A511.3.3_SeabournBeau

Demonstrate your knowledge of the theory of power and influence

Power and influence are all around us,used by each and every person. Understanding that principle can be rewarding or it can be a negative. Mostly however, the people that know how to utilize power and influence are much more successful and they can choose methods to help themselves and their company succeed. The ability to understand people and their strengthens and weaknesses allows leaders to be most effective. In the reading it mentioned that if a company is in major need or change, there may be more need for a powerful leader. When a leader is to powerful however, they simply forget to use skills such as persuasion and consultation (Yukl, 2013). There are several different ways to use power, those are dictated by specific situations and personnel. Likewise, the ability to show influence is equally important. People need a boost sometimes. Like power, there are a number of ways in which someone can influence a person or situation. In order for a leader to be effective, they need to demonstrate the ability to both use their power effectively and influence people or situations when needed.


Reflect on the power that you personally bring to your work place; What are the sources of that power? What is the nature of that power? How is it used or not used? How is that power related to your ability to lead or follow?

For me personally, there are some circumstances that allow me to be in a power role. One of those being when I'm in charge of a tower cab and all the airport operations. I feel that legitimate power is gained here. In these situations, I'm in a work power role. I'm directly responsible for everything that is happening. Although I am not the overall boss, in these cases, I'm in charge. Second, have an expertise allows me the ability to have some expert power. In some cases, there are questions that get brought up about technique or knowledge. In those cases and when my boss is unavailable, I can step into the power role. Offering my expertise on a specific situation. Lastly, when I'm running the tower, I am in an ecological power position. Here, i am in charge of everything, like mentioned before. That means that I have all of the abilities needed to run technological sources and that gives me the ability to influence other tower team members.

I feel as though those power traits are helping shape me as a leader. Understanding that they are actual traits and that I can specifically try to change my approach to them has helped me become a better follower. As odd as that might sound, I can better understand my boss's approach even if he doesn't understand the techniques he's using. By me identifying them, I can choose which one of those will help make me a better leader. When I do have the opportunity to lead a group, I will be able to apply my gained knowledge and apply techniques that I have observed as successful in the past. This ultimately makes me a stronger leader without having to actually be in the leadership role.

A511.2.3_SeabournBeau

Assuming that these leadership behaviors are appropriate at all levels of organizations, do you use these behaviors in your work with others? Subordinates? If so, how are they effective in producing results? If not, could they be added to your personal repertoire of leadership behaviors?

So after this week's reading, and to be honest, I don't or haven't intentionally used any of these techniques. At least not in the sense that I knew about them and then applied them. I would however say that I have used some of them indirectly. Here are some examples:

Observe operations directly - Being an air traffic controller, I have the opportunity to monitor and evaluate people as they move through our evaluation process. With that in mind, I am often in the postilion to monitor the operations and the procedures being implemented at our facility. Although I am not in a leadership role, I am able to offer my criticisms and praises when they come. Likewise, my coworkers do the same. That makes us stronger controllers in general.

Show acceptance and positive regard - I have been on both sides of this particular guideline. In the Navy, I was a supervisor in the tower. There were many times when people more senior to me, were having a hard time grasping the whole air traffic control concept. I think it meant a lot to them when someone would take the time and tell them that they have the abilities they need to be successful and that you want them on your tower team. On the flip side, those people were often supportive of me being promoted and would help me in that perspective. In both cases, we each helped the overall goal of the team.

Be willing to help with personal problems - I wasn't sure if this actually happened in the actual business world. This is actually, to me, one of the best techniques a leader can employ to help his business or position succeed. How can someone be successful or succeed if they're to occupied with third party concerns? I think to be successful you have to show that you're willing and able to help coworkers and subordinates succeed. If a company is willing to help one worker, all of the workers see that and might in turn help the business thrive.

To finalize, there were some techniques that I learned this week that I could try and utilize to be more successful in the future. I could do a way better job of bolstering people's self-esteem and confidence. I, like other people wanted to get ahead in life. I personally believe that I have probably hurt some people's feelings or not boosted people up when I should have. I'm not saying I did that intentionally, I think it was the nature of the environment I was in. I need to try and be aware of other people's feeling and help them succeed. If I was more willing to help other people, they might be willing (or others) might be more willing to help me later.

A511.1.3_SeabournBeau

 For this assignment I want to select Joel Osteen. To start, I think that he is both inspiring as an individual and I support the cause in which he enlisted people's attention. There are a few reasons that I think he is exceptionally effective and why is church as a business is abundantly successful. First, prior to him being the main focus of attention at the church and taking over the role of leader pastor, he worked in a management role behind the scenes. The reason this key fact is important is because he was not simply selected to become a leader. He was actually able to appreciate the hard work that people are putting in to help make his church successful. In a recent sermon, he mentions that there is an actual difference in the needs and roles of everyone at the church. He said that the ushers are just as important as the pastor who is just as important and the congregates. There are roles that people have to fill in each organization. In his current role, Joel is the spokesperson and the resource allocator. I would assume just like anyone, he has some issues with making sure the church runs smoothly. That is particularly hard to do the fact that he is a large attraction and the church has grown exponentially since his take over as head pastor.

I personally think that there is a fine line in the leadership to management communication. The leadership cannot force ineffective processes down to the managers and then expect them to always succeed. What I mean is, if a person in a leadership role makes a decision about something involving change in the organization, they have to take responsibility for its success and failure. Sometimes there seems to be a breakdown after processes are implemented and often times the lower management personnel are blamed for it not succeeding. Ultimately, I think that the intersection of management and leadership is a tough one. There will always be  conflicts and personality issues; I think, like Southwest, you have to find something that allows people to relate to success and then try and emulate that business plan. Sometimes the oddest ideas can make a company successful. I think that is why Joel Osteen is so effective. He doesn't follow what some pastors do. He actually only speaks about the happiness people can receive and the good things that can happen with God. He breaks the mold from what other pastors do. I think that the managers learn from that and they make things successful as well.

A521.9.4_SeabournBeau

I found this book in general to be very helpful. Chapter 12 is no different. I found the information to be very helpful. The first topic I'm selecting is a leader who participates. I've recently come across a lot of visual references to this particular point. The pictures show a man watching a yelling at people as one form of leadership and the second picture shows the man pulling the rope with the employees. I think that's a great way to describe what is going on. Moving forward, I want to be the leader that is pulling the rope with the employees. It's easy and lax to just watch people do work. It's easy to do nothing and yell. It's harder to be in charge and do work!

Next is the leader who is like a conversation. I've seen it time and time again, a leader who is never wrong and who never can take responsibility for anything. I think the open door policy combined with the equal playing field approach allows leaders to be most effective. I would implement this by basically telling the people under me that I'm always open to suggestion and review as long as it is not malicious or ill intended. Allowing your employees to come to you with issues and to cut back on gossip could be the difference of you being an effective leader or not. After all, you're only as good as your weakest link right?

Lastly, I would like to discuss the leadership set that fits the modern need. I don't think there is anything worse sounding then the Apollonian approach to business. I think that that comes out of the size of a company, at least that's what the reading mentioned. I think that there has to be a way around that situation. A manger or someone in upper leadership should be able to dictate how things are done. I think the last thing people want is to feel unimportant and useless. If a company does not address the need of one individual, how can it be successful or important. I think the last 10 years have shown how the gap between management and generalized workforces have moved apart. While struggling to make ends meet, the employees are not getting any attention while the company leaders were getting huge bonuses. That has to end and in order to grow, you must identify with people at every level.

A521.8.4_SeabournBeau

So this is an interesting question that could be answered different ways based on what type of situation I am put in. Generally though, I do not have a problem making conversation with strangers.  With that said, I am also not the guy that will randomly talk to someone a lot in a short encounter. Here is an example; last week I was waiting for an elevator. While I was waiting a man just starting talking to me for no apparent reason about a non-related topic. I believe it was about the NBA playoffs. The reason I thought it was funny was because we only were waiting for that elevator for maybe 30 seconds. So am I that extreme, no. I would however strike up a conversation in the event that there may be some extended period of time I might be around someone or perhaps to break the silence of the room. Sometimes I find it very uncomfortable to have complete silence in a room. Most of the time I can't stand it and I swear I would talk to myself if I had to.

To the second part of this question, I think I'm able to adapt to a situation and talk to random people for a couple of reasons. First, growing up, I moved a lot. The constant school hopping and what not created the ability to get to know people quickly. Second would be that I don't like be ignored. I'm not sure why. I would prefer to sit and have lunch with someone and talk to them verse sitting alone and reading a paper. I'm not the guy on the plane in the seat next to you who is completely silent. We're going to talk. Making contact is not difficult for me. I have been known to use icebreakers, trust me there are many woman out there that laughed at me for that! Self disclosure is also something that I use a lot of. To be honest, I feel as though I'm pretty transparent. When my friends talk about finances or something like that, I'm totally open about everything. I read awhile back that if friends and peers shared information they deemed "personal" more often with one another, they would learn a ton! I feel as if I am open about things, people might feel like they can trust me and that I'm not trying to be a weasel. I think that it has to be an important leadership skill to approach people and get things started. After all, that's what leaders need to be able to do! LEAD!

A521.7.4_SeabournBeau

Relate a knowledge sharing story from your personal experience. Be sure to describe the context of your story.

Not to long ago in the past, while at work, I noticed some small puffs of smoke coming from a building located on the airport property. At first glance it appeared to be smoke that could have been generated by a grill top opening or a car with a lot of exhaust coming from it. Naturally I did not get suspicious of the smoke and I proceeded to work. For some reason the smoke just did not seem correct to me and about a minute later I noticed a lot more smoke that appeared to be coming from a building located on the airport. Moments after that I witnessed a man walking at a fast pace away from the building. The building is only accessed on rare occasions by technicians and it just so happened that a technician was on the airport grounds at the time. Once again, naturally I thought it was that individual walking at a fast pace and once again I was mistaken. This person proceeded to run the entire width of the airport in a very fast manner and ran completely to the other side of the airport. It seemed as though he was running away from the smoke. It did not take me long to notify authorities in which I was on hold for over two minutes before receiving a actual person's voice. I informed that there was a person on the grounds that was not suppose to be and that they were preventing normal airport operations from taking place. Not to my surprise, the man jumped a couple barbed wire fences and disappeared into the crowd around the airport.

To follow up with what really happened, this person actually was traveling in a car at a high rate of speed. He the proceeded to crash the car into a sewer built along the airport fence. His car destroyed over 90 feet of airport fence before coming to a rest. The man surprisingly got out of the car and started running across the airport, fleeing from his accident. He was able to successfully run clear across an airport, jump two barbed wire fences and disappear without every being caught.  Luckily for the police it was actually his parents car and without to much hard work they eventually found out who "he" was. This story just goes to show that you have to be ready for anything at anytime. There was a few misinterpretations on my part which caused a small hesitation in contacting any authorities. All in all, this was not normal and shouldn't have happened this way.

A521.6.3_SeabournBeau

Based on this week's readings from the Denning text, identify the elements of high-performance teams and apply them to teams with whom you have worked in your organization. Next, Identify the importance of shared values and discuss the influence of shared values on your team's performance. Finally, examine the four patterns of working together and detail one positive and one negative experience. What could you have done to influence the outcomes?

To start, high performance teams are something that can not be created or pushed upon a group of people. It seems that they are created when a group of people build off of one another and then preform at a higher level. The group will shape to the situation and grow stronger over the time they spend together. They will all grow individually do to the expertise of each person and lastly they all will share the same passion and drive.

A good example of this in my own personal life would be the time I was deployed to Iraq as a mobile air traffic controller with eight others. In a short amount of time, we were expected to learn a new airport, apply our knowledge and then take over from the group that was currently in place. In this example, the needs of the airport helped shape the situation that we were put in. We, as a team could grasp the seriousness of the event and took our job that much more serious. Like the reading says, we grew stronger together over time. This happened for two reasons; first we had to in order to do our job and secondly, we got use to working with one another regularly. Each one of us brought out the better of each other. We were able to push one another to make them that much better at their job. That created a great success and made us much more effective as a team. Do to that particular situation, we all went on to be successful in our career fields. We were able to adapt, overcome and apply our job skills in a shot amount of time and then become better equipped and more knowledgeable as time progressed.

Last I wanted to mention the work group situation in the four patterns. In the Navy, they have a funny way of partnering people from a wide array of jobs into smaller groups to help them finish a totally different job. In this case, around twenty of us were selected to clean a large amount of buildings after a hurricane. The negative side of this would have been the fact that almost none of us had any experience in this field and the people who did, did not know how to properly teach us how to complete the task. The positive about that situation would have been that after some time we were actually able to complete the task. I guess it was sort of an "on the job training" session as the Navy would call it. Although not put together very well and in a short amount of time, we were able to compleete a somewhat rough task.