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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