Leaders are individuals who act responsibly by leading as an example to other people. These individuals know all about the job and show respect to their employees. Additionally, leaders trust their employees and motivate them to give their best in their work. Good leaders must show good ethical and motivation values. A leader must handle both personal and work issues of their employees in an appropriate manner. The leader should be able to give the employee proper advice and motivation and help them whenever necessary. Further, leaders must guide their employees by offering training and motivate them as much as possible. In an interview with Steve Bartee, a substation supervisor at the City of Manassas in Virginia, various leadership qualities were observed. Mr. Bartee answered most the questions asked appropriately, showing the motivation and ethical values of a leader.
Whenever employees show signs of not pulling weight, a good leader should initiate a conversation with them on the matter. Communication is key in solving such problems. With a well-established communication system, the employees can easily share what is eating them up. A leader must avail him or herself often to discuss interoffice issues with the employees. This way, there shall be the creation of an atmosphere of trust between the employees and the leader (Goetsch & Davis, 2014). When there is trust, a leader can easily approach an employee who is not pulling weight and ask him or her what the manner is. Likewise, the employee will find it easy to share with the leader the matter at hand in an honest manner. After that, a leader should take a step to solve the problem. The solutions might take various forms including motivation such of the employee such as training and intervention on the issue.
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The leader should not leave personal issues unsolved but rather, should give appropriate advice and motivation where necessary. Work related issues can be solved by the motivation and training of employees amongst other interventions. When the problems of the employees are solved, and they are properly motivated, the employees can work harder and increase the overall performance of the team. Upon asking what he would do when his team members were not pulling their weight, Mr. Bartee said that he would take them aside and seek to find out whatever it is that was going on. He would analyze and determine if the problem was work related or personal and would then, proceed to offer appropriate advice in as well as motivation. This shows motivational and ethical values of a leader in Mr. Bartee. Additionally, Mr. Bartee would guide them on the areas they could improve.
Leaders often face challenges in their daily operations. How they work to overcome these challenges is what matters. Leaders often face challenges in terms of developing the effectiveness of the leadership skills required such as decision making, prioritization, and time management among others. Another challenge concerns inspiring the team members and motivating them to ensure satisfaction and improved performance. Leading the team is a common challenge to leaders. This is because it involves developing others by coaching and motivating them, and the leader has to determine exactly what strategies would work for his or her team. The strategies include instilling pride in the team and supporting them (Walumbwa et al, 2011). Leading a big team or taking over a new team is also challenging. When there is a change in a team, a leader has to mobilize, manage, and lead the change. Guiding change involves overcoming resistance, dealing with reactions to change, and mitigating consequences.
Dealing with the challenges appropriately improves the team performance. Mr. Bartee reported having had to face a big challenge, calling on him to lay out about 2218 people after a transformer had blown up, taking down a whole substation. He tried to make the employees understand the situation by explaining whatever it is that had happened in good detail. The director did not step up to help to deal with the situation, leaving Mr. Bartee with no option but to face the commission members and to convince them to approve the purchase of a new transformer. Mr. Bartee showed ethical values by stepping up since he could as well have done, nothing just like the mentioned director. He had to convince the commission members even though that was not his job. This shows that he had the interest of his employees at heart. Good leaders should always put their employees fast. Mr. Bartee overcame the challenge using his knowledge and skills of good leadership.
Communication is an essential strategy of managing any team. Leaders must have an effective communication style that enables them to develop trust between them and the employees. Daily interaction with the employees is an effective way of building trust and ensuring openness in the team. Good leaders must have unique communication styles that enable the employees to communicate freely. Leaders must understand the knowledge levels of their employees and communicate with them at these levels. Effective communication enables employees to openly share their ideas and the challenges they face (Walumbwa et al, 2011). This way, the leaders can help them to solve their problems and implement the good ideas. The team is, therefore, able to perform better. Communication is also essential in clarifying expectations for ethical practice. In a situation where a leader wants the team members to show ethical values, the leader has to describe what is right and wrong to do and why. Mr. Baree describes his communication style as unique. He communicates with his team members based on their knowledge levels. He communicates in the simplest way possible to enable even the inexperienced employees to clearly understand the expectations of ethical values and to embrace them. When employees do not seem to practice ethical values, a leader has to clarify the expectations. Mr. Bartee communicates in a positive way to motivate his employees. He communicates with humor to enable his employees to feel free at work. This shows that he has the motivation and ethical values that a leader should have.
One of the instances, when I recognized the need to communicate a clear expectation for ethical practice, was when employee’s employees’ motivation to perform reduced significantly after the introduction of change that required them to have a staff meeting every Friday evening. I recognized that this type of expectation needed some clarification where I realized increased level of employee turnover and poor service delivery. To clarify the expectation I decided to use all the communication channels available to ensure that the change becomes successful by explaining to an employee the need to have the change introduced and how both the organization and staff would benefit from that particular change.
Based on the interview conducted by this leader, it is clear that he is a competent leader who has significantly propelled the success of the organization. He has all it takes to lead the team by example and adopted various motivational strategies to get employees on board. Motivation is critical to enhancing staff satisfaction, and this will translate into increased productivity. The leader further adopted some strategies to motivate the employees including offering training that improves employee’s competency providing them with higher chances of getting promotions (Walumbwa et al, 2011). He further adopted the use of incentives such as rewards and promotions. He also uses team building techniques to motivate his employees. Mr. Bartee ethical values are a critical factor towards the success of the company. This is because it created a conducive working environment that enabled employees to efficiently perform their duties. As an ethical leader, he was also able to enhance employee collaboration, reduce potential conflicts and addresses any conflict diligently.
References
Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. B. (2014). Quality management for organizational excellence . Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
Walumbwa, F. O., Mayer, D. M., Wang, P., Wang, H., Workman, K., & Christensen, A. L. (2011). Linking ethical leadership to employee performance: The roles of leader–member exchange, self-efficacy, and organizational identification. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes , 115 (2), 204-213.
