The Nine Behaviors Of Leadership Essay, Research Paper

Webster s Dictionary defines leadership as the position or guidance of a person or thing that leads, directing, commanding, or guiding head, as of a group or activity. However Leadership has not one single definition, but many. Leadership is often an intangible factor that makes one group more effective than another. It exists at different levels within organizations and should be woven throughout the entire organization. Different organizations use different ways in effectively teaching or molding their employees how to be an effective leader. One such company is the R.E. Brown Company and Associates, who have developed a yearlong program that is strictly used as a program to teach their employees how to become a more effective leader. They use what they believe as the Nine Behaviors of leaders.

This program doesn t directly start off with the introduction of the nine behaviors, but of little tasks given to the participants. They are broken into small groups where they interact with each other, summarize common threads, and then present their findings to the larger group. Then once this has taken place they develop specific action plans to take back to their groups and from there on they work coherently together as a team. This develops a bond, and creates a model of team leadership, sharing, and reflection. Once this has happened then the teams are introduced to the nine behaviors of leadership where they discuss each one and try to use the information that they have gathered to take back to their own jobs were they can become even more successful then they have ever been before.

The Nine Behaviors that develop exception leaders are:

1. Motivating others through adaptive leadership, who knows when to direct, coach, facilitate, or delegate, depending on the task and person.

2. Empowering others, which is a sort of delegation that will help you as a leader to control the situation with the help of others.

3. Encouraging teamwork, which is balancing results, process, and relationships.

4. Preparing people for change allowing you to understand their psychological responses and helping them to create a positive change with force-field analysis.

5. Vision/Mission, which establishes guidelines for accomplishing a specific goal.

6. Using multiple options by allowing you to see different strategic possibilities and being open to more day-to-day options.

7. Taking intelligent risks, relating decision-making to risks and getting consensus.

8. Stretching personal creativity that renews personal resources.

9. Showing passion for work by demonstrating presence, inspiration, and energy.

Each company has their own way of developing programs that center on ones ability to become an effective leader; this was just one aspect that I was able to find. I have witnessed many different ways that people have shown their effectiveness and ineffectiveness as a leader to get what they wanted accomplished done.

Out at sea I have sailed with many different people who have held leadership roles and none of them have had the same type of leadership model. My first ship gave me the opportunity to witness not only what my life work would be, but a good look at two different ways of leading. My first Captain was probably the worst leader out of all of them, but he got the job done. If he got the job done, he has fulfilled his obligation as the Master of the vessel. However, in this case this Captain did not have the following of the crew. The crew would just do their job, nothing above or beyond, therefore there was no forward progress on the ship. My second Captain on the same ship made his people feel like they were effective and that a job well done is a job worth doing. This type of attitude allowed for the crew to be at a better mood, thus creating a faster more effective working environment. When the second Captain came aboard production on the ship seemed to double, the vessel now not only was making it to the proper ports on time with no problems, but they were getting there faster, the ship was looking better because of the extra work done by the crew and the atmosphere was much better.

This was only one instance that I was able to get a good look at how two entirely different ways of leading worked for the same cause. Even though one seemed better than the other, they both did the job and to the company that is all that mattered. Here at the Merchant Marine Academy I have witnessed many different types of leadership, not only in my superiors, but in my peers as well. This being my senior year I have been able to watch and learn the effective ways and the non-effective ways one should use in obtaining their goal. One great example is that of the Beat Retreat. Being in Band Company, we have a very important performance that requires a lot of teamwork and dedication. This is extremely hard to do if you have a poor leadership in the Band Company Officers. Now this year s performance went off with very little practice preparation, as compared to last year s preparation. The difference between the two is due greatly between the different ways that the leaders worked. Last years Band Master tried forcing issues that really didn t need to be forced and wasted valuable time enforcing these. This years Band Master was able to utilize his time to effectively get the job done, while still giving his band members the satisfaction of not wasting time.

Leadership is a very hard thing to accomplish due to the fact that there are simply too many variables that go into creating a perfect leader. However to be an effective leader you must have a good gripe on most of the skills as well as being able to excel in a few. The only way to become an effective leader is to watch and learn from others and your own personal experiences. Different organizations each have there own specific way of teaching effective leadership, but when it really comes down to it, the organization doesn t teach you how to become the effective leader, you yourself can only do that.