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Emerging as a Leader

Throughout my leadership studies the idea that leadership is about how you do your work rather than the job title you have has become increasingly clear. Northouse (2016) describes these different types of leadership as assigned by one's job title or as emergent when someone who does not have a leadership position emerges as a leader. How to Lead When You're Not the Boss (2009) provides five actions that one can take in order to emerge as a leader; they include-

  1. Establish Goals
  2. Think systematically 
  3. Learn from experience-while it is happening
  4. Engage others
  5. Provide feedback
Image from: https://vgpsblog.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/assigned-leadership-vs-emergent-leadership/

Throughout my career, I have engaged in these kinds of behaviors in order to have the biggest impact on my work center. I didn't know it at the time, but by engaging in these ways I was showing off some leadership skills that were emerging within me. I always asked questions, requested and provided feedback (sometimes unsolicited...), and I always zoomed out to see how the changes we enacted might have downstream effects. At the time I thought I was being selfish. I was the one that would have to deal with the downstream effects of the decisions being made. As the lowest person on the totem pole at the time, I didn't have any formal authority to make decisions or give orders to others, but I did my best to have an influence on what was happening in the workplace and how decisions were made. I saw it as my job and responsibility to be a participant in the decision-making process. 

In most of these circumstances, my active participation in meetings and decision-making was encouraged. By encouraging this kind of emergent leadership the organization was exhibiting one of the five characteristics of adaptive organizations described by Heifetz et al. (2009) including sharing responsibility for the organization and building the leadership capacity of everyone on the team. 


References

Heifetz, R., Grashow, A., Linsky, M. (2009). The practice of adaptive leadership: Tools and tactics for changing your organization and the world. Harvard Business Press. 

How to Lead When You're Not the Boss. (2009). Harvard Management Update, 14(3), 1-2.

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice, 7th ed. SAGE Publishing. 


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