Leadership styles for the five stages of radical change” and reflection

 According to The Leadership Style Inventory (LSI), which is designed to measure the unique leadership style of current managers, executives, and other types of organizational leaders, there are four basic styles, commanding, logical, inspirational, and supportive(Reardon, Reardon, Rowe, 1998). The commanding style focuses on performance, short-term goals, productivity, and results-oriented. The logical style pertains to leaders who insist on covering all alternatives, using analysis, and for long-term goals. The inspirational leader is those who are able to develop meaningful visions of the future by focusing on radically new ideas. They learn by experimentation(Reardon, Reardon, Rowe, 1998).

According to the scores I got on The Big Five Project - Personality Test, I am relatively open to new experiences(percentile:72%), very well-organized and can be relied on(percentile:92%), and tend to be good-natured, sympathetic, forgiving, and courteous(percentile:66%). However, I am a generally anxious person that tends to worry about things and is neither particularly social nor reserved(percentile:50%).

Overall, I am open to new experiences means I am able to accept and come out with new ideas quickly. When a physical store I am operating, is affected by negative events such as COVID-19, I will make new solutions to solve such an issue quickly and switch sales onto platforms such as DoorDash. My well-organized character also helps me to implement new strategies with higher efficiency. However, I am a generally anxious person that tends to worry about things. Therefore, I must transfer the power of fear and anxiety to the fuel of execution. 

I reckon it is hard to pick up just one leadership style that applies to me the most since I usually prefer a hybrid way. Although I am relatively open to new experiences and do not like to command people for no reason, my anxiety will rise if there is no logic behind a decision or if there is actually a very lazy member in my team. Therefore, I prefer a hybrid of logical, inspirational, and supportive. In all stages of radical change, I tend to inspire them with a vision, convince them of the change by providing them a sense of logic, and keep their effort by supporting them. 

I did try to just command people to work or make changes. However, I think it was ineffective. People listen to commanders only for some bad reasons such as fear or needs(money or other things). In this situation, they are not self-motivated. They always waiting for your orders. A few years ago, I was hired to be a manager for a coffee shop. As a manager, I tried my best to "manage" things and people, and keep everything under control. I set up many SOPs(Standard Operating Procedure), from how to handle issues and complaints to promotions and how they should clean the environment. However, I think it was not a good way. As a result, they tend to see those SOPs as fuel and they remain stagnant and waiting for my next order. It is a big issue if there is always have to be me and an SOP. I was hired to be a good manager and also a good leader. I reckon that leadership is about creating a shared vision of the future and then inspiring others to help achieve that vision or influencing others to work toward a goal. Now, I am looking forward to working out a plan to get rid of the defects.

References

Hickey, K. F., Sri, V., Rosenstein, J., Tormey, T., Thai, J., Desroches, Z., Gittens-Ottley, S., & Schwartz, J. R. & C. (2016, November 29). Dustin Moskovitz shares his lessons on leadership. Wavelength by Asana. Retrieved March 16, 2022, from https://wavelength.asana.com/workstyle-dustin-moskovitz-leadership/

Identifying your personal learning style. Department of Health | Identifying your personal learning style. (n.d.). Retrieved June 27, 2022, from https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/drugtreat-pubs-front1-wk-toc~drugtreat-pubs-front1-wk-secb~drugtreat-pubs-front1-wk-secb-2~drugtreat-pubs-front1-wk-secb-2-5~drugtreat-pubs-front1-wk-secb-2-5-ide

Reardon, K. K., Reardon K. J., & Rowe, A. J. (1998). Leadership styles for the five stages of radical change. Acquisition Review Quarterly, 2.

https://my.uopeople.edu/pluginfile.php/1585144/mod_book/chapter/344618/reardon.pdf

The Big Five Project - Personality Test. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2022, from https://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/