How to differentiate accomplishment, leadership and teamwork stories

A project can be framed as an achievement, a leadership example, or a teamwork example.

Table of Contents

Clients often ask me about the difference between accomplishment, leadership, and teamwork.

If your interviewer asks for more than one example of your accomplishment, she might be skeptical that you are adding value to your organization.

By extension, she might also be unclear about how you can contribute to her MBA program.

I usually advise clients to mention a recent accomplishment first since you want to show your interviewer that your career continues to improve as you mature and grow into your role.

Similarly, if she is asking you for multiple leadership examples, she probably does not believe that you can achieve your stated goals.

Try to tell leadership stories that demonstrate the core skills that you will build upon at MBA in order to achieve your future career vision. 

Finally, if she asks for multiple examples of team projects, she might be having a hard time imagining you as an effective member who can contribute to project teams and study groups.

Believing that past behavior is the best indicator of future actions, a skilled interviewer asks about teamwork to determine your future behavior in study and project teams.

If asked about teamwork, emphasize situations where you were not the leader, but you still added value to the group.

Most MBA study groups and project teams are flat, meaning that no one is officially in charge.

Still, someone often takes charge because he or she has insight, skills, or charisma that helps the team focus and achieve results.

Try to share examples of teams you worked in that were similar to those at MBA, meaning non-hierarchical, cross-functional, and, if possible, cross-cultural.

How can you organize your ideas?

What kind of leader will you be?

SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP MODEL

Some interviewers will ask you for your definition of leadership. If someone asked me that question, I would mention my favorite leadership model, Blanchard and Hersey's Situational Leadership.

In the 1950s, management theorists from Ohio State University and the University of Michigan published a series of studies to determine whether leaders should be more task or relationship (people) oriented. The importance of the research cannot be overestimated since leaders tend to have a dominant style; a leadership style they use in a wide variety of situations. 

Surprisingly, the researchers discovered that there is no one best style: leaders must adjust their leadership style to the situation as well as to the people being led.

Situational Leadership is a term that can be applied generically to a style of leadership, but that also refers to a recognized and useful leadership model.  In simple terms, a situational leader is one who can adopt different leadership styles depending on the situation.  Most of us do this anyway in our dealings with other people: we try not to get angry with a nervous colleague on their first day, and we chase up tasks with some people more than others because we know they'll forget otherwise.

But Ken Blanchard, the management guru best known for the "One Minute Manager" series, and Paul Hersey created a model for Situational Leadership in the late 1960s that allows you to analyze the needs of the situation you're dealing with, and then adopt the most appropriate leadership style.  It's proved popular with managers over the years because it passes the two basic tests of such models: it's simple to understand, and it works in most environments for most people.  The model doesn't just apply to people in leadership or management positions: we all lead others at work and at home.

LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOUR

Blanchard and Hersey characterized leadership style in terms of the amount of direction and support that the leader gives to his or her followers, and so created a simple grid:

Effective leaders are versatile and can move around the grid according to the situation, so there is no one right style. However, we tend to have a preferred style, and in applying Situational Leadership, you need to know which one is for you.

DEVELOPMENT LEVEL

Clearly, the right leadership style will depend very much on the person being led - the follower - and Blanchard and Hersey extended their model to include the Development Level of the follower.  They said that the leader's style should be driven by the Competence and Commitment of the follower, and came up with four levels:

D4 

High Competence

High Commitment

Experienced at the job, and comfortable with their own ability to do it well. May even be more skilled than the leader. 

D3 

High Competence

Variable Commitment

Experienced and capable, but may lack the confidence to go it alone, or the motivation to do it well / quickly

D2 

Some Competence

Low Commitment

May have some relevant skills, but won't be able to do the job without help. The task or the situation may be new to them. 

D1 

Low Competence

Low Commitment

Generally lacking the specific skills required for the job in hand, and lacks any confidence and / or motivation to tackle it. 

Development Levels are also situational. I might be generally skilled, confident and motivated in my job, but would still drop into Level D1 when faced, say, with a task requiring skills I don't possess.  For example, lots of managers are D4 when dealing with the day-to-day running of their department but move to D1 or D2 when dealing with a sensitive employee issue.

SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP

Blanchard and Hersey said that the leader's leadership style (S1 - S4) must correspond to the follower's development level (D1 - D4), and the leader adapts. 

By adopting the right style to suit the follower's development level, work gets done, relationships are built up, and most importantly, the follower's development level will rise to D4, to everyone's benefit.

Leadership is not merely about being the most powerful or first; it involves setting a direction and influencing others to follow. Effective leadership depends on various theories, styles, and traits. Key theories of leadership include:

Leadership Styles

Understanding and adapting multiple styles is crucial for leadership development:

Additional Perspectives

Leadership in Organizations

Leadership is a widely discussed topic due to rapid organizational changes and the need for effective management. True leadership involves more than reading articles or idealizing great leaders—it requires deep understanding and practice.

Leadership vs. Management

Traditional management includes planning, organizing, leading, and coordinating. Some argue that leading is distinct from managing because it focuses on influencing people, while other functions involve managing resources.

However:

Key Perspectives:

In summary, successful leaders integrate leadership and management skills, adapting their focus for organizational success.

How Do Leaders Lead?

The Challenge of Defining Leadership Methods

The leadership skills required in an organization depend on various factors:

Suggested Competencies for Leaders

Leadership training programs often suggest standard skills, such as:

Perspectives on Leadership

Leadership is subjective, with numerous, often contradictory, views. Each perspective reflects personal experiences, making it hard to find consistent advice. Leadership is frequently described in idealistic or passionate terms, but terminology can vary, and roles like "executive manager" are sometimes confused with leadership competencies.

In summary, leadership methods and skills are influenced by context and perspective, making it important to adapt to specific situations while drawing from core principles.

The Five Faces Of The 21st Century Chief

The generalist CEO will give way to the specialist, whether that's a global networker or someone with a knack for assembling all-star teams

James M. Citrin, corporate kingmaker, has long had a close-up view of the leadership demands of the world's most dynamic companies. As founder of Spencer Stuart's technology, communications, and media practice, the executive recruiter has placed 165 chief executives, chief financial officers, and directors since 1994. Big catches include David L. Calhoun, a General Electric star he helped lure to private equity-owned VNU (now Nielsen); Eastman Kodak CEO Antonio M. Perez; and Motorola chief Edward J. Zander.

From his perch, Citrin has watched CEOs of public companies fight a losing battle against the spiraling demands on their performance and time. "The job of the CEO has become so consuming and complex that if you actually list all the things a CEO is responsible for, no human being can do them all," he says. Add to that a tightening market for talent as more stars jump ship to private equity, and it's clear to him the model of the public-company CEO must change.

Over the next five years, Citrin believes boards will need to embrace the concept of the "specialist CEO." Boards of directors, he says, will need to get more realistic about the rarity of the perfect CEO. Rather than holding out for leaders who are experts at everything, they should instead warm up to CEOs with deep expertise in one or two crucial areas and enough know-how in the rest to build a high-performing supporting cast.

Citrin believes a change in what boards focus on may prompt a shift in the C-suite's structure. More chief operating officers will be near-equal partners, and more leaders with specific functions, such as heads of human resources and marketing, will interact with the board. In the future, Citrin expects five specialist CEO types to be in the greatest demand:

THE BRAIN

Whether they're algorithm geniuses, coding prodigies, or merely credentialed scientists or designers, CEOs in touch with their inner geeks will be a sought-after breed. As global competition intensifies the pressure for top-line growth, innovators-in-chief will be more clued in to the next breakthrough business. Plus, their expertise will help them inspire engineering and research, and development teams.

ARCHETYPE: Arthur D. Levinson, the CEO of Genentech. Levinson has a Ph.D. in biochemistry and is known for sending out late-night e-mails to his researchers on details in scientific papers. Citrin also cites Reed Hastings, founder, and CEO of Netflix and a former software engineer, who Spencer Stuart placed on Microsoft's board.

THE AMBASSADOR

A two-year stint in London may have counted as enough international experience in the past, but that won't be the case much longer. "More and more of our CEO specs are calling for explicit business experience in emerging markets," Citrin says. Boards are looking for CEOs with passports showing frequent visits to China and India, along with Russia, Brazil, and Dubai. Ambassadors won't just be familiar with these areas, Citrin says, but will have access to local governments, ruling families, and business tycoons.

ARCHETYPE: Citrin points to News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, who has long wooed Beijing officials and launched alliances with local companies. Another example, he says, is PepsiCo CEO Indra K. Nooyi, who was born in Chennai, India.

THE DEALMAKER

Citrin believes dealmaking specialists—those able to both sell off non-core assets and go toe-to-toe with private equity players on big acquisitions—will be in heavy demand. Of course, buying and selling have always been part of a CEO's brief, but "increasingly, these large strategic transactions are really bet-the-company kind of deals," he says.

ARCHETYPE: Retired AT&T CEO Edward E. Whitacre Jr., who turned SBC Communications, once the smallest of the regional Bells, into a powerhouse with a market value of $242 billion. Says Citrin: "He's built the largest player in [his] field from an unlikely starting position."

THE CONDUCTOR

Corporations' walls are only going to get more permeable, as companies form alliances with outsiders and turn to networks of innovators for ideas to put into practice. Meanwhile, the need for collaboration among corporate units will expand, since the demand for new growth areas requires more creativity across divisions. Orchestra conductors will be skilled in getting everyone to play in the same key.

ARCHETYPE: A.G. Lafley, who says half of all new Procter & Gamble products should come from outside its R&D labs. Citrin also cites Lafley's integration of P&G's $57 billion purchase of Gillette as proof of his talent as a maestro.

THE CASTING AGENT

If you think "people are our greatest asset" is an overused bromide today, just wait. The talent war is only expected to worsen as boomers begin retiring en masse and emerging-market managers remain scarce. CEOs who can retain the best people and deploy them adeptly will be hot commodities.

ARCHETYPE: Xerox CEO Anne M. Mulcahy, who named operating chief and heir apparent Ursula M. Burns to the president's role in April. Says Citrin: "She's been able to put the right people in the right jobs to spectacular effect."

Tri-sector leaders have 

A leader who is equipped with EQ (Emotional Intelligence) has 



Relational management: This is what you do with that social awareness. One tip Booth shares is to think about the impression you leave on your team. “When they leave a meeting with you, how are they feeling? Do they feel deflated? Do they feel energized?” And if you don’t like the answer, what can you do to make them feel motivated and appreciated? This isn’t only important during tough moments. Happy times deserve relational management, too, such as sending a thank you note for a job well done. “If you are in a good mood, you might make someone's day as well.”