Assignment #1 – EDLP 7021
Assignment #1 – EDLP 702
Philip W. Holmes
Virginia Commonwealth University – EdD in Leadership Cohort 4
Assignment #1 – EDLP 702
The author observed the leadership focus and tasks of the new Global Learning Organization (GLO) executive at Bank of America, Chris Payton. The steps Payton took to introduce himself to the organization are described and evaluated, and the likely impact of the author’s Myers-Briggs type on that evaluation are then discussed.
First Connections
Payton has no GLO experience, and the conference call to announce his appointment was flat and ineffective. No vision of the new organization was presented, and his comments led some to conclude that he was in place largely for his own career benefit (i.e., that senior leadership was rounding out his skills so he could rise even further within the bank). A solid opportunity to connect the employees in GLO with their new leader and with the rationale for his leadership was missed. No communications were received from Payton for the next two weeks.
Reaching Out to GLO
Two weeks after his appointment was announced, Payton sent an email to the GLO team, including a link to a “getting to know me” video. This may have been an attempt to link to the previous GLO executive’s habit of sending a personal reflection email to GLO every Friday afternoon. The video showed Chris in casual clothing, seated in his own house. The choice to distribute an informal video was laudable: GLO is highly dispersed, and travel opportunities are limited, so this is the best way for employees to see the new executive and hear his thoughts.
Payton noted that he had spent the last few weeks learning about GLO and its clients. Given his lack of GLO experience, it made sense to many of the author’s colleagues that he would take some time to observe GLO’s processesbefore communicating his observations to the overall team. He stated that he wanted to keep things “steady as they go,” andended his video by confirming that his priority is to determine how we “measurably impact the business.” This last point was likely meant to reassure those of us in GLO who want to ensure that our efforts are not for the sake of GLO’s own parochial measurements, but rather positively enhance the bank’s success.
Impact of the Author’s MBTI Type
The author is an INFP. His review of the impact of his type on his evaluation of the new GLO executive’s leadership tasks will involve the three tasks of leadership as elucidated by Drath (2001): “…setting direction for the group, creatingand maintaining commitment to its purposes, and facing adaptive challenges, that is, conditions that require responses that are qualitatively different from past behavior” (p. xvii).
Setting Direction for the Group
The author’s reviewof this task criticizesPaytonfor presenting no vision of the new organization that his appointment as incoming executive would seem to require. In their review of MBTI types and organizations, Hirsh and Kummerow (1998) state that INFPs “seek new ideas and possibilities for the organization” to which they belong, seek to “draw individuals together around a common purpose,” and “quietly push an organization to uphold its values,” and thus would be sensitive to a new executive’s inability to present such an overarching vision at the outset of his leadership (p. 19).
The author also noted that many of his peers had concluded that Payton had been moved into the position of GLO executive as part of his overall development as an up and coming Bank of America executive. INFPs would be cynical in response to the notion that a new executive might be in place not for the good of the particular organization, but solely for the benefit of his own career (Hirsch & Kummerow, 1998).
Creating and Maintaining Commitment to its Purposes
As Payton has not yet been able to set an initial direction for the group, it would be impossible for him to have created or maintained a commitment to its purposes.
Facing Adaptive Challenges
Up to this point, Payton has faced no adaptive challenges. Whether his appointment constitutes an adaptive challenge has not yet been determined.
References
Drath, W. (2001). The Deep Blue Sea: Rethinking the Source of Leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Hirsh, S. A., & Kummerow, J.M. (1998). Introduction to Type in Organizations. Mountain View, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc.