Master of Science in Leadership

Obolensky (2016) provides a 16 question assessment to help readers assess the leadership strategy that they mostly gravitate towards. Below I describe four leadership strategies as outlined by Obolensky (2016).  Strategy I - Tell You've probably used this strategy before. Telling someone what to do! This strategy is pretty straight forward, however, it requires the leader to know what to do. This prescriptive approach is a direct strategy that focuses attention on the goal/outcome rather than on the people. The tell strategy I only selected once in this assessment.  Strategy II - Sell Sell strikes a balance between focusing leadership efforts on the goal and on the people executing the goal. Much like a salesperson, the sell strategy requires the leader to fully understand the situation and for them to describe the benefits and risks associated with the actions to be undertaken. A good sales person can make their client (or in this case employee) feel good about their purchase...

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- Establish Goals Think systematically  Learn from experience-while it is happening Engage others 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 (...

The Rebel Child As I suspect you may have experienced, I had a complicated relationship with leadership in my younger years. I conflated leadership with authority and, boy did I dislike authority. Parent's telling me precisely how to live my life. Administrators telling me exactly how to perform my job duties. I saw these authority figures as barriers to freedom of choice and how I wanted to live my life or perform my duties. I felt that the role of a leader was that of a dictator. Growing older, and having had a taste of leadership through my roles in different organizations, I learned to untangle leadership from authority. I learned that leadership can be assigned or emergent and that what I experienced in my younger years was not the ideal example of leadership (Northouse, 2016). This experience of leadership seems to conflict with those of my parents and my grandparents. Changing Views - A Generational and Technological Difference I am lucky enough to have one living grandparen...