Failure and Innovation

“The more you fail, the more you succeed” (Kotelnikov, 2008). I personally believe that failure is the foundation to success and innovation. One never knows what genius lurks in the cloak of failure waiting to be unveiled. “Failure provides great learning opportunity and should be viewed as a very lifeblood of success” (Kotelnikov, 2008). Within an innovative organization, new ideas might sound crazy but “it takes a great many silly ideas to spawn one viable one, and ..in the early stages there is no way of telling the silly idea from the stroke of genius” as they “both look equally impossible or equally brilliant” (Denning, 2005). Alfred Sloan the success maker of General Motors says, “life itself is a process of trial and error…and those people who make no mistakes are those who make nothing”. My husband and I had a successful contracting business for 11 years and as a result of many factors including hurricanes, structural damage, and dwindling liquid capital, our business went down in December of 2005. Many factors in this equation were out of our control but I take full responsibility for making poor choices, bad decisions, and having bad judgment which all equaled demise in the end. This was a huge personal and professional failure. These times of failure create defining moments that challenge us in deep ways and they “form, reveal, and test” us (Badaracco, 2003). These defining moments produce critical opportunities for self-inquiry that allow us to refocus our core values and principles, birthing a renewed sense of purpose, and crafts an authentic and strong identity based upon an understanding of our experiences and what is right (Badaracco, 2003). I learned so much from this experience about myself amidst this failure and how to approach future business. We now have another contracting business and it was from valuable lessons of past failures that we can have better judgment today and make more seasoned choices that produce better outcomes. Failure contains encapsulated lessons to be learned about myself, life, and business and creates opportunities to learn, change, and grow. It is difficult to make a comeback, but I would not trade the experience and lessons I have gained for easy success on any given day. It is through reflective efforts and vigilant scanning that I am able to move forward with confidence knowing that failure is vital to the learning process, the innovation process, and to personal and professional success.

References:

Badaracco, J.L. (2003). The Discipline of Building Character. Chapter 19. Business Leadership: A Jossey-Bass reader.

Denning, S. (2005). Transformational Innovation: A journey by narrative. Strategy & Leadership. Vol. 33, Iss. 3; p. 11.

Kotelnikov, V. (2008). Freedom to fail. The Highway to Success. Retrieved October 2, 2008 from http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/crosscuttings/failure_freedom.html

Stress and the Job

Leaders can create a less stressful workplace via supportive leadership style and mentoring constructs. Additionally, stress may be allayed via effective communication, increasing efficacy expectations, clarifying performance expectations, developing supportive group relationships which bolster social support and providing career developing opportunities (Sosik & Godshalk, 2000). Sosik and Godshalk (2000) found that the transformational leadership style incorporates traits such as individual consideration which support the mentoring construct and has been found to abate job-related stress. Job-related stress is often a function of individual perception of their environment and what meaning they may assign to external events (Sosik & Godshalk, 2000). Locus of control “can influence experienced stress by affecting one’s perceived ability to cope with and perhaps change a stressful environment” (Chiu et. al., 2005). According to Chiu et. al. (2005) employees who perceive low stress and high leadership support remain in positions longer; however, everyone differs in their perceptions of each of these constructs. Depending upon an individual’s LOC whether it be internal (viewing stress as controllable) or external (viewing themselves as powerless) will be a large factor in determining how they will perceive their environment and their ability or lack thereof to control it.

References:

Chiu, C., Chien, C. Lin, C. & Hsiao, C.Y. (2005). Understanding hospital employee job stress and turnover intentions in a practical setting: The moderating role of locus of control. The Journal of Management Development. Bradford: 2005. Vol. 24, Iss. 10; p. 837.

Sosik, J.J. & Godshalk, V.M. (2000). Leadership styles, mentoring functions, a job-related stress: A conceptual model and preliminary study. Journal of Organizational Behavior. Chichester, June 2000. Vol. 21, Iss. 4; p. 365

Situational Variables effecting Leadership

The behaviors and effectiveness of leaders are not always indicative of the leadership process or style. Situational modifiers such as task structure, group environment, and the leader’s power position play a big role, with each factoring into the equation of leadership effectiveness (Bass & Stogdill, 1990). Yukl (1994) described the use of situational modifier variables relative to leadership and the Contingency Approach. Fiedler’s Contingency Theory posits that “leadership effectiveness is the result of the interaction between the style of the leader and the characteristics of the environment in which the leader works” (12manage, 2008). According to Chen & Silverthorne (2005) the follower dictates the most appropriate leader behavior.

Relative to my personal workplace, as a business owner our environment consists of the environment at large working in different locations on varied job-sites and if we are working in a private residence then the home-owner is always an independent variable that can influence and contribute to the “culture” of the work group in either negative or positive ways. If we are working in a public space then there is an even larger diverse group of people that can contribute to the mix of the employee work group. There are also other contractors within each job site that factor into the equation. Our work environment and the group environment are always changing depending upon our location and what other individuals might be influencing the structure. The task structure itself is somewhat repetitive but can change with each job site as every builder incorporates multiple surfaces which create greater and lesser degrees of difficulty with application. The products used with each job also influences task structure and difficulty level. The abilities of employees become relevant here as experience plays into how difficult each task may or may not be for each individual. Leader power position may change as we deal with employees and also with home owners, business owners, builders, and other stakeholders. Leadership effectiveness on each level may vary as each of these situational variables are always changing. However, we always strive to communicate effectively, clarify performance expectations, and develop supportive group relationships.

Reference:

Bass, B. M. (1990). Bass and Stogdill’s handbook of leadership: theory, research, and managerial applications, 3^rd edition, Free Press: New York

Chen, J. & Silverthorne C. (2005). Leadership effectiveness, leadership style and employee readiness. Leadership & Organization Development Journal. Vol. 26, Iss. ¾; p. 280

Yukl, G. (1994). Leadership in organizations, 3^rd edition, Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs.

12manage, 2008. Contingency Theory. Retrieved October 9, 2008 from http://www.12manage.com/methods_contingency_theory.html

Transformational Leadership

Steven Covey says of transformational leadership that the “goal… is to “transform” people and organizations in a literal sense – to change them in mind and heart; enlarge vision, insight, and understanding; clarify purposes; make behavior congruent with beliefs, principles, or values; and bring about changes that are permanent, self-perpetuating, and momentum building.” My goal is to continually learn, to always be open to experience, stretch myself, be flexible, ask questions, practice vigilance, never settle, and to positively engage others. I hope that by living my life in such a way that I am always seeking to learn, change, and grow that I am able to do what is right in my life, in leadership, and to always seek to bring about positive change for myself and others. My desire is to be encouraging and supportive to others, to be individually considerate, and to empower others to be active participants in the midst of constant change. I will apply transformational leadership in my business by keeping relationships as the foundational structure to which all else springs forth as a result and I will apply innovation by being environmentally vigilant, always seeking to instill new processes, perfecting old processes, and taking risks to try new methods.

Failure as the Impetus for Success

“The more you fail, the more you succeed” (Kotelnikov, 2008). I personally believe that failure is the foundation to success and innovation. One never knows what genius lurks in the cloak of failure waiting to be unveiled. “Failure provides great learning opportunity and should be viewed as a very lifeblood of success” (Kotelnikov, 2008). Within an innovative organization, new ideas might sound crazy but “it takes a great many silly ideas to spawn one viable one, and ..in the early stages there is no way of telling the silly idea from the stroke of genius” as they “both look equally impossible or equally brilliant” (Denning, 2005). Alfred Sloan the success maker of General Motors says, “life itself is a process of trial and error…and those people who make no mistakes are those who make nothing”. My husband and I had a successful contracting business for 11 years and as a result of many factors including hurricanes, structural damage, and dwindling liquid capital, our business went down in December of 2005. Many factors in this equation were out of our control but I take full responsibility for making poor choices, bad decisions, and having bad judgment which all equaled demise in the end. This was a huge personal and professional failure. These times of failure create defining moments that challenge us in deep ways and they “form, reveal, and test” us (Badaracco, 2003). These defining moments produce critical opportunities for self-inquiry that allow us to refocus our core values and principles, birthing a renewed sense of purpose, and crafts an authentic and strong identity based upon an understanding of our experiences and what is right (Badaracco, 2003). I learned so much from this experience about myself amidst this failure and how to approach future business. We now have another contracting business and it was from valuable lessons of past failures that we can have better judgment today and make more seasoned choices that produce better outcomes. Failure contains encapsulated lessons to be learned about myself, life, and business and creates opportunities to learn, change, and grow. It is difficult to make a comeback, but I would not trade the experience and lessons I have gained for easy success on any given day. It is through reflective efforts and vigilant scanning that I am able to move forward with confidence knowing that failure is vital to the learning process, the innovation process, and to personal and professional success.

References:

Badaracco, J.L. (2003). The Discipline of Building Character. Chapter 19. Business Leadership: A Jossey-Bass reader.
Denning, S. (2005). Transformational Innovation: A journey by narrative. Strategy & Leadership. Vol. 33, Iss. 3; p. 11.

Kotelnikov, V. (2008). Freedom to fail. The Highway to Success. Retrieved October 2, 2008 from http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/crosscuttings/failure_freedom.html

Life and Leadership

The class I am presently in is Leadership, which is interesting amidst the backdrop of the impending Presidential election...The way the media slants to their own persuasion is pathetic...Fox News has consistently remained biased as far as I can tell...I do not however have much time for television....Continuing this journey has become quite a juggling act, walking the line between personal and professional responsibilities...Maintaining balance and flexibility is the key to sanity and success....allowing for down days when I shift my focus toward one task over another....I am enjoying the challenges and the intellectual stimulation....I also enjoy the silliness of my children in contrast....I am learning so much about leadership and what my personal leadership style is and how to best combine the different models depending upon the situational factors that contribute such as the environmental cues (economic, political, cultural) and the human capital, treating each individual as an important human being and cultivating the appropriate relationships with peers and subordinates....The bottom line, thus far, is there is no single best model or theory of leadership, it is an amalgamation of many theories and a leaders response is based upon the situation as opposed to having a robotic response based in a single thoery..."made to order" leadership seems the most applicable....while maintaining the utmost importance to the relationships we create with one another and holding that sacred....supporting and inspiring one another along our journey whether personal or professional, we are all leaders to someone, whether it be at home or at work....I hope that we all remember that we should live our lives like people are watching, because people are watching....big and little....so I hope that we all lead by example....keeping it positive and pushing forward!

Exhausted But Well Read

Today I am finishing the last of the nine book reading assignment and this week begins the classroom discussions....After reading the first book I was so excited to talk about it and now after getting through eight of the books and working today to finish the ninth, I am just really exhausted and my eyes are burning.....I am looking forward to NOT needing to read nine books in such a short time frame! I have looked ahead at the syllabus and compared to this reading assignment, the rest of the class will be a cake walk, for reading at least! I have my first assignment due next week comparing and contrasting four leadership models....I love to get into papers, of course the best part is when it is finished but I love the research to start the paper and the "art of discovery" when you find an amazing source of information....no doubt these first nine textbooks will certainly come in handy...I have had hand cramp from taking all the notes and several notebooks now filled with writing that I hope to be able to decipher when I review what I have written :-) I am left handed and so the ink stains my pinky finger as it drags across the page, so lovely, it is like the "nerd tatoo"! I have been excited about embarking on this journey to earn this degree but right now I would just like to have a massage and crawl into bed! Tomorrow begins work and class discussion so I hope to down a pot of coffee, pen in hand, glasses firmly on face, and enjoy the ride!