Case Study 4: Supervising Experienced Workers

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Case Study 4: Supervising Experienced Workers
Aden is a newly promoted sergeant at a busy police precinct. He is considerably younger than most of the officers he supervises. He is not only younger than those he supervises, he is also better educated. In addition to holding a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, he is good with computers. He entered the police academy right out of college and began studying for the sergeant’s exam with an eye toward rapid advancement. Aden knows his department’s policies and procedures cold and because of his computer skills, was assigned to work as a captain’s assistant after a little more than a year on foot patrol. Because he was promoted so quickly and spent the time since, as an officer doing administrative work, he has had limited experience with life on the streets.
How can Aden turn this set of circumstances into an advantage? How can he become a good supervisor to his older and more experienced officers? What personality and behavioral issues does he need to be mindful of to assure that he does not alienate his officers and fellow sergeants?

Unit Four Holistic Leadership & Self-Determination Unit Four Holistic Leadership & Self-Determination HSL 549 Leadership Implications of Human Behavior We have now reached the halfway point for this course and a perfect place to attempt to integrate the wealth of knowledge that we have accumulated so far with our ongoing application to leadership practice through our analysis of holistic leadership competencies. 1 Holistic Leadership Competencies As you know, for this course we are focusing our attention on eight competencies – the values competency efficacy facilitation, mediator competencies interpersonal agility, self development and self efficacy and fulfillment competencies effective communication, advocacy, strategic diplomacy, professionalism and achievement orientation. 2 Fulfillment Effective Communication Advocacy Mediator Interpersonal Agility Self Development Values Efficacy Facilitation Self Efficacy Strategic Diplomacy Professionalism Achievement Orientation Efficacy Facilitation Using strategies and behaviors that promote in others a confidence in their ability to accomplish their goals and objectives. Let’s begin with our value competency. Self efficacy is one of the strongest predictors of goal achievement which is why it is a mediator competency that we will discuss separately in a later slide. However, efficacy facilitation describes the actions that members of the organization can take to support the development of self efficacy in others. Using this values competency as a starting point, how can we use what we’ve learned about the psychological, psychosocial and spiritual person to help peers, direct reports and even supervisors increase their self efficacy? 3 Leadership Sub-competencies For this and all of our competencies we can use the sub-competency structure as a guide. The sub-competencies identify the different roles that organization members play depending on their level of function. So we can ask for example – how can executive level leaders establish a culture and climate that supports self efficacy in its members? Have managerial level leaders made the support of member self-efficacy a part of the organization’s structure, are there policies that support this practice? Do supervisors provide feedback in a way that instills confidence in members in their own abilities to accomplish goals? And ultimately is this an organization where members perform their duties in ways that reflect the belief that they can be successful? 4 Executive Fosters culture Creates climate Managerial Provides structure Implements policy Supervisor Models behavior Provides feedback Frontline Reflects values Validates commitment Pathways to Participation One of the ways that organizations can use the competencies to develop self leadership capacity throughout the organization is to provides pathways to participation in the decisions that effect them. The Pathways to participation model was developed by Harry Shier to establish guidelines for empowering children. However, the structure offers an excellent template for implementing holistic leadership practices through the application of competencies at each subcompetency level as well. 5 Pathways to Participation Borrowing from Shier’s model, the first level pathway is that participants are listened to. Among the competencies that are consistent with this level are efficacy facilitation, self efficacy, effective communication and strategic diplomacy – all competencies that we will be discussing in this unit. These competencies among others can be used to ensure that all members of an organization are heard. One way to accomplish this is through person centered communication, for example. The second pathway is to support participants in expressing their views, again a pathway for which efficacy facilitation would be an important strategy. The third pathway is that participants views are taken into account, next participants are involved in decision-making processes and finally participants share power and responsibility for decision-making. 6 The Person The actors in the daily drama of an organization are seeking opportunities to express their potential. As more pathways of participation are engaged the organization is able to connect with the whole person that each member represents – psychological, psychosocial and potentially even spiritual. 7 Mediator Domain The mediator competencies support these functions. Let’s look more closely at each. 8 Interpersonal Agility Self Efficacy Fulfillment Competencies Self Development Interpersonal Agility Interpersonal agility engages both the psychological and the psychosocial person. 9 Interpersonal Agility Research on leadership effectiveness indicates that success or failure is linked to the following factors: The ability to develop constructive relationships The ability communicate effectively The ability to demonstrate agility in human interactions The top two behavioral clusters contributing to career derailment are: Poor Relationship Building Skills Poor Self Management Because research has established linkages between the behaviors represented by this competency and leadership effectiveness. Specifically, the ability to develop constructive relationships, communicate effectively and most directly, the ability to demonstrate flexibility in one’s interactions with others. The connection between this competency and success in ones career cannot be overstated as evidenced by the fact that the leading causes of career derailment are poor relationship building skills and poor self management. Since relationship building is a separate competency in our model, we will focus our attention here on the meaning of self management. 10 Self Regulation Emotion researchers refer to self management as self regulation. This graphic illustrates the behaviors and characteristics that influence one’s ability to self regulate. They include a commitment to self development, the determination to set goals and objectives, self monitoring and self assessment and self reflection and evaluation. Individuals who have strong self regulatory skills actively use their knowledge about themselves and others to maintain this loop. That knowledge includes many of the theories and topics discussed in prior units, like the stimuli that trigger cognitive, emotional and behavioral responses in ourselves and others. 11 Self Regulation So as an example, efficacy facilitation could mean using person centered messages to engage with others in ways that trigger positive responses rather than negative ones or taking the time to assess, reflect and monitor one’s own cognitions and emotions before acting. 12 Self Regulation In this model of self regulation, the use of metacognitive skills – something we also covered in unit two is a key element. 13 Self Regulation Self reflection, one of our leadership competencies is also identified as a phase in the cycle 14 Self Regulation And self efficacy is called out as a key belief system. 15 Self Regulation The key emphasis is on the selection of strategies and behaviors by the actor. Self regulation is not only self management but self mastery. And even though the emphasis is on individual action, under the leadership model we study in this program, we can expect to receive help from organization members. 16 Mediator Domain The mediator competencies provide a framework for self regulation that prepares members to engage more pathways of participation. This will be reflected in the fulfillment competencies practiced. 17 Interpersonal Agility Self Efficacy Fulfillment Competencies Self Development Fulfillment Domain For purposes of this discussion we focus on effective communication, advocacy, strategic diplomacy and achievement orientation. 18 Fulfillment Effective Communication Achievement Orientation Advocacy Professionalism Strategic Diplomacy Effective Communication We discussed in unit two, ways to make our communication more effective. 19 Advocacy Person centered communication opens up additional avenues for the demonstration of key leadership competencies, including advocacy. It is sometimes necessary to advocate for ourselves as well as for others, even in settings where holistic leadership is practiced. The difference is that in a holistically led setting, advocacy is embraced as a participatory process. 20 Leadership Sub-competencies Executive level leaders create a culture where advocacy is embraced, managerial level leaders provide for it in the organizations structure and policies and supervisory engagements model advocacy in their exchanges with and on behalf of staff. 21 Executive Fosters culture Creates climate Managerial Provides structure Implements policy Supervisor Models behavior Provides feedback Frontline Reflects values Validates commitment Strategic Diplomacy The ability to garner support, minimize opposition and secure desired outcomes that are aligned with strategic goals and objectives, through the use of non-coercive or manipulative persuasion and influence strategies for both policy and operational decision-making. By now our review of human behavior should give rise to a range of ideas for how to engage different competencies in ways that improve member outcomes and their satisfaction with work experiences. Strategic diplomacy for example, is defined as the ability to garner support, minimize opposition and secure desired outcomes that are aligned with strategic goals and objectives. However, it is through the demonstration of interpersonal agility and the practice of self reflection and self regulation that this actually becomes possible. For some, these competencies will come more naturally than for others however they are accessible to all leaders. Holistically led organizations not only expect them of members but provide structures for helping members to develop them. 22 Professionalism Consistently demonstrating competent, ethical, and socially responsible conduct that reflects a concern for the welfare of the individual, team, organization, community and society at large. We include professionalism in our discussion because until the practice of leadership competencies like the ones we cover in this course become standards for behavior, they cannot be expected to be practiced consistently. This graphic shows that professionalism in action is a recursive process of values and personal commitment, skills and abilities and knowledge and understanding. 23 Achievement Orientation Pursuing the highest standards of excellence in one’s own contributions as they pertain to past, present and future performance both for its own sake and out of a desire to fulfill individual and collective goals and objectives. Achievement orientation is a reflection of commitment and self determination, characteristics that we reviewed earlier. Pursuing the highest standards of excellence in one’s own contributions as they pertain to past, present and future performance both for its own sake and out of a desire to achieve individual and collective goals. 24 Levels of Leadership Functional Level Level of Function The holistic leadership model reminds us that these goals are executed not only at every level of functioning but for every type of leadership unit – individually, in one on one exchanges, at the team or department level and ultimately organization wide. 25 Executive Fosters culture Creates climate Managerial Provides structure Implements policy Supervisor Models behavior Provides feedback Frontline Reflects values Validates commitment Weam Organization Team Department Work unit Dy Supervisor/direct repot Peer to peer I Self leader Agency Self “Leader” Regulation Once again we are reminded of the challenges of expecting self leadership of ourselves and others. However, you should also now have greater insight into the different strategies that are available to meet these expectations. We’ll now review two more perspectives that should be helpful in this regard – self determination theory and the practice of inductive supervision. 26 Self Determination Theory Earlier in this unit, we identified self determination as a competent of self regulation. But it is actually essential to leadership practice in general because it helps to explain human motivation. Ryan and Deci’s article on self determination theory is included in this week’s readings. For this lecture we will focus our attention on their self-determination continuum. As it moves from left to right, we will examine human behavior as it shifts from nonself-determined to self-determined by assessing three components related to the degree of motivation – regulatory styles, perceived locus of causality and relevant regulatory processes. 27 Self Determination Theory The lowest level is the