Introduction
The interview was conducted with a physician who owns a medical center and has been managing it for over 15 years. He has built a strong business and a unified team, implementing various leadership concepts and being a highly respected and liked leader among staff, patients, and the community. In this paper, a leadership analysis of this individual is conducted, highlighting four key theories and concepts that his style represents.
Authentic Leadership
Authentic leadership is a relatively recent leadership concept embracing the concept of being genuine or ‘real.’ This can be demonstrated in a variety of ways, such as being oneself rather than attempting to adopt an image of another leadership style, being transparent and demonstrating integrity. Furthermore, authentic leaders should practice the same values in one’s actions that you would expect from their followers. Early in the interview, the interviewee was asked questions about their early life and influences. According to George at al. (2007), authentic leadership “begins with understanding the story of your life” as it provides contexts to experiences and formation of one’s identity as a person (2). Without self-awareness, one cannot be a good leader, let alone an authentic leader that presents themselves genuinely. The interviewee was highly aware that his early life and influential people in his surroundings led him to become the person that he is, as he took example from them in terms of behavior. Many of the values that he holds now where acquired in his formative years, but that provided him with stability and dedication towards certain goals, and as he achieved them, he attained the confidence to lead others.
Values and Ethics
The beliefs and experiences of an individual tend to form their values, but the most challenging test of authentic leadership is practicing those values when under pressure. George et al. (2007) emphasize this with a simple key phrase, “leadership principles are values translated into action” (4). The interviewee noted that he believes in leading with empathy and compassion, which are values engrained into him since early years. When COVID-19 hit, despite being a medical center, the business was hit with declining revenue as well as closures for several months. They set a leadership values-based goal and sought to embrace it, demonstrating to others what their values are and what kind of leader this individual wants to be (Su, 2017). The owner demonstrated the stated values, by not just laying off staff to cut costs, but seeking to balance cash flow, retaining as many employees as possible, and providing equitable hours for everyone, while ensuring a safe environment during the pandemic. He understood that his employees depended on their position to feed their families, and at great costs to the business, kept virtually everyone on the payroll until they were able to return to full operational hours. That is a demonstration of genuine commitment and authentic leadership, where the values are directly seen through the leader’s decision-making and actions.
Adaptive Leadership
Adaptive leadership is an approach that is useful in situations of difficulty or rapid change for the organization. It is characterized by evaluating the situation, disrupting the status quo, and innovating to adapt to new realities in order to survive or even thrive. Adaptive leadership is complex, as it requires strong management to stabilize inherently erratic situations, while creating opportunities for growth that align with the needs or objectives of the organization (Ramalingam et al., 2020). As mentioned above, the COVID-19 pandemic tremendously negatively impacted the business, severely cutting its revenue. The leader exemplified elements of adaptive leadership. First, by attempting to stabilize the situation by not laying off staff and seeking to prepare for when doors opened again. Then, he pivoted the business strategy by focusing on a greater online presence and digital marketing, with an online network to connect and attract new clients to the medical center.
It was a strategic pivot in time of significant instability for the business and using appropriate means of analyzing the situation to make changes and adapt. The interviewee demonstrated skill of adaptive leadership by first, demonstrating the leadership needed to pull the organization through the crisis. Later, he recognized which risks were worth taking and which organization resources were critical using evidence-based analysis and forecasting, while attempting to avoid pitfalls that many other firms encountered during this turbulent time.
Emotional Intelligence
One of the most critical elements commonly defined in leadership is emotional intelligence. At its core, it is the ability to recognize, understand, manage, and utilize to the best effectiveness the emotions, both within oneself and in other people. Emotional intelligence consists of four major areas of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management (Alotaibi et al., 2020). Highly impactful and effective leaders virtually all possess high levels of emotional intelligence, as it is needed to communicate, inspire and motivate, evaluate social connections, and make proper decisions at the right time in the best way. It is generally recognized that even with strong knowledge, technical skills, or perhaps even charisma, without strong emotional intelligence, a leader will not prosper. Both from interviewing the leader and being part of his staff, it is evident that he possesses a high level of emotional intelligence. He is always able to relate to each of his staff, both individually, but also as a group. He commands the room bringing an aura of respect but also closeness and familiarity. As a leader, he is able to be self-aware and connect with others emotionally, implementing this into daily interactions and management decisions and communications, knowing precisely when to share bad news or empower the staff.
Building Trust and Credibility
As a leader it is crucial to build trust, as it is the foundation for stable and deep relationships with their followers. It helps to improve cohesiveness, communication, morale and engagement. When a leader holds the trust and credibility in the eyes of his followers, they are more willing to listen, follow, and support the leader’s decision-making (Hughes et al., 2022). The medical center which the interviewee owns is small, with a staff of just 12 people. That allows for a very intimate and close staff. The leader builds trust by being transparent and open with each one of us. He remains accessible and people can come to him for help with both work and life problems. He also highly values integrity and his credibility as a fair manager. When faced with a lawsuit of discriminatory dismissal of an employee, the leader used all possible avenues to defend his and the business name in public court. At this time, he was open and honest with the rest of the staff, seeking to find any potential injustices if any existed, earning respect and credibility from employees. Later, that trust helped the staff to follow him during the pandemic crisis and staying with the business even during difficult times and pivoting to a new strategy, even though it took a lot of commitment and work from everyone.
Conclusion
The individual being interviewed demonstrates many positive qualities of leadership and stands to be a very effective and successful leader in his industry and business. He takes a mixture of personal learning and experience with utilizing well-known leadership approaches to practically implement best practices as a manager and leader in his medical center business. In conclusion, his style of leadership is seeing success given the stability of his enterprise and the dedication and appreciation of the team around him.
References
Alotaibi, S. M., Amin, M., & Winterton, J. (2020). Does emotional intelligence and empowering leadership affect psychological empowerment and work engagement? Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 41(8), 971-991. Web.
George, B., Sim, P., McLean, A.N., & Mayer, D. (2007). Discovering your authentic leadership. Harvard Business Review. Web.
Hughes, R. L., Ginnett, R. C., & Curphy, G. J. (2022). Leadership: Enhancing the lessons of experience (10th ed.). Mcgraw Hill Education.
Ramalingam, B., Nabarro, D., Oqubay, A., Carnall, D.R., & Wild, L. (2020). 5 principles to guide adaptive leadership. Harvard Business Review. Web.
Su, A. J. (2017). How new managers can send the right leadership signals. Harvard Business Review. Web.