Problem Solving and Communication
In each institution, leadership plays a leading role in steering the organization towards attaining its goals and objectives. The leader represents the company and what it stands for among its peers and other stakeholders. As such, their responsibility goes beyond running the day to day activities within the organization. While there are desired academic and experience credentials needed before an individual is appointed or voted in as a leader of an institution, there are skillsets that leaders must possess to perform their tasks. Communication and problem-solving skills are core skills that leaders must possess and know-how to disseminate. This is because, in times of crises, effective communication, and problem-solving make the difference between adequate mitigation of the issues at hand or disintegration of the organization to levels, it cannot recover. This essay draws attention to how leaders can best address conceptual blocks.
According to Whetten and Cameron (2016), the barriers to unproductive thinking include having one viewpoint, the unwillingness to seek alternative perspectives, the definition of a problem using inconsistent ways as well as the lack of general inquisitiveness on the issue at hand. These factors contribute to conceptual blocks that inhibit creativity in problem-solving. Additionally, leadership dictates that problem-solving skills are inherent to the office bearer given the nature and frequency of issues affecting the organization. At each given time, specific problems are arising that require immediate attention. When a manager is faced with conceptual blocks, it hinders their ability to solve the problem effectively. Conceptual blocks inhibit the manager from making use of creativity in problem-solving. Creative thinking is an integral part of leadership in that it enhances originality (Montag-Smit and Maertz, 2017) of ideas owing to the scrutiny of the issues at hand, thus improving practical problem-solving.
To address conceptual blocks, leaders ought to utilize advocacy, which works to promote dialogue in problem-solving. Through support, leaders encourage others to state their opinions regarding the issue, and this is essential in addressing the conceptual blocks in that it gives the room for other points of view. Advocacy works promote alternative perspectives so that at any given time, there are different approaches while addressing the issue at hand. Through building rapport, leaders can get ideas that spark off their creativity in that it allows the managers to expand their reasoning through constant dialogue with those around them. In so doing, the leader makes use of productive thinking available to them, and continuous advocacy allows for the sharing of ideas in an open-minded forum.
Inquiry allows for a dialogue to take place where all parties are active participants in the subject area. When faced with problems, there is a high possibility of hardened position and flared tempers where parties are unwilling to engage with one another, thus promoting conceptual blocks. When leaders ask questions, they encourage dialogue where parties are willing to shed more light on their ideas and reasoning without getting defensive. These questions also allow parties to expound further on their ideas, and as members join in, they are willing to share on their thoughts. It eliminates aggressive language and behavior that does not favor creative thinking as a problem-solving skill.
Finally, leadership is demanding in that it is faced with diverse problems at each given time. As such, it essential that leaders pursue ways that promote productive and creative thinking. Leaders should utilize advocacy and inquiry in addressing conceptual blocks whenever they arise.