Performance Management Assessment 

Executive summary

This paper present a report on the findings of an interview with Mr. Antony. Mr. Antony posseses great leadership skills and  currently works as a research manager, head of research on traditional chemical drugs in Ireland, in AstraZeneca Company. The paper presents his leadership crucibles, lessons learned from them,  role of self awareness and  values in leadership, importance of a intregrated and transformational leadership style.

Interview questions 

Introduction

1. What leadership position do you assume in the organization? is this the position that you initially assumed when you joined the organization? 
2. What are your organization goals and mission? What are some of the values your organization hold?
3. Does an individual serving in a position that you assume need good leadership skills to ensure that the organization achieves its mission and objectives?

Crucibles

1. Have you had leadership crucibles? Kindly tell us about them? (Bennis & Thomas, 2002)
2. How do you overcome them? Are there lessons, which you have learned from them? Do you consider these lessons important in growing your leadership skills? (Bennis & Thomas, 2002)

Self-awareness and values

1. What has been the role of leadership crucibles and their lessons when it comes to self-awareness and improvement of core value? Has this affected your management style? (Bennis & Thomas, 2002)

Support Team

1. Do you seek support in your leadership? How does involving other influence leadership? (George, 2015)

Leadership steps

1. Are there integrated step your have taken to guide you in leading? How do they work in reinforcing leadership and management style? (Jian & Fairhurst, 2016)

Performance Management Assessment

Introduction

Interviwee position

Mr. Antony (was antony his first name) posseses great leadership skills and  currently works as a research manager, head of research on traditional chemical drugs in Ireland, in AstraZeneca. He leads a team of 40 employees and  reports to the  Research committee.Working in a position such as Research manager, demands both leadership and management skills. AstraZeneca is a  anglo-Swedish multinational biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical company headquartered at Cambridge, England. It has product portfolio for major diseases areas such as neuroscience, infection, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, cancer, inflammation and respiratory. Founded in 1999, the company has established itself as one of the leading pharmaceutical firms not only in Europe but across the world, thanks to strong leadership (AstraZeneca, 2015)

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Mr. Antony started his career with a strong drive to succeed. He focused on performance and outcomes that he desired to attain. As he matured and rose to higher responsibilities, there was a shift from me’ to ‘we”. He could be viewed as a mental, teacher and role model, because of the influence, which he had in grooming others. The people around ultimately started rewarding him with the gifts of humility, compassion, and authenticity. By people viewing as a leader he  felt that he has a role to make things happen. After college he secured a job with AstraZeneca. As a result of his hard work, good leadership and management skills he has been raising through the ranks and now works as a research manager.

Goals and organization mission and its relation to the intervieew role

The role of a research manager is vital in the attainment of the overall objective of the company. When analyzing the mission statements, the organization focuses on discovering, developing, and delivering innovative, yet meaningful health care solutions that are key in enriching the lives of patients (AstraZeneca, 2015).This requires one to put the health of patient first  through providing resources, educational programs, and tools to empower the employees. AstraZeneca aspires to become the best in all the areas it operates. This requires each of the department to map where it requires going to win as a team. The whole process entails setting directions, building inspiring visions and working on achieving the objectives (Jian & Fairhurst, 2016)

Crucibles

Main crucible and lesson learnt

Bennis & Thomas (2002) by summarizing the work of many others claimed that with the every crucible one should work hard to find its meaning as well as the lesson of growth. The manager believed that one of the most empowering things is emerging crucible. Through keeping spirits, high and head down, one can picture him to emerge victoriously

Growing up, Mr. Antony never thought himself as a great leader. People surrounding him viewed him as a weak person, and so did he. After graduating from high school, he had to stay for three years before joining at the college because his family was running in a hard time. His life changed greatly after graduating from the college as the best student and AstraZeneca offered him a job. The company taps young people who show great potential as such individuals is considered to be the future of the company He was later transferred to Ireland, (a country with a different culture) as a supervisor in the company’s laboratory. The first test came when he was given an assignment “working on finding a vaccine which could control the spread of Tuberculosis”. During this time there were some parts of the world, which were highly affected by the disease. Therefore, he was required to come up with substantive results with the shortest duration possible. Within six weeks, Antony presented his results to the head of research operations and they were approved (Jian & Fairhurst, 2016)

The manager confirmed that the crucible event taught him to work under pressure. Time was a constraint, and still, he was expected to give substantive research. He had to coordinate his team well and inspire them in the effort of motivating them to give their best. He used skills such as clear communication to keep everyone updated, working as a team by informing everyone had a role to play in ensuring the success of the group and acting as a role model by carrying his role and duties responsively (Jian & Fairhurst, 2016). He admitted that at times it is difficult to give impressive results in a new role working under pressure. However, instead of taking this as a challenge, he viewed it as an opportunity to stand out as a reliable performer (Bennis & Thomas, 2002).

Since then, he has risen to other positions, (he has served as a senior supervisor and assistant manager) most of them that have been as a reward for good performance. He claimed that life as not been smooth as well. In several occasion, he finds himself in crucible events but what has kept him moving is taking them as opportunities to display his skills. This has been important in improving his skills including the leadership skills (Bennis & Thomas, 2002)

Other crucibles and lesson learnt

Mr. Antony had other events in his life, most of them that are life-changing including experiencing resistance in new workplaces when implementing changes, being given difficult roles to assume. Although such instances are threatening, depressing, and frightening, the manager considered them as the rite of passage. What Antony did was focusing on the structure of the solution instead of being overwhelmed by the perception. This attitude kept the manager going. He further confirmed that it also improved in problem-solving skills. At such instance, one is required to be calm and avoid being controlled by emotion in order to make the right decision.

Self-awareness and values

Self- awareness 

Crucible events played a role in helping Antony to understand himself better. He confirmed that the concept of self-awareness helped him in becoming conscious of what he is good at, at the same time acknowledging what he still needs to learn. In the modern world characterized by highly competitive culture, there is no doubt that this can seem to be counterintuitive. A great percent of the population want to appear as if they know everything in attempts to avoid people questioning their abilities. Antony claims “this only diminishes the effectiveness of an individual as a leader”. Whenever you are honest with yourself, you will find it easy to accept that the opposite is true. Admitting in instances where you do not have answers and owning up to mistakes will help one to keep on improving (Bennis & Thomas, 2002). This is more so in the health sector where medical practitioners and other staffs are expected to make the least mistakes.

Antony also noted that pretending to have a solution for every problem could create a problematic situation for the whole organization. By taking responsibility on what you have, lack knowledge helps the individual and the organization or the entire team. As a leader, self-awareness of the weaknesses and strength has enabled the manager to gain the trust of others, increasing his creditability, particularly at the interpersonal level. At the individual level, this increases the effectiveness of a leader. On an organization level, the advantages are greater. By admitting you lack some knowledge, one model that it does not harm to admit that you do not have all the solutions in the organization. This has been vital in ensuring that AstraZeneca is constantly learning and springboards to agility and innovation. (Jian & Fairhurst, 2016)

Leadership values

In reference to strengths and weaknesses, while Antony noted that he had most of the core leadership values including good communication skills, problem solving skills , ability to delegate and  winning trust of others(Goleman, 2003)) in some areas he needed to improve. Antony can make a difference, a factor indicated by his personal efforts in making positive impacts. He has also shown integrity as reflected by trustworthiness, ethical strength, and moral courage.  He considered motivation as important in improving the morale and hence performance of his team. In ensuring this he appreciated every member for a well done job. He also ensured that every member was paid for working overtime.  According to Jian & Fairhurst (2016) strength is authenticity demonstrated by transparency, congruency, and consistency the manager has shown throughout his career. He agreed that he has to improve his courage, especially the strength of self to act. 

Support team

Involving others 

As a leader, Antony understood that it was important to consider the interest of other people.  He emphasis that “all members of a team have a role to play”. Antony keeps his team updated and regularly seeks their insight before making every decision unless the one which requires immediate action. Making everyone affected by the decision to feel that he has a role to play is crucial in increasing the morale of the follows (Jian & Fairhurst, 2016). By seeking the views of others, Antony makes them feel that they are important as well as part of the overall success of the group. To him “since one cannot have knowledge in all areas from time to time, one has to consult experts in areas where he lacks knowledge”. This was key in ensuring that the decision, which is made, is of maximum benefits to the team and the whole organization (George, 2015). According to Goleman (2003), to be effective leader one as to learn methods of complementing his inadequacies. 

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How others help one to grow leadership skills

Antony claimed that in his professional career he realized that mentors play an important role in individual’s growth. His mentor has been Mr. Charles, the CEO of All products pharmaceuticals. He has greatly helped him in understanding the  most important leadership qualities. He also emphasized on the importance of his  family in  his professional and  personal growth, more so with his wife and mother who have  helped him in identifying areas where he needs to improve on. Further, his  friend have also  played a  similar role. He always was always keen to balance work and social life. Antony understood that social life kept him fresh and prepared for professional life. Taking time with his family, could help him learn new things in life as well.

Leadership steps

In his professional and personal life, Antony has been growing his leadership skills every day. This has been given impetuous by his attitude to take every challenge positively and try to learn from it. The gender of an individual does not determine how successful one can become as a leader(Carli & Eagly, 2011) Asked whether they are steps he considers important in improving his leadership skills, he claimed that he has been following four steps. 

First, he has been kept going by the belief that to be a great leader; it is not necessary for one to be a hero.  He said that “the most important thing is to be caring. Care enough that you want to stand up and shine. As a leader, the main objective should not be the actually be the same as heroism”.  Antony has been striving in helping to create and celebrate good performance (heroic acts) of his team members. To him a leader does not need to be a superstar all the time, the most important thing is to give everything your best (George, 2015).

Secondly, to him being leaders involves consistency and developing systematic process, which creates other leaders. The difference between a successful leader and any other person is their determination and consistency. He understood that as a leader he does not need to be perfect but give all.

  Thirdly, the Antony considers leadership to be all about turning vision into reality. This is achieved by making the vision clear to all team members. The manager is keen to ensure that the organization achieves the long term goals (Goleman, 2003). It is important, as everyone is aware of what is expected of the team. Therefore he/she will put the effort in doing his role effectively for the entire team to become successful. He thinks that “being a leader with a vision; give the followers a mentor that they can look upon”. Finally, Antony highlighted the importance of creating durable culture. To be a successful leader, one should have the capacity to create a durable culture that fits the needs of his followers (George, 2015).

Authentic and transformation leaders deliver services, subtly bestow their power and talents and share their expertise with their followers who are elevated, empowered and transformed. This is achieved by authentically concerning yourself with the potential and needs of other people (Goleman, 2003). It all entails leader owing power, selling the influence and showing his credibility.