Reference no: EM132204579

When Leadership Styles Collide Nathan Buckley is a county health agent for a public health department in a medium-sized, Midwestern town. He has worked for the county for about ten years, and he has developed several strong relationships with other agencies and organizations in his community. Recently, he has stepped forward to chair a community-based committee to focus on health disparities across the county’s African American and Latino populations. The committee is made up of leaders from other county and city agencies, nonprofit organizations, and the community at large. The committee’s job is to advise the county board and the city council about policies and programs addressing the health disparities in the community. Nathan considers himself a servant leader. He has chosen his profession because he has a genuine concern for others, and he values open and honest communication, being accessible, and empowering others to develop their own potential. He also believes strongly in working with community-based partnerships to solve problems through critical reflection and dialogue. For these reasons, he stepped forward to chair the health disparities committee. Although a lot of support exists for this project, Nathan feels as if he’s struggling to make progress with the group. The other members of the committee are all strong leaders in their own organizations and communities, but they have very different leadership styles. The committee includes the president of a community coalition in one of the Latino neighborhoods, who has always been considered a transformational leader. There is also the executive director of a local nonprofit, who most often leads like a country club manager. The remaining members embody management traits that sometimes come into conflict with one another. Then there is Owen Harris, a community leader who tends to play the devil’s advocate during most conversations. He is very passionate about his community, but some of his comments come across as passive-aggressive. Owen is generally good-natured; however, he has quietly started to bully Nathan behind the scenes. Nathan feels as if he’s unable to integrate the different leadership styles during committee meetings; therefore, the group has made little progress toward developing recommendations for the county board and the city council. Nathan has also started to pick up on Owen’s behind-the-scenes bullying. More than anything he wants to bring the leadership potential of this group together so they can achieve their goals; however, he’s starting to feel burned out and helpless.

How would you advise Nathan when it comes to communicating with Owen? If Owen’s bullying is passive-aggressive and often occurs behind the scenes, it might not be as obvious to the other members of the committee. How can Nathan turn around his relationship with Owen?