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Learn what charismatic leadership is, and whether it is a necessary part of leadership effectiveness.

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Charismatic leadership behavior and leadership effectiveness

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Charismatic leadership behavior and leadership effectiveness

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This pdf includes the moderating role of subordinat es’emotional intelligence and the mediating role of psychological empowerment. This information is beneficial to understand and to utilize for the future.

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Charismatic Leadership vs. Servant Leadership (My own Powtoon)

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Charismatic Leadership vs. Servant Leadership (My own Powtoon)

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Charismatic Leadership vs. Servant Leadership

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The 5 Characteristics That Make a Charismatic Leader

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The 5 Characteristics That Make a Charismatic Leader

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Personally, I felt that charismatic leadership is important in the education system. Since studying it, I have looked for people using it on my own campus. While using too much charisma can be a bad thing, remembering to be charismatic occasionally is beneficial.

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The 5 Characteristics That Make a Charismatic Leader | Entrepreneur

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Personality and charm, not external power or authority, are what count most for the “it factor.”

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WHY YOU SHOULD HAVE A WRITTEN LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY

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WHY YOU SHOULD HAVE A WRITTEN LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY

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Emotional Intelligence in Leadership Learning How to Be More Aware

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Emotional Intelligence in Leadership Learning How to Be More Aware

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The more that you, as a leader, manage each of these areas, the higher your emotional intelligence. So, let's look at each element in more detail and examine how you can grow as a leader.

Emotional Intelligence in Leadership

1. Self-awareness

If you're self-aware, you always know how you feel, and you know how your emotions and your actions can affect the people around you. Being self-aware when you're in a leadership position also means having a clear picture of your strengths and weaknesses, and it means behaving with humility.

So, what can you do to improve your self-awareness?

Keep a journal. Journals help you improve your self-awareness. If you spend just a few minutes each day writing down your thoughts, this can move you to a higher degree of self-awareness.

2. Self-regulation

Leaders who regulate themselves effectively rarely verbally attack others, make rushed or emotional decisions, stereotype people, or compromise their values. Self-regulation is all about staying in control.

This element of emotional intelligence, according to Goleman, also covers a leader's flexibility and commitment to personal accountability.

So, how can you improve your ability to self-regulate?

Hold yourself accountable. If you tend to blame others when something goes wrong, stop. Make a commitment to admit to your mistakes and to face the consequences, whatever they are. You'll probably sleep better at night, and you'll quickly earn the respect of those around you.

Practice being calm. The next time you're in a challenging situation, be very aware of how you act. Do you relieve your stress by shouting at someone else? Practice deep-breathing exercises to calm yourself. Also, try to write down all of the negative things you want to say, and then rip it up and throw it away. Expressing these emotions on paper (and not showing them to anyone!) is better than speaking them aloud to your team. What's more, this helps you challenge your reactions to ensure that they're fair!

3. Motivation

Self-motivated leaders work consistently toward their goals, and they have extremely high standards for the quality of their work.

How can you improve your motivation?

Re-examine why you're doing your job. It's easy to forget what you really love about your career. So, take some time to remember why you wanted this job. If you're unhappy in your role and you're struggling to remember why you wanted it, try the Five Whys technique to find the root of the problem. Starting at the root often helps you look at your situation in a new way. And make sure that your goal statements are fresh and energizing. For more on this, see our article on Goal Setting.

4. Empathy

For leaders, having empathy is critical to managing a successful team or organization. Leaders with empathy have the ability to put themselves in someone else's situation. They help develop the people on their team, challenge others who are acting unfairly, give constructive feedback, and listen to those who need it.

If you want to earn the respect and loyalty of your team, then show them you care by being empathic.

How can you improve your empathy?

Respond to feelings. You ask your assistant to work late - again. And although he agrees, you can hear the disappointment in his voice. So, respond by addressing his feelings. Tell him you appreciate how willing he is to work extra hours, and that you're just as frustrated about working late. If possible, figure out a way for future late nights to be less of an issue (for example, give him Monday mornings off).

5. Social Skills

Leaders who do well in the social skills element of emotional intelligence are great communicators. They're just as open to hearing bad news as good news, and they're experts at getting their team to support them and be excited about a new mission or project.

Leaders who have good social skills are also good at managing change and resolving conflicts diplomatically. They're rarely satisfied with leaving things as they are, but they don't sit back and make everyone else do the work: they set an example with their own behavior.

So, how can you build social skills?

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Emotional Intelligence in Leadership - Learning How to Be More Aware

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Relating to others is vital in today's workplace. Learn how to build your emotional intelligence (EI) with this article.

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Applying Adaptive Leadership to Sustain K-12 District Initiatives and Challenges

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Applying Adaptive Leadership to Sustain K-12 District Initiatives and Challenges

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Writing an Educational Philosophy Statement

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Writing an Educational Philosophy Statement

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Leadership on the Line Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading - ByRonald A. Heifetz Marty Linsky 

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Leadership on the Line Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading - ByRonald A. Heifetz Marty Linsky 

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This pdf is a quick recap of the book that I read for Module 6. I fell in love with the advice and have even recommended it to several colleagues.

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Developing an Effective Command Philosophy

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Developing an Effective Command Philosophy

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Whether running a school, managing a store, or influencing coworkers, acquiring leadership abilities is key in prompting others to complete a task. As an administrator it is one’s duty to lead a team toward building a successful school. You cannot lead a team without building one. This picture is a simple reminder that as an administrator it is my job to make employees feel wanted, trusted, and valued. Simple gestures such as the one below, help to remind the staff that they are apart of an awesome and growing campus.

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Creating a welcoming atmosphere is a specialty at Campus A. Instead of the teachers’ lounge being filled with notes that state “We are almost there” or “45 days until the next break”, Campus A’s lounge always radiates positive influences. Once a month all the teachers come together for a potluck lunch to celebrate the birthdays for that month. The administration joins the staff in coming together as one. This gesture aids in continuing the encouraging climate that Campus A emits and helps to maintain a positive school culture. This is one of my favorite leadership techniques!

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Adaptive Challenge and The Leadership Challenge

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Adaptive Challenge and The Leadership Challenge

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I referred back to this article several times throughout the semester because it clearly defines leadership vs. management.

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Sometimes, leadership failure stems from the inability to differentiate the practice of management and leadership and the roles of managers and leaders.

Most managers are functionally very competent, skilful and good at problem-solving. Theywould have attained a certain level of functional experiences, had been very effectively in their functional roles,before gettingpromoted to the management level. However, at the management level, managers do not only deal with functional and task related issues, they also have to deal with people related issue. For most new managers, people issue is a new challenge to them because in their previous appointments, it is often left to their superiors to handle.This explains why we sometimes hear about managers who are technically very able but lack people skills, such as relating and communication. Perhaps, these managers are using task oriented problem-solving approaches to managepeople issues.

Conversely, we can argue that a good leader does not need to be technically very competent. While certain level of technical understanding is necessary to facilitate decision making, a good leader do not need to be a master of the craft. Rather, a good leader uses his/her leadership skills to motivate more technically gifted team members to perform better. A good example is the Head of State of many countries. He/she does not need to be an expert in finance, trade, foreign relationship and all others important government sectors. Rather, the Head of State appoints very competent individuals to run each of the ministries and his/her duty is to lead and support these individuals. However, the Head of State cannot be completely ignorant to the works of all the ministries because he/she is ultimately responsible for all the decisions made.

Problems arise when leaders manage to lead.
Technical and Adaptive Challenges
Dr Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linskyclassified organization challenges into two categories - technical challenge and adaptive challenge. Technical challenges are challenges where there are known answers and solutions. For example, production is halted because the machine is downed, the existing solutions are: 1) called a mechanic, 2) if you are a mechanic, purchase the replacement parts and repair it yourself, 3) buy a new machine or 4) out-source production. Either ways, there is a known solution to continue production. Managers, especially seasoned ones, excel at solving technical challenges.

Adaptive challenges refer to situations where there are no known solutions to the problem or cases where there are too many solutions but no clear choices.Adaptive challenges are by nature, adaptive, which also means they are fluid and change with circumstances.Adaptive challenges are volatile, unpredictable, complex and ambiguous in nature. Solutions to this type of challenge usually require people to learn new ways of doing things, change their attitudes, values and norms and adopt an experimental mind-set. For example, a machine breaks down once every couple of months, despite regular maintenance.Theadaptive challenge here is the lack of ownership and care towards the machine because staff members see the machine as company's property or rather, the company's problem.

This machine example also illustrate when most leadership failure occurs - leaders treating adaptive challenges as technical challenges. Each time the machine breaks down, a technical solution is applied to get the machine up and running. However, the underlying issue on lack of ownership remains unresolved.

Adaptive challenges require adaptive leadership. Adaptive leadership is based on the principles of shared responsibility and continuous learning. Adaptive challenges are full on unknowns, as such, the experimental mind set is essential because doing the same job better, longer and with more help will not solve adaptive challenge. To respond to adaptive challenges effectively, leaders need to beable to relate well with others and work in a team. Gone are the days of 'The Great Man' leadership notion where a single person, the great leader, is able to solve all problems by himself. 'The Great Man' leadership theory does not withstand the test of adaptive challenges for two reasons - firstly, no leader, no matter how brilliant he/she is, knows everything and has all the answers. Secondly, even if the leader has the answer, he/she will need to work with others to overcome the complexities that part of adaptive challenges. Teamwork matters. Furthermore, working in a team ensures knowledge is spread across more people, reducing the likelihood of similar problems arising in future.

Relating skills aside, leaders are also required be in a continuous sense-making mode to understand how the problem, environment, solutions and his/her relationship with the team, are evolving with time. When leaders are solving adaptive challenges, they have to be ready to commit time and energy and be prepared to cope with uncertainty and setbacks.

Some problems are a combination of technical and adaptive challenge. For example, skills development for staff members can be both a technical and adaptive challenge. To develop skills, the technical solution is to send staff members for training courses. However, to instil a continuous development mind-set where staff members attend training courses because they want to and not have to, adaptive solutions are needed to change the staff members attitude towards professional development. Sometimes, leaders and managers would only realise they are facing an adaptive challenge after all technical solutions are exhausted.

Single and Double Loop Learning

Another way to look at the difference between technical and adaptive challenge is through the concept of single and double loop learning by ChrisAgyris. Single loop learning focuses on using corrective action for problem solving. For example, if the room is cold, a single loop learning response is to turn up the air condition temperature. The problem solved through a direct action strategy. Double loop learning on the other hand takes a deeper look at the issue and examines the government variables thatcause the problems to occur in the first place. For example, the room is cold because the air condition default temperature is set at 17 o C and would revert to this level each time the unit is switch off and on. A double loop learning solution will be to calibrate and set the temperature to the desired level. Single loop approaches are used to solve straight line cause-and-effect type of problems because the solution is known and the problem can be remedied very quickly. Double loop approaches are used for dynamic situations where there are no quick fixes. Double loop approaches requires governing variables to be challenged or changedand to do so, people need to first find out what these variables are in order to design and implement effective solutions. Double loop learning is used for adaptive challenges.

The Leadership Challenge

The Leadership Challenge is fundamentally about the team and teamwork, not the leader. Looking closely at the 5 Leadership Practices - Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act and Encourage the Heart, of this leadership framework,aside from the first practice, Model the Way, the other four are largely team focused.

Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, the creators behind The Leadership Challenge, define leadership as "The art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspirations". It is about leaders gettingteam members to follow willingly, especially across unknown territories and mobilizingthe team to move forward together and want to get extraordinary things done.

The 5 Leadership Practices shares similar characteristics with adaptive challenges:

Adaptive challenges are complex, multi-dimensional and difficult to solve, to overcome such challenges effectively. Leaders cannot solve adaptive challenges alone and have to deploy a mixed approach of various leadership and management tools. Each of the 5 Leadership Practices are by themselves a leadership tool and can be separately used to address adaptive challenges. However, using all 5 Practices together would lead to more effective change because it addresses multiple aspects of any leadership/adaptive challenge.

The 5 Leadership Practices is no silver bullet to overcome all adaptive challenges but it does provide leaders a good starting point to pull the team together.
References:

- A Survival Guide for Leaders. (2002) Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky. Havard Business Review.

- Double Loop Learning in Organizations. (1977) Chris Argyris. Havard Business Review.

- The Leadership Challenge. (2007) James Kouzes and Barry Posner.

Written by Joey NG (Facilitator)
on 11th December 2016

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Adaptive Challenge and The Leadership Challenge

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Sometimes, leadership failure stems from the inability to differentiate the practice of management and leadership and the roles of managers and leaders. Most managers are functionally very competent, skilful and good at problem-solving. Theywould have attained a certain level of functional experiences, had been very effectively in their functional roles,before gettingpromoted to the management level.

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7 Habits of Highly Effective Transformational Leaders

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7 Habits of Highly Effective Transformational Leaders

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This article is a must read for all educators! I refer back to it to remind myself key components of being a leader.

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Ten years ago, businesses were racing to understand and capitalize on concepts such as data mining, search technology, and virtual collaboration.

Today, digital transformation-which describes how digital technology is fundamentally changing the ways businesses operate and deliver value to customers-rules the roost and is disrupting companies everywhere, from their operating models to their infrastructures.

But that's only part of the equation. "Digital transformation is actually a human transformation," said Brian Solis, principal analyst at consulting and research company Altimeter. "We've learned that people have mistakenly overemphasized the role of technology in change. What this comes down to is leadership."

With that in mind, we spoke with nine executives and thought leaders about what makes good leaders great, the habits that inform success, and specific skills they must hone to realize this transformation.

1. Be Empathetic
Truly great digital transformation leaders understand how human dynamics-fear, politics, ego, sabotage, and safety-play into people's feelings about change. They don't assume their teams see the world their way. Rather, they see how others might perceive things, then "bridges between how they see it and what you're trying to do," Solis said.

"It's not about getting people to follow you. It's empowering people to lead their own initiatives and collaborate with you and others," he told CMO.com. "It's about unification of a bigger movement of getting people to bring about change because they want to-not because they have to."

Amid all that change, when products and processes are shifting, leaders are tasked with ensuring that they weave humanity into every touch point, said Leesa Wytock, senior director of experience at brand strategy and design firm Siegel+Gale. That's difficult to do without empathy.

"Empathy is what allows you to get the best work out of your team, it's what makes you a good partner to work with, and it's what makes your digital transformations successful," she told CMO.com. "A lot of user experience work deals with behavioral science and empathy. You need to put yourself in the user's shoes to get a product or process right."

2. Step Outside Your Box
According to Jeffrey Brandt, CIO at national law firm Jackson Kelly, seeking out connections, experiences, and information outside of your particular industry can help light on what other businesses are doing in their digital transformations.

"It's important to look at other industries and what's impacting and challenging them, how they're solving problems or implementing different techniques and workflows, and how all that may be applicable to what I'm doing," he said. "Sometimes you discover an approach to something that you never would have thought about."

Kathy Schneider, CMO at IT infrastructure company Sungard Availability Services, finds outside connections and opportunities at roundtable events.

"The dialogue and discussions are always immensely useful, and there's a great amount of peer learning," she said. "Talking with executives from other companies gives you perspective about what's working for them and what isn't, and how you might apply that where you are."

Equally important is finding these experiences and opportunities for your team, Wytock added. Siegel+Gale, for example, brings culture hackers or thought leaders into the office for Ted-Talk-style discussions.

"Bringing in outside influences helps shake people out of their day-to-day and inspires them," she said. "It's been great for everyone and has even resulted in new product ideas."

3. Hone Your Communication Skills
Communicating effectively-that is, knowing what to articulate, how, and in what context-is key to leading effectively, said Dominic Siano, digital marketing and transformation consultant at business and technology services company Cognizant. This means consciously reducing digital and technical jargon when you're presenting to business stakeholders or with customers.

"In all of your communications, you want your audience-whoever it may be-to feel like they're on your level and that they can participate in that conversation," he said. "Learning to convey complicated messages simply takes time and practice but pays dividends. Other leaders and employees will find you more approachable, easier to talk to, and fully understood, which is key in leading a digital transformation."

Another tip: Watch the room when others present or pitch ideas, Sungard Availability Services' Schneider said. Look for techniques that are well-received, and note which ones fall flat.

"Communication, especially during a digital transformation, is so, so important," she said. "It requires buy-in from executives and teams from across the organization, and knowing how to finesse your style and frame the argument for why you're doing this and why it's important is key to your success."

4. Ask 'Why?'
At the core of every transformation should be an "insatiable" curiosity-"whether it's about a new technology, the results you're seeing, or understanding what people are struggling with," according to Chris Hall, VP and GM of customer experience at Adobe (CMO.com's parent company).

"As leaders, we're presented with a lot of information about the 'what' when we really need to understand the 'why?'" she said. "For example, being told we fell short of our goal is not enough. We need to understand why did we miss? Are other markets experiencing something similar? What are the factors that are impacting it? If the answer is, "That's the way we've always done it,' then ... you need to challenge the norm."

Transformation, she added, can be "big and messy," accompanied by plenty of fatigue. "The faster you can arrive at a hypothesis and test for the 'why,' the more you can focus on the thing that really matters," she said. "Curiosity and focus are two things that differentiate most leaders. These need to be pervasive. Anchoring around curiosity and focus will get you beyond the 'what' to understand the 'why.'''

5. Tune Out The Noise
A digital detox might seem like a counterintuitive move for digital transformation leaders, but doing so has helped Jeff Pundyk, chief strategy officer at Techonomy, find more time to focus on strategy, innovation, and big-picture thinking.

"I cut my social media to a bare minimum and removed Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter from my phone. For me, these are all very low-value, high-time applications that, over the past 12 months, have sucked up an enormous amount of time and energy," he told CMO.com.

That's not to say social media doesn't have value; understanding these technologies is important for any successful digital leader, he said. It's important, however, to acknowledge and act when they-and other time-sucks-become too consuming.

"You have to be disciplined," he said. "Not only does it take up time when you're using it, but it takes up headspace when you're not. In the moments when you could be thinking big thoughts, you're on social media. Those are missed opportunities."

6. Develop Emotional Intelligence
While it may be a trendy buzz-phrase in business today, emotional intelligence-the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others-sets leaders apart, said Michael Heiser, IT director for the Wyndham Hotel Group.

The term was coined in 1990 in a research paper by two psychology professors, and later put in business context by Rutgers University psychologist Daniel Goleman: "The most effective leaders are all alike in one crucial way: They all have a high degree in what has come to be known as emotional intelligence. It's not that IQ and technical skills are irrelevant. They do matter, but ... they are the entry-level requirements for executive positions," he wrote.

Heiser, who started his career as an engineer, said that honing his emotional intelligence has helped him develop and fortify his relationships with his engineers.

"They don't respect leaders who can't understand the technology that they're dealing with," he told CMO.com. "You need to know the right things and the wrong things to say in certain situations. You need that emotional intelligence to be a competent leader."

Empathy, mentioned earlier, also plays a role. Digital leaders need to identify with others' feelings-while also understanding their own-and use that information as a guide when making business decisions.

7. Think Like A Futurist
Because the future is anything but certain, digital transformation leaders need to stop ruminating about what may or may not happen as an absolute, said Jacob Morgan, author of " The Future of Work."

"When it comes to digital transformation, business leaders need to remember to think in terms of different scenarios and time horizons instead of thinking in terms of one outcome during one time period," he told CMO.com.

Focusing on the "transformation" piece of digital transformation and what businesses should do to prepare limits thinking, Morgan added. Instead, digital transformation leaders need to think about what they can do to build the future of work they want to see.

"This ... allows digital transformation leaders to go from being passive participants to being active creators," he said. "Everything we do is about choice. It's a chess match where each move we make can lead down a different path."

Keeping that in mind will ensure that business leaders are prepared for any uncertainty that comes their way, Morgan added. "We no longer work for factories," he said. "We work for laboratories, and those who can run the most experiments the most often will win."

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The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective Transformation Leaders

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Taking a business on its digital transformation journey requires great leaders. We spoke with nine executives and thought leaders about what makes good leaders great, the habits that inform success, and specific skills they must hone to realize this transformation.

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This is going to be the first in a series of blog posts where I'm going to go over various chapters from Jim Collin's excellent book Good to Great. To kick things off I'm going to go over the chapter titled "Level 5 Leadership" in which Jim Collin's introduces a hierarchy of leadership with Level 5 being the topmost one reserved for the leaders that take a company from good to great.

Leadership Hierarchy

Jim Collin's describes the hierarchy as having 5 different levels that progress from the bottom to the top. Here is a brief overview of all the different levels:

Level 1 - This person helps the organization succeed through their skills and knowledge.

Level 2 - They then progress to being able to work well in teams and ensures that the team meets the desired objectives.

Level 3 - At this point they have transitioned into being a skilful manager whom is able to organize people and resources to achieve the organization goals.

Level 4 - They will now be an effective leader who is able to motivate the people towards his vision of the company.

Level 5 - Very few people the point where they are able to transform the organization from good to great.

Level 5 vs. Level 4

When you look at the difference between Level 4 and Level 5 leaders you will see that there are only a few important differences between the two. However, the outcomes at the end of the day are quite different.

Level 5 Leaders

A Level 5 leader is determined to make the company succeed. Essentially, they want to make sure that the company is a great success long after they have left the helm and they achieve this by setting up their successors for success. To quote Jim Collin's in his book, he says the following regarding Level 5 leaders:

Level 5 leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company. It's not that Level 5 leaders have no ego or self-interest. Indeed, they are incredibly ambitious - but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves.

Level 4 Leaders

In contrast, a Level 4 leader has little interest in the success of the company once they have departed but instead focus on making sure that there is a high level of performance during their reign. Very little focus is placed on the future of the organization as the leader would rather focus on making sure that they are a success during their reign. A side effect of this is that they companies tend to fall apart after the leader has left.

Often this type of leader is more concerned about their greatness and ego than that of the company, which at the end of the day makes them just good and not great. As strange as it may sound, these leaders may sometimes even setup their successors for failure or in some circumstances even choose weak successors to head up the company. In this way, when they leave, the company often falls apart which then boosts their ego.

Characteristics of Level 5 Leaders

Level 5 leaders are a study in duality: modest and willful, humble and fearless

Jim Collin's identified two main characteristics they were common amongst the Level 5 leaders, namely Fierce Will and Humility which makes them both merciless and humble at the same time.

Fierce Will

This is the catalyst which propels the organization from good to great. Once they have decided the path that they want to walk, in order to achieve the end results, they will stop at nothing to ensure that they get the best possible results for the company. In doing this, they tend to inspire people and create a basis from which other standards are built which has the effect of allowing a company to endure through the tough times.

Humility

The other characteristic that great leaders have is that they are very modest and never let their ego get in the way. They accomplish great things and always attribute the success to the people in their team, external factors and even luck! As a result, they often setup the organizations for success so when they do leave the organization it continue like it is or even become better. This reminds me of the Boy Scout Rule that Robert C. Martin described in his book Clean Code, which goes as follows:

Leave the camp ground cleaner than you found it

Another thing that you will see with these types of leaders is that they typically never like the spotlight or any form of praise and attention. You may even hear them saying things like "There are a lot of people that could do a much better job that me", which is almost never the case.

My Experience...

In all my 10 years of software development I can only think of a very small number of people whom I would believe to be on their way to becoming Level 5 leaders. In my experience, the IT industry is often filled with lots of Level 4 leaders whom love to boast and quite often want to be the "top dog". Hopefully, this post will change their outlook and allow them to see things in a different way.

Until next time...keep learning!

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This is going to be the first in a series of blog posts where I'm going to go over various chapters from Jim Collin's excellent book Good to Great.

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A Review of Leadership Theories, Principles and Styles and Their Relevance to Educational Management

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A Review of Leadership Theories, Principles and Styles and Their Relevance to Educational Management

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education

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A Review of Leadership Theories, Principles and Styles and Their Relevance to Educational Management

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This study was motivated by the premise that no nation grows further than the quality of its educational leaders. The purpose of this theoretical debate is to examine the wider context of leadership and its effectiveness towards improving school management. This academic evaluation examines recent theoretical developments in the study of educational leadership in school management.

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Anytime I need to review laws and regulations, this is my go to! Having the link saved comes in handy.

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I chose this article because it focuses on the leadership of Administrators, which is the field of study I am currently enrolled in. I thought it might be beneficial to anyone in this course because it outlines the styles of leadership that Administrators might have. This could be helpful for anyone employed through the school system. It is always important to know how your Principal or Superintendent handle certain situations. This article also includes the influence of psychological theorist which is important to know for lifespan development of all people.

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In 1909, Taylor published " The Principles of Scientific Management." [1] In this, he proposed that by optimizing and simplifying jobs, productivity would increase. He also advanced the idea that workers and managers needed to cooperate with one another. This was very different from the way work was typically done in businesses beforehand. A factory manager at that time had very little contact with the workers, and he left them on their own to produce the necessary product. There was no standardization, and a worker's main motivation was often continued employment, so there was no incentive to work as quickly or as efficiently as possible.

Taylor believed that all workers were motivated by money, so he promoted the idea of "a fair day's pay for a fair day's work." In other words, if a worker didn't achieve enough in a day, he didn't deserve to be paid as much as another worker who was highly productive.

With a background in mechanical engineering, Taylor was very interested in efficiency. While advancing his career at a U.S. steel manufacturer, he designed workplace experiments to determine optimal performance levels. In one, he experimented with shovel design until he had a design that would allow workers to shovel for several hours straight. With bricklayers, he experimented with the various motions required and developed an efficient way to lay bricks. And he applied the scientific method to study the optimal way to do any type of workplace task. As such, he found that by calculating the time needed for the various elements of a task, he could develop the "best" way to complete that task.

These "time and motion" studies also led Taylor to conclude that certain people could work more efficiently than others. These were the people whom managers should seek to hire where possible. Therefore, selecting the right people for the job was another important part of workplace efficiency. Taking what he learned from these workplace experiments, Taylor developed four principles of scientific management. These principles are also known simply as "Taylorism".

Four Principles of Scientific Management

Taylor's four principles are as follows:

1. Replace working by "rule of thumb," or simple habit and common sense, and instead use the scientific method to study work and determine the most efficient way to perform specific tasks.

2. Rather than simply assign workers to just any job, match workers to their jobs based on capability and motivation, and train them to work at maximum efficiency.

3. Monitor worker performance, and provide instructions and supervision to ensure that they're using the most efficient ways of working.

4. Allocate the work between managers and workers so that the managers spend their time planning and training, allowing the workers to perform their tasks efficiently.

Critiques of Taylorism

Taylor's Scientific Management Theory promotes the idea that there is "one right way" to do something. As such, it is at odds with current approaches such as MBO (Management By Objectives), Continuous Improvement initiatives, BPR (Business Process Reengineering), and other tools like them. These promote individual responsibility, and seek to push decision making through all levels of the organization.

The idea here is that workers are given as much autonomy as practically possible, so that they can use the most appropriate approaches for the situation at hand. (Reflect here on your own experience - are you happier and more motivated when you're following tightly controlled procedures, or when you're working using your own judgment?) What's more, front line workers need to show this sort of flexibility in a rapidly-changing environment. Rigid, rules-driven organizations really struggle to adapt in these situations.

Teamwork is another area where pure Taylorism is in opposition to current practice. Essentially, Taylorism breaks tasks down into tiny steps, and focuses on how each person can do his or her specific series of steps best. Modern methodologies prefer to examine work systems more holistically in order to evaluate efficiency and maximize productivity. The extreme specialization that Taylorism promotes is contrary to modern ideals of how to provide a motivating and satisfying workplace.

Where Taylorism separates manual from mental work, modern productivity enhancement practices seek to incorporate worker's ideas, experience and knowledge into best practice. Scientific management in its pure form focuses too much on the mechanics, and fails to value the people side of work, whereby motivation and workplace satisfaction are key elements in an efficient and productive organization.

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Frederick Taylor and Scientific Management - Understanding Taylorism and Early Management Theory

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In 1909, Taylor published " The Principles of Scientific Management." [1] In this, he proposed that by optimizing and simplifying jobs, productivity would increase. He also advanced the idea that workers and managers needed to cooperate with one another. This was very different from the way work was typically done in businesses beforehand.

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Constructivism as a Paradigm for Teaching and Learning

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The chart below compares the traditional classroom to the constructivist one. You can see significant differences in basic assumptions about knowledge, students, and learning. (It's important, however, to bear in mind that constructivists acknowledge that students are constructing knowledge in traditional classrooms, too.

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Contributors

Key Concepts

A reaction to didactic approaches such as behaviorism and programmed instruction, constructivism states that learning is an active, contextualized process of constructing knowledge rather than acquiring it. Knowledge is constructed based on personal experiences and hypotheses of the environment. Learners continuously test these hypotheses through social negotiation. Each person has a different interpretation and construction of knowledge process. The learner is not a blank slate (tabula rasa) but brings past experiences and cultural factors to a situation[3][4].

NOTE: A common misunderstanding regarding constructivism is that instructors should never tell students anything directly but, instead, should always allow them to construct knowledge for themselves. This is actually confusing a theory of pedagogy (teaching) with a theory of knowing. Constructivism assumes that all knowledge is constructed from the learner's previous knowledge, regardless of how one is taught. Thus, even listening to a lecture involves active attempts to construct new knowledge.

Vygotsky's social development theory is one of the foundations for constructivism.

Additional Resources and References

Resources

References

1. Vygotsky, L. S. (1980). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard university press.

2. Piaget, J. (2013). The construction of reality in the child (Vol. 82). Routledge.

3. Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (1993). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective.Performance improvement quarterly, 6(4), 50-72.

4. Cooper, P. A. (1993). Paradigm Shifts in Designed Instruction: From Behaviorism to Cognitivism to Constructivism. Educational technology, 33(5), 12-19.

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Key Concepts A reaction to didactic approaches such as behaviorism and programmed instruction, constructivism states that learning is an active, contextualized process of constructing knowledge rather than acquiring it. Knowledge is constructed based on personal experiences and hypotheses of the environment. Learners continuously test these hypotheses through social negotiation.

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Social Research Methods - Knowledge Base - Positivism & Post-Positivism

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Let's start our very brief discussion of philosophy of science with a simple distinction between epistemology and methodology . The term epistemology comes from the Greek word epistêmê, their term for knowledge. In simple terms, epistemology is the philosophy of knowledge or of how we come to know.

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7 Habits of Highly Effective Transformational Leaders

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7 Habits of Highly Effective Transformational Leaders

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Ten years ago, businesses were racing to understand and capitalize on concepts such as data mining, search technology, and virtual collaboration.

Today, digital transformation-which describes how digital technology is fundamentally changing the ways businesses operate and deliver value to customers-rules the roost and is disrupting companies everywhere, from their operating models to their infrastructures.

But that's only part of the equation. "Digital transformation is actually a human transformation," said Brian Solis, principal analyst at consulting and research company Altimeter. "We've learned that people have mistakenly overemphasized the role of technology in change. What this comes down to is leadership."

With that in mind, we spoke with nine executives and thought leaders about what makes good leaders great, the habits that inform success, and specific skills they must hone to realize this transformation.

1. Be Empathetic
Truly great digital transformation leaders understand how human dynamics-fear, politics, ego, sabotage, and safety-play into people's feelings about change. They don't assume their teams see the world their way. Rather, they see how others might perceive things, then "bridges between how they see it and what you're trying to do," Solis said.

"It's not about getting people to follow you. It's empowering people to lead their own initiatives and collaborate with you and others," he told CMO.com. "It's about unification of a bigger movement of getting people to bring about change because they want to-not because they have to."

Amid all that change, when products and processes are shifting, leaders are tasked with ensuring that they weave humanity into every touch point, said Leesa Wytock, senior director of experience at brand strategy and design firm Siegel+Gale. That's difficult to do without empathy.

"Empathy is what allows you to get the best work out of your team, it's what makes you a good partner to work with, and it's what makes your digital transformations successful," she told CMO.com. "A lot of user experience work deals with behavioral science and empathy. You need to put yourself in the user's shoes to get a product or process right."

2. Step Outside Your Box
According to Jeffrey Brandt, CIO at national law firm Jackson Kelly, seeking out connections, experiences, and information outside of your particular industry can help light on what other businesses are doing in their digital transformations.

"It's important to look at other industries and what's impacting and challenging them, how they're solving problems or implementing different techniques and workflows, and how all that may be applicable to what I'm doing," he said. "Sometimes you discover an approach to something that you never would have thought about."

Kathy Schneider, CMO at IT infrastructure company Sungard Availability Services, finds outside connections and opportunities at roundtable events.

"The dialogue and discussions are always immensely useful, and there's a great amount of peer learning," she said. "Talking with executives from other companies gives you perspective about what's working for them and what isn't, and how you might apply that where you are."

Equally important is finding these experiences and opportunities for your team, Wytock added. Siegel+Gale, for example, brings culture hackers or thought leaders into the office for Ted-Talk-style discussions.

"Bringing in outside influences helps shake people out of their day-to-day and inspires them," she said. "It's been great for everyone and has even resulted in new product ideas."

3. Hone Your Communication Skills
Communicating effectively-that is, knowing what to articulate, how, and in what context-is key to leading effectively, said Dominic Siano, digital marketing and transformation consultant at business and technology services company Cognizant. This means consciously reducing digital and technical jargon when you're presenting to business stakeholders or with customers.

"In all of your communications, you want your audience-whoever it may be-to feel like they're on your level and that they can participate in that conversation," he said. "Learning to convey complicated messages simply takes time and practice but pays dividends. Other leaders and employees will find you more approachable, easier to talk to, and fully understood, which is key in leading a digital transformation."

Another tip: Watch the room when others present or pitch ideas, Sungard Availability Services' Schneider said. Look for techniques that are well-received, and note which ones fall flat.

"Communication, especially during a digital transformation, is so, so important," she said. "It requires buy-in from executives and teams from across the organization, and knowing how to finesse your style and frame the argument for why you're doing this and why it's important is key to your success."

4. Ask 'Why?'
At the core of every transformation should be an "insatiable" curiosity-"whether it's about a new technology, the results you're seeing, or understanding what people are struggling with," according to Chris Hall, VP and GM of customer experience at Adobe (CMO.com's parent company).

"As leaders, we're presented with a lot of information about the 'what' when we really need to understand the 'why?'" she said. "For example, being told we fell short of our goal is not enough. We need to understand why did we miss? Are other markets experiencing something similar? What are the factors that are impacting it? If the answer is, "That's the way we've always done it,' then ... you need to challenge the norm."

Transformation, she added, can be "big and messy," accompanied by plenty of fatigue. "The faster you can arrive at a hypothesis and test for the 'why,' the more you can focus on the thing that really matters," she said. "Curiosity and focus are two things that differentiate most leaders. These need to be pervasive. Anchoring around curiosity and focus will get you beyond the 'what' to understand the 'why.'''

5. Tune Out The Noise
A digital detox might seem like a counterintuitive move for digital transformation leaders, but doing so has helped Jeff Pundyk, chief strategy officer at Techonomy, find more time to focus on strategy, innovation, and big-picture thinking.

"I cut my social media to a bare minimum and removed Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter from my phone. For me, these are all very low-value, high-time applications that, over the past 12 months, have sucked up an enormous amount of time and energy," he told CMO.com.

That's not to say social media doesn't have value; understanding these technologies is important for any successful digital leader, he said. It's important, however, to acknowledge and act when they-and other time-sucks-become too consuming.

"You have to be disciplined," he said. "Not only does it take up time when you're using it, but it takes up headspace when you're not. In the moments when you could be thinking big thoughts, you're on social media. Those are missed opportunities."

6. Develop Emotional Intelligence
While it may be a trendy buzz-phrase in business today, emotional intelligence-the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others-sets leaders apart, said Michael Heiser, IT director for the Wyndham Hotel Group.

The term was coined in 1990 in a research paper by two psychology professors, and later put in business context by Rutgers University psychologist Daniel Goleman: "The most effective leaders are all alike in one crucial way: They all have a high degree in what has come to be known as emotional intelligence. It's not that IQ and technical skills are irrelevant. They do matter, but ... they are the entry-level requirements for executive positions," he wrote.

Heiser, who started his career as an engineer, said that honing his emotional intelligence has helped him develop and fortify his relationships with his engineers.

"They don't respect leaders who can't understand the technology that they're dealing with," he told CMO.com. "You need to know the right things and the wrong things to say in certain situations. You need that emotional intelligence to be a competent leader."

Empathy, mentioned earlier, also plays a role. Digital leaders need to identify with others' feelings-while also understanding their own-and use that information as a guide when making business decisions.

7. Think Like A Futurist
Because the future is anything but certain, digital transformation leaders need to stop ruminating about what may or may not happen as an absolute, said Jacob Morgan, author of " The Future of Work."

"When it comes to digital transformation, business leaders need to remember to think in terms of different scenarios and time horizons instead of thinking in terms of one outcome during one time period," he told CMO.com.

Focusing on the "transformation" piece of digital transformation and what businesses should do to prepare limits thinking, Morgan added. Instead, digital transformation leaders need to think about what they can do to build the future of work they want to see.

"This ... allows digital transformation leaders to go from being passive participants to being active creators," he said. "Everything we do is about choice. It's a chess match where each move we make can lead down a different path."

Keeping that in mind will ensure that business leaders are prepared for any uncertainty that comes their way, Morgan added. "We no longer work for factories," he said. "We work for laboratories, and those who can run the most experiments the most often will win."

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The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective Transformation Leaders

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Taking a business on its digital transformation journey requires great leaders. We spoke with nine executives and thought leaders about what makes good leaders great, the habits that inform success, and specific skills they must hone to realize this transformation.

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Another great source that goes a little bit more in depth to explain the ins and outs of Logical Positivism.

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This short and sweet video explains the basics of Logical Positivism and is an easy to understand version.