weather, snow, sun, and changeable conditions Part 4

Part four of my leadership evaluation.

This is the final part to my four part analysis of my leadership style. This section of my blog will look at motivation and arousal and how it can affect a group in a situation.  The situations are: a snowy, cold, and windy day walking up An Garbanach , in comparison to a sunny warm day leading a group up mount Snowdon in wales.

When the weather turns you can find it very hard to concentrate on taking bearings and general map work, a map can be hard to use in very wet and windy conditions. The group possibly feel like it is a battle for every step, so their motivation drops. Due to the environment and the conditions there are lots of external stimuli such as high wind and driving rain, their arousal levels are quite high if they are not able to focus on the task. To keep motivation high and arousal at a level where catastrophe is avoided, you as a leader you need several methods to keep the group in motion. These methods are as follows (depending on the group) you can play a game as you go along, you could sing a song, you can do short sharp legs/points to keep people on their toes so they are thinking of the task at hand and lastly just to make the time fun and enjoyable by any means necessary.

As a leader you need to be able to cope in any situation your group can throw at you, whether it is a bout of low motivation, or somebody stressing out because they are lost. To do this you need to be able to have a basic understanding of psychology and have the ability to relate it to the situation. Or you could rely on your previous experience if you have some. 

The scenarios i have selected are two events that have had an impact on my leading and when i have been led and seen how others lead. The time when my group conquered mount snowdon was inspirational as all the members had a drive to get to the top  to see the view which was incredible. It was an awesome experience to see the group so happy and have that fire which fulled them to succeed.

The other scenario is when we went up an garbanach in scotland, the conditions were not the best to walk in as the weather turned very quickly as we went up. but despite of that the myself and the group had a very enjoyable experience this is all down to the leadership that was put into place to counteract these factors. This is an event that I can draw knowledge from and improve my own leadership, and implement new tactics when I need too.

Through this reflective process i have learnt a lot about my leading style and how i can improve and what i can leave out. This has been the final part in my four part leadership exploration, so sadly i press post for the last time. But watch this space for a new blog topic soon.

Part three, An exped to remember.

 Welcome to my 3rd post on leadership styles,

This post will explore the Autocratic style of leadership, is it always a good thing? Ok this is the situation, we had just started our second day of expedition, with only one injury (a slightly bruised shin caused by falling in the river). We got to top of the ridge, and didn’t really know where we were (because we took a shortcut after missing the path). But we knew what to look for to get to our next point. A lake with a prominent path following down the valley.

The first style of leadership demonstrated in this situation was the democratic style, where everyone was making the decisions as we went along as a group. This did not work as there were too many voices to say where to go next. There might have been a drop in motivation at this point as everyone was suggesting possible routes and no one was taking account of the other peoples view point.

When the prominent path was spotted, the decision was made to take the route (autocratically) but is this the best way?,  there were no prominent dangers to the group. possibly a democratic style or a guided style could have worked just as well. How do leaders know when to choose the right method of leading? experience is key. One way to develop experience is to shadow an already competent leader in their line of work, or get out and get some practice leading small groups to build confidence and leadership skills.
The comfort zone is a big part of which style you use to lead your group. Do you learn well within your comfort zone or out of it? that's the question. I learn best when there is a challenge presented. But I need to take into account the rest of the group, and if their happy inside or out of their comfort zone. I teach best when inside of my comfort zone or under a little pressure.

 it is down the individual and the individuals background and their personality to where they learn in their comfort zone and can sometimes be worked out by certain personality’s if they are an introvert or extrovert, this determines their style of learning and where they learn best in the comfort zone, even then it is tailored to the individual and the situation.

Extroverted types prefer heighted arousal which fits in with (Yerks and Dodsen 1908) theory of the inverted u.  Whereas introverts are more stimulated by activity as they react to less in normal day life.  So introverts are more drawn towards extreme sports as this is a vent of stimulation. Contradicting this an extrovert may be more withdrawn from extreme sports as they in normal life are more outgoing. So they don’t need a vent for stimulation.  

So to adopt the required leading style you need to account for whether the group are mainly extrovert or introvert as this can have a big effect on group dynamics as the roles from normal life to extreme sports completely contradict each other.