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| LOCAL LEADER - ROB ASTROMSKY |
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| Robert Astromsky - Entrepreneur
This essay attempts to briefly outline the leadership style, strengths and weaknesses of a successful local leader in our community. Rob Astromsky is an entrepreneur and manager of three bicycle shops in the Southwest. He is also the founder of Cape to Cape Mountain Bike Club and Treasurer and board member of his children school. The information contained in this essay is based on an interview that was conducted as well as my own experience working as one of Rob�s subordinates. Rob was born in the USA where he completed his schooling including a degree in interior design, while working in numerous push bike shops. He experienced working in positions of leadership from an early age as he worked for a construction company as project manager before managing the bakery department of a German restaurant. This gave him the confidence to open his own small caf�. Meanwhile Rob and his partner were starting a family and decided to migrate to Australia in order to provide them with a better, safer lifestyle. When arriving in Australia Rob had the vision of starting another business. His passion and experience was in cycling and therefore a bike shop was the obvious choice. Given the opportunity he purchase Margaret River Cycles and operated it as a going concern. He built this business up for 4 years before seeing a new market and opening up a second shop in Dunsborough and a another a year later in Busselton. Judging from the quiz results and my own experience working with Rob he without a doubt has a very participative style of leadership. This is evident as Rob works side by side his employees completing a lot of the same tasks and constantly training. He does this by showing his staff how to complete a task such as a repair instead of just explaining how to do it. If any staff members have any problems completing the task in the future Rob will expect them to ask for assistance instead of wasting time and, or getting it wrong. This is highlighted by his response to question 5 of the interview. Furthermore Rob, in most circumstances, will confer with staff members before making a final decision therefore fitting the definition of a consultative leader as set out in (Durbin et al 2006, page 75). He also encourages any creative input and ideas from all group members and also delegates some minor decision making responsibilities. This shows trust towards his employees and in turn is how he gains their trust for himself. Rob states in the interview poor communication is what really annoys him. As a result of good communication encompassing teamwork is essential in a small close knit business where healthy relationships are vital. This is a major contributor to the survival and growth of his businesses. On the other hand there is a negative side to this style of leadership. It is very time consuming and therefore leaves less time for Rob to manage the business. Subsequently Rob is performing tasks that could easily be performed by staff members and as a result of this they may not be challenging themselves because they know if they don�t do it Rob will. After conducting the interview and personally having spent quite a lot of time with Rob in and out of the workplace a number of Rob�s general personality traits that contribute to his effectiveness as a leader have become evident. These include self confidence and his ability to maintain composure when dealing with problem customers or financial difficulty, trustworthiness, enthusiasm and passion for his chosen business avenues, a high tolerance for frustration that is essential in a retail type environment and importantly emotional stability and consistency in behaviour and mood. Rob is also very understanding and accommodating to group members needs inside and outside of the work environment. This helps to obtain, keep and motivate staff by providing them with an enjoyable environment to work in and therefore they are more productive. In conjunction with these general traits there are also a number of task related traits that contribute to effective leadership. A dominant characteristic that Rob shows is his relentless passion for his work. He loves the industry he is in and has to get involved in it in anyway he can, for example starting a mountain bike club outside of work. He also has a passion for knowledge and teaching others. This is quite important in entrepreneurial leaders such as Rob as he is required to put in many hours and it has becomes his entire life. A major contributing factor to Rob�s success as a leader in a number of different areas comes down to his high level of emotional intelligence. He has the ability to regulate his emotions, rarely showing frustration or stress and when a problem arises he simply begins to think about how it can be solved. Rob�s social skills are also very important especially as he works in the retail industry and takes part in customer interaction daily in order to make sales. These skills enable him to build networks of support with suppliers and other leaders within the industry. Developing positive working relationships is a very important tool in a position of leadership. It has become evident that Rob style does not just fit one theory or style of leadership but is made up of a combination of different theories. Additionally Rob displays some, although not all, of the behaviours of the entrepreneurial leadership theory. For example he takes risks in opening up new stores and also has the ability to identify problems and work towards a solution. This is very important as it is a day to day occurrence for him and is a major contributing factor in his success as a leader. Rob constantly has his eye on the future and acts quickly when he notices an opportunity. An example of this is when he noticed a market in another region and opened a new store there before his existing to shops were running smoothly. These are a number of the behaviours of the entrepreneurial leader as outlined in (Durbin et al, 2006 page 80, 81). This sensible risk taking and strong achievement drive that rob possesses is essential when building a successful business and leading the people within it. Rob has a very open book style of management. He is very open with his staff about profits, mark up percentages and required daily takings in order to break even. This is a powerful motivational tool used by Rob as it creates trust and gives the staff a sense of ownership in what they are doing. Once staff members have proved themselves Rob passes some decision making authority. This gives staff empowerment and self belief and is also a major contributing factor to Rob�s success as a leader. Another motivational tool used is Rob�s facility of recognising and praising staff when he notices them working hard or after a busy day. On the other hand Rob needs to improve on this area of motivation as he rarely sets specific goals and instead sets more non-specific, basic goals, for example he asks his staff to �keep busy�. According to the Goal Theory of Motivation individuals that are set specific, hard but obtainable goals perform better (Dubrin et al, 2006 page 301). This is also directly linked to Rob�s ability to measure performance. If the individual does not have specific goals it is very difficult to measure performance. Consequently it is also very difficult to make a direct link between performance and rewards and as a result of this staff members are generally rewarded regardless of performance. This is what is known as the Expectancy theory of motivation. Robs main leadership weaknesses are that he is occasionally not punctual, lacks organisation is quite forgetful. This is self confessed by Rob in question 7 of the interview. This can be detrimental to the leadership of his staff members and their performance because it is common for people to follow by example with the attitude of �if it�s good enough for the boss its good enough for me.� An example of this behaviour from the workplace is not filling out job cards or sales orders, and sometimes neglecting to notify customers of work completed. The development of Rob�s leadership skills has come from his experience in numerous leadership positions and his ability to understand that every situation is different and so to are the personalities, needs and wants of every person he leads. His ability to change styles accordingly is why he was chosen as the subject for this essay. He is modest, admits he is not perfect and is willing to ask about areas that he can improve in. This creates a very approachable leader. Furthermore Rob attends leadership seminars and talks with other leaders in the community, drawing from their experiences and where they have found success. This is made evident by Rob�s response to question 6 of the interview. In conclusion Rob Astromsky is a successful leader and entrepreneur in our local community. This can be attributed to a number of different aspects to Rob�s leadership style including his participative approach and his ability to develop healthy working relationships. His drive and high work ethic motivates staff and his emotional intelligence and general characteristic traits provide a comfortable work environment. A great deal of Rob�s problem solving ability, responses to different situations, and general leadership skills have been developed over time by experience, attending courses, reading literature and also interacting with other leaders in our community. Local Leader Interview � Rob Astromsky Year born - 1966 Country of birth - United States of America Education - University of Minnesota, studied interior design Leadership roles Past: Lead Project manager of Construction Company for 2.5 years. Owned and managed a small caf� in Minneapolis, Minnesota for 3 years. Managed bakery department in a German Restaurant. Present: Owner/manager of 3 bike shops in the Southwest. Treasurer and board member of Nylindumurra Family School. Founder of Cape to Cape Mountain Bike Club. 1. How did you end up in these positions? Was it something you strived toward or did it just happen? My work in Western Australia has been created by expanding the bicycle business to serve the area. The mountain Bike club is a fun extension of my business combining my pleasure. My role at the school comes from seeing a position that desperately needed to be filled by a qualified individual. 2. Who or what has inspired you the most? Past Usually my co-workers or business owners that I have worked for. Present My business partners and my hobby of studying history. 3. Describe your leadership style. I try to give general instructions to allow self motivated individuals to operate autonomously, while giving feedback and instruction or training to support areas of inexperience or weakness. 4. Do you think leaders born or developed? I think leaders must have some inner drive that they are born with to be successful. Naturally support and opportunity must follow, but I do not think everyone if given a chance and adequate training will become a successful leader. 5. What really annoys you and satisfies you as a leader? I am most annoyed by poor communication when problems are occurring, for example not calling in if there is an unavoidable illness or other commitment or faking experience with a certain task instead of asking for help. I am most satisfied in looking at the long term growth of the business and seeing the successful growth in the managers of the shops. 6. How do you develop/improve your leadership skills? I liaise with my business partners; I read management articles and books and attend seminars. I also talk informally with other business owners. You need to seek out criticism (constructive) of what areas you are weak in so you can get the training to improve. Never rest on your laurels, there is always something which can be improved. 7. What would you say your weaknesses are as a leader? I think I sometimes spread myself to thin and find myself being a worker instead of running the business. This leads to a lack of organisation on my behalf and other unnecessary problems can sometimes stem from this. 8. Anything else that is important to you or you would like to add? It is very important to recognise areas you as leader need assistance with and get extra help so you are free to manage the areas where you are strong and most productive. You are always an example for your subordinates. Quiz Result Quiz 3.2 What Style of Leader Are You? (Dubrin et al, 2006 page 78, 79) Rob scored 16 out of 20 in this quiz which indicates that he is a participative leader according to this quiz. |
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