Leadership ,function and Style
What Is Leadership?
Leadership captures the essentials of being able and prepared to inspire others. Effective leadership is based upon ideas—both original and borrowed—that are effectively communicated to others in a way that engages them enough to act as the leader wants them to act.
A leader inspires others to act while simultaneously directing the way that they act. They must be personable enough for others to follow their orders, and they must have the critical thinking skills to know the best way to use the resources at an organization's disposal.
- Alternate definition: Leadership may also refer to an organization's management structure.
How Does Leadership Work?
In business, leadership is linked to performance, and any leadership definition has to take that into account. Therefore, while leadership isn't intrinsically linked to profit, those who are viewed as effective leaders in corporate contexts are the ones who increase their company's bottom line.
If an individual in a leadership role does not meet profit expectations set by boards, higher management, or shareholders, they may be terminated.
While there are people who seem to be naturally endowed with more leadership abilities than others, anyone can learn to become a leader by improving particular skills. History is full of people who, while having no previous leadership experience, have stepped to the fore in crises and persuaded others to follow their suggested course of action. They possessed traits and qualities that helped them to step into roles of leadership.
Leadership vs. Management
| Leadership vs. Management | |
|---|---|
| Leadership | Management |
| May or may not be a manager | May or may not be a leader |
| Must inspire followers | May or may not inspire those under them |
| Emphasizes innovation | Emphasizes rationality and control |
| May be unconcerned with preserving existing structures | Seeks to work within and preserve existing corporate structures |
| Typically operates with relative independence | Typically a link in the corporate chain of command |
| May be less concerned with interpersonal issues | May be more concerned with interpersonal issues |
The terms leadership and management tend to be used interchangeably, but they're not the same. Leadership requires traits that extend beyond management duties. Both leaders and managers have to manage the resources at their disposal, but true leadership requires more. For example, managers may or may not be described as inspiring by the people working under them, but a leader must inspire those who follow them.
The concepts mentioned here are generalities and don't address every type of leader or manager. Many managers are leaders and vice versa—but not all are.
Another difference between leaders and managers is that leaders emphasize innovation above all else. Whereas a manager seeks to inspire their team to meet goals while following company rules, a leader may be more concerned with setting and achieving lofty goals—even at the expense of existing corporate structures. When a worker has a radical new idea for how to tackle an issue, a leader is likely to encourage that person to pursue the idea.
Managers may be more likely to preserve existing structures because they themselves operate within that structure. They may have bosses above them, so they have less freedom to break rules in the pursuit of lofty goals. Leaders, on the other hand, often operate fairly independently. That allows them to tolerate a greater amount of chaos, so long as they believe it will be worth it in the end.
However, the leader's devotion to innovation can sometimes come at a cost. Chaos and high-pressure work environments can create interpersonal issues. When such issues arise, a manager is more likely to see it as their duty to smooth over problems between employees. Leaders can sometimes be so singularly focused on achieving lofty goals that they let interpersonal issues and employee welfare fall to the wayside.
Skills Good Leaders Need
There are a number of broad skill areas that are particularly important for leaders.
These include strategic thinking, planning and delivery, people management, change management, communication, and persuasion and influencing.
1. Strategic Thinking Skills
Perhaps the most important skill a leader needs — and what really distinguishes leaders from managers — is to be able to think strategically.
This means, in simple terms, having an idea or vision of where you want to be and working to achieve that.
The best strategic thinkers see the big picture, and are not distracted by side issues or minor details. All their decisions are likely to be broadly based on their answer to the question ‘does this take me closer to where I want to be?’
2. Planning and Delivery Skills
While it is important to be personally organised and motivated as a leader—and see our pages on Time Management and Self-Motivation for more about these areas—it is perhaps even more important to be able to plan and deliver for the organisation.
These areas are key management skills, but the best leaders will also be able to turn their hand to these. The best vision in the world is no good without the plan to turn it into reality.
Alongside strategic thinking, therefore, go organising and action planning, both essential for delivery of your vision and strategy. Project management and project planning are also helpful skills for both managers and leaders. Good risk management is also important to help you avoid things going wrong, and manage when they do.
3. People Management Skills
Without followers, there are no leaders. Leaders therefore need skills in working with others on a one-to-one and group basis, and a range of tools in their armoury to deal with a wide range of situations. Many of these skills are also vital for managers, and you can find out more about these in our page on Management Skills.
In particular, leaders are expected to motivate and encourage their followers, both directly (see our page on Motivating others) and by Creating a Motivational Environment.
One of the first skills that new leaders need to master is how to delegate. This is a difficult skill for many people but, done well, delegation can give team members responsibility and a taste of leadership themselves, and help them to remain motivated. See our page on Delegation Skills for more.
There are further challenges to delegating work within a team, including balancing workloads, and ensuring that everyone is given opportunities to help them develop. See our page on Overseeing Work for more.
Leaders and managers both need to understand how to build and manage a team. They need to know how to recruit effectively, and bring people ‘on board’ through induction processes. They also need to understand the importance of performance management, both on a regular basis, and to manage poor performance.
4. Change Management and Innovation Skills
Change management may seem like an odd companion to people management and communication, but leadership is often particularly important at times of change.
A leader needs to understand change management in order to lead an organisation through the process. For example, change management requires the creation and communication of a compelling vision. It also requires the change to be driven forward firmly, and leadership to make it ‘stick’ if the organisation is not to revert within a very short period.
Our pages on Change Management explain more about this, including:
5. Communication Skills
While communication skills are important for everyone, leaders and managers perhaps need them even more. These skills are general interpersonal skills, not specific to leadership, but successful leaders tend to show high levels of skill when communicating.
Good leaders tend to be extremely good listeners, able to listen actively and elicit information by good questioning. They are also likely to show high levels of assertiveness, which enables them to make their point without aggression, but firmly. They know how to build rapport quickly and effectively, to develop good, strong relationships with others, whether peers or subordinates. These skills come together to help to build charisma, that quality of ‘brightness’ which makes people want to follow a leader.
Leaders also need to know how to give others their views on personal performance in a way that will be constructive rather than destructive, and also hear others’ opinions of them. See our page on Giving and Receiving Feedback for more.
They are usually very good at effective speaking, equally skilled at getting their point across in a formal presentation or Board meeting, or in an informal meeting or casual corridor conversation. They have also honed their ability to communicate in difficult situations, usually by practice over time.
6. Persuasion and Influencing Skills
Finally, one particular area of communicating that is especially important for leaders is being able to persuade and influence others.
Good leaders use a range of tools for this. For more, see our pages on Persuasion and Influencing, and Developing Persuasion Skills.
Leaders also need tools to help them understand the way that others behave, and create positive interactions. As a first step, it may be helpful to understand more about emotional intelligence—another vital quality for leaders to possess—but there are a number of other tools that may also be useful, including Transactional Analysis, and Myers-Briggs Type Indicators.
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Er.Rajkapoor