Leadership is considered to be an essential role aspect of an individual in an organization. People in leadership role need to ensure that they motivate workers to offer services that meet the organizational goals. The type of leadership that people apply varies depending on the type of organization that the organization should achieve. Narcissistic leadership style is one of the commonly used leadership approaches in the modern world. Narcissism is recognized as an action where an individual rules with oneself and demonstrates excessive self-love, vanity, as well as egocentrism (Swid & Ragab, 2018). Narcissistic leaders exercise leadership practices motivated by their interests in power and admiration rather than focusing on achieving empathetic concern and goals for the organization they lead. However, this leadership style is useful in some organizations because such people are considered to be charismatic though there are several traits which make them valid and ineffective leaders. Covenant leaders tend to show commitment and trust between the leaders and employees. It is applied in many organizations, thus leading to the production of the highest level of performance in an organization. Narcissistic and Covenant Leadership styles have similarities and differences that influence the performance of an organization.
Comparing and Contrasting Narcissistic and Covenant Leaderships
Just like other leaders, Narcissistic leaders perform their duties guided by a particular vision which is shaped depending on the organizational goals. View in an organization focuses on assisting workers to understand the purpose and objectives set in the organization. For example, a chief police officer should encourage and motivate employees to offer security to the public, thus increasing to achieve the set objectives. Therefore, narcissism leaders are perceived to be prophets since they predict what is likely to happen in the future, thus finding ways to direct followers towards achieving that particular objective. As a result, narcissistic leaders should demonstrate a high rate of innovation, especially in law enforcement, to fight against enemies using advanced technology (Fredah, Mainah, M. & Perkins, 2015). However, the effectiveness of narcissistic leadership occurs in situations where employees adhere to the guidelines that are needed to implement functioning that would enable the organization to achieve set objectives. Similarly, covenant leaders are designed to guide leaders to achieve set goals. Narcissism leaders are governed by the bible teachings, especially Hebrew 13:7 that focuses on educating people on vision. According to this Verse, people are encouraged to think about their leaders who spoke the word of God to them and consider the results of their way of life and the inmate faith (Holy Bible, ESV).]
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Many of the narcissism leaders demonstrate poor listening abilities. This trait indicates that they give views and ideas without listening to the contribution of their followers. Consequently, it may be argued that people demonstrating this leadership trait has developed this characteristic as a defence mechanism against any form of criticism that they can experience from subordinates. In most occasions, these leaders never take criticisms well, and they never acknowledge the importance of other people’s ideas in creating vision. They consider themselves as the best individuals in the community and perceive themselves as the only individual who can think about the future and give people guidelines for achieving future goals (Xiao, Liu, Zhou & Chen, 2018). This negative trait shows the reason as to why the majority of people in an organization fail to succeed because they ignore even essential contributions of the followers. Employees are the crucial drivers of a company that seeks to meet its goals. Failure to involve such people in the decision-making process indicates that they receive such ideas with suspiciousness. Leaders need to listen to employees to demonstrate skills obtained from the Psalm 116:1-2, that says, “I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy, because he turned his ear to me,” (Holy Bible, ESV). This verse indicates that leaders who listen and buy into their ideas will be in a position to receive respect.
Narcissistic lack consistency and they are guided by their desire to satisfy their power hungriness. However, consistency is a common aspect of covenant leaders. As a result, narcissistic leaders try to fulfil their power needs forgetting the importance of values that successful leaders should demonstrate for viable outcomes. Since their desire and admiration change over time, they change the guidelines offered to employees to direct such values to issues that are likely to serve their interests. Consistency is an essential aspect in an organization because it creates a room for helping followers to formulate mechanisms for fulfilling short term goals that reflect through the long term objectives of a company (Xiao et al. 2018). In situations where a leader changes rules, there is a possibility that such transitions become a source of stress and distrust between leaders and employees. Though change may be beneficial in an organization, the change should occur at an appropriate time and should involve people in different ranks for it to be effective. However, narcissistic leaders create a move that is likely to fail in the entire organization.
The dictatorship and power hungriness demonstrated by narcissistic leaders show that such leaders do not establish a good relationship with followers. In situations where subjects learn that their leaders devalue their ideas, they tend to develop a negative attitude towards their leaders. Followers have different views, and leaders should be in a position to humiliate employee diversity in the organization. However, narcissistic leaders do not demonstrate any desire in humiliating other people and lack any form of humbleness needed by successful leaders. The relationship is all about communication and sharing. In situations where leaders keep people at a long distance and fail to recognize what they need to be done, they feel ignored, and their efforts undermined thus minimizing the level of commitment in achieving developmental goals. The word of God in Ephesians 4-2-3 teaches us to be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love (Holy Bible, ESV). Therefore, followers have the responsibility of listening to their leaders while leaders have to demonstrate humbleness when handling subjects.
Narcissistic leaders lack empathy trait that is essential for leaders to achieve organizational goals. However, they focus on forcing people to show empathy to their leadership and fail to show such characteristics in their work. In some situations, a lack of understanding is not necessarily a bad leadership skill. For example, a lack of empathy can be strength in cases where there is a need for solving issues such as addressing chaos. The advantage of people to lack empathy indicates that people lack understanding can resolve conflicts without being guided by feelings (Humphreys et al., 2016). However, narcissistic leaders make decisions that can have adverse impacts on employees. The effectiveness of leadership occurs in a situation where there is a need for making change more accessible. Despite the various harmful effects associated with narcissistic leaders, they are in a position to attract followers because they have excellent verbal communication skills that attract followers to adhere to their rules and guidelines. In most cases, they are used as capable of feeding subjects with knowledge applicable to increasing viability in the organization.
Unlike narcissistic leadership, covenant leadership is an approach that leads to high performance in an organization. As a result, leaders demonstrating covenant strategy put employees as an essential part of the process of making a decision. Therefore, subjects have feet motivated, thus developing trust with their leadership characteristics. The common distinguishing feature between covenant and narcissistic leadership is that the former is based on trust and agreement with employees while the latter is based on the ideas of the leader. As a result, covenant leaders recognize the importance of all other people by welcoming their opinion and developing an interest to ensure that they are encouraged to innovate and implement effectiveness of their leaders in achieving the goals of the company.
Narcissistic leadership demonstrates a high level of committed in organizational needs and those of employees as opposed to the desire for narcissistic leaders. In situations where such leaders make a change in the organization, they analyze the impacts that such a transition will have on the company and its followers. This level of commitment contradicts the objective of narcissistic leaders who seek to implement changes that focus on achieving their goals rather than that of the entire organization they lead (Braun, 2016). Commitment id defined by the action that a leader takes daily to implement a project that will ensure success in their operation. Despite the obstacles experienced in the leadership process, covenant leaders are in a position to press such issues and get committed to achieving organizational goals. According to 2 Timothy 2:15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” (Holy Bible, ESV). Covenant leaders base their leadership skills on this verse, thus demonstrating the strength that is needed to improve their functioning in the community.
Covenant leaders develop strategies designed to build trust with employees and shareholders in an organization. The commitment to achieving confidence differentiates covenant leadership from narcissistic leadership that fails to recognize the importance of trust in an organization. Covenant leaders build trust among employees and subordinates through consistent communication and borrowing of ideas that can be utilized to achieve the goal of an organization (Swensen, Gorringe, Caviness, & Peters, 2016). Trust is something that needs to be earned by leaders for the development of a better performance in the law enforcement sector (Pava, 2015). According to Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged; for the LORD, your God will be with you wherever you go.” This message indicates covenant leaders are empowered by the word of God to demonstrate strength in achieving the goals of an organization. Therefore, it becomes essential for leaders in a company to make development in a company.
Similarly, covenant leaders focus on receiving respect from employees like narcissistic leaders. However, they also understand that they should be role models in an attempt to ensure that they give followers an example in developing respect within the organization. Matthew 7:12 says, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (Holy Bible, ESV). This information indicates that covenant leaders borrow ideas from the Bible to create a levelled playing ground for employees. In some situations, subjects may be reluctant to adhere to rules stipulated by leaders, but if there is respect between the two parties, they will find it easy to accept the guidelines without much criticism (Caldwell & Hasan, 2016). Covenant leaders are guided by the fact that no single individual is perfect. Consequently, they are prone to make mistakes and the ability to solve the issue depends on the level of involvement in receiving contributions from workers.
Organizational Impact of Covenant and Narcissistic Leadership
The traits of narcissism leadership indicate that this leadership has adverse outcomes in an organization. For instance, the first weakness for this leadership is that there is a lack of concern for others. In most cases, such leaders display themselves as transformational leaders, but they fail to implement such actions, in reality, other people fail to reciprocate such claims (Fischer & Schultz, 2017). The gap between the perceptions that narcissistic leaders have about themselves and the general view followers have about the people in the community show that there is a lack of commitment to achieving the set goals. This situation worsens in a case where such leaders are perceived to make decision guided by emotions. Though leaders are essential in leading a team to a particular objective, employees are considered to the people to implement the plans. Therefore, the negative outcome associated with this leadership originates from the failure to recognize the efforts of workers.
Covenant leadership is likely to produce a positive impact on an organization because employees feel part of the organization. Based on the analysis of the traits of covenant leadership, people in power recognize respect, continuous communication, and sharing of ideas as an essential part for driving the interests of a company (Fischer & Schultz, 2017). In situations where people implement strategies for achieving a goal they were involved in setting, they own the project. They will, therefore, be part of the outcomes as opposed to a situation where they are expected to achieve a goal they have little information.
Change Plan for Implementing Covenant Leadership in a Law Enforcement Organization
In most cases, it becomes challenging to implement a change in a law enforcement organization, especially in a situation where people are used to narcissistic leadership. For instance, the law enforcement department handles sensitive matters of security and administrations remain against any form of behaviour that is likely to fail. Therefore, the first step for changing leadership from narcissistic to covenant leadership should be holding a meeting in all supervisory levels with an objective of explaining the leading philosophy on leadership, vision, and the guidelines that ought to be followed in achieving the organizational goals (Cain, 2017). As a result, the chief executive officer for the law enforcement officer should attend all the meetings to sell his ideas to people in lower ranks, thus increasing the opportunity for extending ideas to employees.
The second step will be to analyze the significant changes that ought to be considered when shifting from narcissistic leadership to covenant practices. The previous leadership approach was guided by receiving rules from leaders, thus showing some form of command in the system. As a result, significant changes should be implemented by changing policies, objectives, and roles of the leader to be in line with the organizational goals (Russo, 2015). The new systems and responsibilities of a leader to should put the interests of the organization first rather than serving personal interests. This change is in a position to ensure that leaders place themselves in a situation where they are likely to be productive.
The change in leadership in the law enforcement organization should be perceived as long term goals rather than short term objectives. The primary approach for achieving long term goals in an organization is to ensure that people there is a high level of engagement between leaders and employees in the company (Russo, 2015). Therefore, the change in command and policies will be considered based on ethical consideration for law enforcement officers. As a result, the chief officer should identify the mechanisms that are designed to promote continuous promotion until every person is changed in the organization.
Conclusion
Narcissistic and covenant leaders have different traits reflected through organizational performance. The notable difference is that narcissistic leadership focuses on commanding and fulfilling self-interest rather than the objectives of the organization. As a result, there is less engagement and distrust between leaders and workers. Covenant leaders have strengths in sharing ideas and committed to achieving organizational goals, thus leading to high organizational performance. Implementing covenant leadership in an organization used to narcissistic leadership should be procedural to bring employees and leaders on different levels onboard.
References
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