A633.1.2.RB - Leadership Gap

When I think about views on leadership from my grandparents generation I think of authority figures.  I see the man of the house running the family and the wife’s role was to cook and clean.  Now mind you three of my four grandparents have passed away and my grandfather is 96, their generation was a long time ago and far away.  They were firm believers of following rules and direction from those who were “above” you on the power scale.  The way my parents ran the house was much different.  My dad was the one working the most outside of the house and my mother was the one who was responsible for me, however, my mother was the one who ran the house from financials to day-to-day decisions.  She still controls all aspects of my parent’s lives and my father seems fine with that. 

My house is very similar to that of my parents but yet quite different.  I am a stay at home mom and my husband works outside of the house.  I am the one who pays the bills, handles most of the financial decisions, and makes sure the kids daily needs and wants are met.  The big difference in my house compared to my parent’s house is that my husband is actively involved in all the major decisions.  I rarely make a big decision that he does not have some input in, and the fact that we are complete opposites helps us narrow down the options and most of the time we make sound choices.  We do however have a sort of veto system set up to help keep us in check.  When it comes to participating in family gatherings outside of our house the one who’s family is holding the gathering ultimately has the final power to decided if we attend or not.  This has eliminated the “you never want to spend time with my family” attitude and assumption.

Over the years, it seems the idea of authority has lost importance and has been replaced with the idea of leadership.  When I think of authority I think of giving directions, when I think of leadership I think of offering guidance.  Obolensky (2014) quoted Lau Tzu about leadership with “the best leader is one whom the people hardly knows exists, leaving them happy to say, once the aim is achieved, we did it ourselves” (p.6).  This to me illustrates guidance in leadership.  When you give the people the tools they need to guide them towards solving problems on their own then you have succeeded as a leader.  This thought process is what I have based my leadership style on from the start.  I’m certain it is a result of my background as a teacher and my instincts to help others learn.

I believe the gap in quality leadership, despite the enormous amount of information about leadership, is a result of the mentality that anyone can lead if given enough information and education.  It seems that today that there are many people in leadership roles that may not belong there.  I am not a firm believer that all leaders were born to lead; I do feel that leaders have to possess certain qualities in order to be effective.   I believe education can strengthen a good leader into a great one but may not have the power to turn someone into a leader. 

Obolensky (2014) stated that leadership in any form cannot produce results without a context within which to exist (p.4).  This theory can be looked at from a business perspective and a personal one.  In a business, leadership can only occur within the perimeters set by that business.  In other words, if the hierarchy is set up to limit the number of decisions a department manager can make then that person’s leadership ability is limited.  This is a good example of leadership as guidance rather than direction.  If that same manager had more flexibility then they have the opportunity to take their leadership ability as far as they would like.  The same goes for personal growth; leadership can only flourish in an individual who is capable of leading. 

Too many leaders are in their positions simply because they have an educational experience, but what about actual expertise?  I am from the mindset that leadership education will help improve people who lead, but not that it can teach others to be a leader.  Being a leader is a distinctive ability where education and information help expand that talent.  Until there are ways to assure that only quality leaders hold leadership positions the gap will continue to widen.  These leaders also need the best configuration from their companies to grow and expand their abilities by showing just what effect they can have on their followers.   Leadership education is an opportunity to improve on today’s already great leaders.       

Obolensky, N. (2014). Complex adaptive leadership: Embracing paradox and

uncertainty (2nd ed.). Farnham, England: Gower Publishing Limited.

A632.9.3.RB - Role of Emotion in Decision Making

When thinking of two decision situations in my life I come back to the age old question of where my husband should live and work and the newest dilemma in our house of whether or not to send one of our kids to private school.  Each of the two decisions holds a place in our emotions but not for the same reasons.  One decision we are very confident about and one in which we are very uncertain, however, both decisions were very emotional in nature.

A decision that our family revisits quite often is whether my husband should remain in Florida for work or move to Vermont to be with the rest of the family.  About every 12-18 months we revisit this dilemma for one reason or another, and so far the answer has been for him to remain in Florida.  The amount of times we have made this decision leaves me very confident in it, and as Oberholzer-Gee (2001) pointed out confidence is contagious and passion is persuasive.  We have survived quite well in our current situation so why upset it now?  Our kids have grown up with their father flying back and forth between Vermont and Florida for all their lives and have adapted just fine.  So why fix something that is not so broken?  Yes, I would love to have a second adult around every night to help out with the kids.  Yes, I would love to have someone here to give me a break from the duties of a stay at home mom.  The downside is that I would have to work outside the home and truthfully he would not be here as much as I would like as the jobs in Vermont pay much less than in Florida.  This is a trade-off I am willing to compromise for and I am very confident in our decision.  The emotional issues I had to overcome with this situation were anger, frustration, and loneliness.  These were the toughest emotions for me too overcome.

The second decision we are facing at this time is also a very emotional one, whether we should send one of our children to a private school or not.  One of our kids struggles in school, as a result, we have been looking at private school in order to meet her needs.  We are in the middle of a huge debate about whether we should send her or not, based on what the private school can offer her that the public school cannot.  A large part of our decision is based on uncertainty, we are not convinced that the private school is the best options, but we aren’t sure the public school is either.  Shiv (2011) talked about how passion is persuasive and our major issue is avoiding the bandwagon of boycotting public school and trying to make the best decision based on her needs.  The emotions I am facing in this situation all revolve around making the right decision, being a parent is by far the most difficult job I have ever had.  My emotional reactions are fear, anxiety, and confusion.  This decision could affect her entire life. 

Some decisions are easy and require very little thought, others are life changing and keep us up at night.  The dilemma of whether or not you are making the right decision and how it will impact the future is a stressful one.  As a parent, it is difficult to face down a decision that could change their lives, and the fear in thinking I am making the wrong decision haunts me.  I just want to do the best for my kids.            

Oberholzer-Gee, F. (2001). Learners or lemmings: The nature of Information

Cascades. In Wharton on making decisions (pp. 273-286). Hoboken, NJ: John Willey & sons.

Shiv, B. (2011, November 07). Brain Research at Stanford: Decision Making.

Retrieved March 13, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRKfl4owWKc

A632.8.3.RB - Reflections on the Cynefin Framework

The Cynefin Framework provides a way for leaders to make decisions in a more effective way.  Snowden and Boone (2007) stated that defining a framework enhances communication and helps executives rapidly understand the context in which they are operating. Within their framework, they labeled four contexts: simple, complex, complicated, and chaotic; each having its own place in the framework and problem-solving equation and offering the leader different way to look at problems in order to find answers. 

Sometimes problems don’t fall into one category or another they overlap.  When this happens it can be confusing as to which approach would be best to use.  I had a situation where the problem presented as simple, a routine error that was easy enough to fix.  A bag was mistagged and needed to go to a different location.  I went on autopilot; I entered the bag tag system and proceeded to change the destination.  In terms of the Cynefin Framework I sensed the issue, categorized it, and responded accordingly.  However the normal steps to fix this issue would not work, the computer was responding with an error code.  This simple problem had now become a complicated one.  Now I had a new problem to sense, analyze, and then respond to and it was the computer’s error message.  After asking a few co-workers and a supervisor we determined that the issue was the way the ticket was booked and not the bag tag itself.  Once we were able to determine that the solution went back to a simple one, the bag had to be tagged manually, something that is also routine for us.  All it took was a little collaboration and a lot of investigating and some flexibility to turn the complicated problem back into a simple one.   

During my time with the airline, I have seen problems move from complex to chaotic in a matter of minutes.  I worked the afternoon flight on Sunday’s and more times than not the aircraft would take a delay due to weather.  We knew this was always a possibility so we were usually prepared to deal with that, we knew which flights we could move to later times and which ones were not possible to connect at all.  The unknown in the situation was the response of the people taking those flights.  This is where the problem became complex, we had to probe first before we could sense and respond.  Not all passengers have the same response to a delayed flight, some are willing to go to JFK and either sleep there, find a hotel, or have friends that could pick them up.  Others would rather be booked on a flight tomorrow instead for waiting around for the delayed flight today.  Once we had a sense of what a passenger wanted we could act accordingly, and move people to their new flights.  Then the next delay would come down the line and we would have to do the same steps again, that is until the flight cancels, then the chaos would begin.  There is no time to think at this point as you have over 100 people standing at the podium demanding to know what is going on and how you are going to fix it.  You have to act and accommodate the person in front of you and move through the line as quickly as possible.  I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy this part of my job.  I thrive in problem-solving situations and I loved finding ways to help passengers get to where they need to be. 

In analyzing the Cynefin Framework one can find ways it can provide an improved context for decision-making.  By using the SEE-I critical thinking method the Cynefin Framework becomes clearer. 

S- The Cynefin Framework helps leaders determine which context their problem falls into and, therefore, offers the best way to solve it.

E- There are four contexts within the Framework: simple, complicated, complex, and chaotic.  After placing the problem in one of these four contexts the leader can use the correct method for solving the problem and, therefore, come to a quicker solution. 

E- For example, if there were an issue with a guest’s room I would first sense what it is about that room that is causing the guest to be upset.  Then I would analyze what the best options would be to solve it.  Would it be to move to a different room? Or is there something I can modify about their room that will meet their needs?  Once I have finished analyzing all the information and the available options I can make a decision, or respond accordingly. 

I- It is like coming to a fork in the road and having four options to choose from and the path you take depends on the reason you are traveling.  Are you aiming to get from point A to point B the quickest way possible, and then the path is simple.  Are you looking for a minor adventure but still want some order, then the path would be complicated.  Are you aiming for point B but wouldn’t mind traveling a little out of the way, following your impulses to see any sights that might be on the way no matter how far off the path they take you as long as you end up at point B sometime, then the path would be complex.  Or are you looking for a do it yourself adventure and getting to point B isn’t as high a priority as the adventure itself, the path is chaotic. 

The Cynefin Framework can improve context for decision making by giving leaders a template in which to categorize problems, ability to diagnose any situation, a process in which to solve those problems, the ability to find patterns in reoccurring problems, and decide which problems require discussion with other sources.   By having the ability to categorize each and every problem they may come across, a leader can save time and resources need to solve each problem.  The framework can also help employees to recognize a problem they are able to solve on their own from one that may require more help.     

Snowden, David J. and Boone, Mary E. (November 2007). A Leader's Framework for

Decision Making. Harvard Business Review. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing.