Chapter 9: Communicating Leadership
According to the text, habits of mind are "patterned ways of thinking that define how a person approaches issues and conceives alternative ways of resolving or dealing with them." This can be a tough concept to interpret but Robert Quinn does a good job at simplifying it. Simply put, a leader should be mentally and emotionally flexible. In his research he has found that the strongest leaders do not copy other styles yet are flexible enough to take in "outside signals or stimuli" and are able to adapt to changes. Once managers' are able to get past their comfort zones and begin to be results driven according to Quinn they can begin to "perform and communicate as a leader."
I don't think there is any doubt that the most effective leaders in an organizational setting are those that remain flexible. Effective leaders have a unique style but are also open to new ideas. If necessary they can leave their comfort zones in order to implement new methods of increasing productivity or improving morale. A great leader must have the patience to "suspend" and be able to sit back and analyze a problem. Avoiding the knee jerk reactions marks the great leader from the normal middle manager. An effective manager sees the proverbial forest from the trees and understands that reaching most organization-wide goals takes time and energy.
1 comment:
I agree that the most effective leaders are those that are flexible. With the influx of information, leaders need to be open to listening and cultivating new ideas. I just completed a mandatory training module for work based on delegation skills. Some of these same leadership traits were raised in this training exercise about trust, patience and being a good listener. It echoes the text that a leader should also be able to effectively communicate and delegate tasks to improve productivity, efficiency and employee motivation/morale.
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