Watch this video with Brenda Forde, Program Chair of MBA, interviewing Dr. Olin Oedekoven
Here is the transcript for this video
BUS621 WEEK THREE | ASSIGNMENT[MUSIC PLAYING] We are thrilled to have Dr. Oedekoven come in with us today. He has a wealth of leadership knowledge. And we thank him for spending some time with us to share his experience and knowledge. Let me tell you just a little bit about Dr. Olen. He’s a president and CEO of Peregrine Academic Services. He served 33 years in the US Army Reserves and US Army National Guard, retiring at the rank of General. Additionally, he has taught doctoral level students for 10 plus years. Dr. Olen, let’s start by discussing some of your vast experience as it relates to leadership. Would you share– based on your experience– how a strategic vision impacts an organization from a leadership perspective? Oh, absolutely, and delighted to do so. The vision is so foundational. People need to know where they’re going. And you mentioned about strategic vision. Certainly at the organizational level, having a vision of where this organization’s going to go, what’s the purpose here? But even drilling it down just to the very supervisor, manager working with people, people have to know where you’re coming from. Where do you plan on going? What do they see for you? That’s all vision. You know, our mission statement describes what you do. The values describe how you do what you do. Vision sets purpose. And it’s through purpose that gives meaning to the work that we do. Can you give us a specific example anywhere in your career where you’ve set that vision? Where I’ve set the vision? Yeah. Of gosh. Or furthered it along or enhance it. I mean, in our organization, myself along with the team, vision is kind of crafted to make a difference in higher education and grow value-based leaders around the world. It’s something that we started doing about 15 years ago with our own companies. And as we bring employees in, as we talked with them– Just the other day, I was onboarding a new employees, and we talked about vision, and why we exist, and where do we see we’re going. These are one of the most common questions I get asked is, so where do you envision the organization being in 5, 10 years? What the person’s often saying is where do I see myself in 5 to 10 years? So the vision needs to be this compelling discussion, this compelling statement that gives this sense of purpose to people. People will just plodder along and produce the goods and services that you want him to do. But I don’t think you can ever really get them to rise up to the
challenges that we face today in the 21st century without properly understanding vision. And vision needs to be this kind of noble, where are we going? Why should we do this? Why should we get excited about this? Why should I stay late tonight and get this report done? Why should I put in the extra effort? Unless there is that sense of purpose, you’re not going to get this out of people. Yeah. Great thoughts. Thanks for that. As a strategic leader for nearly 30 years, you’ve successfully led effective teams at all organizational levels, right, at first line leaders through strategic leadership. You certainly understand the unique value of a team, and how the dynamics of a team shape team performance. What are some of the ways that you find motivation impacting leadership and teams? In addition, can you discuss how ethical standards and ethical leadership impacts teams, and how that would be applied at a global level? Let’s break this apart a little bit. That’s a complex question. It’s going to take a few dissections. And remind me if I miss a point or two. But let’s talk motivation. The first words that come to my mind– I remember back when I went through basic training. And we used to say, motivate us, Drill Sergeant, motivate us. And in our leadership workshops, we get it often. We talk about motivation. And usually people ask, well, how do you motivate people? Well at the end of the day, I don’t think you really do. Right. You find out you can’t motivate somebody. People are motivated. What you have to do as a leader is find out what motivates you. And then you, as a leader, work to bring that out. Create the conditions that allow you to be successful. That’s ultimately what motivates. I really can’t motivate you. Only you motivate yourself. I, as a leader, could help nurture and grow that hopefully. Now, what was the second part of the question? If we look at it from a team. Oh, ethics, ethics. Yeah, ethical standards, ethical leadership, and how it impacts teams. Well, I think this ties in nicely with motivation. Ethics forms that foundation. It’s a foundation of values, right versus wrong. And we as leaders need to define what it is. But ethics really lays the foundation for people to ultimately be motivated. You know, when you really peel it back, what motivates different people, it’s not necessarily pay and benefits. It’s about do you care about me? Can I trust you? Are you committed to understanding and building that relationship that has to be based on core principles such as integrity, and respect, and honesty, and truthfulness, and service before self– some of these basic core concepts. That will get to motivating, as well as lay the foundation ethical behavior. But without that basis of ethics, oh you’re toast. You’re doomed to some failure.
Yeah. Well, great points, great points. Any thoughts if we would take that more to a global level? Or is it all just the same? It doesn’t matter everywhere were domestic. It doesn’t matter for if we’re global. How does that kind of play out? Great question. One of the things I so enjoy doing is teaching leadership around the world, and the opportunity to engage with people in different backgrounds, and experiences, and cultures, and religions. I’ve been fortunate enough in my life to have taught in Asia, and Africa, South America, as well as here in North America. And most recently, I was in Europe doing a leadership workshop just a couple weeks ago. At the end of the day, it’s expressed in many different ways in many different cultures, and religious experiences around the world. But what I have seen is there are some common truths here, regardless of where you’re out in the world. And the common truths include respect. No matter where I’ve been in the world, and talk to employees, talk about leadership, people want to be respected for who they are. No matter who they are, they want that respect. Forming that foundation of respect builds trust. And people want to be trusted. They want to trust you as their leader. And they want to feel that you trust them. And integrity, honesty, being forthright, being who you are, working with people developing them, because you care about them. Those common principles are truly common. I have seen them in all parts of the world. Now, the higher levels of leadership and different directions that changes all over, and everybody takes a slightly different direction. But at the end of the day, those core values of trust, respect, integrity, they’re universal. That’s great. It’s great advice. That’s key points as well. Now lastly, Dr. Olen, what have you seen in terms of leadership communication over the past three decades and being able to effectively communicate a vision to different generations? Good question. An old mentor of mine used to tell me, Olen, always communicate the rule of threes, he used to say. Every core message, you need to give it at least three times, three different media. And mix up your words a few times, because people hear differently, so three different ways. If you’re really going to be effective at getting the communications across, it’s the rule of threes. Now, when we talk about communication, so often we’re talking about verbal communications– the day to day interactions that we have in the workplace, and how I communicate to you. What’s going on today? Here’s this project. Here’s what you need to do. What do I need to do to support you? But communication is so much more than that. We communicate certainly in written format. We communicate through our body language. We communicate with just how we engage people, and how we look them in the eye. And all those kinds of things play into this deal called communications. Now, when it comes to communications and generations in the workplace, whether it’s generations or cultures, it really doesn’t make much difference. They all receive and process
information slightly differently around the world. It’s not just a generational thing. It could be regional differences. Could be cultural differences of how communications kind of works. The key for leadership though, is to understand their communications. How do you learn best? How do you retain information best? You got to figure that out. Now as a leader, that means I got to get to know you. I got to understand you, got to know my audience as they say in showbiz. It’s the same in building that relationship grounded in the values of trust, and respect, and integrity. But through that, I build an understanding of who you are. And I will communicate to you the best way that you’d receive the information. That’s successful communications. It doesn’t matter what age you are. It doesn’t matter what culture. It requires you to work together to build that relationship. Right. Great points, Dr. Olen. Great insight. We so appreciate you sitting down and taking time to talk with us today. Thank you very much. Well, Thank you. [MUSIC PLAYING]
Assignment Instructions
Prior to beginning work on this assignment, watch the video above with Brenda Forde, Program Chair of MBA, interviewing Dr. Olin Oedekoven who discusses ethics and culture. This video covers various topics of leadership.
In your paper,
• Explain how strategic vision would apply to an organization for a leader.
• Identify ways that a leader can effectively communicate their vision and how to improve on listening skills.
• Explain how motivation can impact leadership.
• Explain how high ethical standards and ethical leadership apply to organizations on a global level.
The Culture and Ethics paper
• Must be two to three double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA Style (Links to an external site.) as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Formatting for Microsoft Word (Links to an external site.) resource.
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
o Title of paper in bold font
Space should appear between the title and the rest of the information on the title page.
o Student’s name
o Name of institution (University of Arizona Global Campus)
o Course name and number
o Instructor’s name
o Due date
• Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
• Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
• Must use at least two scholarly sources in addition to the course text
• Must document any information used from sources in APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA: Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.) guide.
• Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Required Resource
Text
Groysberg, B., & Slind, M. (2012, June). Leadership is a conversation (Links to an external site.). Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2012/06/leadership-is-a-conversation
Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and practice (8th ed.). Retrieved from https://content.uagc.edu
• Chapter 13: Leadership Ethics
• Chapter 16: Culture and Leadership
Oedekoven, O. O., Lavrenz, J., & Robbins, D. (2018). Leadership essentials: Practical and proven approaches in leadership and supervision download. Peregrine Leadership Institute.
• Chapter 8: Leadership Ethics
Welch, J., & Welch, S. (2007). Mindset of a leader. Leadership Excellence 24(1), 8–9. Retrieved from https://www.hr.com/
