LEADERSHIP

[Mr. M. GOVINDARAJAN]

LEADERSHIP:

The very essence of leadership is that one has to have a vision. It's got to be a vision one articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. Leadership translates vision into reality by inspiring followers to want to experience the change process. And to influence their followers to willingly jump into experience, leaders need a specific set of competencies to guide their actions. Although competencies will always differ from one leader to the next, having a core set to draw from increases the chance for success. These competencies can be thought of as the inner tools for motivating employees, directing systems and processes, and guiding the business towards common goals that allow the organization to increase its value. This leadership guide is broke into three main parts that form a 'Pyramid of Leadership'-

* Core competencies from the foundation of leadership. Without a solid base, the sides of the pyramid will soon crumble away;

* Leadership competencies from the basic structure that separate leaders from bosses by building the knowledge and skills required for driving the organization towards the cutting edge of its business. Without these competencies a leader has a shallow base from which to work, or as Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert best characterizes it, 'a pointy-head boss';

* Professional competencies add depth to the pyramid. The main driver of these competencies arrives from experiences and LEARNING from these experiences. While a person might have a firm grasp on the core and leadership competencies, it is only through trial and error, and later through reflection to increase the depth of those experiences, that an average leader grows into a good leader. Each organization requires a different set of professional competencies for each leadership profession.

LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES:

Managers are people who do things right, while leaders are people who do the right thing. The competencies of leadership are as follows:

* Abilities - displays attributes that makes people glad to follow. Provides a feeling of trust. Rallies the troops and builds morale when the going gets tough;

* Visioning - applies effort to increase productiveness in areas needing the most improvement. Creates and set goals. Senses the environment by using personal sway to influence subordinates and peers. Gain commitment by influencing team to set objectives and buy on the process. Reinforces change by embracing it;

* Create and lead teams - develops high performance teams by establishing a sprit of cooperation and cohesion for achieving goals;

* Foster conflict resolutions (win-win) - effectively handles disagreements and conflicts. Settles disputes by focusing on solving the problems, without offending egos. Provides support and expertise to other leaders with respect to managing people. Evaluates the feasibility of alternative resolution mechanisms;

* Assess situations quickly and accurately - takes charge when the situation demands it. Make the right things happen on time;

* Coach and train peers and subordinates - recognizes that learning happens at every opportunity (treats mistakes as a learning event) provides performance feedback, coaching and career development to teams and individuals to maximize their probability of success;

* Implement employee involvement strategies - develops ownership by bringing employees in on the decision making and planning process. Provides the means to enable employee success, while maintaining the well being of the organization. Develops processes to engage employees in achieving the objectives of the organization. Empower employees by giving them the authority to get things accomplished in the most efficient and timely manner;

Leadership abilities:

Good leaders are made not born. If you have the desire and will power you can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a never ending process of self study, education, training and experience. The leaders are continually working and studying to improve their leadership skills. Leadership is a complex process by which a person influences others to accomplish a mission, task or objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. A person carries out this process by applying his or her leadership attributes.

The basis of good leadership is honorable character and selfless service to the organization. Leadership is everything one does that effects the organization's objectives and their well being. A respected leader concentrates on what he is, what he knows and what he does. What makes a person want to follow a leader? People want to be guided by those they respect and who have a clear sense of direction. To gain respect, they must be ethical. A sense of direction is achieved by conveying a strong vision of the future.

LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK:

If a leader that can be trusted then the people around him will learn to respect him. To be a good leader there are things that one must be, know, and do. These fall under the leadership framework.

BE:

A professional seeks responsibility and takes responsibility for one's actions. Search for ways to guide the organization to new heights. And when things go wrong, they will eventually, do not blame others. Analyze the situation, take corrective action, and move on to the next challenge.

A professional who possess good character develops goods traits within himself, such as honesty, competence, candor, commitment, integrity, courage, straightforward, imagination.

KNOW:

One should know himself and seeks self improvement. In order to know one self one has to understand one be, know, and do, attributes. Seeking self improvement means continually strengthening one's attributes. This can be accomplished through reading, self study, classes etc.,

The leader should know human nature and the importance of sincerely caring for his workers. In his job the leader should be technically proficient. As a leader, he must know his job and have a solid familiarity with his employees' jobs. He should train his people as a team. Although many supervisors call their organization, department, section etc., a team, they are not really teams. They are just groups of people doing their jobs. The leader should use the full capabilities of his organization. By developing a team sprit he will be able to employ his organization, department section etc., to its fullest capabilities.

DO:

The leader should make sound and timely decisions. He should use good problem solving, decision making and planning tools. He should keep his team informed. He should know how to communicate with his team, seniors and other essential people within the organization. He should develop a sense of responsibility in his team and to ensure that tasks are understood, supervised and accomplished. Communication is the key to this responsibility. He should be a good role model for his employees. They must not only hear what they are expected to do but also see. He should know his team and look out for their well being.

FACTORS OF LEADERSHIP:

The four major factors of leadership are the follower, leader, communication and situation.

Follower:

Different people require different styles of leadership. For example, a new hire requires more supervision than an experienced employee. A person with a poor attitude requires a different approach than one with a high degree of motivation. One must know his team. The fundamental starting point is having a good understanding of human nature; needs, emotions and motivation.

Leader:

One must have a understanding of who he is, what he knows and what he can do. Also to note that it is the followers, not the leader who determine if a leader is successful. If a follower does not trust or lacks confidence in his leader, then he will be uninspired. To be successful he has to convince his followers, not himself or his superiors that he is worthy of being followed.

Communication:

One can lead through two way communication. Much of it is non verbal. For instance, when one sets the example that communicates to his team that he would not ask them to perform anything that he would not be willing to do. What and how he communicates either builds or harms the relationship between him and his employees.

Situation:

All situations are different. What one can do in one leadership situation will not work always in another situation. One must use his judgment to decide the best course of action and the leadership style needed for each situation. For example one may need to confront a 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 factors. Examples of forces are one's relationship with his seniors, the skill of his team, the informal leaders within his organization and how his company is organized.

LEADERSHIP STYLES:

Leadership style is the manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans and motivating people. There are three different styles of leadership, autocratic, participative and delegative. Although most leaders use all these three styles one of them normally becomes the dominant one.

Autocratic:

This type is used when the leader tells his employees what he wants done and how he wants it done, without getting the advice of his team. Some of the appropriate conditions to use it are when he has all the information to solve the problem, he is short on time or his employees are well motivated. Some people think that this style including yelling, using demeaning language and leading by threats and abuse of powers. This is not the authoritarian style. It is an abusive, improfessional style of leadership.

Participative:

This type of style involves the leader including one or more employees is on the decision making process. However the leader maintains the final decision making authority. Using this style is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign of strength that his employees will respect. This is normally when one has some of the information and his employees have some of the information. This allows becoming part of the team and allows him to make a better decision.

Delegative:

In this style, the leader allows the employees to make the decision. However the leader is still responsible for the decisions that are made. This is used when employees are able to analyze the situation and determine what needs to be done and how to do it. One cannot do everything. One must set priorities and delegate certain tasks.

FIVE POINTS OF POWER:

A person has the potential for influencing five points of power over another.

Coercive Power:

This power is based on fear. A person with coercive power can make things difficult for people. These are the persons that one wants to avoid getting angry. Employees working under coercive managers 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. One might able 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 his job requirements to expect him 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 employees' performance.

Referent Power

Influence based on possession by an individual or desirable resources or personal traits. One likes the person and enjoy doing thins for him or her.

POWER VERSES LEADERSHIP:

* Power does not require goal compatibility; instead, it focuses on intimidation, while leadership requires goal congruence;

* Power maximizes the importance of lateral and upward influence, while leadership focuses upon downward influence;

* Power focuses on tactics for gaining compliance, while leadership focuses on getting answers and solutions.