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Part 1:

Leadership is motivating and inspiring others to be the best they can be, as well

as yourself. To show them the potential they have if they keep working at it and

helping/coaching them along the way. Transformational leadership fits with this

definition the most. Transformational leadership “moves its followers to accomplish

more than what is usually expected of them,” (Northouse, 2019, p. 273). They become

motivated to do better at their tasks and projects because they tend to care more on

what they are working on because of that motivation. Transformational leadership is all

about improving the performance of followers and pushing and developing them to their

fullest potential and they care about the greater good rather than their own interests.

To begin with, one leadership theory that resonates with me is the skills

approach theory. Although it is leader-focused, there are many good things to learn

from this approach. Like that it is focused on skills, rather than traits, since skills can be

learned and developed. This concept is nice because unlike the trait approach and

needing specific traits to be a leader, which I do not resonate with, it shows us how to

become a better leader and shows us specific situations in ways to handle them. To be

an effective leader you need to have problem solving skills, these can be developed

over time, especially once you learn the environment that you are in. Next with the skills

approach you need to have social judgement skills, which goes hand in hand with

problem solving because you can help your followers. Then you also need knowledge,

which comes with experience.

Next is the path-goal theory, which I resonate with, motivation is a big part of this

approach. “The basic principles of path–goal theory is derived from expectancy theory,
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which suggests that followers will be motivated if they feel competent, if they think their

efforts will be rewarded, and if they find the payoff for their work valuable,” (Northouse,

2019, p. 137). When comparing the path-goal theory approach to the leader-member

exchange there are clear distinctions between the two and I would pick path-goal most

of the time. With the leader-member exchange theory it is nice being able to have a

relationship with everyone on your team, however using them to get the things done the

way you would like is not ideal, especially because this creates in-groups and out-

groups. With path-goal theory, there is always a clear path to help followers get through

to reach their goal. A leader must “direct, guide, and coach” their followers along the

way, (Northouse, 2019).

Lastly there is the transformational leadership theory in which I resonate with

because there is motivation on both ends. Transformational leadership theory is when a

leader “encourages creativity, recognizes accomplishments, builds trust, and inspires a

collective vision.” (Northouse, 2019, p. 264). The fullest potential is reached with this

theory approach which is very ideal because it also moves followers to reach father then

just their goal because of the motivation they receive . It is argued that “transformational

leadership motivates followers to do more than expected by raising followers’ levels of

consciousness about the importance and value of specified and idealized goals, getting

followers to transcend their own self-interest for the sake of the team or organization,

and moving followers to address higher-level needs,” (Northouse, 2019, p. 269) .

Part 2:

During my research of the page, “The Highest-Paid CEOs of 2016,” a few things

popped out at me. About 94% of the 200 CEOs listed were white and male. This is not
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ideal, however does not come as a surprise. There were a few women in this list too

and that was quite exciting to see this, but still not as many as there should be, but

there are steps being taken in the right direction. I hope to see more diversity in

leadership in the coming years because this is what is needed, and fresh new minds.

Also, the pay seems to be too high for even though they are the leaders of their

companies and these companies are known worldwide, however diving deeper into this

I saw that most of their compensation was not even their salaries, although those were

still hefty, it was stocks. This is crazy, yes CEOs do get paid a good chunk of money for

their salary, but most of that money they are making is coming from the stock market

and investing.

Part 3:

This specific situation happened about a year ago and I was not prepared for it

whatsoever. It was quite the experience and definitely learned quite a bit from it. It

started when I was a supervisor for a few months at Starbucks, I started out as a barista

and shortly after was promoted. One of my baristas started to have some problems and

brought them to work with her and it was affecting everyone on the floor. This is not an

ideal work situation. I decided one day I was going to have a one on one with her

because the drama and rumors being spread were getting out of hand and most people

were extremely uncomfortable about it. The conversation started out okay, but quickly

turned south when the barista started crying and blaming everyone at work for the

problems happening. I began to become frustrated with how the conversation was going

and was very close to standing up and walking away, however, I thought quickly this is

not how to handle it at all. This conversation needs to go in a different direction, so I

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chose to go in a path-goal theory leadership way. I started by motivating my barista in

the work that she does at the store and how much she accomplishes withing a shift.

This helped with the direction I wanted it to be heading in. I did not want any out-group

members at our store like in leader-member exchange theory. Then we all put a stop to

the drama that was going on and made the workplace a thriving and healthy

environment. This barista was much happier after this conversation, I believe they just

needed a leader to talk with them and let them know that this cannot happen in the

workplace. If personal issues need to come up you talk to one of you leaders about it,

not your entire store because they most likely don’t have time to listen.

Shortly after this conversation with my barista I was able to have more one on

ones with everyone and felt more comfortable doing so each time and got the results

everyone was looking for. Path-goal leadership is a great theory to follow because it

does achieve suitable outcomes that everyone can enjoy. Motivation is a huge part of a

workplace and if you can motivate others as well as yourself, you will have a happy

team with a very desired environment.

Part 4:

The team I am currently apart of at Starbucks is well led. The leadership is

shared because we have multiple supervisors and sometimes, they will be on the floor

at the same time, so we like to each take turns leading the floor. Right now, we have

two morning supervisors and two-night supervisors. I am a part of the night crew and

the two of us share equally and our shifts go smoothly because of this. We don’t butt

heads thankfully, by being able to share the floor we have multiple eyes looking out for

things and we are able to better support the entire team this way. Since working at this
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store I have learned we all have different leadership styles, but they all work very well

for the environment we are in. My leadership style, as well as the supervisor I work with

the most would have to be path-goal leadership style because we love motivating our

team and having a path, we want them to go on. We love setting specific goals to

achieve, if it is later that night or it is for the next week. Our team, although they can

become frustrated with the goal sometimes, they do enjoy it once they realize what it is

for or what the plan is, and that motivation they receive along the way. I love seeing our

team come together like they have been, especially during this difficult time.

No matter the training one goes through, I believe you cannot be prepared for a

challenge to happen unless faced with it. The more you face something, the better

prepared you become for it. You can train and train to handle a customer that is not

satisfied with anything you do for them, but sometimes something completely different

can happen and you just have to handle it the best you think you can. Likewise, with a

coworker or a manager. Real life challenges just need to be faced head on sometimes

and fix the problem then and there. We do this often at Starbucks because if we let a

problem continue being a problem and we do not address it right away tends to do more

harm because if one of our baristas was making something wrong and we did not tell

them right away they would continue to do so. Like when it comes to handling

customers, if we see one of our baristas is not being friendly with them, we will

immediately have to chat with them and solve the problem there and then.

The leadership style that works best in my opinion is transformational leadership.

Like stated earlier in the paper, transformational leadership theory is when a leader

“encourages creativity, recognizes accomplishments, builds trust, and inspires a

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collective vision.” (Northouse, 2019, p. 264). The fullest potential is reached with this

theory approach which is very ideal because it also moves followers to reach father then

just their goal because of the motivation they receive. Motivation and inspiration are

key. If you are not motivated and inspired, would you want to continue doing the work? I

don’t think I would. Passion needs to be involved in your everyday work and it is what

makes us keep going and reaching those goals.

I have learned so much from my time at Starbucks, I started out as a baby green

bean, scared of the world, but they have pushed me to be who I am today, pushed me

to see my fullest potential and I am forever grateful for them. Working at Starbucks has

opened my eyes to so many new adventures out there and all the possibilities one can

take, the motivation to take you there. I have learned the type of leader I aspire to be

because of the team I work with and the supervisors and managers I have learned so

much from and continue to learn from. They pushed me to go for the supervisor spot

and I got it and am thriving in this position. They continue to push me in the direction I

would like to go in. We are actually one big family at this point because of everything we

have been through during this pandemic and opening a beautiful new store.

In conclusion, leadership is all about motivating and inspiring others to be the

best they can absolutely be, as well as the leader. To show them and yourself the

potential they have if they keep working hard and you there to help and coach them

along the way. Leadership is about the team you build up and what goals they can

accomplish and crush. What all you can succeed doing while building trust and

motivating, creating a very happy and motivated team.

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Bibliography

Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and Practice (8th ed.). CA: SAGE

Publications. Retrieved 2021.