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Basic Thought on Leadership

Concepts of Leadership
Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership attributes, such as beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and skills. Leaders are made not born. If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience.
To inspire your co workers into higher levels of teamwork, there are certain things you must be, know, and, do. These do not come naturally, but are acquired through continual work and study. Good leaders are continually working and studying to improve their leadership skills; they are NOT resting on their past laurels.

Definitions of Leadership
Some popular definitions of Leadership are;

“A process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse, 2007, p3)”

“Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal (Kruse, 2013).”

“The U.S. military has studied leadership in depth. One of their definitions is a process by which a soldier influences others to accomplish a mission (U.S. Army, 1983).”

While leadership is learned, the skills and knowledge processed by the leader can be influenced by his or hers attributes or traits, such as beliefs, values, ethics, and character. Knowledge and skills contribute directly to the process of leadership, while the other attributes give the leader certain characteristics that make him or her unique.

Process of Leadership
Leadership process is the way to explain how people become leaders as; some personality traits may lead people naturally into leadership roles. This is the Trait Theory.  This theory is common to believe that leaders were born rather than made.

Another one is people can choose to become leaders. People can learn leadership skills. This is the Transformational Leadership Theory. It is the most widely accepted theory today. This theory is common to believe that leaders are made not born.


Factors of Leadership
There are four primary factors of leadership (U.S. Army, 1983) as;  Leader, follower, communication and situation.

 Leader:
You must have an honest understanding of who you are, what you know, and what you can do. Also, note that it is the followers, not the leader or someone else who determines if the leader is successful. If they do not trust or lack confidence in their leader, then they will be uninspired. To be successful you have to convince your followers, not yourself or your superiors, that you are worthy of being followed.

Followers:
Different people require different styles of leadership. For example, a new hire requires more supervision than an experienced employee does. A person who lacks motivation requires a different approach than one with a high degree of motivation. You must know your people! The fundamental starting point is having a good understanding of human nature, such as needs, emotions, and motivation. You must come to know your employees' be, know, and do attributes.

Communication:
You lead through two-way communication. Much of it is nonverbal. For instance, when you “set the example,” that communicates to your people that you would not ask them to perform anything that you would not be willing to do. What and how you communicate either builds or harms the relationship between you and your co colleagues.

Situation:
All situations are different. What you do in one situation will not always work in another. You must use your judgment to decide the best course of action and the leadership style needed for each situation. For example, you may need to confront an employee for inappropriate behavior, but if the confrontation is too late or too early, too harsh or too weak, then the results may prove ineffective.

Various forces will affect these four factors. Examples of forces are;

Relationship with your seniors
The skill of your followers
The informal leaders within your organization
How your organization is organized

Management verses Leadership
While management and leadership have a great deal in common, such as working with people and accomplishing the goals of the organization, they do differ in their primary functions (Kotter, 1990):

Management's main function is to produce order and consistency through processes, such as planning, budgeting, organizing, staffing, and problem solving.

While leadership's main function is to produce movement and constructive or adaptive change through processes, such as establishing direction through visioning, aligning people, motivating, and inspiring.

Boss or Leader
Although your position as a manager, supervisor, lead, etc. gives you the authority to accomplish certain tasks and objectives in the organization (called Assigned Leadership), this power does not make you a leader, it simply makes you a boss. Leadership differs in that it makes the followers want to achieve high goals (called Emergent Leadership), rather than simply ordering people around (Rowe, 2007). Thus you get Assigned Leadership by your position and you display Emergent Leadership by influencing people to do great things.

The Two Most Important Keys to Effective Leadership
According to a study by the Hay Group, a global management consultancy;

1.      Trust and confidence in top leadership was the single most reliable predictor of employee satisfaction in an organization
2.      Effective communication by leadership in three critical areas was the key to winning organizational trust and confidence:
a. Helping employees understand the company's overall business strategy
b. Helping employees understand how they contribute to achieving key business objectives
c. Sharing information with employees on both how the company is doing and how an employee's own division is doing

Principles of Leadership
To help you be, know, and do, follow these eleven principles of leadership (U.S. Army, 1983).

Know yourself and seek self-improvement - In order to know yourself, you have to understand your be, know, and do, attributes. Seeking self-improvement means continually strengthening your attributes. This can be accomplished through self-study, formal classes, reflection, and interacting with others.

Be technically proficient - As a leader, you must know your job and have a solid familiarity with your employees' tasks.

Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions - Search for ways to guide your organization to new heights. And when things go wrong, as they often tend to do sooner or later — do not blame others. Analyze the situation, take corrective action, and move on to the next challenge.

Make sound and timely decisions - Use good problem solving, decision making, and planning tools. Set the example - Be a good role model for your employees. They must not only hear what they are expected to do, but also see. We must become the change we want to see - Mahatma Gandhi

Know your people and look out for their well-being - Know human nature and the importance of sincerely caring for your workers.

Keep your workers informed - Know how to communicate with not only them, but also seniors and other key people.

Develop a sense of responsibility in your workers - Help to develop good character traits that will help them carry out their professional responsibilities.

Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished - Communication is the key to this responsibility.

Train as a team - Although many so called leaders call their organization, department, section, etc. a team; they are not really teams... they are just a group of people doing their jobs.

Use the full capabilities of your organization - By developing a team spirit, you will be able to employ your organization, department, section, etc. to its fullest capabilities.

Attributes of Leadership: BE, KNOW, and DO
According to US Army  (1983), Respected leaders concentrate on Be, Know, and Do

BE a professional. Examples: Be loyal to the organization, perform selfless service, take personal responsibility.

BE a professional who possess good character traits. Examples: honesty, competence, candor, commitment, integrity, courage, straightforwardness, imagination.

KNOW the four factors of leadership — follower, leader, communication, situation.

KNOW yourself. Examples: strengths and weakness of your character, knowledge, and skills.

KNOW human nature. Examples: human needs, emotions, and how people respond to stress.

KNOW your job. Examples: be proficient and be able to train others in their tasks.

KNOW your organization. Examples: where to go for help, its climate and culture, who the unofficial leaders are.

DO provide direction. Examples: goal setting, problem solving, decision making, planning.

DO implement. Examples: communicating, coordinating, supervising, evaluating.

DO motivate. Examples: develop morale and esprit de corps in the organization, train, coach, counsel.

The Process of Great Leadership
The road to great leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 1987) that is common to successful leaders:

Challenge the process - First, find a process that you believe needs to be improved the most.
Inspire a shared vision - Next, share your vision in words that can be understood by your followers.
Enable others to act - Give them the tools and methods to solve the problem.
Model the way - When the process gets tough, get your hands dirty. A boss tells others what to do; a leader shows that it can be done.
Encourage the heart - Share the glory with your followers' hearts, while keeping the pains within your own.

Steps of Goal Setting:
The six steps of goal setting.

Vision —> Goals —> Objectives —> Tasks —> Timelines —> Follow-up

Vision:
The first step in setting goals and priorities is to personally develop what the organization should look like at some point in the future — this is a vision. The mission of the organization is crucial in determining your vision. Your vision needs to coincide with the big picture. The term “vision” suggests a mental picture of what the future organization will look like. The concept also implies a later time horizon.

Goals:
The second step involves establishing goals, with the active participation of the team. Goals are also stated in unmeasurable terms, but they are more focused.

Objectives:
Definable objectives provide a way of measuring the movement towards vision achievement. This is the real strategy of turning visions into reality. It is the crossover mechanism between your forecast of the future and the envisioned, desired future.

Task:
The fourth step is to determine the tasks. Tasks are the means for accomplishing objectives.
Tasks are concrete, measurable events that must occur.

Timeline:
This step establishes a priority for the tasks. Since time is precious and some tasks must be accomplished before another can begin, establishing priorities helps your team to determine the order in which the tasks must be accomplished and by what date.

Follow-up:
The final step is to follow-up, measure, and check to see if the team is doing what is required. This kind of leader involvement validates that the stated priorities are worthy of action. For the leader it demonstrates her commitment to see the matter through to a successful conclusion.

The Six Points of Leadership Power
Anyone can use power, it takes skill to use leadership. Leadership power is much more than the use of force. Leadership is influencing others to truly WANT to achieve a goal, while power forces others to achieve a goal.

Power refers to a capacity that a person has to influence the behavior of another so that he or she acts in accordance with the his or her' wishes. This power is a capacity or potential as it implies a potential that need not be actualized to be effective. That is, a power may exist, but does not have to be used to be effective.

A person has the potential for influencing six points of power over another (French, Raven, 1959; Raven, 1965):

Coercive Power — Power that is based on fear. A person with coercive power can make things difficult for people. These are the people that you want to avoid getting angry. Employees working under a coercive manager are unlikely to be committed, and more likely to resist the manager.

Reward Power — Compliance achieved based on the ability to distribute rewards that others view as valuable. Able to give special benefits or rewards to people. You might find it advantageous to trade favors with him or her.

Legitimate Power — The power a person receives as a result of his or her position in the formal hierarchy of an organization. The person has the right, considering his or her position and your job responsibilities, to expect you to comply with legitimate requests.

Expert Power — Influence based on special skills or knowledge. This person earns respect by experience and knowledge. Expert power is the most strongly and consistently related to effective employee performance.

Referent Power — Influence based on possession by an individual or desirable resources or personal traits. This is often thought of as charisma, charm, or admiration. You like the person and enjoy doing things for him or her.

Informational Power — Raven (1965) later came up with a sixth power, Informational: Providing information to others that result in them thinking or taking acting in a new way.

 Leadership & Human Behavior
As a leader, you need to interact with your followers, peers, seniors, and others; whose support you need in order to accomplish your goals. To gain their support, you must be able to understand and motivate them. To understand and motivate people, you must know human nature. Human nature is the common qualities of all human beings. People behave according to certain principles of human nature.

Human needs are an important part of human nature. Values, beliefs, and customs differ from country to country and even within group to group, but in general, all people have a few basic needs. As a leader you must understand these needs because they can be powerful motivators.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Unlike others researchers of his time, Abraham Maslow's based his theory of human needs on creative people who used all their talents, potential, and capabilities (Bootzin, Loftus, Zajonc, Hall, 1983). His methodology differed from other psychological researchers who mostly observed mentally unhealthy people.

Maslow (1943) felt that human needs were arranged in a hierarchical order that could be divided into two major groups: basic needs and metaneeds (higher order needs):

Basic Needs are physiological, such as food, water, and sleep; and psychological, such as affection, security, and self-esteem. These basic needs are also called “deficiency needs” because if they are not met by an individual, then that person will strive to make up the deficiency.

Metaneeds or being needs (growth needs). These include justice, goodness, beauty, order, unity, etc. Basic needs normally take priority over these meta needs. For example, a person who lacks food or water will normally not attend much to justice or beauty needs.

These needs are often listed in a hierarchical order in the form of a pyramid to show that the basic needs (bottom ones) must be met before the higher order needs.

Self-actualization — know exactly who you are, where you are going, and what you want to accomplish. A state of well-being
Esteem — feeling of moving up in world, recognition, few doubts about self
Belonging and love — belong to a group, close friends to confide with
Safety — feel free from immediate danger
Physiological — food, water, shelter, sex

Motivation and Drive
A person's motivation is a combination of desire and energy directed at achieving a goal. It is the cause of action. A person's motivation depends upon two things:
- The strength of certain needs
- The perception that taking a certain action will help satisfy those needs

People can be motivated by forces such as beliefs, values, interests, fear, and worthy causes. Some of these forces are internal, such as needs, interests, and beliefs. Others are external, such as danger, the environment, or pressure from a loved one. There is no simple formula for motivation — you must keep a open viewpoint on human nature. There is a complex array of forces steering the direction of each person and these forces cannot always be seen or studied. In addition, if the same forces are steering two different people, each one may act differently. Knowing that each person may react to different needs will guide your decisions and actions in certain situations.

As a leader you have the power to influence motivation. The following guidelines form a basic view of motivation (U.S. Army Handbook, 1973). They will help guide your decision making process:


Allow the needs of your team to coincide with the needs of your organization
Nearly everyone is influenced by the needs for job security, promotion, raises, and approval of their peers and/or leaders. They are also influenced by internal forces such as values morals, and ethics. Likewise, the organization needs good people in a wide variety of jobs. Ensure that your team is trained, encouraged, and has opportunities to advance. Also, ensure that the way you conduct business has the same values, moral, and ethic principles that you seek in others. If you conduct business in a dishonest manner, your team will be dishonest to you, for that will be the kind of people that you will attract.

Reward good behavior
Although a certificate, letter, or a thank you may seem small and insignificant, they can be powerful motivators. The reward should be specific and prompt. Do not say something general, such as “for doing a good job,” rather cite the specific action that made you believe it was indeed a good job.

Set the example
You must be the role model that you want others to grow into. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “We must become the change we want to see.”

Develop morale and esprit de corps
Morale is the mental, emotional, and spiritual state of a person. Almost everything you do will have an impact on your organization. You should always be aware how your actions and decisions might affect it. Esprit de corps means team spirit — it is defined as the spirit of the organization or collective body (in French it literally means “spirit of the body”). It is the consciousness of the organization that allows the people within it to identify with and feel a part of.

Allow your team to be part of the planning and problem solving process
This helps with their development and allows you to coach them. Secondly, it motivates them — people who are part of the decision making process become the owners of it, thus it gives them a personal interest in seeing the plan succeed. Thirdly, communication is clearer as everyone has a better understanding of what role they must play as part of the team. Next, it creates an open trusting communication bond.

Look out for your team
Although you do not have control over their personal lives, you must show concern for them. Things that seem of no importance to you might be extremely critical to them. You must be able to empathize with them. Also note that empathy differs from sympathy in that sympathy connotes spontaneous emotion rather than a conscious, reasoned response. Sympathizing with others may be less useful to another person if we are limited by the strong feelings of the moment.


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