Juliet Holzknecht

AHE 576
6/04/2015
Assignment 1, Part 2, Analysis
Similar to the Tao of Personal Leadership (Dreher & Tzu, 1996), I have come
to realize that there are two parts to leadership that need to be mastered. The first
is inner leadership, by understanding yourself and being aware of how you interact
with different situations you are able to more appropriately respond, and remain
positive in situations. The second is how your leadership and management style
affects those around you. This is based off of the communication, interaction,
respect and presence that you bring to the group. To be a strong leader, you must
utilize and understand both areas. Throughout the rest of the paper, I will reflect on
each of these areas in regards to strengths and areas I am working on. It is
important to note that for me, I believe that even areas of strengths still have room
for improvement, and I continue to learn and grow in all areas as I experience both
good and bad leadership in different aspects of my life.
Inner Leadership
Three traits stood out to me when reading our texts and working with
different organizations. A good leader has good self awareness, is flexible, and
balances their life between personal and professional goals. I have found that by
focusing on these three areas, it lays a strong foundation for other inner leadership
traits.
Through reflection and personality assessments, I have learned many
different areas of myself. So much so, that none of the personality assessments that
we did at the beginning of the quarter were a surprise to me. According to Whetton
and Cameron, some of the most important areas of self-awareness are emotional
intelligence, personal values, cognitive style, and orientation towards change.(2010,
pp. 6162). I know that I have high emotional intelligence and can calmly respond
to difficult or stressful situations. As Dreher states, Maintaining emotional control is
an essential leadership skill (1996, p. 29). I am also aware that I am able to process
information in many different ways and have high responses to several different
cognitive styles. In regards to change, I find it interesting and exciting. With each
change there are new systems to create, and new problems to solve. When
something goes unexpectedly, I have learned to see it as a challenge and to search
for ways to work through it quickly and efficiently. I believe this parallels Drehers
comment that what separates the professionals from the amateurs is not that they
dont have problems. Everyone has problems, challenges, moments of discord. Its
how soon we return to the music, how well we recover, that marks a true
professional(1996, p. 20).
I have found that flexibility and response to change are very closely
connected to our own personal balance. When were centered we respond wisely to
any challenge; uncentered were emotional and reactive (Dreher & Tzu, 1996, p.
33). I have learned that to stay centered and respond to change and new situations
with a positive attitude, I need to make time for my own self care. This includes
regular exercise, enough sleep, regular time to connect with loved ones, and some
moments of unstructured time throughout the week. I have learned that making

time for myself and my needs helps me keep a positive outlook, which affects those
around me. One area that I would like to continue to cultivate is time for Drehers
Yohaku. When planning our activities, we must remember to allow for yohaku,
the essential open space that allows our souls to breathe, our imaginations to soar,
and our hearts to rejoice(Dreher & Tzu, 1996, p. 90). I get stuck in a space where I
feel like I have to do so many different things that I plan over the free time I could
use for Yohaku. In order to remain creative and positive, I continue to think about
how I can add more time for this into my daily life.
External Leadership and Management
What I have found most prevalent in the readings from this course, and
discussions with businesses, is the continuous focus on communication and
forethought. When leading a group, one of the most important things to do is
develop a goal or vision. Whetten and Cameron discuss this in terms of delegation,
to begin with the end in mind (2010, p. 465), but I have found that in all cases it is
helpful to be open and transparent (as much as you can) and respect that the staff
is competent and has good intent. With this communicated vision, it is also
important to share what you dont know or may not be able to answer. I have found
that saying I dont know, but Ill find out not only reduces the chance for
misguidance, but also strengthens relationships between co-workers as you show
vulnerability and authenticity. As Dreher states, Tao leaders also have the humility
to acknowledge what they dont know and the openness to accept new
knowledge(1996, p. 164). By combining humility and openness with a shared
vision, I have found that staff are more open to sharing other ways to get to the end
goal and provide ideas I had never thought of. One of the most important points as
a leader is to remember that People dont expect a pathfinder to have a
preconceived map of the unknown territory. However, they do expect him or her to
have the tools and strategies to get them to their destination (Dreher & Tzu, 1996,
p. 148). Overall, I believe that continuous communication with staff builds trusting
relationships, and helps to improve group dynamics if appropriately applied.
I have also found that I subscribe to the transactional theory of leadership as
described by the Ten Theories of Leadership in Five Minutes video (Morgan, n.d.).
This directs the way I delegate tasks and also how I provide feedback. To cultivate
followership, I try to provide a sense of autonomy (Whetten & Cameron, 2010) in
the way tasks are delegated. While supervising part time employees, I have realized
that each of them only sees a small piece of the whole puzzle. I see my role as
providing the overarching big picture for them to work with, and a task list and due
dates (as necessary) that they can help with. I agree with Whetten and Cameron
that the best delegation involves participation from those receiving tasks (2010, p.
467). By allowing staff to choose the tasks they want, they are able to have more
autonomy, and feel more invested in the task. I provide the foundation, goal or
outline for the task, and ask them to decide how to do it. The more actively
engaged people are in making the decisions, the more committed theyll be to the
actions that follow and the less theyll complain about the results(Dreher & Tzu,
1996, p. 123). Even if a task is not done correctly, they are more willing to correct
their mistake if they were able to be involved in the choosing of tasks. It also
empowers staff to ask questions and see if there is a more efficient way for

something to be done. Instead of giving order, the Tao leader works with group
energies to facilitate solutions (Dreher & Tzu, 1996, p. 123).
With transactional leadership, it is also important to provide timely feedback
and opportunities for reflection. As Sharon from FuturesNW mentioned, one of her
biggest focuses is recognizing others accomplishments and communicating her
appreciation (S. Camblin, personal communication, May 2015). The best way to
ensure that staff choose to invest in the work, is to know that their work is
appreciated and valued. I do my best on a weekly basis to provide positive feedback
to staff that complete a task well. I end every day with my student staff with a
thank you for the work theyve done that day. These small gestures can mean a
lot for staff. But timely feedback may not always be positive. I think it is important
to also have harder conversations with staff in a timely manner, rather than waiting
until their yearly review. If a staff member is surprised by their review, then it is a
good indication that the supervisor is not communicating well. While these
moments for timely constructive feedback can be seen as conflict, I view them as
learning opportunities and do my best to share these moments with my staff in a
way that allows them to grow from that experience. I do not make it a personal
attack, but instead focus on the work impact and how it could affect others (or our
own) work down the road. This has created an open and honest space where
constructive feedback is part of the natural environment and is not focused on
making someone feel bad, but helping the team to look good in the long run.
Areas to Improve
As I mentioned above, I am interested in making sure I set aside more time
for Yohaku to help improve my own creativity and state of mind. I believe that I
could also increase my knowledge of the economic state of affairs within our office
so that I could contribute new ideas in this area to my supervisor. Learning more
about the business of our business will also help me communicate some of the
economic decisions for our organization more effectively to my staff. Overall, as I
mentioned at the beginning, while I feel that I am fairly competent in many areas, I
believe that there is always room to improve. I am continuing to learn how to
address different learning styles of my staff and individually focus training so that it
is most effective. But I find that the most effective learning is through experience.
As I have grown as a professional I have seen strong leaders and I have seen weak
leaders. Through each of these experiences I have learned new skills to try or noted
what I should not do. Because of this, I feel that I am constantly learning leadership
and management, and will continue to do so throughout my career.

References
Dreher, D., & Tzu, L. (1996). The Tao of Personal Leadership. New York:
HarperBusiness.
Morgan, S. (n.d.). Ten Leadership Theories in Five Minutes. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=222&v=xB-YhBbtfXE
Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2010). Developing Management Skills Author:
David A. Whetten, Kim S. Cameron, Publisher: Prentice Hall Pages: 744 P.
Retrieved from http://www.openisbn.org/download/0136121004.pdf