After beginning a two year research to propose some leadership theories which focus on a particular characteristic of a leader, leaving out the followers and situations from the equation, I’ve been able to break down leadership into the following four categories: Charismatic Leadership, Attribution Leadership, Transactional Leadership, and Transformational Leadership.

Charismatic Leadership

The theory behind Charismatic Leadership emphasizes the ability of a leader to communicate new visions of an organization to its followers and to raise follower awareness of the importance and core value of goals, often getting people to exceed their own interests.

Charismatic Leaders are dominant, able to express their vision, are exceptionally self-confident, have a high need for power, and have a strong conviction in the moral “righteousness” of their beliefs. They strive to project a magnetic personality which emanates success and competence, and they convey high expectation for and confidence in followers. Leader who possess and exhibit these characteristics inspire trust, confidence, affection, admiration, emotional involvement, obedience, and high performance in their followers. The Charismatic Leader often appears under conditions of uncertainty or in times of crisis which are stressful and make more cognitively and emotionally receptive to the ideas and actions of someone perceived as a so-called savior.

Attribution Theory

Attribution Theory deals with trying to make sense out of Cause and Effect Relationships. When an event takes place, people want to attribute it with a specific cause. This theory states that leadership is simply an attribution that people make about other individuals. The fundamental flaw is a bias in the perception process because people tend to attribute the behavior of other people to their own motivation and ability rather that the situation. Research has found that people tend to characterize leaders as having traits such as personality, understanding, intelligence, strong verbal skills, aggressiveness, and often at time display industriousness.

At the organizational level, attribution theory explains why people are prone to attribute either the extremely negative or the extremely positive performance of an organization to its leadership. This theory fails to take in consideration influences or forces from the external environment. Therefore, people have a “built-in” tendency to give too much credit to other people or to place too much blame on them.

Transactional Leadership

Transactional Leadership takes place when leaders and their followers are in some type of exchange relationship which satisfies needs for one or both parties. The exchange can be economic, psychological, or political in nature; and examples might include exchanging money for work, loyalty for consideration, and political favors. Transactional Leaders help organizations reach their current goals and objectives more efficiently by connecting job performance to valued rewards or by ensuring that employees have the needed resources to get the job done. Transactional Leadership is very common but tends to be transitory, in that there may be no lasting purpose to hold parties together once a transaction takes place.

James MacGregor Burns noted that while this type of leadership could be quite effective, it did not result in organizational or even societal change and, instead tended to perpetuate and legitimize the status quo. In conclusion, Transactional Leaders view management as a series of transactions in which they use their legitimate, reward, and coercive powers to give commands and exchange rewards for services rendered.

Transformational Leadership

The Transformational Leadership process is currently the most popular leadership perspective, and it moves way beyond the more “traditional” transactional approach to leadership. Transformational Leadership is related to charisma in that these leaders motivate people to exceed their personal interests for the sake of the larger community. It also produces levels of dependent efforts and performance that go beyond what would occur with a Transactional Leadership approach alone. In addition, Transformational Leadership is much more than just charisma. While the purely charismatic leader may want followers to adopt his or her “world view” and go no further, the Transactional Leader will attempt to instill in followers the ability to question not only the established views but eventually those established by the leader.

Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus have defined four skills of leadership, which are required for the Transformational Leader to be successful: First, is a strategic vision or goal that evokes people’s attention. Second, is the ability to successfully communicate that vision through words, manners, or symbolism. The third skill set is to have the capacity to build trust by being consistent, dependable, and persistent. And lastly, the fourth skill required for a Transformational Leader to be successful is the capability of positive self-regard–by striving for success. The use of these four skills builds follower commitment and pumps them up to adopt the leader’s vision as their own. They also perform their jobs better, engage in more organizational citizenship behaviors, and make better or more creative decisions.

To close, Transformational Leadership is closer to the prototype of leadership that people have in mind when the describe their ideal leader and is more likely to provide a role model in which dependents want to identify.

This wraps up an 24 month long journey down the leadership road. One in which I’m very grateful to have traveled and will continue to do so. Thank you to everybody who supported me along the way. If you have any insight or wish to share your experiences – please consider leaving a comment to my closing questions.

Of the four categories of leadership I described above, which one do you feel fits best into your daily life? Is there anything that you disagree with? If so, what is it and why do you?

Emerging Approaches to Leadership is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big

Something I’ve echoed for years is “Problems stem from the lack-of or poor communication.”

Sometimes overwhelming emotions or uncertainties can throw us off track when searching for solutions, either large or small. Regardless, they need to be attended to and handled with thorough thought and mature reasoning.

How do you find a medium that works for you; between verbal and non verbal communication?

A recent speech given by Michael Hyatt at the Liberty University touched on some great elements on how we can communicate more effectively; by dealing with offenses. I think we often forget that offenses are a choice we make and until we understand that, we will continue to inhibit out ability to communicate effectively. And by allowing ourselves to accept the inevitable, we grow as people, for our families, for our friends, and for our communities.

Spoken Words: Know when to hold them, and know when to fold them.

God has given us two ears and only one mouth for a reason. By listening to others, we open ourselves to have a better understand them. Being able to set aside our own need to be heard, and listening to others, allows us help increase the likelihood to better understand them. Who they are, what their interests are, what the dreams and goals are, and most important–what they have in common with us.

We express ourselves verbally to receive feedback, to be understood and heard. Even those who don’t understand exactly what they are saying often learn to separate the emotion from intellect, thus allowing for effective communication. When it comes to non verbal communication, adapting or “blending” our body language opens up an whole new level of effectiveness. This supports most communication studies that state body language being the dominating factor to human interaction. Putting our tone of voice in second place and the actual words we say in third. Again, this supports my delay of incorporating written word into my personal life.

Based on your experience; when finding yourself in a confrontational situation, how do the roles of listening, verbal and non verbal communication, as well as passively speaking play? What are the typical outcomes?

Communication is Key is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big

When there are people who share a common goal, things happen. Progress happens. Leadership happens. Results happen. Awesome happens.

Each one of us has something different to offer the world. We have the ability to connect with people that share a common goal or dream. When we embrace what is important to us, ideas are shared and stories begin to surface.

The other night, I attended a collaboration event of local writers to the Phoenix area. Inspired by The Domino Project, both Tyler Hurst and Jeff Moriarty organized its focus on writers and storytellers who are looking to do more with their current projects.

There were about 15 of us, each with something to share and discuss with others what we think we need to do, to better ourselves. Most of us seem to be at a stop with our current (projects) because (1) we either feel that our content is lacking, or (2) we don’t know how to get to the next step.

After Tyler and Jeff spent a few minutes going over what brought us all together and we answered some questions. We then proceeded to go around, one by one, and describe what each of us could teach others about storytelling, as well as, the things we would you like to learn from it. There was a great mix — from technical writers to creative writers, from screenplay and sketch work writers to humorists and bloggers.

I’ve never considered myself a writer, I probably never will. I’m not sure why but I can say that while growing up and going through school, my least favorite classes and activities were any of those that had a lot of writing. I’m not 100% sure how or why, but I think some of it stems from early communication courses. Both verbal and non-verbal communications are of essence when it comes to interacting with others. And considering that 15-20% of what we say (in words… by themselves) are effective. While the remaining 80-85% pertains to tone of voice and body language, I guess I never saw the point in writing.

When it came time to share with others what we were doing and why we were there, I broke my introduction into two parts. The first part was a brief history of how and why I communicate with others, while emphasizing on the emotional intelligence and the use of relevant and effective analogies. The second part was a description of my current book series project and the reasoning behind it, which you can find here.

This is how the first part of my introduction was summarized:

Analogies – are seedlings to stories. During some time working in the IT industry, we found that most clients needed to have a good understanding as to what was going on with their network infrastructure, most being medical, legal, or finance professionals – their focus was their industry. Learning about what they did and understanding their lingo, per se, allowed us to use various analogies, which gave us the opportunity to communicate with them effectively and efficiently.

Engagement – connecting with who you communicate. While we experience life as it comes, we learn that through storytelling, we create a connection with our audience. Listeners and readers, leaders and followers, and, speakers and writers; each and not limited to their own way in relating to others. Focusing in on how we connect with others allows for us engage and continues the way we relate.

With the use of analogies, storytellers are able to engage with their audiences. While we are still able to individually recognize and respond to those we are speaking with, we also create something; a bond, a common and distinct connection. Sometimes the fragments of our past, help align us to project our futures. So, by using analogies for the sake of engaging with our audience(s) — keep in mind who you are speaking to and what common objectives are sought.

How do you effectively communicate with others outside your industry?

Can Storytellers Be Part of a Domino Project? is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big

Have you ever been asked to help with a great cause to share and make a difference within your community?

A couple of months ago, I was approached by Shawn Murphy of Achieved Strategies to see if I wanted to contribute a guest blog post. It was for a blog series titled “Revive and Thrive” and its focus was for this new year of 2011. Of course I was willing to participate and help add value to the cause. Being able to contribute alongside the many great members within the leadership community was a great privilege.

At the time, I focused on four key areas in which I found to be important based on discussions with leaders from several communities, such as: Lead Change Group, Twitter’s #CustServ chat which is focused on Customer Service and is held every Tuesday night at 9PM Eastern Time, and those from the 2010 World Business Forum Blogger’s Hub.

In a post titled “What’s Next” – The four areas in which I felt were important for us to ‘Revive and Thrive in 2011’ were:  Relationships, Following, Leading, and Experience.

I believe that each of the four, are key areas in which we need to focus on during the rest of this year. The relationships we have in our lives today are paving the way we choose to live our lives tomorrow. With positive communication, we are able to help others achieve their goals and dreams. If any of these become hindered, we need to recognize and respond to it immediately. Almost all problems stem from lack of and/or poor communication.

The next two key areas I feel go hand and hand, a ‘yin and yang’ of principals if you will. Following and Leading. This is always a great topic of discussion, as many times people will ask “What makes a great leader?” “How can somebody lead all the time and never follow?” “If somebody is following others, how are they able to lead?” – I think you get the idea.

The fact of the matter is that both are equally important and tend to feed each other. Who we follow today are those we will lead tomorrow. And, those who we lead today will help those we want to follow tomorrow.  If we continue to follow the “Define, Learn, Do” model – we continue to keep things moving in the right direction. Forward.

Lastly, I touched on the importance of: Experience. All of us are here for a very short period of time. When we are able to connect with others, we are opening the doors to new experiences. Whether it is personally, professionally, or spiritually – what we do today cannot be taken away from us. There is so much opportunity available to us, only we can make the decision to make our goals and dreams become realities.

Right before the turn of the year, most of us reviewed 2010 and used it as a guideline for 2011. As of today, how are you making this year your best year ever?

Community Leadership – What’s Next for 2011? is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big

Have you ever taken a step back to look where you are in your career? Do you have yourself positioned to move forward if you so choose to? Sometimes advancing is easier than you think.

Just the other day, I reconnected with an old friend. Currently working at a Help Desk she expressed an interest in both Project Management and Business Analysis, IT related.

Here is what I told her I saw based on previous experience:

The ITIL (glorified glossary but some staffers love seeing the cert) seems to be gaining more and more weight within the IT industry. When it was first introduced, it was a joke. Nothing more than a test of one’s understanding of terms… no focus on fundamental platforms, understanding of code, or overall logic. But, it now actually contains some good placement. You probably already see the ridiculous amount of certifications that are available. Most are in place to appease employers, but I’ve found experience outweighs any certification I’ve ever obtained, and I stopped counting after 20. It just got out of control past that.

While consulting, I found that both areas (project management and business analysis) of interest that you have can blend together very well. A project manager for IT based rollouts doesn’t need to be much of a techie, just the ability to have a basic understanding of what is going on and how to efficiently and effectively communicate with the buyer, the vendor(s) and his or her internal workforce. Some of my best paying jobs were when I would oversee and new rollout or system integration. If you’re easy to get along with and can communicate well with others, it’s a piece of cake.

Unfortunately, true “business analysts” are in a tough position right now. Due to the current upswing in the marketplace, companies are not looking at cutting costs (surprisingly) as they are looking at preparing for the next 10 to 15 years of growth and revenue generation. Expect to see a lot more small businesses pop up and loyalty based cultures get put in place amongst them. The ‘big box’ corporate strongarms are going to get gobbled up by larger/merging markets and will flounder as (cough) “standards” – for the masses.

What you are doing now… is it scalable? Is it helping you? Or is it hindering your opportunity for advancement in the workforce?

Take One Step Back, and Two Steps Forward is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big

“Your largest wealth-building asset is your income. When you tie up your income, you lose.” ~ Dave Ramsey

Does it take money to make money?

Income represents money you can invest to make more money. If you tie up all your future income, you will always be living in the past. As Dave Ramsey tells his listeners every week, you cannot jump at an opportunity without the necessary cash on hand.

Planning ahead for financial “curveballs”

Entrepreneurs need to plan ahead for business expenses – and planning ahead includes collecting the funds you need to start your business. Some people do this with credit cards (not a fan at all, but I’ll touch on that later), which can be useful IF you keep your debt to a manageable level. Risks arise as you go overboard buying things you don’t need.

Your Business Plan Lays Down the Groundwork

Your business plan can help you keep track of the financing amount you need and provide you with a blueprint for the necessary purchases you need to make before launching your startup. If you are starting a business that requires an inventory, your start-up capital needs to be greater thatn if you are starting a service based business where you will make money from your labor.

Stay Liquid

Successful entrepreneurs also know the value of keeping cash at hand to take advantage of unexpected opportunities. And they know the importance of saving time for the future, by not paying for the past.

Do you have any business startup stories to share about financial tips and tricks?

Business Startup Wealth Building is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big

This is part 2 of 2 blog post reviewing my initial experience with the collaborative workspace, Gangplank.

Pack your lunch and stay a while.

Based on my first visit to Gangplank, I decided to commit to spend more time there. So I returned the next Wednesday. This time I got there much earlier than during my first visit and found out I was in time for “Brownbag“. Not having a full understanding of what was going on, I was intrigued as to what it was. This day was a open panel discussion held between the “anchors.” After listening to the discussion and researching what a “brownbag” actually is, I found that it’s where Gangplank invites leaders in the local community to share the success they’ve enjoyed, and challenges they’ve faced in their careers. In this particular case, Gangplank refers to anchors as

“companies that base their operations out of Gangplank, with permanent desk space for multiple employees. Each anchor is involved in Gangplank planning meetings, as well as contributes to the community through donations, services, etc.”

Trust is built through engagement.

During and after the panel discussion, I spent a few minutes getting familiar with each of the members and their organizations. Quite a nice blend of marketing, strategy, designers, developers, and small business mentors. I got a good sense as to why these guys were up there talking – about what they love, their drive and passion clearly showed.

After the discussion, I had the opportunity to speak with Tim from Brand Adoption. We had a great conversation about social media growth, the important of trust within communities, and product value. Heck, I even recall some laughs about how we thought we know what we wanted to do before college. (Gosh…if I only knew then what I know now!)

Game on!

After Tim and I finished up our conversation, I returned to my little work area and anxiously awaited for Hacknight Street Hockey game starting at 7pm. After some help from Chuck Reynolds of Rynoweb and Andrew Ryno with some PHP related issues, I changed changed into some workout clothes and headed across the street to the parking garage to play some street hockey.

It was a great time and was an excellent reminder to me on how I need to adjust to the dry air. Moving from southwest Florida (where the average humidity is 98 bajillion percent) to the Phoenix area (where, well… let’s just say it’s very dry) – I needed to stay hydrated. I think some of the guys thought I was going to pass out and die mid-game. Great group of guys. Had the opportunity to meet Chris Conrey, who is responsible for organizing the game. So… thank you, Chris. After about an hour or so of having my butt handed to me, we wrapped the game up and headed back Gangplank HQ.

Got ink?

After the friendly game of street hockey, there was a tattoo session scheduled at 9pm. Mike Benner stepped up to the plate and had the guys from Tabu Tattoo and inked up his back with Gangplank’s tagline, “Be Dangerous.” The session was great and I’m looking forward to seeing the finished/healed work.

While all this was going on, I was asked if I minded that my “personal geek space” was to be invaded. This was when I had the pleasure meeting April Holle of Made Better Studio. After a candid introduction, we sat back and watched the tattoo session and discussed what brought us to Gangplank. By then, it was getting late and time for me to get home. I had a 45 minute drive, so I wrapped things up and took off.

General Consensus:

Gangplank is great collaborative workspace and offers one roof for technologists – from designers to developers, market strategy consultants, students and tutors, entrepreneurs and mentors, and musicians. It’s directly described as:

“a group of connected individuals and small businesses creating an economy of innovation and creativity in the Valley. We envision a new economic engine comprised of collaboration and community, where industries come together to transform our culture.”

The place has a great vibe and company of people who know that when great minds with great ideas get together at once place, great things happen. I’m looking forward to moving in the right direction with the “pirates” at Gangplank.

If you want to read Part 1 of 2 of this blog post, click here.

Walking the Plank (Part 2 of 2) is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big

The other night a friend and I were catching up. We usually go back and forth about our favorite sport teams (here is where I lose a few readers… Go Tigers!, Go Wings!, Go Blue!), exchange a few of the latest laughable videos that are floating around on the web, and then wrap up with some profession related topics, questions, comments, and/or gibberish. These usually start fairly late at night and then go onto late/early hours into the morning. I get blamed for sidetracking my friend, who apparently only works late at night.

Catching up and sharing.

So as we are going through our motions, Dave (friend) realizes that I have recently moved from the southwest Florida region to the metro Phoenix, Arizona area. The topic of work, school, and significant other get mentioned, we chat a bit about all three and then he proceeds to give me a few names of some contacts in which he knows that are of IT, SEO, and WordPress relation. One of the contacts and links he sent me pointed me in the direction of a collaborative community called “Gang Plank.” I took a quick peak and bookmarked the webpage to come back to after our chat. Upon further review, I happened to notice that the areas of focus seem to pertain to many of my passions: collaborative exchange, conceptual innovation, music, and many other areas in which harness the creative mindset. So I slated some time for their Hacknight which is every Wednesday night from 6pm to 9pm.

Let’s go check out Gang Plank!

I walked in and noticed many different things going on. Off to the right were a slew of Macs…most vacant, as for most of the attention was directed towards the Street Fighter II game in the back of the room.

There must have been 25-30 people checking out what was going on. “Hadouken!” filled my ears and took me back to a old friend’s basement, where as kids we would play the game for hours and hours.

Okay, at this point I have no idea what to do but can sense that I’m at the right place. I find myself drawn towards the bookcase at the front of the room. I notice a lot of great areas sectioned off within the bookcases, some even I know nothing about. I’m going to admit that I am ignorant when it comes to programming languages. PHP? Philadelphia Highway Patrol? C plus sharp flat, what? HTML? Hot Topic’s Mother Load, eh? – Okay, before I make myself look like even a bigger idiot when it comes to this stuff, let me move along and get back on topic.

Fly on the wall.

I sat down and ‘introverted’ myself in the corner, giving myself time to soak in everything that was going on. There were a few guys sitting on a couch talking about what they do for a living. One mentioned he was an accountant and the other expressed he was an urban developer. Then an independent architect walks in, and sits down with the two gentlemen sitting on the couch and they began skimming the surface of what interests them, proceeding to exchange business cards. It was nice to see such a unique climate of professional networking.

Game on!

Earlier in the day, I received a tweet regarding a street hockey game. I brought some workout clothes but unfortunately, I did not play. Next time… it’s on! Tighten up the laces and get ready to unleash the Hockeytown that runs in my blood!

Kick in the ‘keister’.

Earlier in the day, Dave expresses the importance to “kick Chuck in the keister” for him. This is not something I do when I first meet somebody but have been known to do during my second encounter…maybe.

It was getting close to 8:30pm and my laptop battery was ready to die. Chuck had just returned from stepping out for a few – so I packed up my laptop bag and walked over to introduce myself. I extended my hand and introduced myself. We caught up about what we do and he then proceeded to answer my question, “So, what is it that we do here… at Gangplank?”

Based on what I’ve written so far and by what you may have already researched, what do you thing Gangplank is?

Please keep your eye open for part 2 of 2…a continuation of this post, “Walking the Plank.”

Walking the Plank (Part 1 of 2) is a post from: Geoff Snyder's Leadership and Team Collaboration Blog - Freedom to Think and Dream Big