Leadership entails a social process where an individual commanding a group enlists the help of his/her subordinates to accomplish a given objective. The term relationship generally denotes family ties, but also refers to the state of binding or connecting persons. At the work place, meaningful relationships with colleagues help workers to accomplish their tasks effectively. With this regard, I support the view held by Drath that leadership is relationship.
According to Sloane and Drath (2) who strongly believe in the power of relationships to achieve results and positive change in organizations, it is prudent to lay the foundation for promoting productive working relationship. This can be achieved through promoting an organizational culture where consistency in stated and expressed values is taken into consideration. Therefore, success is achieved if leaders embody this belief through what they do and what they say (Sloane & Drath 2).
Dave Eggers is an influential American editor, writer, and publisher who won the TED prize 2008 for his literacy project dubbed 826 Valencia. In his victory acceptance speech, we learn of four different sets of relationships that helped Dave throughout his life to the point he won the TED prize for his literacy project. These sets of relationships are family, organization, peer, and community relationships.
Dave narrates of how he grew up under the care and support of his older siblings who were passionate about education because he came from a family of teachers. He would observe them complain they wished they had the opportunity to teach their students averaging 40 in a class on a one-on-one basis. Dave picked from here the idea of establishing the 826 Valencia project through the support of his peers who shared the same vision he had. Despite the project not starting successfully during its inception, Dave relies on his organizational relationship in form of network connections to bring a professional female teacher to help jumpstart the project successfully. Furthermore, community relationship is depicted where we see Dave inviting adult members to volunteer to offer one-on-one tutoring to the community children.
In a recap, leadership is truly about relationships. Dave Egger’s case is a perfect illustration of how building positive networks enhanced through relationships can help to bring success to most challenging undertakings. Arguably, the success of the 826 Valencia project was the result of relational leadership.
Works Cited
"Dave Eggers: 2008 TED Prize wish: Once Upon a School - YouTube."YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 May 2013.
Sloane, Jackie, and Wilfred Drath. "How to connect for competitive advantage." Leadership in Action 23.5 (2003): 15-18. Print.
