After reflecting on the diagram “the vicious circle for leaders”
and comparing it to my campus, I realize that my Director and I have fallen
prey to this vicious cycle of a “leadership and followership charade” (Obolensky, 2014, p. 162 of 249). Although there is a healthy amount of upward
communication initiated by my Director’s behavior, we are both at fault for
maintaining this circle alive. Part of
the issue is my Director’s micro-managing habits and need to control all aspects
of the campus. In her defense, she is
also micro-managed and monitored by her leadership and her immediate supervisor
also feels a need to control all aspects of the campuses under her direction. I believe that the vicious cycle is something
that trickles down from the top of the hierarchical pyramid. It is difficult to pinpoint where the issue
begins. It is similar to the famous
adage, “what came first, the chicken or the egg”. She has a necessity to control and I lack
self-confidence. My lack of
self-confidence causes me to make mistakes, causing her to lose trust in me,
therefore she feels a need to take over and control. When I make a mistake, the circle becomes
more rigid with me now feeling that I need to counsel with her first for every
decision, which causes her to question my abilities. In issues that she feels have no margin for
error, she feels a need to exert more control either by closely monitoring me,
asking me to report back to her, or taking over completely. I become more discouraged and lose
initiative. This is a pattern that we
have fallen into at various points in the six years that we have worked
together. Most of the time, we have
fallen into this cycle after a major crisis or major event. For example, when my father died or when I
got divorced, we slipped into the vicious circle for leaders. In fact, we are now just coming out of
one.
The effects of this vicious circle are that it creates mistrust
and doubt in our relationship creating an overall negative environment. She becomes disillusioned with me and I
become resentful of her behavior.
Neither of us is conscious of the fact that we are both responsible for
creating and nurturing the circle. Her
need to retake control of certain aspects of my job make her less effective in
hers since it takes time away from her specific duties. I become less effective because I have to
correct mistakes that I have made which affects the quality of my customer
service and my relationship with my students.
To create a new circle that would promote strong followership and
even leadership at the lower levels of the organization would involve a general
change of behavior on both my Director and myself (Obolensky, 2014). Because we are a two-man team, I do not
answer to anyone but her. My
organization follows a very strict chain of command. A new circle that promotes followership and
leadership at all levels would require that the leader analyze what level and
state the follower is in (Obolensky, 2014).
For example, my Director would need to decide what skill/will state and
what followership state I am in. From
that point, she can modify her behavior to move me into the next stages
(Obolensky). It is also my
responsibility to adopt certain qualities of an effective follower. Kelley (1988) suggests qualities such as
self-management, commitment and purpose, building competence and traits such as
credibility and courage. In my case, I
feel my skill is high but sometimes my will is lower. This is due to how I manage my work/life
balance and learn to deal with stressors both in my life and in my job. My director also has to realize that when my
will/skill is not adequate, it is not a reflection of my ability. A “situation can change where in one moment a
person is highly motivated and capable, and in the next due to a change of
situation one or other of Skill/ Will can decrease” (Obolensky, 2014, p. 157 of 249). During these moments in time my followership
level is sitting at about a 3 or 4 depending on the task. Some tasks I feel I need to seek recommendations
before I exercise them and other tasks I feel more confident about and only
seek approval before executing them.
Obolensky (2014) recommends that a leader strive to move their followers
towards level 5 which is to “get on and inform in a routine way” (p. 159 of
249). Obolensky (2014) recommends that
leaders move their followers one stage at a time this way they build confidence. Also, time for the leader and follower to
adjust to the new stage is needed (Oblensky, 2014). Since my Director knows my lack of
confidence, she should allow me more freedom and flexibility and loosen the
reigns. This would help me gain more
confidence in my decisions. I know I
have the tools and resources to do my job correctly, but the micromanaged
environment has made me second guess all my decisions which in the long run
cause errors.
The end result of this new circle would promote more trust,
greater confidence on my part and an improvement of our functions and services. Although, as I mentioned I do not have
contact with our other departments except through a parature system where we
pose our inquiries through an electronic and have them answered via email by
the appropriate department, this same circle could be imposed in any
professional setting I find myself in.
References
