The Action-Observation Model shows that individuals can develop their leadership with the help of experiencing three processes: action, observation, and reflection. According to Hughes, Ginnett, and Curphy (2011), a young person can learn new skills on a construction site along with an experienced building crew. Following this logic, a person can develop leadership skills when being placed in the environment that will require him or her to instantly show leadership qualities for fulfilling a certain objective.
The Action-Observation Model aligns with the Spiral of Experience. Within the Spiral, experience represents not only what happens to a person but also how that person perceives those events. Perception is what affects all three phases of the model (action, observation, and reflection), and is capable of influencing any senses of an individual.
If to apply a personal experience to the discussion about the Action-Observation Model and the Spiral of Experience, one particular life event comes to mind. Last year, I participated in a charity event and was appointed to assign activities and processes to other participants to make sure that each individual had his or her responsibility to fulfill. Responsibilities included setting up donation booths, giving away flyers, keeping track of the upcoming meetings, engaging other volunteers, and much more.
Because assignments were not designed to take an equal amount of time and efforts from volunteers, I met a lot of resistance from some individuals who did not want to fulfill their obligations to a full extent. Moreover, some volunteers even refused to participate because their responsibilities were not as easy as they would have liked. In the beginning, I tried to persuade some volunteers to agree with their assignments since they were helping to spread awareness of a good cause; however, as arguments started occurring, I decided that the best thing was to take on the responsibility for complicated assignments on myself and ask for some assistance from those willing to help.
Since it was a charity event and no one was paid for fulfilling their tasks, it felt wrong for me to insist on volunteers doing jobs they did not want to do. This experience taught me about the importance of negotiation when it comes to being a leader; however, there were some pitfalls on my way, on which I would like to reflect.
By observing the responses of other people on my actions, I discovered an interesting phenomenon: when there is no kind of authority assigned to a supposed āleader,ā the likelihood that others will follow orders becomes lower than ususal. For instance, if the event was not done for charity and participants were paid for their contribution, it would be more likely for all āvolunteersā to obey the given instructions.
On the other hand, I agree with the fact that it was ineffective to take on the hardest responsibilities on myself where there was a large group of people to whom I could delegate those assignments. In retrospect, I would like to have resorted to a more strict attitude and made an agreement with those volunteers who refused to fulfill the assigned responsibilities. For instance, they could be given an opportunity to find a volunteer that would agree with the more complex assignment or trade responsibilities so that there would be no need for me to do the hard work by myself.
Reference
Hughes, R., Ginnett, R., & Curphy, G. (2011). Leadership: Enhancing the lessons of experience (7th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Web.