Taha Sabir
Journal #1
HRD # 313D
Influencing people is another crucial aspect of being an effective leader. In my current position the power I seem to use most is Expert power. Our office has an extremely young employee base that has not been in Government acquisition very long. Since I have been heavily involved in acquisitions and specifically on one specific airframe many coworkers look to me for help. Because of this it seems to set me apart from other program managers that reside at the same level as me. This power coincides with information power. Because of this knowledge and the fact that coworkers bring their issues, I continually gain information from them on programs that I do not normally work or are not with in my prevue. Also, due to residing in the same program for over three years, I use a large amount of connection power. There are quite a few people that have been part of the program in other locations that I have built relationships with and individuals that have moved up in the program that I still communicate with on a regular basis. My relationship with these individuals gives me power in itself. Occasionally, I have been asked to make a phone call to help out in certain situations. Most of the above powers are based on a long standing position within the same office. Currently, I do not use the other identifies powers because I am not in a position to do so, hence the reason I am going after my degree at NEIU. I do, however, make recommendations to leadership within the awards program that occasionally benefits individuals I work with. While I do not have direct oversight of this type of power I do provide input that feeds into it.
Politics plays a huge role within the Government. As a Government employee one must always play some part in organizational politics. When it comes to political behaviors, I tend to use them all (learning the organizational culture and power players, developing good working relationships, and being a loyal and honest team player) equally except for gaining recognition. Even though my need for gaining recognition is allow I do believe that recognition is an important part of any organization. There is an excellent awards program within in our office that I consistently write awards for. My current manager does not necessarily enjoy writing them and has difficulty. I enjoy writing up awards packages and it seems to come rather easily to me. When I write up a package and the individual wins the award I feel like I have won the awards and that could be why I do not push for recognition myself. The fact of knowing that I wrote an award winning package feels good and I have actually received kudos from my boss’s boss for some of the packages I have compiled.
Based on my personality profile I am conscientious and open to new experience. These results reflect that I am toward the higher end for being a good listener. There are, however, areas of communication that still require some improvement. Areas that I need to improve on from a communication perspective are interrupting others. I continually have issues with this and find myself having to really concentrate on not interrupting which sometimes leaves me not listening to a conversation. I have gotten better over the last few years but continue to work on this issue. From a feedback and coaching position, I do not always provide the feedback as I should. I try to make a point in providing feedback, whether it is positive or negative. The ultimate goal is to get the feedback into the hands of the individual so they can use it for the future. Lastly, conflict style is one that gets me every time.
Being conscientious and open to new experience helps in making me part of the in-group. I have worked for my manager for the last three years. I have followed in his foot-steps for every job. As he exits the job and moves up within the organization I backfill his old position. We hold the same values, work ethic, and as I am learning in this course, the same leadership styles. Based on my relationship with my manager I would say it accurately reflects that relationship. My relationship with my boss is an abnormal one. I have never held a relationship with another boss like I have with my current one. I am not sure I will ever hold such a strong relationship with another boss. But all relationships vary and there may be a different kind of strong with someone else someday. Most relationships are determined by how much effort you put into them which leads back to the title of this assessment, being an effective follower.
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The team I am currently on is an extremely effective team within the organization; most of us are part of the in-group. Our team is responsible for the management of more contracts and funds than any other team in the organization. We are also the smallest and most diversified team in the organization. A diverse workforce brings many different perspectives to any organization which makes it stronger. I have seen multiple occasions where having multiple perspectives leads to an outcome that far exceeds those of a group that does not have a diverse workforce. A diverse workforce creates a strong organizational culture, improves employee morale leading to higher retention, and improves creativity and productivity. As stated above, we also have a small team where we have the opportunity to interact and relate on a professional and personal level. This relationship helps us to be more productive and work efficiently. Also having that personal relationship we all strive to make each other look good. When one of us looks good we all look good. Another attribute of our team that sets us apart is the level of cross functional knowledge we share and can take advantage of. We are all knowledgeable within certain areas of contract management and we use that to our advantage. Of course, no team is completely effective on their own. Out team leader helps to grow us and become a better team on a daily basis. Without his mentorship and direction we may not be as close as we are.
Beyond being an effective teammate, I am a strategic thinker. There are many reasons that establish me as a strategic thinker. Strategic thinkers are able to sort out emotion from fact. By keeping emotion out of the decision making process one can concentrate on the facts and make the appropriate decision to meet a long-term goal. This also lends itself to being able to analyze all the data, as well as, sort and prioritize information. Strategic thinkers also have the ability to see patterns among seemingly unrelated events. Putting things together from a global perspective gives the foresight of strategic planning. As a strategic thinker I am consistently looking for alternatives, thinking outside the box, and envisioning new possibilities that most people around do not do. I am always challenging assumptions, open to new ideas and information, and I am never willing to just accept the norm. Just because the norm was right five years ago does not make the norm right now. Lastly, in a strategic environment, I understand the need to make tradeoffs; this is quite transparent when we are negotiating with defense contractors. By looking at long-term goals I must balance short-term gains and occasionally not accomplish a short term goal in order to meet a long-term objective.
A long time ago I was very resistant to trying new things and change. I was extremely committed to my stubbornness and just knew that my way, the norm, was the right way. Yet, I could look around my life and in so many areas see that I was not experiencing what I wanted to be experiencing. I saw other people for whom things came easily and resented them for it. I saw others succeeding where I was not and new they had something I didn’t have. Any invitation to do something different was countered with one thousand reasons why it couldn’t work. One day, a boss gave me ten ways I could make my education and professional life all happen at the same time and I denied every single one of them. That was when I figured out just how resistant to change I was. That was seven years ago and have been slowing working to not resist change and attempt to accept any and every change in my life, both personal and professional. Once I started doing that I started experiencing things I had never experienced before and started succeeding in areas of my life that I had not before. Leading people to accept change within an organization can be done in many ways. Influencing others through reasoning is one way. By explaining to them why it's important or helpful for them to try something new, it relies on their sense of responsibility and conscientiousness to comply. This method of reasoning is the easiest method, for me, to get things accomplished when doing something new or changing something that already exists. In order to convince people of attempting something new mutual trust and respect must be present. I continually build my relationships with coworkers and even bosses to establish that sense of trust and respect.