Self-Awareness

A511.7.3.RB – Self-Awareness

As a career Air Force member I have been held to a particular set of core values.  These core values are integrity, service before self and excellence in all we do.  While these set the backbone for all Air Force personnel do there is much more to that to be a good leader.  The military is a very hierarchal approach to leadership.  Personnel within the structure earn rank and with that rank comes authority and responsibility.  For me however, it is not just about rank.  Obviously within my role and authority I could very easily tell personnel under me what to do and how to do it.  However, I believe that if you can build a good team and instill camaraderie within the ranks that people will want to work for me.  The article from this week’s reading material Getting Personal on the Topic of Leadership discusses how several different leaders within their respective area do things (Goffee & Jones, 2006).  The article discusses how these different leaders know and show enough of themselves to win over their followers. It also discusses how leaders develop a close understanding of their differences and use these differences to become attractive to others.  The Yukl text discusses the idea of servant leadership and how you as a leader should help others accomplish shared goals and objectives (Yukl, 2013).  As a servant leader you must help your followers develop and understand their roles and further understand how they fit into and help the organization succeed.  In review of all the readings this week I would define my style of leadership and personal core value as a teacher.  I have always enjoyed teaching others and helping them get better.  I really enjoyed helping the new Airmen who would PCS into the organization.  I always used the mentality of the more I taught them to do the less I would have to do.  Not necessarily as a laziness mentality but more of a delegation and supervisory standpoint.  The Yukl text states that some of the benefit of this style of leadership are increased trust and loyalty of followers, an increase in referent power which makes it easier to influence subordinates, and an overall better leader-follower relationship (Yukl, 2013).  While this approach has not always worked for me the majority of time I was supervising and leading individuals it was beneficial.  It created relationships where followers did not mind working for me because they did not feel like they were working for me they felt like they were working with me.  They also knew I would teach them all the things they needed to know to be successful and I felt they worked harder and more inspired for it.     

 

Goffee, R., & Jones, G. (2006).  Getting personal on the Topic of Leadership. Human Resource

Management International Digest. 14 (4). Pp.32-34.

 Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership in Organization (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Prentice Hall.