Scenario
You are a copywriter at MediaRay, a mid-sized marketing firm, and Sanjay is your manager. He has been with the company for five years. Two months ago he was promoted from a campaign editor to manager of the entire advertising department. He has a strong interest in the department’s success, and people outside the department see him as a leader. He can be very motivational with his words. The problem is that his actions do not always match his words.
For example, Sanjay has a hard time letting go of tasks without micromanaging. He asked Joel, another member of the advertising department, to create a logo for a new bottled water, which he did in a timely, creative manner. However, Sanjay hovered over him much of the time and then changed the design before showing it to lead designer.
Other members of the department have had similar experiences working for Sanjay. The general feeling towards submitting anything is, “Why bother? Sanjay is going to change it anyhow.” As a result, no one in the department feels committed to the organization and an overall sense of apathy is starting to take hold. Moreover, Sanjay is constantly talking about how busy he is and how he feels burned out in this new management position.
You value your position at MediaRay too much to look for another job, but you worry that Sanjay’s leadership style is harming the entire department. Therefore you decide to help him see that he needs to model better leadership behaviors.
Exercise
Using examples from the scenario presented in this graded exercise, write a response to the questions that follow. A quality response will address all of the questions and integrate information from the readings and videos with your own personal experiences. Refer back to your notes from the Pre-work as you prepare your thoughts. Feel free to respond to your peers’ discussion board posts as well.
What would you say to Sanjay regarding his lack of effective leadership behavior?
What is a productive way to have this conversation rather than accusing him?
What responsibility do you and the other members of the department take in this scenario?
Why is delegation such an important leadership trait?
Reflect on a past experience serving in a leadership role (personal or professional).
Discuss ways you modeled behaviors you wanted to see from others.
Describe how you created a shared vision or set goals for accomplishing the tasks in that leadership role.