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How does a leader influence the team?








Kolab was born in Cambodia and fled to the United States as refugees. Her experiences as a refugee motivated her to engage in international work. Kolab has been hired to work for an International Educational Center (IEC)- a non-profit making organization. Kolab has experience working for Office of the Refugee Resettlement, traveled extensively throughout Southeast Asia and Africa. This shaped her expectations and working style. She, however, faces resistance from the employees she leads. The employees regard her as ‘impersonal’. From the look of things Kolab lacks social and emotional intelligence since she is ‘impersonal’. However, her employer regards her highly. This paper shall try and offer some solutions to the problems faced in the organization.

 Kolab has a refugee background and traveled extensively throughout Southeast Asia and Africa, (Cultural Intelligence for leaders, 2012). This has a bearing on her leadership style. Her style is task- and goal-oriented and’ impersonal.’ There is no rapport between her and the other employees. In most cases, a goal-oriented person thrives on challenges, (DeMeyer, n.d.) of which this can be explained by Kolab’s background as a refugee. Backed by the need ‘to push’ employees and achieve the fundraising and financial goals, Kolab’s style of leadership is fostered in this environment. The drastic change in culture is usually difficult to effect hence Kolab’s attitude faced resistance from employees. However, it can be noted that Kolab in a way tried to implement the ‘acquire’ element of the ABC and Do model of cultural intelligence. Calling for a strategic planning meeting shows that she is not solely an authoritarian leader; instead, she wanted to acquire some ideas and knowledge from her subordinates. She was even contemplating on how best she can influence the same spirit and change the organizational culture instilled by Hanh.

The previous leader of IEC, Hanh, had no strategic thinking or vision to move IEC hence there was no ‘push’ towards the employees to be goal oriented. There is high social intelligence among the employees, fostered by Hahn. Social intelligence is the ability to successfully build relationships and to thrive in social environments, (Science of People n.d. & Riggio, 2014). However, under the current leadership of Kolab, there is no such intelligence. Employees are not allowed to have relations, all efforts are channeled towards achieving organizational goals.
Therefore, Kolab should take advantage of her vast experience working in international organizations, her personal drive to achieve goals and the strong social intelligence among the employees to create an enabling environment for goals to be achieved. If she comes up with a good plan, hold some cultural awareness programs and the organizational vision and goals, and put in place some monitoring tools she can manage to ensure the overall success of the organization.

Cultural intelligence is important when managing people from diverse cultural backgrounds. There is need for a drive or motivator to perform and excel in such environments, a good strategy and an appropriate action to maneuver.  Kolab as a leader should give herself time to gather some background information on how the organization was being led by Hanh. She has to go through the process of metacognition. By so doing, she will be in a position to plan, track and assess her own understanding, expectations, and performance. She should also observe the employees’ behaviors and analyze and reflect on how they behave towards each other and then towards the achieving of the organizational goals. Considering her past experiences in international field work, she should take advantage of her cultural knowledge to help build interpersonal relations. At the same time, she should open up for dialogue and share her vision with the employees.
It seems the employees are still hanging on their past experiences with Hanh and do not want to adjust to the changes brought in by Kaleb. The employees should be open-minded and have to understand that leaders are different. They should also initiate dialogue with their new leader. Communication is the key to fostering relationships. There is also a need for cultural intelligence workshops among the employees. It seems they cannot easily fit in nor understand that organizational culture may change due to changes in the leadership.
This whole process will help to foster a good working environment hence achievement of the overall goals of the organization.
To sum up, culturally intelligent employees have the potential to drive others and integrate them despite their different cultural background, (IESE Business School, 2015). If companies invest in developing their employees in culture intelligence relations and are fostered and there are chances of high performance. Since culture is dynamic, employees need to constantly learn from each other and make reflections on their behaviors since this has a bearing on their performance.


References
DeMers, J. (n.d.) 5 Employees You Need On Your Team. Retrieved form https://www.inc.com/jayson-demers/5-employees-you-need-on-your-team.html
Riggio R.E., (2014) What is Social Intelligence? Why does it matter? Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201407/what-is-social-intelligence-why-does-it-matter
Science of People (n.d.) 9 Social Intelligence Principles Everyone Can Master. Retrieved from https://www.scienceofpeople.com/social-intelligence/
IESE Business School (2015). Why You Need cultural Intelligence (And How To Develop It). Forbes.com. retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/iese/2015/03/24/why-you-need-cultural-intelligence-and-how-to-develop-it/#3c36bc6117d6





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