In the contemporary society, the workplace has become more complex as compared to several decades ago. Part of this has been necessitated by the introduction of new technologies which have made it possible for people across various unfamiliar cultures to work together in the same geographical setting. This collaboration has been essential in workplaces as it has led to tolerance and team building spirit which has translated to productivity. Amy Pearl, in Collaboration Breakthrough, has developed key points which have improved my collaborative leadership in various ways as developed below.
To begin with, Pearl notes that the best environment that an individual can work in is a place where there is collaboration (Pearl, 2015). In this, employees are able to share the same goals and expectations. In addition to this, they are able to discuss freely without fear of intimidation and have respectful conversations (Pearl, 2015). This kind of environment, he notes, provides an avenue for people to utilize simple tools to guide their decision-making process and allow for accountability. As a result, this environment provides the employees with an opportunity to learn and grow within an organization. He presents a scenario of the team circle which is a strategy developed at the Lakeside organization to keep the employees connected as well as focused. The team circle provided a platform in which people could interact together and present their ideas without fear of being discriminated upon. Members were allowed to change their shifts on a regular basis which enabled them to develop new skills and insight.
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However, a problem arose when the Lakeside organization adopted a paternalistic workplace environment. This came shortly after Glinda was elected as the general manager to replace Dr. Right. As expected, she created an environment in which all the employees were treated as one large family (Pearl, 2015). Everybody had the liberty to present their ideas to her at any time. She started taking the employees on retreat and organizing office celebrations such as birthday parties for employees. Nonetheless, this ended up taking most of the company’s resources which gave the competitors an added advantage over the Lakesides organization. A majority of the employees ended up losing their jobs at the organization. When Mike Learner approached Glinda to propose a new way of saving the company, Glinda reflected from it as she knew it would be unpopular with the people and as a result, she would lose the loyalty of the employees.
For a significant duration, the Lakeside organization had begun adopting a defensive workplace environment (Pearl, 2015). In this, when individuals make significant errors they refused to take the blame and in turn, this affected the communication pattern in the company and the way individuals interacted with each other. At the moment, Dr. Right was still the general manager of the firm. Thus, watching the damages that this environment was having on the company, Mike decided that it was time for them to “walk the talk’. Their efforts enable them to acquire a lot of information which had been considered to be top-secret and used it in adjusting the financial projections and analysis. Another critical phase which the company faced was at a time when the company has adopted an open workplace. This lead to chaos as mistrusts grew in this work environment.
Thus without a shadow of a doubt, the best workplace environment is a collaborative environment. Consequently, working in a collaborative environment is essential in developing leadership skills (Callahan, 2008). This is because; an individual is made to understand on the importance of being a team player for the good of the entire organization. Also, creating a collaborative environment leads to trusts among the employees not only with each other but also with the leadership in place. Perceptively, collaborations help to manage the uncertainties that might arise and help an organization to have a competitive advantage over their competitors. Also, as a leader, creating a collaborative environment helps to retain the employee which in turn reduces extra expenses incurred in hiring and training new employees regularly.
Evidently, creating other workplace environments such as the defensive and paternalistic workplace is detrimental to the organization. In my point of view, although paternalistic helps to create a family environment in which all members feel they belong, in the end, this leadership style has detrimental consequences on the company. This is due to the fact that in the end, a majority of people end up losing their jobs and the company faces a risk of collapsing (Matthews, et al., 2010). Also, as a leader, it becomes difficult to stand with one’s decisions when you are afraid of being disliked by the employees. Matthews, et al., (2010) note several traits which are critical to running an organization with courage being one of the traits. A defensive workplace creates a culture in which people are unable to be transparent and this affects the company’s performance (Becker, 2005).
Conclusion
Undoubtedly, adopting a collaborative workplace is critical in improving my leadership skills. Not only does it add on to my ability to communicate effectively and respectfully with the people I am working with, but also I am able to build trust with the employees. This, in turn, creates an environment in which there is no chaos as witnessed in open workplace or defensive workplace. Also, I am able to make firm decisions and stick with them for the greater benefit of the company unlike employing a paternalistic workplace.
References
Becker, J. A., Halbesleben, J. R., & Dan O'Hair, H. (2005). Defensive communication and burnout in the workplace: The mediating role of leader–member exchange. Communication Research Reports , 22 (2), 143-150.
Callahan, S., Schenk, M., & White, N. (2008). Building a collaborative workplace. on www. Anecdote com .
Matthews, T., Whittaker, S., Moran, T., & Yang, M. (2010). Collaboration personas: A framework for understanding & designing collaborative workplace tools. In Workshop" Collective Intelligence In Organizations: Toward a Research Agenda." at Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) .
Pearl, A., Phibbs, S., & Roesch, D. (2015). The collaboration breakthrough South Carolina: Advantage.
