CHAPTER V
The conclusion from the research study can be summarized as below;
Findings in relation to Literature Review 1. Authentic Leadership
Researcher can feel the good spirit among the respondents. Most of them have shown commitment to drive their members to the right path in their own ways.
• Miss H is a type of leader who has good social awareness to manage her subordinate’s emotions in a positive way although she was struggling with a difficult situation. “I am a middle person between management team and my subordinates. When there is a change in an organization, the commission they give to my subordinate is lower. I need to motivate my team to understand about the situation – communicate with them to avoid resignations and turnover.”
• Mr. G is another leader who lead his team members with a good leadership mindset. He opens up to everyone’s opinion and willing to give chance to everyone to enrich their potentialities and skills. “I would like to see my team members happy in what they do and involved in. Everyone helps each other to find a solution when we face problems.”
• Mr. C is a leader who set himself as a good example to drive subordinates to achieve the same goal. “I need to achieve the sales target to enable my subordinates to see it as an example. I also have a solid plan for my supervisor. So, they know the goal is attainable and they can achieve it too.”
2. Self-leadership
Some of the leaders has their own personal style to develop their leadership mindset and behavior as discussed below.
• Mr. F at first struggled in a leadership role. However, he used behavior- focused strategy to elevate himself to better fit into a new position by reading books on leadership, listening to the podcast – how to manage subordinates, and listing what he needs to do in each day to keep track of everything.
• Miss B also used behavior-focused strategy to adjust herself into the new position. She learns for improvement by listening to media like podcast or motivational techniques by other speakers.
• While the other two strategies which are Natural reward strategy and Constructive thought pattern strategy haven’t been much applied for these group of interviewees.
3. Leadership Transition
Researcher can feel that all of them faced similar difficulties and obstacles to from being a team member towards becoming a leader. Some of them prepared themselves prior to undertaking position. However, some of them did not prepare anything at all. So, most of them need to face uncertainties and anxiety during this period. After going through this, many leaders found their ways to develop relationship with team members and eventually reduce their stress.
• Miss D did not prepare anything because she was still working in the same scope of work. However, it was not easy to have younger subordinates for the first time.
She thinks that her subordinates were difficult to handle where she was upset with herself and had low self-esteem that she was not capable of doing this at the beginning.
• Miss H also did not get much support from her supervisors when she got promoted to be a leader. “I got some advice from my boss. And they told me what I need to do.”
• Miss B was in shock at first when she became a leader. She needed to find a way to manage her subordinates. “I tried many ways to talk with my subordinates – either a soft or aggressive approach. It was very stressful at the beginning, however I eventually developed skills through learning and observing their behavior.”
4. Leadership Identity Development
The researcher identified that some of the interviewees have gone through the development to improve their leadership styles;
• Mr. F would like to enhance his faith by being a hard-working person as a role model, paying attention to details, and as being a leader, when there is a compliment – he would give a credit to his team. If there is a mistake, he would admit it himself.
• Mr. I changed himself in to be more disciplined by being a good example to his subordinates. When he was a normal staff, he used to go to office very late.
However, when he stepped up to be a leader. He needed to be punctual to be a good example to be followed by their subordinates.
5. Leader’s contribution towards better performance
From researcher’s point of view, each leader has their personal style to make a contribution to their team members as followed;
• Mr. A would seek for skillset that the organization needed and he would get close to his subordinates by making a friendly relation. However, he will use his experience to teach and supervise his subordinates and listen to the problem – and ask if there is anything the subordinate would like to learn from him.
• Mr. C has a clear mindset that a good team need to have a commitment from both side between a leader and subordinates. A good leader needs to show how to do a good work, not just assigning the work to the team.
• While Mr. G is the leader with open minded approach. He would learn special skills and personalities from each of his subordinates and give them the opportunity to make decision.
As per the result mentioned above, there are still limitations of this study with the sample size limited to nine respondents. The research can be conducted with more respondents to see more accurate results according to the literature. To get further different perspective of leaders, the respondents may include interviewees from different industries.
5.2 Recommendations
The recommendation for transition of new leaders and companies can be summarized as below.
Recommendations for New Leaders
1. To reduce the anxiety and insecurities, new leaders may prepare themselves to learn more about leadership and management skills by reading books, listening to podcasts, or talking to experts who have been in the leadership position.
2. Joining a leadership training if there is an opportunity being offered.
3. Be a good leader means being a good example to the subordinates.
4. Be a good coach to your subordinates. Do not leave them behind.
5. Try to communicate with subordinates consistently to work towards the same direction. Listen to what subordinates share with you.
6. Use empathy to deal with subordinates – try to put yourself on someone’s shoes.
7. Share your leadership experience with other colleagues is a good way to exchange different perspectives to handle the situation.
8. If any problem arises, new leaders may consult and discuss it with supervisors to get the guidance on how to handle the situation.
9. Apart from work, sharing personal stories is a good approach to enhance relationship and make your subordinates feel more relaxed.