Leadership Exposed: Things You Thought You Knew About Leadership
Much has been written about leadership: rules, pointers, styles, and
biographies of inspiring leaders throughout world history. But there are
certain leadership ideas that we ourselves fail to recognize and realize in the
course of reading books. Here is a short list of things you thought you knew
about leadership.
1. Leaders come in different flavors.
There are different types of leaders and you will probably encounter more than
one type in your lifetime. Formal leaders are those we elect into positions or
offices such as the senators, congressmen, and presidents of the local clubs.
Informal leaders or those we look up to by virtue of their wisdom and
experience such as in the case of the elders of a tribe, or our grandparents;
or by virtue of their expertise and contribution on a given field such as
Albert Einstein in the field of Theoretical Physics and Leonardo da Vinci in
the field of the Arts. Both formal and informal leaders practice a combination
of leadership styles.
· Lewin’s three basic leadership styles – authoritative, participative, and
delegative
· Likert’s four leadership styles – exploitive authoritative, benevolent
authoritative, consultative, and participative
· Goleman’s six emotional leadership styles - visionary, coaching, affiliative,
democratic, pacesetting, and commanding.
2. Leadership is a process of becoming.
Although certain people seem to be born with innate leadership qualities,
without the right environment and exposure, they may fail to develop their full
potential. So like learning how to ride a bicycle, you can also learn how to
become a leader and hone your leadership abilities. Knowledge on leadership
theories and skills may be formally gained by enrolling in leadership seminars,
workshops, and conferences. Daily interactions with people provide the
opportunity to observe and practice leadership theories. Together, formal and
informal learning will help you gain leadership attitudes, gain leadership
insights, and thus furthering the cycle of learning. You do not become a leader
in one day and just stop. Life-long learning is important in becoming a good
leader for each day brings new experiences that put your knowledge, skills, and
attitude to a test.
3. Leadership starts with you.
The best way to develop leadership qualities is to apply it to your own life.
As an adage goes “action speaks louder than words.” Leaders are always in the
limelight. Keep in mind that your credibility as a leader depends much on your
actions: your interaction with your family, friends, and co-workers; your way
of managing your personal and organizational responsibilities; and even the way
you talk with the newspaper vendor across the street. Repeated actions become
habits. Habits in turn form a person’s character. Steven Covey’s book entitled
7 Habits of Highly Effective People provides good insights on how you can
achieve personal leadership.
4. Leadership is shared.
Leadership is not the sole responsibility of one person, but rather a shared
responsibility among members of an emerging team. A leader belongs to a group.
Each member has responsibilities to fulfill. Formal leadership positions are
merely added responsibilities aside from their responsibilities as members of
the team. Effective leadership requires members to do their share of work.
Starting as a mere group of individuals, members and leaders work towards the
formation of an effective team. In this light, social interaction plays a major
role in leadership. To learn how to work together requires a great deal of
trust between and among leaders and members of an emerging team. Trust is built
upon actions and not merely on words. When mutual respect exists, trust is
fostered and confidence is built.
5. Leadership styles depend on the situation.
How come dictatorship works for Singapore but not in the United States of
America? Aside from culture, beliefs, value system, and form of government, the
current situation of a nation also affects the leadership styles used by its
formal leaders. There is no rule that only one style can be used. Most of the
time, leaders employ a combination of leadership styles depending on the
situation. In emergency situations such as periods of war and calamity,
decision-making is a matter of life and death. Thus, a nation’s leader cannot
afford to consult with all departments to arrive at crucial decisions. The case
is of course different in times of peace and order---different sectors and
other branches of government can freely interact and participate in governance.
Another case in point is in leading organizations. When the staffs are highly
motivated and competent, a combination of high delegative and moderate
participative styles of leadership is most appropriate. But if the staffs have
low competence and low commitment, a combination of high coaching, high
supporting, and high directing behavior from organizational leaders is required.
Now that you are reminded of these things, keep in mind that there are always
ideas that we think we already know; concepts we take for granted, but are
actually the most useful insights on leadership.
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