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Leadership Defined
Leadership
is the process of directing the behavior of others toward the
accomplishment of some common objectives.
Correlation Between Major Leadership Schools
According Brian O'Nail, the author of Test
Your Leadership Skills, "leadership is
influencing people
to get things done to a standard and quality above
their norm. And doing it willingly."
As an element in social interaction,
leadership is a complex activity involving:
-
a process of influence
-
actors who are both leaders and followers
-
a range of possible outcomes the achievement of goals, but also the
commitment of individuals to such goals, the enhancement of group cohesion
and the reinforcement of change of
organizational culture.
Leadership
vs. Management
Building Better Leaders through Attributes
Leadership attributes
are the inner or personal qualities that constitute effective leadership.
These attributes include a large array of characteristics such as values,
character, motives, habits, traits, motives, style, behaviors, and skills.
Leadership Attributes
Role, Task, Responsibility, and
Source of Power
12 Major Causes of Failure in Leadership
Forming and Inspiring a Shared Vision
As a leader, you must envision the future and
passionately believe that you can
make a difference. You must see a changed world beyond the time horizon,
create an ideal and unique image of what it could become and believe that
your dreams can become reality. You must open eyes to your followers and
lift their spirits. Through
your attitude, magnetism and
persuasion, you must enlist others in your dreams, breathe life into
your vision and get people to see exciting opportunities and possibilities
for the future.
Effective Leadership as a
Source of Competitive Business Advantage
Entrepreneurial leadership is imperative for
molding a group of people into a
team, shaping them into a force that serves as a
sustainable business advantage.
Effective leaders have an inspiring vision.
Foresight and
change anticipation is their hallmark.
Leaders know how to make people function in a collaborative fashion, and how
to
motivate them to excel their performance. Leaders also know how to
balance the individual team member's quest with the goal of
producing
synergy
an outcome that exceeds the sum of individual inputs. Leaders
require that their team members forego the quest for personal best in
concert with the team effort, write Mark Stevens in Extreme Management.
Inspiring People
and Helping Them Achieve More
Effective leaders supply a shared
vision; and
inspire people
to achieve more than they may ever have dreamed possible.
People change when they are emotionally engaged and committed.
To inspire, you must both create resonance and
move people with a compelling vision. You must embody what you ask of
others, and be able to articulate a shared vision in a way that inspires
others to act. Your must offer a sense of common purpose beyond the
day-to-day tasks, making work exciting.
Results-based Leadership
Learning to Lead
Effective leaders recognize that
what they know is very little in comparison to what they still need to
learn. To be more proficient in pursuing and achieving objectives, you
should be open to new ideas, insights, and revelations that can lead to
better ways to accomplishing goals. This continuous learning process can be
exercised, in particular, through engaging yourself in a constant dialogue
with your peers, advisers, consultants, team members, suppliers, customers,
and competitors.
Leading others is not simply a
matter of style, or following some how-to guides or recipes. Ineffectiveness
of leaders seldom results from a lack of know-how or how-to, nor it is
typically due to inadequate managerial skills. Leadership is even not about
creating a great vision. It is about creating conditions under which all
your followers can perform independently and effectively toward a common
objective.
James O'Tool, a noted management
theorist proposes a new vision of leadership in the business world
a
values-based leadership
that is not only fair and just, but also highly
effective in today's complex organizations. It is based on:
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your ideas and values
-
your understanding of the
differing and conflicting needs of your followers
-
your ability to
energize
followers
to pursue a better goal that they had thought
possible
-
your skills in creating a
values-based umbrella large enough to accommodate the various interests of
followers, but focused enough to direct all their energies in pursuit of a
common good.
Leadership
Style
Leadership style is the pattern of behavior used by a leader in attempting
to influence group members and make decisions regarding the mission,
strategy, and operations of group activities.
Positioning of a Leader
 Anyone who gets a leadership
position has not made it. It is only the beginning. Being a leader doesn't
make you one. After you get to be the leader of a group, you are going to
have to do a lot to earn the acceptance of the group members and have an
influence on their behavior.
To be a leader you have to be first to get into the mind of the prospect
and then follow the strategies to
stay there. The essential ingredient in securing the leadership
position is getting into the mind first. The essential ingredient in
keeping that position is reinforcing the original concept.
Leading People Is All About Perceptions
Leadership
setting goals,
communicating,
teamwork,
influencing people, etc. is all about
perceptions. The essence of leading is coming to grips with
people's perceptions.
Emotional Task of the Leader
Research18 show that
67% of the essential competencies required for
effective leadership today are emotional competencies.
Great leaders move
people they work through emotions.13
They have found effective ways to understand and improve the way they handle
their own and their followers' emotions. As a leader, you should act as your
group's emotional guide. When you drive emotions positively you bring out
everyone's best.
You ignite people's passion, inspire the best in them, and
create resonance. The key to making this work lies in your competencies of
emotional intelligence (EI): how you handle yourself and your
relationships.
Coaching a Vital Skill for Leaders
The
new breed of leaders
recognizes that autocracy no longer works, yet that
employee empowerment alone is not enough. The skills of
coaching
have lately been rediscovered by more effective organizations and teams.
Your cannot be a leader without a following, and you have to delegate
appropriately. The leader is best placed to enhance the performance and
learning abilities, on the job, of colleagues. Coaching aims to enhance
these abilities.
Leadership-Management Synergy
NLP Solutions:
Pacing and Leading
Pacing is having the flexibility
to meet another person in their model of the world, rather than making them
come to yours. Matching
body language, voice tonality and words, and respecting beliefs and
values are examples of what
NLP, the Technology of Achievement calls pacing. You need a strong sense of self to pace others well.
Pacing establishes a bridge. Once
you have that, you can lead another person to other possibilities. "By
matching body language with an angry or upset person, for example, you
acknowledge what is important to him, so he no longer needs to insist on the
validity of his experience and becomes more available. You then lead him to
a calmer state by moderating your voice and changing your posture. You
cannot lead without first pacing and gaining
rapport," write Joseph O'Connor and Ian McDermott in Ways of NLP.
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