Assessment of the Leadership Foundations from the Interview
Many people agree on leadership principles regardless of the organizations to which they belong. To assess the leadership foundations of two organizations, I interviewed their leaders with whom I interacted at CHE Behavioral Health Services.
The first interviewed leader was the Director of Field Operations and Growth. She hopes to be a leader guided by her beliefs to foster honesty and ethical leadership; her fundamental principles are integrity and justice. The second leader was the CHE, Regional Vice President, South. The vice president aspires to be a leader who positively impacts the healthcare facility through compassion and empathy.
Aspirations of Professional Achievements
The two leaders carried the aspirations that many organizations hold in relation to driving positive change. Moreover, the two leaders explained what they hoped to achieve as leaders. The Director of Field Operations said that she hoped to build strong relationships among the staff in her organization.
On her part, the Vice President hoped to have an environment that advances impartiality, understanding, empathy, and regard for the healthcare stakeholders and the valetudinarians. With the set goals, the two leaders can use them as a benchmark to improve their skill sets. From a critical viewpoint, they manifest the closely related but different ethical principles of servant leadership.
Comparison of the Leadership Perspectives
The leading methods described above have some similarities that can be noted. The servant leadership perspectives are similar in that the two approaches are based on ethics, especially fairness and empathy. In contrast, though, the Director’s leadership slant is purely based on the values she strongly embraced as a morally guided person. At the same time, the Vice President’s viewpoint is one that is drawn from the desire to protect the team’s interests. Undoubtedly, the two leadership standpoints are more alike, apart from the minor differences observed.
In summary, the aspirations of different organizations are deeply rooted in the values that each of their servant leaders holds. For example, those guided by their personal beliefs can foster integrity in their leadership area. Leadership that hopes to impact its organization positively should focus on essential values such as empathy and caring for the needs of its staff. Therefore, if a leader’s values align with those of an organization, then the full potential of such a leader is realized.
Organizational Limits for the Leaders’ Desired Practices
Organizational culture, practices, and design negatively influence leaders’ desired practices. Firstly, hierarchical corporate design and structure would hinder innovation because of the bureaucracy between different command levels (Groysberg et al., 2018). As a result, the leaders are forced to wait for instructions from their supervisors, who may not be willing to adopt their subordinates’ proposals.
Organizational culture is compelling because it dictates what managers can and cannot do in the organization (Groysberg et al., 2018). It means they have to observe a specified set of institutional or corporate regulations, instructions, and directives; consequently, they are unable to form or implement their own. The end result of alignment towards these organizational elements is that the managers and the top leadership are conditioned to conform to the organization’s practices rather than effecting reforms.
The Leaders’ Improvement Potential Despite the Unfavorable Conditions
Nevertheless, the Director and the Regional Vice President of South can each improve under the conditions of organizational influences. For instance, the Director can improve by identifying similar values, such as collaboration or dignity, which she shares with her organization and aligning his leadership practices with those values (Groysberg et al., 2018). On her part, the Regional Vice President should focus on learning skills that fall outside her primary knowledge area, like activism (Groysberg et al., 2018). It is important to her as she will develop new insights because she will gain an understanding of other people’s perspectives about balancing organizational needs and personal values.
Reference
Groysberg, B., Lee, J., Price, J., & Cheng, J. (2018). The leader’s guide to corporate culture. Harvard Business Review, 96(1), 44-52. Web.