What is Leadership?
A successful leader must obviously have sufficient technical, commercial or other knowledge related to his or her particular field.
Such knowledge, whilst essential, does nothing in itself to contribute to effective leadership. There are three other broad attributes which the would-be leader must develop:
- The 'right' personal attitudes.
- The ability to motivate people for whom he or she is responsible.
- The ability to create and maintain a 'team'.
These requirements demand, in turn, a knowledge of a range of techniques such as:
- How to set objectives and devise plans.
- How to train and develop individuals.
- Communication, delegation and appraisal.
These skills, which can be taught, will take the would-be leader a great deal further than the basic charm and persuasiveness with which he or she may have been born. Application of these skills will get results.
Where does Effective Leadership Start?
There are three main attributes which effective leaders must develop:
- the right personal attitudes;
- the ability to motivate others;
- the skills to build and maintain a team.
Difference between Leadership and Management
There are numerous distinctions between leadership and management but the ones we will use in this course are:
Leadership is where an individual is the ‘hero’; the first to take action and the one to take the risks. The leader has vision, drive and enthusiasm - they are active in most tasks.
Management is where someone has ultimate authority and responsibility for the task but is not necessarily the person doing the task - they distribute the task to others in the team and act as advisor and facilitator.
Good managers are sometimes leaders; good leaders are sometimes managers. The distinction is primarily between action and enabling.
Leadership - The Right Personal Attitudes (Malcolm Bird - 'Effective Leadership' BBC Books, 1992)
The would-be effective leader starts by taking a good look in the mirror and examining his or her own attitudes.
The 'right' attitudes are the bedrock of being able to lead well - and consistently well - at all levels of management and in any field of activity. The reflection in the mirror should show:
- An awareness (put into practice) that people matter and that the effective leader takes people with him or her.
- An understanding of the many human characteristics which can inhibit progress and how the resulting obstacles can be overcome.
- A willingness to look for and size up the facts - avoiding shooting from the hip. This demands the personal discipline to eschew the easy option of taking off-the-cuff decisions in favour of judgement based on 'research' and analysis.
- Readiness to make changes. Without change, which can sometimes be painful, progress is impossible. The effective leader suppresses his or her own natural reluctance to accept change and will actually initiate it. Then the effective leader will follow it through with persistence and patience, accompanied by a willingness to adapt or alter the direction or nature of the change until a successful result is achieved.
- Willingness to learn. No matter how experienced or well-qualified a leader may be there is always more to learn. The world changes and new ideas emerge. These new ideas - which can sometimes be learned from subordinates - are ignored at the leader's peril.
- Enthusiasm for the training and development of subordinates. The effective leader will encourage learning in his or her people and create opportunities for them to gain knowledge and skills.
- A preference for working in a systematic and ordered way. Disciplined activity will be preferred to chaos and ad hoc actions.
- Ability to set objectives and devise plans to meet them - as opposed to working day to day on an expediency basis. This requires the discipline to recognise and distinguish between what is urgent and what is important and then to set priorities.
- Readiness to face problems and deal with them - avoiding the temptation to find the excuse to do something else in the hope that the problems will go away.
- Willingness to give up 'technical work' which he or she may be good at and enjoy in favour or managing the human resources, that is, leading the people.
- Acceptance that learning and using management techniques appropriate to his or her job will be more successful than an instinctive approach.
