In
today’s world stepping up and becoming a leader is one of the best things a
person can do. There are a lot of different opinions on what leadership is.
Only one definition explains the true role of what a leader does. According to
Andrew J Dubrin’s leadership text book, leadership is ability to inspire confidence and support among the people who are
needed to achieve organizational goals. According to Andrew J Dubrin a leader’s behavior
begins to reveal a consistent, regular, predictable pattern of dealing with
group members. The consistency then reveals a pattern of behavior
which characterizes the leader’s actions into one of three styles. These styles
are known as Participative, Autocratic,
and Entrepreneurial leadership. A Participative leader is a person is willing
to share decision making with group members. Someone who can accept
suggestions from group members related to managing the operation.
According to Dubrin’s leadership
studies there are three subtype of participative leading. I like to think of it
as three comfort level of being a leader. A person can be consultative which
means the leader confer with group members before deciding, but the leader retains
the final authority to make decisions. They can be consensus which means the
leader strive for consensus in discussions, and decisions are made reflecting a
general agreement the group members support. They can also be a democratic
leader someone who is comfortable with confer final authority to group
members.
Another leadership
style would be an Autocratic leader. A Leader that keeps all authority and make
all the decisions assuming group members will comply. Considered task-oriented
leaders as their focus is on getting tasks accomplished. Typical behaviors
include telling, asserting, and serving. I personally feel this is the worst
kind of leadership style because it shows the lack of team work in the group.
The last style of leadership would be Entrepreneurial Leadership. This leadership refers to
a person who has a strong achievement drive and is very
sensible when it comes to risk taking. This person would also have a high
degree of enthusiasm and creativity.
When I
finish school I plan on becoming an executive chef. Since I am going to be
working in the kitchen team work will be needed. I plan to be a participative
leader with my team. Becoming an executive chef comes with a lot of
responsibilities. You can find yourself doing things like purchasing, training,
menu planning or even helping the front house staff get ready. This is a lot of
work for one person to take on by them self. Being participative as a leader an
allowing the help of your employees can come in very handy. In my research
about the participative leadership style I learn a lot. This style falls under
the path-goal theory. The path goal theory is a theory created by a man name
Robert house.
In general, the
theory says a leader who attempts to “clear the path” to a goal for a group
member tends to find the group member’s job satisfaction and performance
increase according to leadership. I feel the demand of my future goal to become
a chef support this style leadership. I plan on having weekly meetings with my
staff to see how they personally feel about different situations that we
encounter. According to Louis Lafortune’s book Professional
Accompaniment Model for Change for Innovative Leadership handing out meeting
follow up forms during meeting helps leaders to know how their employees might
feel about the task. A lot of great ideas are created with this method. “In
2005–2006, some accompaniment providers began handing out forms accompanied individuals at the end of the first
day to give them more time to respond bout a job related issue”. (Louise
Lafortune) This meant that information
from the first day was not lost in the shadow of information from the second
day because processes and content were fresher in the memory. “Then, from 2006
to 2008, “forms were handed out at the start of the first day so that
individuals could complete them whenever they wished or at particular moments
during the meeting.” (louise Lafortune).
I would use this method when doing menu
planning, renovation, or anything having to do with making my restaurant
better. As an executive chef you have to think of your employees as partners.
They should feel like it’s their restaurant and not just a job. As a leader
it’s good to reward you staff not only to show appreciation but also to make
them want to work harder to make a better business. For example, if you see
that your employee is working just as hard as you to accomplish goals give them
a bonus. Bonuses helps motivate workers to want to work hard. As a business
owner or manager it’s always good to have hard working employees. I feel that
anyone in an overseeing position should always motivate their workers.
I
admire Chef Rene Redzepi a Danish chef and co-owner of the two Michelin star restaurant Noma. He is
known as the world’s most influencal chef according to CNN’s culinary journey
article. Chef Redzepi creates all his dishes using nothing but local seasonal ingredients.
He and his team work together to create amazing dishes year around. This is the
kind of relationship I would like to have with my workers. I want them to feel
like their opinion count when it comes to making decisions in the kitchen. Team
work means everything when it comes to running a business.
In
conclusion, as a leader you should go above and beyond to create the best work
environment for your team. Like the old saying goes two hands works better than
one. It’s always good to have second opinion about an idea. I personally feel
being and autocratic leader is no way to work. From my experience, I felt like
a slave working under an autocratic leader. My first manager never listened to
his employees all he did was give orders. As a result of that most of my
co-workers did not stay very long. Is good to always put yourself in the shoes
of your workers let them know your there for them. A leader is only as good as
his team.
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