Leadership Quality

Essay by tsscontactCollege, UndergraduateA, July 2014

download word file, 3 pages 0.0

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IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LEADERSHIP

Let's take a look at a perfect example of how a leader or manager should not conduct himself. The manager we will discuss and name fictitiously is, "Andy". Andy was until one month ago my manager. I am a mid-level Desktop Support Engineer employed at a large national bank. My direct team is comprised of 6 other engineers and one manager. Together we make up the Help Desk. The Help Desk has 4 of the 6 engineers based in Maryland and two that work out of California. Along with one other engineer and myself we make up the California Help Desk Team. Our manager Andy assigned a large complex project that was bound to fail from the end. My partner and I went to Andy with doubts about his expectations for the deadlines associated with the new project. Andy threatened to remove us from the project and find a replacement within the Maryland team member's.

Andy's refusal to compromise prompted my team lead to complain to Andy's manager. The CIO of the bank sat down with my team leader and somehow Andy was convinced to change the deadlines of the project without any detriment to our future standing in the company. Andy lacked good communication and motivational skills. The problem may have also stemmed from too high of expectations being placed on Andy. The CIO and other bank leaders expect him to manage the entire help desk from the East Coast offices.

Andy needed to look at how to subtly and creatively motivate his team. What ultimately motivates one individual may not necessarily motivate another. If an employee's needs are not met, the employee will have difficulty performing adequately. I think more managers need to forget the old saying "People are our most...