LEADERSHIP AND GROUP COLLABORATION
Abstract
In the current and coming years, organizations that have knowledge about diversity will effectively hold an advantage in hiring or recruiting. For an organization that seeks to cultivate more diversity, especially in the workforce, it is vital to understand what comprises organization diversity. The latter not only include ho people to identify themselves but also how others see them. Diversity includes race, gender, group, age, religion, and more socio-cultural aspects. Understanding diversity is essential and advantageous in helping meet people’s needs. Once satisfaction is fully attained, an organization grows, builds a good reputation, and can compete effectively. The recruitment process is the central focus to manage diversity because recruit is the very people who will understand and serve customers from different backgrounds. Studies have shown that having a diverse workforce with multi-lingual workers from ethnic backgrounds help organization wishing to expand or improve activities regionally, or outside local markets.
One leader I think would best fit this project is Jeff Bezos, the CEO of a prominent company- Amazon. I chose this person because, in a competitive and changing world, Jeff put a relentless focus on crucial issues like culture and diversity. He is a great leader in the modern era, and because of his leadership, Amazon has become the largest company serving diverse customers. In the year 2017, he accepted the national quality award from the human rights campaign- the largest LGBT advocacy group in the US. Examples of measures Jeff has taken to strengthen the issue of diversity include supporting a pipeline of future women’s creativity by funding.
One of the characteristics that make Jeff successful is prioritizing customer services. Typically, this is a unique quality of leadership. Jeff is known to have a tradition of keeping customers at the forefront. In fact, during staff meetings, he pulls an extra chair as a tradition, and this signifies a person who is a customer. Such quality helps the leader and the entire team to be conscious of how customers feel or react to a decision. My leadership skill compares different from that of the mentioned leader, such that while Jeff is a client-oriented person, I am more focused on the team. Many times, I get overwhelmed in what or how people accomplish things, try my best to ensure members are comfortable working together, and forget who they are working. Focusing on a team and interests of clients we serve proves to be excellent in delivering maximum satisfaction. However, there is one thing that Jeff and I have in common concerning leadership, and that is getting everyone involved. Well, I believe to deliver the best performance in ana organization can be achieved by creating a culture that ensures everyone has a stake in success.
My role as a leader of a group in addressing a diversity issue includes teaching, coaching, mentoring, developing a team’s skills, managing conflicts, and providing feedback. Team leadership would be considered adequate when a balance is attained between what should be known and expected and soft skills. First, as a leader, I must make sure every member understands clearly the issue at hand- diversity, which is a problem amid the organization’s performance. My first approach would be to teach employees the meaning of diversity and how to assess as well as attend to varying needs of clients. Team members must be made aware that customers have a varying range of needs, and it is by determining and hold them to consider as we serve that we will satisfy people. While teaching how to determine diversity needs, I would coach the team to apply effective strategies during cross-cultural communication. Team members would learn to speak slowly or clearly, maintain proper volume, use simple sentences, use different words when expressing the same idea, avoid the use of jargon and sophisticated terminologies. Also, I would emphasize taking note of emotions and respond to them. While teaching all these, the central focus or main goal is to learn approaches to dealing with diversity.
I would lead the team by delegating work to members in a way that will contribute to overall performance. For example, I would team administer a survey to the community concerning customer services by the Lakeland Medical Clinic. As such, there would be an in-depth overview of where or how an organization is not doing okay. Also, it would be a way to identify how people want to be treated. After delegation, I would motivate people towards seeing a new change. While there may be team members with different ideas, mindsets, or approaches, it would be best to create an open communication platform.
I will apply collaborative leadership, which is balanced by motivation. Using this style help create value in the change. In other words, it means I will try to influence and motivate members to make a significant impact. The strength of using a collaborative leadership style is opening up the workplace to new employees, strengthening relationships towards an anticipated change, and allowing members to focus on their best input. The weakness of this approach is that conflicts are likely to emerge, and at some point, team members may view themselves as leaders. Usually, when a group of different people comes together to collaborate on a set of responsibilities, there might occur a conflict in the working styles of people withing the team. When that happens, it can be easy to lose focus on the primary goal of serving diverse clients rightfully.
Facilitating Collaboration to Maximize Effectiveness
Ideally, organizations are finding it hard to raise and maintain group collaboration in workplaces. The main challenge is to have members know each other well, thrive on each other’s’ success, and expand communication. I will consider using communication technologies to maximize collaboration and team effectiveness. Utilizing team collaboration software, the platform will allow sharing, storing, and training through documents, videos, and conferencing. With a simple search for an employee history, as a leader, I can access details, records of work- and by this, it is easy to keep track of customers served. Similarly, team members will have an opportunity to share knowledge, skills, or abrupt information and maintain customer service on the upfront. The use of communication technologies is advantageous in helping departments come together from across different locations. As a result of a collaboration platform, group members will be able to converse daily about the numerous internal tasks, policy change, ideas, questions, or project challenges.
Another way practices to improve internal communication. I would encourage individuals to share information, challenges, feedback, and anything helpful to make work easier. For specific roles, I will assign suitable people with the right skills, support quick decision making, and advocate accountability. The latter can be achieved by trusting group members to meet the set target by all means possible and be responsible in every process. Effective collaboration will be achieved by learning simple techniques to share information or ideas. They include regular face to face meetings, using emails, forums, telephone, and conference calls.
Another way to make a collaborative environment for the team is to improve engagement. At the start, individuals would be engaged in teamwork by getting to know each other, pairing them with mentors, familiarize them with the culture to build the first impression. The central focus is to address the issue of diversity, and in that way, I would also encourage members to socialize outside of work premises. For instance, group members can get to know each other while outside wok, boost interdependence, and expand collaboration as well as communication.
In conclusion, effective leadership towards a change should be open to numerous viewpoints without assuming one person is better than the other. The integration of multiple communication and collaboration approaches will encourage team input. Enough time is suggested for the group to think and discuss ideas without rushing into the solution.