Chapter4:
1. Leadership definition:
It is a process through which one member of the group influence other group
member towards the attainment of specific group goal (HOLLANDER).
Leadership is the activity of influencing people to strive willingly for objectives
(donnel).
2. ROLE AND STATUS OF LEADERSHIP:
Coach. As a leader you have a responsibility and need to develop others to
succeed in their roles and prepare for future roles.
Facilitator. You need to make things easier for others. While we might think of
this most often in a meeting or group situation, there are many times when you
will serve as facilitator to help processes flow well and boost productivity.
Strategist. This role isn’t just for the highest-level leaders in an organization. All
leaders must think strategically, keep the big picture in mind, and plot what
directions and approaches the team should use to reach the desired results.
Visionary. be a Visionary to define a compelling vision of the future and develop
plans to move to that future state.
Change agent. With policy and vision comes the ever-present need for change.
As a leader, you must guide and champion the changes that you envision and
the ones that have been entrusted to you from up the ladder.
Decision-maker. You want others to engage and offer their feedback. However,
as a leader, you will need to be decisive and make the hard choices. You can’t
be afraid to make a decision, even when you are working with less-than-perfect
information or you must make one that will be unpopular.
Influencer. Call it mediation or negation or even arbitration, but this role is really
about influence. As a leader, you must constantly be influencing others in a
positive way.
Team player. You can’t always take the lead. You need to be a teammate, too,
and that means understanding when to step out of your leadership role and let
others take the lead.
Delegator. You can’t do it all. The best leaders delegate both willingly and
strategically to ensure everything is done and to train their employees to take on
bigger roles in the organization.
Listener. Leaders often think they need to be doing all the talking, but that is a
mistake. In fact, the best leaders talk less, and ask, listen, and observe
more. Make sure you really listen to the people you lead.
3. TYPES OF LEADERSHIP:
1. Democratic Leadership
This is as clear as its name. In democratic leadership, the leaders make or break
decisions democratically, based on their team’s opinion and feedback. This is
easily one of the most effective leadership styles since it allows employees to
have a voice.
2. Dictatorial Leadership
This is exactly the opposite of democratic leadership where the opinions of
employees are not considered. Leaders with this style expect others to follow the
decisions they take, which is not a sustainable approach in the long term.
3. Relaxed Leadership
Laissez-fire means “let them do”. This style is the least disturbing and leaders
with this approach ensure that the authority lies with the employees. While this
leadership style can empower, it may also limit development, therefore, must be
kept in check.
4. Strategic Leadership
Strategic leadership acts as a bridge between the senior team and the
employees. Leaders adopting this style ensure that both executive interests and
working conditions for the team are stable when a decision is made.
5. Transformational Leadership
This kind of leadership always aims at transforming and improving functions and
capabilities. There may be tasks and schedules assigned and leaders following
this style may ask employees to push their boundaries constantly. Most growth-
minded companies tend to adopt this kind of a leadership style.
6. Transactional Leadership
This is a very common leadership style today based on the action-and-reward
concept. For instance, an employee or team may receive an incentive or bonus
for achieving a target set by the company.
7. Coach-Style Leadership
This leadership style focuses on larger growth while encouraging individual team
members to focus on their strengths and talent. Though this is similar to strategic
and democratic leadership styles, the focus here is more on the individual.
8. Bureaucratic Leadership
This kind of leadership style goes by the books. Although leaders with this
approach do listen to employees and their opinions, they may deny or reject it, in
case they go against the company’s ethos or policy.
9. Intellectual leadership:
The intellectual leader attempts to transform society by creating a clear vision of
the future. They do this by showing the followers how their ideas and values can
change the social environment, and create a better future for everyone.
4. EMERGENCE AND QUALITY OF LEADERSHIP:
Emergent leadership occurs when a group member is not appointed or elected
as leader, but rather that person steps up as the leader over time within group
interactions. It also empowers team members to make decisions outside the
traditional structure of a business organization.
1. Honesty and Integrity: Leaders value decency and honesty. They have
people who believe in them and their vision.
2. Inspiration: Leaders are self-motivating, and this makes them great
influencers. They are a good inspiration to their followers. They help others to
understand their roles in a bigger context.
3. Communication skills: Leaders possess great communication skills. They
are transparent with their team and share failures and successes with them.
4. Vision: Leaders are visionaries. They have a clear idea of what they want and
how to achieve it. Being good communicators, leaders can share their vision with
the team successfully.
5. Never give-up spirit: Leaders challenge the status quo. Hence, they never
give up easily. They also have unique ways to solve a problem.
6. Intuitive: Leadership coaches believes that leaders should rely on awareness
for making hard decisions. Especially because awareness heavily relies on a
person’s existing knowledge and life learnings, which proves to be more useful in
complex situations.
7. Empathy: A leader should be an emotional and empathetic fellow because it
will help them in developing a strong bond with their team. Furthermore, these
qualities will help a leader in addressing the problems, complaints, and
aspirations of his team members.
8. Objective: Although empathy is an important quality a leader must have.
Getting clouded by emotions while making an important business decision is not
advisable. Hence, a good leader should be objective.
9. Intelligence: A good leader must be intelligent enough to arrive at business
solutions to difficult problems. Furthermore, a leader should be logical and should
consider the pros and cons before making a decision. This quality can be
polished with an all-inclusive leadership training program.
10. Open-mindedness and creativity: A good leader is someone who is open
to new ideas, possibilities, and perspectives. Being a good leader means
understanding that there is no right way to do things. Therefore, a good leader is
always ready to listen, observe, and be willing to change. They are also out-of-
the-box thinkers and encourage their teams to do so. If you enrol for a leadership
course, all these things will be a part of the curriculum.
11. Patient: A good leader understands that a business strategy takes time to
develop and bear results. Additionally, they also believe that ‘continuous
improvement and patient’ leads to success.
12. Flexible: Since leaders understand the concept of ‘continuous improvement,
they also know that being adaptable will lead them to success. Nothing goes as
per plan. Hence, being flexible and intuitive helps a manager to hold his ground
during complex situations
