LEADERSHIP

Blog Post #7

01/09/19

Lack of leadership

The concept of Leadership is something I happen to have a lot of exposure to. There are many forms of leadership while none are considered the best, some are considered bad. Different forms of leadership are seen as being effective depending on the situation and job.  Leadership is a consistently occurring theme in the modern workplace and in the military. The military prides itself on its ability to create leadership, instead of relying on natural talent the military molds leaders from all creeds and walks of life. We consistently see poor leadership throughout the workplace

I have been in the military for almost four years now, while also participating in the Army program, ROTC. I do not claim to be an expert but in my very short time in the military, I have had the pleasure of meeting some extremely capable men and women. I have also had a few mentors as well and I have seen many forms of leadership from toxic to transactional.

The military has been grooming me for the past four years to become a platoon leader. So I have been given military training and have been afforded the opportunity to practice leadership. When I was a team leader for a short time, I got to deal with leading three other soldiers and participated in multiple training exercises. Through these training exercises had plenty of time to hone my leadership and find out what works best for me.

A solution to poor leadership is very simple, try different kinds out to see what works for you. I had to work with them to solve problems as well as trusting them to not accidentally shoot me in the back. I never had any real problems with any of them because I practiced hands-off leadership. This is the most trusting form of leadership. This form of leadership is practiced much more in the civilian workplace than in the armed forces.

Hands-off leadership encourages your subordinates to take initiative and do whatever needs to be done without you telling them what to do. This increases the efficiency of the workplace leaving you to simply overview all their work without getting in their way or being bossy. Furthermore, it allows your subordinate leaders the space to practice their leadership. No matter the type of leadership you practice you must utilize your subordinate leaders. They are often extremely capable and utilize their specific skill sets in order to improve efficiency.

I encourage you to go out and practice hands-off leadership. Anyone can be toxic and yell at their employees. Hands-off leadership may not work for you but then I encourage you to try others to match your situation or meet your subordinates needs. Try to get honest feedback from your superiors and see what they find to be the most effective form of leadership.

What do you think about Hands-off leadership? What form of leadership do you practice? Please comment about a time you experienced bad leadership. Please comment respectfully. If you have any friends or family that may be interested in this content, please refer them to this site. 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *