When I first started my service-learning
project I went in with thoughts of moving in one direction and came out with a
completely different perspective. I
originally chose the organization based on my past experience with one of the
owners; I wanted to compare the way he led this organization, which is a for
profit business, compared to my experience with him in a volunteering
role. In the end, I was more focused on
how his partner and him functioned together as a team in the leadership
role. Their dynamic was interesting yet
functional, they complemented each other’s personalities well. I learned two important lessons through the
course of the service-learning project, the first was just how beneficial
having two leaders at the top can be, the second was that sometimes the vision
you have when entering a project could change by the end.
As I stated in my paper, “Co-heading a company,
after all, allows different leadership styles and competencies to be
simultaneously available to the organization, something difficult to manage
with a single individual” (Alvarez, Svejenova, and Vives, 2007, p. 10).
This is an idea that I did give much thought to, most due to the lack of
companies that are run with this type of leadership style. While this style seems to work for some,
there needs to be a certain combination of personalities and leadership
styles. This setup will not work for
everyone, as there are some situations where the leaders may not function well
as a team. As the trend starts to move
towards a more flat leadership structure, as opposed to a hierarchical
triangle, there will be more opportunities for team leadership to take
place.
The other lesson I learned was that often times the
expectations we start a project with can change by the end. The best way for me to describe my thinking
is through the scientific method, which in simple terms is a process involving a
question, hypothesis, experiment, and conclusion (Figure 1.1). When I started my service-learning project I had
one thought (question) and I had made my hypothesis. Through the course of the project (experiment)
I collected evidence (data) and from that data I was able to draw a
conclusion. In this case my conclusion
was different from my hypothesis. As a
result of my conclusion I now have a new interest in the field of leadership,
leadership in teams as opposed to an individual. This is a topic I would like to research
further.
Figure 1.1 (Steps of the Scientific Method, n.d.)
For me this service-learning project
gave me more than just an inside view of an organization in my community, it
gave me a view into a different way to lead.
I plan to continue researching this style of running a company, maybe
even in my PhD program, as I feel it has some merits. While it may not be possible to have every company
run by a team instead of a single person, it certainly is a theory that could
be applied in other leadership situations throughout an organization.
Alvarez, J. L., Svejenova, S., & Vives, L.
(2007). Leading in pairs. MIT Sloan
Management Review, 48(4), 10-14. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/224958758?accountid=27203
Steps of the Scientific Method.
(n.d.). Retrieved December 18, 2016, from
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_scientific_method.shtml
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