Leadership: Diverse Definitions and Insights

Introduction

“Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on Earth” (Zenger and Folkman, 2009, p.1). Since, a leader can be transformed into a coach, a team player, a visionary that “points the way for others to follow” (Memoria, 2016). Some people defined leadership as a process with an attempt to influence (Zmijewski, 2019). Others believe that, it is an artistic palette, where the colours represent the qualities, which support design leaders to excel such as passion about design, a compelling vision, the desire to achieve goals and make effective decisions (Joziasse, 2011; Price, A. and Price, D. 2018, p.4)

One thing is certain; there is no single definition of what leadership is all about. However, this module provided me with the opportunity to improve the practice as a design manager on a live client project brief, provided by The Space Studio, while reflecting on my own and my colleague’s experience using leadership and team working theories.

2. Interpersonal Skills and Qualities

2.1. My Personality

According to Northouse (2013, p.37), there are different questionnaires to measure our personal qualities. However, according to Judge et al. (2002, p.7), there is a strong association between the Big Five personality test and leadership. Specifically, extraversion was the quality, which is most strongly connected with leadership.

Reflecting back, on the personal development module, my Big Five personality test revealed that, extraversion was one of my strongest abilities. When relating this to leadership, I am always interested to listen and implement my team member’s ideas (Refer to appendix D & E). Furthermore, as colleague, B mentioned my clarity and my strong work ethic make it easy for other people to work with me (Refer to appendix C1).

However, my tendency to ask question about their ideas can irritate my team members and put them in stressful situations (Refer to appendix C1). Yet, mastering the art of asking questions is one of the most important characteristics, which a great leader needs to possess (Lyonnais, 2018).

2.2. Communication

Communication, both verbal and non-verbal play a vital role in our everyday lives. As Walton (2018, p.140) argued, good communication builds trust, satisfies common expectations and assists the relationship to cope up with the challenging situations.

For the team project, we adopted different methods of communication (Fig. 2), which allowed us, to be organised and efficient throughout the project. For instance, we used WhatsApp to schedule our meetings, google drive to upload our research materials and face-to-face gatherings to share ideas and make important decisions.

When reflecting on my communication skills, colleague A argued that, I was communicated my findings to the team in an understandable way (Refer to appendix C2). However, colleague B (Refer to appendix C1) felt that, I can slightly improve my communication skills. Yet, reflecting back, while colleague B was absent (Appendix B4), me and colleague A were unable to effectively communicate with him through WhatsApp calls and this affects our overall communication (Refer to appendix 7).

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2.3. Influencing

In the recent years, influence is one of the core skills of leadership. A leader must be able to empathise with the person that he wants to influence and adapt his behaviour accordingly. “This is the art of walking in other people’s shoes” (Owen, 2012, p. 132; Brent and Dent, 2014, p.70).

For the live client project, by empathising with the client’s needs, we managed to influence him regarding our brand consistency and brand guidelines suggestions. However, the client was not able to implement most of our ideas due to financial reasons (Appendix B19).

On a personal level, as my test revealed (Appendix F), I use both logic and emotion to influence others. In order to achieve that, during the project, I observed and analyse my colleagues’ behaviour to determine the best way to influence them (Fig. 3). For example, by being conscious that my colleague A was unmindful, allowed me to guide him in a certain way (Appendix B12).

2.4. Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

EQ is also a big component of leadership. For a leader, it is critical to perceive and express how he and others feel as well as to understand the interplay between emotions and thinking (Walton, 2018, p.6). As Goleman (1998, p.5) argued, EQ consists of five key competencies (Fig. 4), which can help a leader to successfully manage both himself and the demands of working with others.

Upon reflection, I performed an EQ test (Appendix G), to evaluate my EQ’s competencies. My test results and my colleague’s B feedback indicated that, I am a person who has high EQ (Appendix C1). Personally, I believe that, my ability to self-reflect on past experiences and behaviour in order to monitor my inner world increases my self-awareness and contributes to my self-regulation. Since, self-reflection assists an individual to develop self-knowledge and self-management by understanding his emotional psychological state (Cottrell, 2015, p.4). Furthermore, my empathy towards others allow me to build long-lasting relationships.

3. Me & My Team

3.1. Leadership Styles

‘‘Leaders come in many forms, with many styles and diverse qualities” (Gardner, 1990, p.5). According to Goleman (2000), different leadership styles are “reflected in behaviour and attitudes” (Fig.5) because leadership has two sides; what a person is and what a person does” (Kippenberger, 2002, p.5). However, leaders must adapt their leadership style to the situation in order to cope up with different individuals and situations (Hersey et al., 2008, p.15).

For our team project, we employed a democratic style approach, as we were asking for each other’s opinion and utilise each one’s strengths and talents. However, when things get tough, due to colleague B’s absent (Refer to appendix B4), we needed somebody to take the lead and guide the team. This encourages me to demonstrate my leadership skills, by arranging the meetings and organising both my team and the entire process in an efficient way, according to colleague B (refer to appendix C1). This allowed us to manage our time effectively, as time management was really important for us (Refer to appendix B5a). Reflecting back, it was a great opportunity for me to explore my leadership capabilities in a real-life situation (Refer to appendix B20). Also, this module helped me to understand, that I am a leader who can adjust in challenging situations. This boosted my self-confident and increased my self-awareness.

3.2. Team Building and Development

According to Tuckman’s theory, team members go through a series of stages to build and develop an effective team (Fig. 6). Consequently, my team had been formed, developed and progressed from the beginning of the task, to the end of the team cycle. At the forming phase, it was difficult to visualise me as being part of a team. However, we had an action plan and assigned responsibilities among us (Refer to appendix B5a). As the time went by, we worked collaboratively as one team, towards a common goal; a successful project that fulfils the client’s needs. Furthermore, we always supported each other’s ideas, which allowed us to maximise our performance. For instance, colleague A provided high-standard creative designs and colleague B proposed an efficient solution on how the Space Studio can effectively communicate with prospective clients. Lastly, my contribution was impressive, according to my colleagues (Refer to appendix C1 & C2). However, colleague A’s unreliable behaviour influenced our psychology, but not our performance. Nevertheless, we managed to overcome our differences and at the end, everybody was really happy with the final outcome (Refer to appendix B19).

3.3. Team Roles and Behaviour

A team role is the “tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way.” (Belbin, 2015, p.1). According to Belbin there are “nine clusters of behaviour” described as ‘Team Roles’ that each team needs to access (Fig. 7). By using Belbin Team Inventory behavioural test, team members can increase their self-awareness by identifying their behavioural strengths and weaknesses. This leads to better communication, collaboration and high performance within a team (Belbin, 2015, p.2)

Having in mind the above, my team undertook the Belbin Team Inventory behavioural test (Appendix H), (Fig.8) to discover our team roles. Personally, I was classified as a “plant” as well as “completer finisher”. The results are accurate, as I am a creative and hard-working person, who generates ideas quickly. Also, due to my perfectionism, prior to the presentation submission, I ensured that, everything was designed to match the brand identity of the Space Studio. However, if I am too preoccupied and have a tight deadline, I prefer to focus on the task, rather than fully communicate every single idea, as my colleague’s A mentioned (Refer to appendix C2). Yet, on the future, I will engage more on team’s discussions, even on the busiest hours. Furthermore, as illustrated in Figure 8, my test’ results were identical with my colleague A’ results. This drew my attention, since in reality, we have very different personalities with dissimilar qualities and skills.

3.4. Transactional Analysis (TA) and Cultural Differences

Developed by Dr Eric Berne during the 1960s, TA (Fig. 9) is an interpersonal relations approach, which examines relationships and interaction among the individuals with the aim to “link feelings and experiences with how people actually behave” (Northouse, 2013, p.322). TA is underpinned by the philosophy that, a person has three sides or “ego states” to his personality and that he “shift from one ego state to another depending on the situation and the person, he is interacting” (Northouse, 2013, p.323).

By exploring the Ego States, as shown on figure 10, TA allowed me to understand and analyse different interactions, which occurred throughout the project with my colleague A and B, with the aim to increase my self-awareness. For instance, I experienced the parent ego state with colleague A, since he had an irresponsible behaviour towards us (Refer to appendix B12). However, with colleague B, I was in my adult ego state as we always threatened each other with integrity and respect (Appendix C1). However, it is worth mentioning that, I never felt that, we had a language barrier among us, even if I have a different cultural background with the rest of the team. The fact that I was cultural aligned with my team members, that allowed me to effectively communicate my ideas and my feelings with other team members.

4. Team Effectiveness

4.1. Motivation

In order to attain goals and achieve success, an effective leader must be highly self-motivated in order to inspire, motivate, encourage and challenge team members to give their best performance. From our team perspective, it was fundamental to understand what motivates us to “engage our interest and focusing our efforts” in the first place (British Library, 2019). This led us to discover that our team was driven by success, clarity and recognition (Appendix B17), (Fig.11).

On a personal level, as reflected on my colleague’s A and B’s feedback, I had a strong motivation throughout the project. However, sometimes I was demotivated due to colleague A’s irresponsible behaviour (Appendix B12).

4.2. Positive Psychology

Seligman, the father of positive psychology, developed the PERMA framework, which consisted of five key elements (Fig.12) for positive psychology (Positive Psychology Program, 2017). As Seligman argued, positive thinking, sense of accomplishment, a “can-do” attitude and meaningful relationships among team members contributed positively to a team’s performance. Since, positive psychology enables the teams to flourish, increase happiness, support resilient and create authentic connections. In many occasions, we shared moments of joy. However, colleague B’s absent (Refer to appendix B4) and colleague A’s unreliable behaviour (Refer to appendix B12) decreased my positivity. Yet, I tried to stay as optimistic as possible (Refer to appendix B13 & 14).

4.3. Feedback

“Feedback is one of the most difficult and sensitive processes in teams” (Krogerus and Tschappeler, 2017, p.26). Therefore, when delivering feedback, a leader needs to discover the “right balance between being direct and being sensitive” (Vizard, 2018). Since, the purpose of feedback is to help individuals to improve or to progress. My team also performed a 360-degree feedback in order to evaluate each other’s contribution and performance in a direct but decent way. This allowed me to increase my self-awareness by understanding that I am a strong individual, who can contribute to a team in various ways. However, I need to spend more time for discussing ideas with my future team, even if I am too preoccupied, as Zenger and Folkman (2009, p.231) suggested.

5. Conclusion

This module was a discovery journey through the word of leadership. A journey, that allowed me to practice as a design manager on a live client project brief provided by the Space Studio, while exploring and reflecting on my own and my colleague’s experience using leadership, interpersonal and teamworking theories. Reflecting back, my colleagues’ feedback helped me to increase my self-awareness by identifying my strengths, weaknesses and my areas of improvement. My colleagues suggested and I strongly agreed that, I came across as a highly efficient and dedicated individual with strong organisational skills and high emotional intelligence qualities. However, on the future, I need to engage more with my team’s ideas. Overall, this module taught me all the skills required for developing a successful design management career. Nevertheless, the most important thing is that this experience allowed me to discover what kind of leader I want to be on the future. An empathetic leader, with the ability to adjust her strategy and behaviour according to the present situation. A leader, who has the ability to get the best out of her employees by empathising with their needs, their emotions and their desires. For me, this is what leadership is all about.