Care to Lead
Vanessa Maes
Vanessa Maes
BS in Hospitality and Tourism with an
Event Emphasis
About
I'm currently a senior at San Diego State University. I am majoring in Hospitality and Tourism, with an emphasis in meeting and events. I have a passion for working with both events and people, which goes hand in hand in the hospitality industry. Browse my site to see all that I have to offer.
A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.
- John C. Maxwell
Leadership & Me
The type of leader I strive to be is the type of leader that I look up to. A leader to me is someone that has more knowledge than me and can guide me. One that does this not by commanding a certain thing be done, but by working alongside of me. I have always believed the best kind of leader is someone that others respect, and feel comfortable with. Someone that people want to be around, and help to get the job done. Leaders have passion for what they are doing and have a positively contagious attitude. Having past leaders that take on this role and having leaders that have not has led me to believe this is the best type of leadership, and has given me a goal to work towards. I hope to be able to grow in all of these leadership qualities and more, so that one day I can help lead others to be successful in whatever they choose to do!
Traits & Me
There are many traits that I admire when one is in a leadership role, but the few that really stand out to me are when the leader takes initiative, and gives encouragement. It is important to show initiative because it paves the way of how things should be done. Taking initiative also is like taking the first big step towards something great that many others may be too afraid to do. Giving encouragement to others is the other trait I admire because it sets the tone of how everyone involved should be treating each other. When a leader encourages others around them, better things come out of the work done. It leaves people feeling like they are capable of completing tasks successfully, and also creates a good relationship with the leader. When these two traits are mixed together it creates a great environment, as well as it helps the group to grow as a whole. From my own experience, I thrive when the leader shows these qualities. Their initiative helps me to see an end goal as well as it helps me to have the confidence to take initiative in situations as well. When the leader is encouraging I feel more comfortable in my situation, and that they believe in what I can do.
People/task, Theory XY Leadership Styles
In every job I have ever had there has been some type of both task-oriented and people-oriented behavior. I prefer when my leaders are more people-oriented. I feel as if I can connect better with them, as well as I feel more comfortable making decisions and thinking out of the box when that is the type of leader that I am around. While I prefer that a leader is more this way I fully believe that for a leader to be successful they need to be both task and people oriented. If they are only one they could either be missing the mark with the people they are working with them, or they are not fully committing to a task. When a leader has both is when a group or organization truly thrives.
Theory X and Y is a much different approach. Theory X says that employees don’t enjoy work leading to needing an authoritative figure. Theory Y says that employees do enjoy work, which leads to having a more participative leader. I believe that if a leader lets people do their own work without being micromanaged and instead supports them, that people will want to work, therefore theory y works much better.
Behavior Based Theory in "Lost"
In the first episode of Lost you can tell there will be a few characters that will be leaders throughout the show. The character Jack showed great leadership skills throughout the whole first episode. He showed both task-oriented behaviors and relations-oriented behaviors. For task-oriented he planned out how to get the plane part off of the man’s leg. He did this by figuring out how he could do this and how many people he would need to help. He gathered people, and directed them how to do this safely. He also clarified how to count out the contractions the pregnant woman was having so someone else could monitor that while he was helping others. Jack also showed task-oriented behavior in the scene on the plane. When the plane started to crash he kept looking over to monitor the woman that he was trying to keep calm on the plane, to make sure that she knew how to put her mask on correctly. For relations-oriented behaviors, Jack supported Kate as she stitched up his back. Kate was scared to help him with this so as she tried he told her a story of when he was scared while performing an operation. Telling her how he got through it helped her to be able to get through what she was doing. He also developed a plan on how to find the cockpit in order to find equipment to call for help. Jack also recognized how many people there were alive on the island, and who needed medical help. In just the first episode Jack showed great behavior based theory leadership skills.
Yukl Summary
All of the behavior theories from the Yukl summary are great examples of traits that leaders should have. Collins mentions these but also mentions humility, which should also be recognized as a trait that all leaders. Combining this with the other four would truly make a great leader. Leaders in my opinion, should be able to balance focusing on the tasks at hand, and the people working with them.
Blanchard Model
The Blanchard model can work very well when matched correctly. An example I have experienced is when I was a cheer coach. Myself and the rest of the coaching staff knew that not only did we have to direct exactly how things should be done when teaching the girls on the team how to do something, but we also had to be supportive throughout the teaching process and after. For example when teaching the girls how to do a back tuck, being highly directive and highly supportive helped the girls to learn how to do the task at hand, while also being reminded that it was something they could do! If there was no support to go with us directing, the girls wouldn’t have the confidence to try and would back out. If the Blanchard model is mismatched though, the situation can be negative. An example I’ve experienced of this is at a past job. When our boos would tell us to do something that we were all competent in, but a coworker didn’t have the motivation to do so, delegating is not the right type of leadership. The person who didn’t want to put effort in needed more support to motivate them to complete the task.
Level 5 Leadership
Level 5 leaders are probably using the situational leadership theory in some way because, level 5 leaders according to Collins are great leaders. Great leaders know how to communicate and lead all different types of people, and should be able to adapt and lead in any situation. Level 5 leaders are considered great leaders because they are a leader that can change their leadership style to fit the needs of others. They should be able to work with all types of followers, and they should also be able to lead in any type of situation.
Blog Nomination
I’ve decided to nominate Chandler’s blog! She did a great job of creating a site that fits her personality so well! I loved looking through her blog, because you can tell her personality just through the way she writes. I felt like I could hear her saying the things she wrote. It also helps that it’s very visually appealing, and she leaves funny aspects all around it. You can tell the type of person Chandler is, and how passionate she is about the hospitality industry! Great job Chandler!!
Contemporary Theory
Blog Summary
Throughout my blog, I have discussed different types of leadership, and what it means to be a leader. From the research I have done for the blog assignments, I have learned that there is not one type of leadership that is the right type of leadership. Knowing different leadership theories, and being able to combine them to fit each situation and each person involved creates the best kind of leader. I have learned that the type of leader I like to have and they type of leader I want to be is one that cares about others, and can mold themselves to help an organization succeed as a whole. I have found that caring about others and each situation creates the best type of leader. For me I like situational leadership, especially combined with a few other leadership theories, to create an enjoyable work environment suitable for all types of people. Leaders are not always the people who are in the leadership role, but one who goes out of their way to help others and lead people to success.