Leadership

Leadership

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??????????According to John Maxwell - " A Leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and how's the way." Leader's are born, they are made. A leader is a person who influence a group of people, guide people to achieve goal. A Leader is passionate, dedicated, visionary, curious, trustworthy, honest, risk taker, good listener. A leader has a vision, a drive and a commitment to achieve that vision, and a skills to make it happen.The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers.

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When you become a leader??

- when your actions inspires?others to dream more, to learn more, to do more, for changing the world around, than you can be a leader. When you have desire and willpower, you can be a powerfull leader. Leader can be a great leader by self study, education, training and experience.?

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What is leadership?

Leadership is an Art to motivating group of people to act towards achieving collective goal. Leadership is focused much more on the individual capability of the leader: “Leadership is a function of knowing yourself, having a vision that is well communicated, building trust among colleagues, and taking effective action to realize your own leadership potential.” (Warren Bennis).

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“Leadership is the ability to chase others to seek defined objectives enthusiastically." It is a characteristic of every group whether small or big to have a leader. The phenomenon of leadership is evidenced in the play of children, in the games of adults, in trade unions in an industry and in several other situations. The moral is that groups need leaders if they are to pull together as a team. Effective leadership can provide clarity to the team and help in guiding the organization to achieve success. A leader has the ability to inspire people around them to follow a particular path. Having qualities of leadership is important because it makes it easier to manage a large group of people who have a unified set of goals.

A leader provides guidance, boosts morale, helps in achieving the long-term success of the organization, creates an environment that fosters growth, and is committed to the success of the team. Although an organization/team may have multiple individuals who are highly capable, a leader harnesses individual efforts towards a particular end goal while supporting them to learn and grow.

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Characteristics of Leadership:

- It is a inter-personal process in which a manager is into influencing and guiding workers towards attainment of goals.

- It denotes a few qualities to be present in a person which includes intelligence, maturity and personality.

- It is a group process. It involves two or more people interacting with each other.

- A leader is involved in shaping and moulding the behaviour of the group towards accomplishment of organizational goals.

- Leadership is situation bound. There is no best style of leadership. It all depends upon tackling with the situations.

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Importance of Leadership:

Leadership is an important function of management which helps to maximize efficiency and to achieve organizational goals. The following points justify the importance of leadership in a concern.

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Initiates action- Leader is a person who starts the work by communicating the policies and plans to the subordinates from where the work actually starts.

Motivation- A leader proves to be playing an incentive role in the concern’s working. He motivates the employees with economic and non-economic rewards and thereby gets the work from the subordinates.

Providing guidance- A leader has to not only supervise but also play a guiding role for the subordinates. Guidance here means instructing the subordinates the way they have to perform their work effectively and efficiently.

Creating confidence- Confidence is an important factor which can be achieved through expressing the work efforts to the subordinates, explaining them clearly their role and giving them guidelines to achieve the goals effectively. It is also important to hear the employees with regards to their complaints and problems.

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Building morale- Morale denotes willing co-operation of the employees towards their work and getting them into confidence and winning their trust. A leader can be a morale booster by achieving full co-operation so that they perform with best of their abilities as they work to achieve goals.

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Builds work environment- Management is getting things done from people. An efficient work environment helps in sound and stable growth. Therefore, human relations should be kept into mind by a leader. He should have personal contacts with employees and should listen to their problems and solve them. He should treat employees on humanitarian terms.

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Co-ordination-?Co-ordination can be achieved through reconciling personal interests with organizational goals. This synchronization can be achieved through proper and effective co-ordination which should be primary motive of a leader.

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Different Types of Leadership

The next few sections will give you insights into the leadership styles you can choose from. It will also give you an understanding of leadership courses you may want to take to hone your skills.

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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. Although it is the leader who makes the final call, every opinion counts. This is easily one of the most effective leadership styles since it allows employees to have a voice.

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2. Autocratic Leadership

This is exactly opposite to democratic leadership wherein the opinions of employees are not considered. Leaders with this style expect others to adhere to the decisions they take, which is?not a sustainable approach for the long term.

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3. Laissez-faire Leadership

Laissez-fire means “let them do”. This style is the least intrusive 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 negate or reject it, in case they go against the company’s ethos or policy.

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Importance of Leadership

Leadership is an important function of management which helps to maximize efficiency and to achieve organizational goals. The following points justify the importance of leadership in a concern.

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·?Initiates action- Leader is a person who starts the work by communicating the policies and plans to the subordinates from where the work actually starts.

·?Motivation- A leader proves to be playing an incentive role in the concern’s working. He motivates the employees with economic and non-economic rewards and thereby gets the work from the subordinates.

·?Providing guidance- A leader has to not only supervise but also play a guiding role for the subordinates. Guidance here means instructing the subordinates the way they have to perform their work effectively and efficiently.

·?Creating confidence- Confidence is an important factor which can be achieved through expressing the work efforts to the subordinates, explaining them clearly their role and giving them guidelines to achieve the goals effectively. It is also important to hear the employees with regards to their complaints and problems.

·?Building morale- Morale denotes willing co-operation of the employees towards their work and getting them into confidence and winning their trust. A leader can be a morale booster by achieving full co-operation so that they perform with best of their abilities as they work to achieve goals.

·?Builds work environment- Management is getting things done from people. An efficient work environment helps in sound and stable growth. Therefore, human relations should be kept into mind by a leader. He should have personal contacts with employees and should listen to their problems and solve them. He should treat employees on humanitarian terms.

·?Co-ordination- Co-ordination can be achieved through reconciling personal interests with organizational goals. This synchronization can be achieved through proper and effective co-ordination which should be primary motive of a leader.

????????The ideal leadership style depends not only on the leader's personality , but also their individual team members and the situation at hand. So leaders are made, they are not born.