Category: LRNT 525

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Looking back at my initial Reflection on Leadership post I continue to perceive leadership as a dynamic and contextual process. The initial ranking attributes exercise we performed was enlightening, it showed me how different the perception of a leader can be in different contexts. While I admit that “Courage” was not my first pick, I still think it is an important attribute that most leaders have in common.

In a fast-paced and demanding industry like the automotive, having the figure of a good leader helps improve business performance. It helps create an ideal work environment to increase sales, productivity and make employees happier and more motivated. A happy worker in his work environment achieves the objectives set beforehand, which increases the benefits of the company and improves its image, both internally and externally. In addition, it makes it more competitive. I also perceive a true leader as someone that establishes a common goal, inspires his work team, challenges them to work for objectives, and always moves forward.

Throughout this course, I have learned many new concepts such as leadership models and theories, digital learning environments, and project management among others. I enjoyed learning about Organizational readiness for change and how organizational structures and resource endowments shape readiness perceptions (Weiner, 2009). I also found it interesting to learn about transformational leadership, its disruptive nature, and how disruptive leaders frame their leadership in the context of their followers. Kouzes and Posner (2011) state that “leadership is something one experiences in an interaction with another human being. That experience varies from leader to leader, from constituent to constituent, and from day to day” (p. 29). The leaders with the greatest capacity to carry out the necessary transformation and continue to grow in complex times are those who know how to listen, show an open disposition, and are not afraid of change. On the contrary, they inspire it.

As I continue my lifelong learning journey, I continue to believe that leadership is a powerful skill that we can develop over time. It is not about being in a position of power, it is about having the right mindset and desire to make a positive impact within any organization or group that we belong to. COVID 19 made already evident that change is not optional, and that companies that will come out of this crisis are those that can find new paths with flexibility and humility. This requires a new type of leadership, a new generation of leaders that embrace change in a new and ever-changing digital world.

References

Castelli, P.A. (2016), “Reflective leadership review: a framework for improving organizational performance”, Journal of Management Development, Vol. 35 No. 2, pp. 217-236. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-08-2015-0112

Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2011). The characteristics of admired leaders. Credibility: How leaders gain and lose it, why people demand it. (2^nd Edition). Jossey-Bass. https://royalroads.skillport.com/skillportfe/main.action?path=summary/BOOKS/43184#summary/BOOKS/RW$564:_ss_book:43184

Weiner, B. J. (2009). A theory of organizational readiness for change. Implementation Science, 4(67). https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-4-67

 

Implementing new learning technology successfully is a complex process. As we study leading change in a digital world in the Master of Arts in Learning and Technology program at Royal Roads University, we were challenged to design a toolkit to support this. We invite you to explore our Tactical Toolkit for Implementation of Digital Technologies.

Created by Angela Frawley, Alisha Hadley, Karen McMurray, and Luis Rodriguez.

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In my organization, for the last couple of years and due to business expansion, I have been involved in a large project of adopting and implementing a new Data Management System (DMS) in most of our newly acquired locations. These new locations were utilizing different systems that, while they were compliant with the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) requirements, were not compatible with our main DMS.

In brief, a DMS is what enables dealerships to perform their daily operations. From vehicle orders and entries, inventory management, accounting reports, cost transactions, automotive CRM, quotes, marketing campaign management, the configuration of the sales flow for authorizations, internal and external financing, managing the after-sales service, appointment scheduling, time control of mechanics with work orders, all of this integrated into the accounting and finances of the business, among others. Therefore, the importance of having one centralized and unified DMS is one of the main decisions and top priorities for any dealership. For this project, in my role and among other functions, I was in charge of the development and implementation of the new DMS in all our locations to unify, simplify and manage the entire operation of our automotive group within the province.

Knolskape (2013) described a project as something temporary, unique, and closed after attaining objectives. For this project, the goals were clear to me because of my understanding of the operations in our business and my years of experience in the industry, and not because the goals were explicitly outlined in a document or else. The stakeholders were our corporate executives who after analyzing the cost, benefits, and ROI decided to work with our current DMS provider. The ones that benefited from this decision were all employees and stakeholders.

On one hand, the transition to a new DMS has major technological implications, specific software and hardware requirements, and major initial training is required for all users. On the other hand, the reality is that implementing a new DMS is not merely a technological change. For the company’s employees, it represented a change in their work and in their way of doing things. Having said that, the biggest challenge I identified was the adaptation of all employees to the new system. Unfortunately, change is not usually accepted by everyone in the same way and many people face it with certain rejection. Technological changes are usually rapid, but people need some time to learn to manage in environments that are unknown to them. A good solution to overcome this barrier was to involve all users in the design and implementation process. After all, it was logical to make them participants in a process that will affect them directly; I also found beneficial their input since nobody knew better than them the operations of their departments.  I believe that the involvement of the end-users was essential to guarantee the success of the implementation of our new DMS system.

Watt (2014) claims that “a project is successful when it achieves its objectives and meets or exceeds the expectations of the stake­holders”. In retrospect, I would consider this project a successful one. The new DMS is in place in all our locations, employees’ training is complete, and communication between departments and in all aspects of the business in all locations is seamless and effective.

References:

Knolscape. (2013). Introduction to Project Management. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOU1YP5NZVA

Watt, A. (2014). Project Management. Victoria, BC: BCcampus. https://opentextbc.ca/projectmanagement/

Infographic created using Canva by Rodriguez, 2022.

Digital change is a priority issue for many companies. Technologies and customers are transforming businesses and customers have become the center of everything. Through their interactions, customers decide how to obtain information, how to buy, or how to communicate with businesses. Biech (2007) claimed that “the increased amount of information and speed at which we can access information have placed organizations on ever-accelerating paths of change”. This has led many companies to rethink their model and begin the shift towards digitization.

One of the most important challenges that companies have had in recent years is to adopt and renew old styles of leadership to the new digital reality. As noted by Christina Jones, managing change “can be championed by anybody at any level of any organization” (Jones, 2022, 04:51). Thanks to new technologies, leadership has been transformed and leaders have found it necessary to adopt a new mentality that allows them to maintain unity and a good environment in their workgroups. Therefore, the new generation of leaders, in addition to having the fundamental skills of a leader, must integrate the new technological solutions into their leadership style.

My digital change infographic above is a representation of my personal views, professional experience, an interview with a colleague and mentor who has been in the auto industry for over 30 years, a reflection of the unit readings, and the “voices” interviews provided on this unit. The model identifies three main elements that influence digital change in any organization: transformational technology, people, and process.

Technology

Technology has become the focal point of our existence, highlighted by our growing reliance on digital media to communicate, shop, and essentially live our lives. This reliance on technology highlights the need to embrace and integrate digital transformation as a strategy. This process is essential to ensure the future growth of any organization, as well as to maintain customer satisfaction and loyalty. I believe that digital leadership is not only the responsibility of the IT department. For a company to completely transform, technology must involve all processes and departments, from sales, marketing, operations, accounting, and even human resources, all can benefit from a new digital mindset.

People

There is no doubt that changes affect people, the simple idea of ​​getting out of the comfort zone brings out insecurities in any individual, thus the importance of a change in corporate culture and a change in attitude for the digital transformation of people. In my context, such changes have allowed our employees to:

• Commit to a new digital environment.
• Understand the impact of new technologies and continuous changes in the organization.
• Understand the new ways of working in the organization.
• Be open to new processes of innovation and continuous reinvention.
• Respond to current business needs.

Process:

There are many operations and activities that are connected in order to achieve specific business objectives and where the management, optimization, and automation of business processes come into play. Antwi & Kale (2014) state that in Pettigrew’s Context/Content/Process Model “the process of change includes the operational activities undertaken to materialize change “. Optimizing business processes is essential in digital change strategies and is essentially customer-oriented. To achieve the digital transformation of processes, new facilitating technologies were used to allow the automation of operations in my organization: online training programs became mandatory for the sales department, marketing efforts were entirely shifted to online platforms, remote work for some key positions became a priority, and all departments have undergone systems upgrading to keep up with requirements and specifications to be compliant with the automaker’s demands.

In closing, we all have a notion about leadership and the traits that distinguish a good leader: respect, tolerance, vision, innovation, and encouragement of teamwork. During a crisis, like the one we have experienced for over two years with the pandemic, leadership is more important than ever. In the most difficult times, the leaders who excel are those who communicate clearly, remain calm and strong, show empathy, think long-term, and courageously take the right decisive actions. For a company or organization to be successful, it is essential that a leader apply positive values ​​and attitudes that inspire their employees to grow.

After reflecting on this activity, I believe that digital change enables organizations to better compete in an economic environment that is constantly changing as technology evolves. With a mindset that correctly understands the advantages and benefits of technological innovation, it is much easier to carry out processes that companies seek to carry out such as digital change, and to understand that technology is not just a computer or a tablet, but a transformative tool that gives way to innovation and success.

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References

Al-Haddad, S., & Kotnour, T. (2015). Integrating the organizational change literature: a model for successful change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 28(2), 234–262. https://doi.org/10.1108/jocm-11-2013-0215

Antwi, M., & Kale, M. (2014). Change Management in Healthcare: Literature Review, pp. 1–35.

Biech, E. (2007). Models for change. In Thriving through change: A leader’s practical guide to change mastery. Association for Talent Development. https://royalroads.skillport.com/skillportfe/assetSummaryPage.action?assetid=RW$1544:_ss_book:22651#summary/BOOKS/RW$1544:_ss_book:22651 

Jones, C. (2022). Voices of leadership: Interview with Christina Jones. [Audio]. Royal Roads University MALAT Course Site. https://malat-coursesite.royalroads.ca/lrnt525/schedule/voices/

 

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For this activity, we were asked to reflect on our own personal leadership perspective highlighting what we think are the most important attributes of a leader working in digital learning environments (DLEs). I perceive leadership as a dynamic and contextual concept that encompasses more than we think. It is a quality that many of us unintentionally take for granted simply because it is everywhere. We all know someone that we see as a leader, we all have experienced leadership in some form, we all know what it is, what it means, and still, we all define it in different ways.

For the purpose of this activity, we tried to define leadership by choosing and ranking attributes or qualities that a leader may have.  My initial top-three ranked attributes of leadership were supportive, dependable, and caring. Working with my team and after coming to a group consensus, we ranked supportive, forward-looking, and caring as the team’s top-three characteristics of leadership (Rodriguez et al., 2022). We noticed some similarities as well as some major discrepancies in many of the choices we made individually. We wondered why and discussed how these choices are influenced by our personal and professional experiences, different contexts, and cultural backgrounds.

After completing the team consensus activity and reflecting on the readings, my perception of some attributes changed. While I have no doubt that all the listed attributes are important to define leadership, I chose three (plus one) “new” and revised attributes that a good digital leader or any leader must have:

1. Courage

I found Courage to be probably the most important trait of effective leadership. Courage gives a person the ability to put aside the fears of failure and take the necessary steps to overcome those fears. Courage also allows leaders to attempt new things, despite the fear of failing or looking foolish. It is also with courage how we engage with the world around us and how we deal with external overwhelming pressures. In brief, I think that courage is what makes leaders stand out from the crowd in any environment.

2. Inspiring

One of the jobs or expectations of a leader is to be inspirational to other people. No matter what you do in life, whether you are a parent, a teacher or a paramedic, an entrepreneur, a foreign language instructor, a dental hygienist, or a director of technology, as a leader, you should always strive to be an inspiration to others. Kouzes and Posner (2011) highlighted that “People admire and respect leaders who are dynamic, uplifting, enthusiastic, positive, and optimistic.”

3. Supportive

Being supportive is important and valuable. It demonstrates that a leader is empathetic and approachable. In business settings, I have found that supportive leadership fosters positive relationships between employees, empowers people, encourages participation, motivates, and leads to professional growth and development.

4. Humble

If I could add an attribute to the list, it would be humble. Humility is something that makes a person powerful inside and out. It is an attribute that I consider defines who you really are and not what you do or what you have. Over time, I have also learned that nobody likes a person that is unwilling to learn and neither one that thinks knows it all. It is humility what makes someone appreciate and value other people’s knowledge and insights.

Sheninger (2019) explains that digital leadership) “takes into account recent changes such as ubiquitous connectivity, open-source technology, mobile devices, and personalization”. Being a leader in a digital era means embracing change, understanding that new emerging things are disrupting and changing the way we do business and interact with people.

In closing, I personally believe that we are all leaders in some capacity and that we all influence our personal and professional environments in some way, shape, or form. Kouzes and Posner (2011) state that “leadership is something one experiences in an interaction with another human being. That experience varies from leader to leader, from constituent to constituent, and from day to day” (p. 29). I also believe that there is learning everywhere. You can learn anything that you set your mind to, and you can always learn something good from everyone, even from the people you disagree with the most.

Leadership is a powerful skill that develops over time, and it is not something you are born with or without. It is a mindset, something that we should keep striving to achieve every day. As I continue learning about leadership and digital change with fabulous leaders in this program, I am intrigued to see how I can sharpen the skills acquired and put them to work personally and professionally.

References

Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2011). The characteristics of admired leaders. Credibility: How leaders gain and lose it, why people demand it. (2^nd Edition). Jossey-Bass. https://royalroads.skillport.com/skillportfe/main.action?path=summary/BOOKS/43184#summary/BOOKS/RW$564:_ss_book:43184

Rodriguez, L., Frawley, A. Hadley, A. & McMurray, K. (2022, February 4). Attributes of leadership| Team E. Luis Rodriguez: A MALAT Student Blog. https://malat-webspace.royalroads.ca/rru0216/attributes-of-leadership-team-e/

Sheninger, E. (2014). Pillars of digital leadership. International Centre for Leadership in Education. http://leadered.com/pillars-of-digital-leadership/

By Alisha Hadley, Angela Frawley, Karen McMurray & Luis Rodriguez

Reflection on Process

The Team E process to come to a consensus was collegial and reiterative. We discussed our understanding of the rankings and definitions of characteristics, and we actively reflected on the process as our results emerged. We analyzed whether our process was serving us to make the best decisions, a nod to demonstrating cooperative tendencies in our group. While we did not shift our methods, articulating it as we went was helpful for moving forward to complete the rankings.

Initially, we looked at consistencies within the extremes on the scale. We started by identifying where we had high- and low-ranked characteristics, and as we moved towards the middle of the rankings, we made choices between characteristics that we considered clustered with common themes or overlaps. For instance, we could see that forward-looking, inspiring and ambitious were likely speaking to the visionary nature of leadership, and therefore discussed which of these three would rank as most resonant to our group. One member noted this could become an exercise in semantics; however, we agreed upon the goal of creating diversity in our highest-ranked characteristics.

It was interesting to note that we agreed our independent rankings had changed post-readings, with one participant acknowledging that being visionary is more important to leadership than they understood when ranking before the readings, and another group member sharing embarrassment about how low they ranked honesty. They further explained that a personal leadership issue had influenced their low ranking at that time. Personal stories were shared in our process to come to conclusions and make meaning of the characteristics and their definitions. These contributed to understanding as well as group development and cohesion.