Leadership Vision and Strategic Direction - Coursework Example

Leadership Impacts on Organizational Success Leadership Vision and Strategic Direction As noted by Don Brecken in the article “Leadership Vision and Strategic Direction,” leadership is an important aspect of the growth any business or even nonbusiness organization. It is the leader’s vision for the organization that results in future growth and development of the company (Brecken, 2004). Brecken has an unwavering focus on the need for an organization’s vision for the future to help maximize productivity. With the leaders setting the trends, the organization as a whole can steer towards goal achievement and highest returns on capital invested. For overall organizational growth, the company and its leaders must bear in mind the hardships that come with long-term visions, resulting from the existence of uncertainty in the future. In his article, Brecken acknowledges the presence of ambiguity in all visions that dwell on the organization’s future. He states that there lies a lot of vagueness that hampers the leaders’ will to set long-term organizational goals, due to the fear that they may not achieve it owing to the changing environment. Such fears may be in some way considered helpful, but largely amount to organizational failure (Humphreys & Strategy, 2013). In the article, the author acknowledges the existence of these fears and their role in the organization. Brecken states, “But what will the future hold for those who fail to consider it?” (Brecken, 2004). The question proves that the author considers the ambiguity of the future and helps the reader to use it for his or her gain. With the anticipation that changes can occur in the future, leaders can set their priorities right to maximize productivity. Management consultants posit that leaders assume a critical role in a company's development. It is their anticipation of the company’s growth that results in the achievement of the set objectives. Without the leader’s vision for the organization, the possibility of failure and lack of goal achievement is extremely high, therefore holding a dangerous future for the organization. Brecken focuses on the need for a visionary leader in an organization prospecting to succeed in the future. The leader is the pillar of the organization, and his or her view of the company is possibly its reflection in the upcoming. A futurist leader, therefore, holds the company’s vision in place and ensures that all the employees steer their efforts towards goal achievement within the set time range. Basing on Brecken’s work, leaders are the influential part in an organization. They determine the working nature of the company and the employees’ motivation. A leader, who has a long-term goal for the organization, instills the same to the employees, leading the organization to goal achievement. The vision plays a role in energizing the workforce, giving them a reason for working hard and maximizing productivity. Such energizers include the mission statements and strategic plans (Northouse, 2012). Despite his vast focus on the leadership vision, Don Brecken does not offer immense support on the strategic direction of the organization. He does not highlight the need for the leader to play as the employees’ role model and lead them towards goal achievement through setting the pace. From my perspective, the organization’s head should be at the front in the quest for organizational success. The title “leader” refers to being ahead and showing the employees what to do by example. The leader is in charge of the company’s success or its failure. The leader determines the direction followed by the employees in their goal achievement quest. Without the leader’s directory, the organization may fail, despite the institution of visions and missions in the organization for the future betterment. Leading Change John Kotter’s article on “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail” is a masterpiece in the expounding on the need for leading change in an organization. The concept of leading change refers to constant alterations in the organization working system to help maximize productivity through conforming to the changes in the environment. Leadership change can lead to the organization adapting to a myriad of changes such as demographics, tastes, and preferences (Kotter, 1995). Any organization must seek to remain relevant through leading change if it has prospects of being successful over generations. In the article, an important focal point is depicted as the alignment of the leader’s objective and the employees’ goals. Such a plan helps the company to realize maximum profits and success in the market. The employees feel that they are involved and that their objectives are at the organization's concern. It acts as a source of motivation because it compels employees to put more efforts towards achieving the overall objectives of the organization. Kotter’s article also points out the reasons for failure of leadership change. According to the article, there are numerous reasons why organizations’ leadership change methods fail, resulting to major downfalls of the organization. There are numerous causes of leadership changing failing including the lack of establishment of the sense of urgency. Leadership change, as by Kotter, results from competitiveness, market position, and financial performance. Lack of such motivators towards leadership change affects the organization, hindering its success and productivity in general. In his article, Kotter focuses on the steps that result in leadership change in an organization. These steps are critical and instrumental to the change in the organization. The transformation is a set of eight steps, all aimed at bettering the alteration process of the company. The initial step is the establishment of a sense of urgency. It involves examining the market and its competitiveness. An important aspect of the program involves creating a vision for the organization. Eventually, the organization should communicate the vision to stakeholders. The program also focuses on empowering the stakeholders to act in line with the organization’s vision. Creation of short-term wins helps motivate the employees into achieving the set long-term objectives. Instituting new approaches is the final step, which, as a whole, encompasses leadership change and thus betterment of the organization’s productivity (Kotter, 1995). Kotter’s approach towards leadership change bases on the entailed negativity. He points out the reasons accompanying the failures of leadership change in most of the organizations. One profound reason is the lack of a dominant coalition of the stakeholders in the organization. Lack of vision is also another problem involved in the transformation process. The final cause of an unworkable leading change process is the under-communication of the vision to the relevant stakeholders in the organization (Cook & Glass, 2011). Kotter’s article has a valid approach towards leadership change, though it has a couple of downfalls, owing to the lack of a straightforward transformation mechanism. In the article, the author lacks to point out the advantages of leadership change to the reader. He also does not point out the difficulties involved in the transformation process of an organization in terms of leadership change (Kelly, Medina & Cameron, 2014). These are among the major backlashes of the article, which are neutralized by the pros as depicted in the article by the author. References Cook, A., & Glass, C. (2011). Leadership change and shareholder value: How markets react to the appointments of women. Human Resource Management, 50(4), 501-519. Brecken, D. (2004). Leadership Vision and Strategic Direction. In The Quality Management Forum, Winter. Humphreys, J., & Strategy, D. S. (2013). The vision thing. Cambridge, MIТ Sloan Management Review, Vоl, 45. Kelly, L., Medina, C., & Cameron, D. (2014). Rebels at Work: A Handbook for Leading Change from Within. " O'Reilly Media, Inc.". Kotter, J. P. (1995). Leading Change: Why transformation efforts fail. Harvard business review, 73(2), 59-67. Northouse, P. G. (2012). Leadership: Theory and practice. New York: Sage Publications. Read More