Leadership
By Orby, 7th Sep 2012 | Follow this author
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Posted in WikinutBusinessEmployment
Many organizations would always say that effective leadership is hard reality to achieve.Question is what is the importance of good leadership and why is there shortage of good leaders?
- The Leadership Concept
- What Makes a Good Leadership
- Mistakes of Leadership
- Reason for Leadership Deficit
The Leadership Concept
Leadership is a big issue in life,politics,management and for all of us.Looking at the issue of management from the last century, there are three main questions with regards to organizational success.The question of "why" which tackles the challenge of the reason for the existence of the organization,the question of" what" which addresses the challenge of what sort of organization,resources,system and skills required to achieve the organizational goals and the "Who" question:who are the sort of leaders the organization need,how to develop and retain these leaders towards achieving the organizational goals.The who question is the most important because the organization needs to know who they want on board and who would be driving their metaphorical bus even before deciding where to driving it to.
Organizations are always faced with the dilemma of ascertaining the concept of leadership and who they need as leaders.Some people are of the opinion that a leader is a person who inspires and encourages other people to follow their footstep.I am of the opinion that leadership is a process of utilizing available human,material and intellectual resources to enlist aids and support towards the achievement of a common goal in a team.Leaders are simply those who possess special talents in harnessing available resources towards achieving of a set target or goals in an organized setting.For one to lead ,you must have respect and confidence for people you are going to be doing it with.You lead because you have passion for it. Leaders are instinctively motivated as they accept this challenge and responsibility of leading at heart first before they are developed towards it; It is not something you can button with a payslip.Leadership is the driving force of any vibrant organization.
What Makes a Good Leadership
On the one hand,some people believe that good leaders should be people of certain qualities.Qualities such as Charisma,high intellect,good humour,aggressiveness,loyalty or even physical attributes like size has worked for some people as leadership assets.As a leader ,you must work out what works best for you in order to come out successful.
On the other hand,others believe that effective leaders are those who can adapt compfortably to their context.The truth is that there is no clear cut recipe to good leadership.Context in this sense entails playing different roles excellently.Therefore when it comes to establishing whether a leader should be authentic or a role player,in this sense a good leader is expected to be an authentic role player in order words,a good leader must be dynamic in choosing or creating a compelling idea that works successfully in differing contexts.Good leaders in this sense are people who play many roles.They can lead as well as they can listen and learn from others.They are good team players whose motive boaders on developing and harnessing peoples ideas,energy and efforts towards building a common strong empire.
Leaders are also seen as people who clearly sets a vission and mission for their organisation.They articulate compelling stories that allows play parts in in the bid of attaining organizational success.But some have argued that some organizations have been very successful even without any clear cut visions.
Charisma and talent are okay but the real hallmark leader is one who does not have to be the front and center of the organizational decisions.Most successful organizations are the ones whose leaders generates the idea and energy and use this talent in almost every instance within a team arrangement.Their efforts are about the team more than the leader.In big organizations,it is about generating team based objectives that works for the organization.
Mistakes of Leadership
To be a success at leading is one big challenge but once you are a successful leader,it is staying at the top of your game that is even harder.Leaders do things that are not necessarily direct opposite of what they should do to be right.The primary shortcomings are things like lack of open-mindedness and willingness to learn new things ,of course classic arrogance and hubris show their faces as well.What we normally miss out out is the part that separates people that have been successful for a while and those that have the track record but have fallen by the way side.The things that separates those group more than anything else is when the leaders really belief that they have got everything figured out rather than listen to critics of what they do and what the company is doing .They often go out of the way to remove the people that are generating the alternative point of view.
Reason for Leadership Deficit
Many organizations are killing good leadership as fast as they are trying to find it.They produce a kind of mind numbing conformity that is toxic to fostering the development of good leaders.Many big organizations are structured and cultured not to develop good leaders but to kill it off.Good leaders are perhaps prone to encounter adversities when they were younger.Good leadership is not a products the classroom therefore cannot be produced from the lecture theater.It requires a constant molding process,practice and talent unlike how big organizations see it.They have to encouraged to go out of their comfort zones.People learn fast about themselves out of the classrooms than in the classrooms but obviously large organization accord leadership role based on fat certificate other than talent and in and out of classroom leadership prowess.Organizations should forget facts,trend and fashion but feed the best style that fit.
Comments
3rd Oct 2012 (#)
I think a leader has to be honest, confident, professional and humour never hurts. Nice read. Thank you for sharing.:)
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