CRUCIBLE EXPERIENCES ARE THOSE TRIALS BY FIRE THAT TEST AND DEVELOP OUR CHARACTER. ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR MARLENE NEILL, AND HER CO-AUTHOR, STUDIED THE IMPACT OF CRUCIBLES ON PUBLIC RELATIONS LEADERS AND HOW THEIR LEADERSHIP STYLE WAS AFFECTED.
"So this study involved in-depth interviews with 32 public relations leaders who described 43 different types of crucible experiences that they had faced in their careers."
NEILL FOUND THAT TRIALS IMPROVED LEADERS' MORAL INTUITION, SENSITIVITY, JUDGMENT, AND MOTIVATION. AS A RESULT, EMPLOYEES BENEFITED AND LEARNED FROM THESE SERVANT LEADERSHIP ACTIONS.
"For example, someone who had an employee whose mother was ill and had to take time off work. She needs to be with her mother right now. Another professional I interviewed, they had an employee who had to assume responsibility for caring for a disabled family member. He had to take some time off, to move this relative to live with him. And obviously it would make sense that he would have time off, but they also took that extra step of paying for the moving van, to help relieve that extra stress. There were also examples of times of forgiveness when someone made a mistake and being able to help them overcome that error and then to learn and grow from that. So this study really gave us insights into how trials have developed servant leaderships and served as a motivation for them to practice servant leadership by really dedicating themselves to the growth of their employees, embraced empathy as well as demonstrating kindness and care for their employees."
THE BUSINESS REVIEW IS A PRODUCTION OF LIVINGSTON MCKAY AND THE HANKAMER SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY.
