any ones performance within a job setting. Do you agree?
This chapter also looks at how if you are an educational leader that your world revolves around your students  and the opportunity to impact a students is what motivates many people to become teachers. I would love to believe this is entirely true, but I also think there are a lot of other motivators to become a teacher. Yes, if this was every ones main focus this would be a perfect world, but due to recent events that I have experienced outside of school I have to disagree. I'm not saying that this is not true for some people but i believe that this is very generalized compared to individualized. Any opinions on this????
It is also said within this chapter about how people who work in education can be scrutinized by the media. I believe this is very true, more in the public school system than the Private. The people who work for the public school system because they are funded through taxing. Therefore they are the people who would be targeted. I feel that it would be important to make sure that this information would relate to Private schools as well, instead of generalizing like it did within this chapter.
Honestly education is a very important to have. We  all wouldn't be taking this class if we did not have some interest in learning therefore for me personally reading this chapter was insightful, although to broad when looking at educational leadership. Personally, I  have never really thought of leadership through an education system.  I think of educators as leaders but not how they lead and what affects them. Reading through this chapter made me think of all of my past teachers and professors that have truly touched my life. Do any of you have a educator that has done that for you? What did they do differently that maybe another didn't?

Chapter 4: Leadership Coaching

Leadership coaching is a practice in which the coach and the person being coached, (the coachee), collaborate to assess and understand the coachee and his or her development needs. They also challenge current constraints while exploring new possibilities, and ensure accountability and support for reaching goals and sustaining development. The goal of coaching is to improve the leader as well as the team or organization in effectiveness.

Can you think of a time where you served as a coach or a coachee? How did you or your coach improve the effectiveness of the organization?

Personally, I can think of multiple times I have been a coachee, however, I have also served as a coach while training the new marketing associate at DuBois. I coached and trained Emily and helped her learn the job as well as let her perform the task on her own to stretch her. I have given her goals and tasks and she has performed them incredibly, improving the overall effectiveness of our marketing team.

The coaching framework is based on three key aspects: the relationship; the assessment, challenge, and support; and the results. In the relationship, it is important that the coach understands and takes the coachee's challenges seriously, and develops a mutual trust. Assessment, challenge, and support offer important development within the coachee as well as the coach. And in results, objectives and goals are defined and measured.

Which key aspect do you think is most important? Obviously all three are essential to proper coaching, however, which aspect might allow for the most support and effectiveness?

Personally, I think it is important to build and maintain a trusting relationship. With a relationship, it is simple to assess, challenge, and support, and then give results. But without the coachee able to trust and communicate it is difficult to do those two other aspects.

In the text, there are the principles of coaching. The principles include: create a learning environment, ensure the coachee's ownership,  facilitate and collaborate, advocate self-awareness, promote sustainable learning from experience, and model what you coach. The two principles that hit home with me were to ensure the coachee's ownership and model what you coach. I will surely be applying these two principles as well as the others when I lead and coach. I think it is important to always recognize and give credit where it is due. Also, it is important to live by your own standards and be true to your own word.

Chapter 2: Learning From Experience

This chapter begins with the idea of effective managers in organizations reverting back to challenging job assignments, developmental relationships, and adverse situations, when identifying events that have had the greatest impact on how they lead and manage today.  I believe this is a common situation when describing how leaders develop.  When leaders are faced with any of these situations listed above, this is what determines true leaders.  Do you agree with this idea?  Look at your past experiences with these types of situations.  Personally, I can say that adverse situations in my life have made me who I am today.  Looking back at challenging job assignments, developmental relationships, and adverse situations in my life, I believe that they have molded me into a better person.  An example of this is in my current job, I was given a project by my manager.  My manager on purposely did not give me a lot of direction, challenging me to work through uncertainty.  In the end, I completed the project and was complimented by my manager.  This showed me that I can work through problems without necessarily having a mentor guiding me through every step.  I will carry this idea mentioned above throughout my personal and professional life, knowing that hardship will more than likely lead to prosperity.

Another topic in Chapter 2 involves diversifying experiences across organizational boundaries.  In this, executive success in organizations highlights the need for cross-functional or lateral moves throughout the organization.  In other words, success in organizations has a direct correlation with moving people from job to job in an organization.  This will give the person(s) a better view of the organization as a whole, and it also gives them a view on how other people lead and manage.  The book claims that, "While traditional career paths that are focused within a singular function may serve the needs of developing technical experts, the development of leaders requires one that zigzags across vertical, horizontal, and stakeholder boundaries.  Do you believe this statement is true?  Personally, I believe it is important for leaders to be well-rounded in their perception of how an organization runs, and lateral moves within an organization can accomplish this.

Chapter 10 In the Minds of Followers

Think about the difference between what a leader means, versus what leadership means. In chapter 10 this same idea is discussed but in the context of a follower, versus followership. Like leadership, a follower evolves into the the area of followership. As discussed in the reading we start to develop our followership pattern in early childhood and we begin to mold our perception of a leader. As a follower, we tend to form a generic category of leadership which solidifies into our memory.

On pages 343-346 an important part of leader categories is discussed which addresses the issues of perception, or perhaps stereotypes, of leadership based upon experience and cultural context. Cultural values can have a direct influence on ones style of leadership and can trigger new perceptions and reactions from followers who may not be familiar with those cultural differences. If our perceptions, as a follower, of leader are formed in early childhood how could being able to adjust to a unfamiliar style of leadership effect us as followers? At some point in time, with increased globalization and ethnic blending within our culture, leadership dynamics based upon one majority culture will change. Is it hard to overcome stereotypes and perceptions about a different culture that may not be familiar to you?

I can admit that growing up in a African American household, with my parents and relatives being my leaders and role models, it was hard to adjust in school and sports teams where I saw no one who looked like me but were yet my leaders . They had different experiences and values than me in many ways, but I too shared many similar experiences with them. I have been so heavily integrated in the environment in which I live, but if you were put into a whole new surrounding or culture, how easy would it be for you to reformulate your memory or perception of leadership?

Chapter 11- Shared Leadership

When we think of leadership we usually think of it as one person leading a group of individuals towards a common goal.  In Chapter 11, we shift that focus to a type of leadership called shared leadership.  As defined by the book shared leadership is " a dynamic, interactive influence process among individuals in groups for which the objective is to lead one another to the achievement of group or organizational goals or both."  More simply put by the book shared leadership occurs when group members actively and intentionally shift the role of leader to one another as needed by the environment or circumstances in which the group operates. 

The main idea of shared leadership is that the role of leadership does not belong to one person but it belongs to the entire group as they move towards the organization's goal.  This is very different from traditional theories of leadership but I really like this theory.  I agree that leadership is not always one person's responsibility it can come from any part of the group depending on the certain situation. I feel that if a group limits itself to having only one leader then they are holding themselves back from making any type of advancement.  If group memebers know that their voice and opinion will be heard then they will be more motivated to work for their group.  I believe an organization or team that has a group of leaders is more powerful than a organization with one leader. For example, if a group has a bunch of different leaders who have different talents then they can put forth their talents when the group needs them.  It can depend on the project or situation at hand.  What do you guys think? Do you think shared leadership is a good thing?

Finally, have you guys ever been apart of a team, organization, or job where this was happening?  If you have then do you feel it benefited or hurt the group?