The self-assessment exercises were interesting and revealing in terms of identifying my strengths and weaknesses as a transformational leader. The team player inventory indicated a pattern of enjoying and working well as a member of a team. It also showed that I believe in the team concept and have faith in the results of team effort, especially in contrast with solitary effort. The inventory results suggested that underlying my effort on a team, I have respect for otherÆs ideas and efforts and feel that they bring out my best ideas and efforts as well. A clear preference for teamwork over solitary work was expressed by the responses, and this denotes several things. First, that I find teamwork more successful than working alone; second, that I like the process of working with people and bouncing ideas off of them; and third, that I respect the contributions of others and appreciate their input.
The team player orientation has advantages and disadvantages with regard to leadership. Some team players make excellent leaders because they are good at listening to and influencing people; others, however, are only confident when part of a team, not as leaders where they have to make decisions on their own that others might disagree with. Team players tend to be more social and therefore are sometimes more vulnerable to peer pressure and the need to be accepted; these factors reduce a personÆs leadership quotient, because a leader needs to be able to make tough decisions whether they generate acceptance or not.
The leadership approach for organizational change that best fits my teamwork profile is parallel learning structures, in which the social aspect of teamwork is paired with the active research method to produce ôa highly participativeö arrangement that employs people from all levels in the organization (McShane, 19). A close second is the appreciative inquiry approach, where discovering, dreaming, designing, and deli...