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Importance of integrity to an individual
Importance of integrity to an individual
Importance of integrity to an individual
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“The glue that holds all relationships together - including the relationship between; the leader and the led is trust, and trust is based on integrity.” This wise statement from Brian Tracey embodies the synergistic relationship between leaders and followers that this paper will focus on. According to the course textbook, leadership can be defined as “the process of influencing an organized group toward accomplishing its goals.” (Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy, 2009, p.4) Although this statement is valid, it is my firm belief that it is a leader’s responsibility to do make a positive impact in a subordinate’s life. This paper will discuss why building trust is important in creating a team, how to build trust and finally analyze a personal course of action to implement upon entering the fleet.
Building trusting relationships is a crucial backbone in the body of a team. As stated earlier, it is the leader’s responsibility to do make a positive impact in a subordinate’s life. I have seen this impact first hand during my time as a Midshipman. LT Bill Burke, former Echo Company Advisor consistently went above and beyond the minimum requirements as an advisor. He was able to do this by implementing a legitimate open door policy. Unlike most CO’s open door policies, LT Burke made it a point to encourage people to come talk to him. One example of how he made a positive impact in a Midshipman’s life was convincing a MIDN to stay in ROTC after he got his girlfriend pregnant. LT Burke always went to bat for his people; consequently, they supported him in his endeavors. He was nominated and recieved the national Naval Professor of the year in 2009.
According to Stephen Covey, trust is the highest form of human motivation; it can bring out th...
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...el-Aziz, A. (2010). Trust & leadership. Informally published manuscript, Leadership
Laboratory, SANS Technology Institute, Denver, Colorado. Retrieved from http://www.sans.edu/research/leadership-laboratory/article/1588
Covey, S. (1990). The 7 habits of highly effective people. New York, NY: Free Press.
Covey, S. (2008). The leader in me. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
Dirks, K. T. (2000). Trust in leadership and team performance. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 85(6), 1004-1012. Retrieved from
http://portal.psychology.uoguelph.ca/faculty/gill/7140/WEEK_8_Feb.27/Dirks_JAP2000.pdf
Hughes, R. L., Ginnett, R. C., & Curphy, G. J. (2009).Leadership: Enhancing the lessons of experience. (6 ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Statton, J. (2011, June 03). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://michaelhyatt.com/6-ways-
leaders-can-build-trust.html
Natural born leaders are almost nonexistent in today’s military. Military members have to complete numerous leadership classes as you progress through the military ranks whether you are an enlisted or as an officer. There are many attributes that people would have to possess to be considered a great leader. Some of those attributes include honesty, respect, trustworthy, and enthusiasm just to name a few. There have been many leaders I have worked with or for over my past 19 years in the Army. One of the most important one would have to be honesty. Honesty is important because if the people that work for you cannot believe what you tell them, they will never trust you or support you. Employees can make or break their supervisor. If they do not like or trust the manager they will not respect them and they will only do the least amount possible. When your employees believe that, you value their opinion and their work ethic. Like you and trust, you they will do anything you ask of them. Whether the decision is right or wrong it is a decision, a leader never want to leave their subordinat...
As a Marine, it is imperative to have leadership skills along with being capable of working with others. This book was written to enhance the reader’s mentality of how the Marines operate. It informs those who are looking into the service, and provides an in depth look into the trials and tribulations it has been through—as well as conquered. This book substantially explains the vigorous training platoon 3086 went through in order to earn the title of being a Marine.
Let it be clear that no book will tell us the optimal way of leading, the best way of organizing subordinates, however, we need to realize that successful leaders have all something in common, their actions speak louder than their words, and that these actions are all guided by integrity. The emerging leader should in the end be able to build a character dependent on integrity. The character should be built by the core values we stand for, by our vision’s context, and what’s most important, we should always keep in mind, that “nothing is worse than losing trust, as it will mark our reputation”.
Leadership at times can be a complex topic to delve into and may appear to be a simple and graspable concept for a certain few. Leadership skills are not simply acquired through position, seniority, pay scale, or the amount of titles an individual holds but is a characteristic acquired or is an innate trait for the fortunate few who possess it. Leadership can be misconstrued with management; a manager “manages” the daily operations of a company’s work while a leader envisions, influences, and empowers the individuals around them.
Kouzes, J., & Posner, B., (2007). The leadership challenge, (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-
It is my belief that transformational leadership improves organizational effectiveness, and, therefore, should be used in every organization. As my goal is to move up the management chart, I trust this theory and concept will enable me to be a more effective leader. The transformational leadership style is one of the widely used approaches today. Organizations believe that transformational leaders influence performance. In order for me to influence my follower’s to increase team performance, I must build that trust. Meaning, I must become that effective transformational leader in which my followers have trust in me. These learnings will be applied in my workplace. After the readings, I now understand how crucial trust is in transformational leadership. In the workplace, my focus will be on building cognitive trust among team members so that they will put more efforts into performing the given task. Having trust in the team leader and trust amongst team members has a positive effect on team performance. If I want the vision to be fulfilled, it’s imperative that I encourage my employees to work together. As the article mentions, trust is an important factor that mediates the effect of the transformational leadership on group outcomes. Applying the learnings of this article will enhance my leadership skills as well as improving organizational
Lord, R. (2000). Leadership. In A. E. Kazdin (Ed.), Encyclopedia of psychology, vol. 4. (pp. 499-505). Doi:10.1037/10519-216
Northouse, P. (2010). Leadership: Theory and practice (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Upon graduation, each of us will face the challenge of building a cohesive team through mutual trust. Trust is the groundwork for any successful team. Just as the commander will learn to trust me, I in return will have to trust my commander. As a Command Sergeant Major (CSM) or Staff Sergeant Major (SGM), I realize that my Soldiers will not trust me right away, and I must gain their mutual trust through my daily interactions. By setting an example and living the Army Values, I will gain their mutual trust. My commander and I will plan team-building events often to maximize the opportunities to build the mutual trust within our organization with the staff and Soldiers. Understanding that team building requires an effort on everyone’s part but the chance to bridge any gaps tha...
Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Restoring the Character Ethic. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989.
The emphasis on leaders being not just executives and managers, and that not all executives and managers are leaders, is extremely vital. Anyone can strive to be a leader in whatever organization in which they are involved. Bennis and Nanus claim that leadership is about character, setting the example for how team members treat one other (and in a corporate setting, their clients as well), being truthful and sustaining organizational trust, and encouraging themselves and others to learn. On one hand, it can be easy to see how many people in leadership positions do no match up to these standards of leadership. On the other, it seems a bit like common sense to be truthful to others and to effectively communicate with people who work together everyday. Leaders is an effective tool for summarizing and inspiring leadership not in that it teaches tough strategies and manipulations, but that when looking at an overview of its content, Bennis and Nanus are essentially teaching human relations and human decency. All in all, this book highlights strategies for us all to be better in our lives and our everyday
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Covey, 2004) has become the cornerstone of leadership and management wisdom. The habits emphasize personal responsibility and personal leadership. There is challenge in living everyday under the guidance of the habits but there is also great benefit as living the habits can influence everything we do in life. I was introduced to Covey’s seven habits through a one day seminar at my workplace several years ago. I learned some of the terminology and a few of the concepts but never really understood the power of the practical application of the habits. Reading the Covey materials has taught me that life is not about all the tasks that I accomplish but instead about accomplishing the tasks that support what is important to me. Covey has taught me that there are elemental components that are applicable across the many roles that I have in my life. Those universal elements are integrity, vision, discipline, and passion. Embracing these ideas has opened my eyes to the endless applications and benefits of living the seven habits.
Lussier, R.N. & Achua, C.F. (2010). Leadership: Theory, application, skill development (5th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western.
Many cadets are between eighteen to twenty-one-years-old, and they strive to become successful leaders. “Truth” is one of three MMI’s core values. According to the MMI Cadet Manual of a message from Colonel Edwin Passmore, the most important trait for a successful leader is integrity (3). Cadets might not know if they have integrity because most cadets may not have experienced a position that tests their integrity. Further, cadets in leadership roles may not be able to recognize any leadership deficiencies, like lack of integrity, and therefore unintentionally may lose respect from their followers. This paper suggests that cadet leaders at MMI discover their leadership strengths and weaknesses, those inexperienced leaders may fail to tell the truth to their followers, and in turn, those followers may lose respect for those new
Leading through followership of mentors shows that above all, followership is more important than leadership. The lessons learned from role models ultimately sets not only the mentee on a path towards success, but the organization as well. In reference to being a professional Airman and a transformational leader as mentioned in paragraph two; traits, skills, and characteristics are passed down from the predecessor. The successor will then gain the courage it takes to stand up for what is right and speak on their mentors direction and adapt it as their own.16 The acquired knowledge through following mentors dynamically and effectively mold mentees into leaders, which in turn establishes confidence needed to master tasks and leadership when confronted with organizational challenges.17 Everyone faces challenges and is a subordinate to someone else.18 What a person experiences will be the cornerstone he or she refers to when leading subordinates.19 “After all, even the greatest of military leaders must start at the bottom. We must learn to follow before we can lead.”20