I have participated in a variety of groups in previous courses.  I know from past collaborations that I am usually one of the first students to communicate  to get the ball rolling– I am always time poor and want to try and keep ahead in case of unforeseen distractions. “The command and control leadership style is goal –oriented, authoritative and decisive”, (Sloane, 2019). This style of leadership seems appropriate to describe the leadership role I adopted to get the group working and communicating. I work full time and don’t have spare time and sometimes it is hard to motivate myself to study when I do have time if I have had a busy week at work. With this task, it was a bit confusing at first to find the best way of communicating and to know which application suited the purpose. In the end, we picked one way of working and the group responded and commenced working on the task.

“Being a well-performing follower is just as important as being a well-performing leader”, (Kelley, 1988, as cited in Martin, 2018). I can be a follower on occasion; especially if I am unsure of the task or have less time than usual. For this particular case study, I was one of the first of the group to make contact and start things off. I decided that I would take responsibility for this study as all members of the group have to take a turns in posting the final strategy suggestion. All but one student was responsive and readily contributed content. I edited and completed the response and posted within the timeframe. We did not communicate a great deal but the members of the group worked efficiently on the task and it was completed within the deadline and I felt satisfied that we had collaborated sufficiently to post our strategy. According to Zott, (2011), “A leader motivates and supports others to work together for a common goal, usually in line with a bigger strategic goal”, which aptly describes our group process.

 

 

Martin, J. (2018). What Do Academic Librarians Value in a Leader? Reflections on Past Positive Library Leaders and a Consideration of Future Library Leaders. College and Research Libraries, 79(6), 799-821.

 

Sloane, P. (2019). How fast should an idea move from selected to implemented? Innovation management. Retrieved from https://innovationmanagement.se/imtool-articles/the-innovative-leader-vs-the-command-and-control-leader/.

 

Zott, D. (2011). How leaders emerge in real time. inCite, 32(4), 12. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lih&AN=68942676&site=ehost-live