Consistency in Leadership

Nippert (2013) described a past employment situation of an emergency and critical care organization in transformation. Nippert described an organization that was guided by a strong leader that provided the directives for the organization. Nippert selected the cascade description of leadership as the strategic school of thought, where all organization directives come from one source. Nippert also mentioned mapping as a way to structure the organization and clearly delineate goals and responsibilities. Nippert also described a way to improve upon the organization – to maintain consistency throughout the organization, noting that all of the directives from the CEO are not as strictly followed as other parts within the organization. This is a valuable point in leadership skills and is a worthwhile endeavor to discuss this point a little further.

Bryant (2013) interviewed Phil Martens of Novelis to learn about his views on consistency in leadership. Martens, Bryant reported, was charged with bringing together a multinational metals company that lacked a sense of cohesion, his goal being to reunite the company under one name and business purpose. A piece of insight Martens offers is: “I learned that you have to have stable decision-making criteria…. You have to learn how to be very consistent and transparent” (Bryant, 2013, What were some early lessons for you as a manager?). It fosters an environment of fairness and equity. Practices such as favoritism, stated Martens, promote unhealthy attitudes and unconstructive working environments, such as jealousy, unhealthy competition, and it degenerates organizational morale.

In Nippert’s (2013) previous work experience, it seems that inconsistency has not threatened the bottom line for the organization. However, there is always room for improvement. Emergency medical services are especially vulnerable to errors. It is especially important for health organizations to work as a team to decrease the occurrence of medical errors (Swihart, 2002).

References

Bryant, A. (2013, October 26). Phil Martins of Novelis, on consistent leadership. NY Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/27/business/phil-martens-of-novelis-on-consistent-leadership.html?_r=0

Nippert, K. (2013, November 26). Strategy schools of thought.

Swihart, D. (2002). First do no harm: Preventing medical errors. The Learning Scope, 4(6), 100.