The WINNING LEADERSHIP

Leadership indeed becomes a challenging job, if managers do not understand their employees well. You can’t make employees work by scolding or being rude to them. Bosses are successful only when their employees look up to them and treat them as their role models.

Qualities of a Leader

A leader has got multidimensional traits in him which makes him appealing and effective in behavior. The following are the requisites to be present in a good leader:

1. Physical appearance- A leader must have a pleasing appearance. Physique and health are very important for a good leader.
2. Vision and foresight- A leader cannot maintain influence unless he exhibits that he is forward looking. He has to visualize situations and thereby has to frame logical programmes.
3. Intelligence- A leader should be intelligent enough to examine problems and difficult situations. He should be analytical who weighs pros and cons and then summarizes the situation. Therefore, a positive bent of mind and mature outlook is very important.
4. Communicative skills- A leader must be able to communicate the policies and procedures clearly, precisely and effectively. This can be helpful in persuasion and stimulation.
5. Objective- A leader has to be having a fair outlook which is free from bias and which does not reflects his willingness towards a particular individual. He should develop his own opinion and should base his judgement on facts and logic.
6. Knowledge of work- A leader should be very precisely knowing the nature of work of his subordinates because it is then he can win the trust and confidence of his subordinates.
7. Sense of responsibility- Responsibility and accountability towards an individual’s work is very important to bring a sense of influence. A leader must have a sense of responsibility towards organizational goals because only then he can get maximum of capabilities exploited in a real sense. For this, he has to motivate himself and arouse and urge to give best of his abilities. Only then he can motivate the subordinates to the best.
8. Self-confidence and will-power- Confidence in himself is important to earn the confidence of the subordinates. He should be trustworthy and should handle the situations with full will power.
9. Humanist-This trait to be present in a leader is essential because he deals with human beings and is in personal contact with them. He has to handle the personal problems of his subordinates with great care and attention. Therefore, treating the human beings on humanitarian grounds is essential for building a congenial environment.
10. Empathy- It is an old adage “Stepping into the shoes of others”. This is very important because fair judgement and objectivity comes only then. A leader should understand the problems and complaints of employees and should also have a complete view of the needs and aspirations of the employees. This helps in improving human relations and personal contacts with the employees.

From the above qualities present in a leader, one can understand the scope of leadership and it’s importance for scope of business. A leader cannot have all traits at one time. But a few of them helps in achieving effective results.

Role of a Leader

Following are the main roles of a leader in an organization :

1. Required at all levels- Leadership is a function which is important at all levels of management. In the top level, it is important for getting co-operation in formulation of plans and policies. In the middle and lower level, it is required for interpretation and execution of plans and programmes framed by the top management. Leadership can be exercised through guidance and counseling of the subordinates at the time of execution of plans.
2. Representative of the organization- A leader, i.e., a manager is said to be the representative of the enterprise. He has to represent the concern at seminars, conferences, general meetings, etc. His role is to communicate the rationale of the enterprise to outside public. He is also representative of the own department which he leads.
3. Integrates and reconciles the personal goals with organizational goals- A leader through leadership traits helps in reconciling/ integrating the personal goals of the employees with the organizational goals. He is trying to co-ordinate the efforts of people towards a common purpose and thereby achieves objectives. This can be done only if he can influence and get willing co-operation and urge to accomplish the objectives.
4. He solicits support- A leader is a manager and besides that he is a person who entertains and invites support and co-operation of subordinates. This he can do by his personality, intelligence, maturity and experience which can provide him positive result. In this regard, a leader has to invite suggestions and if possible implement them into plans and programmes of enterprise. This way, he can solicit full support of employees which results in willingness to work and thereby effectiveness in running of a concern.
5. As a friend, philosopher and guide- A leader must possess the three dimensional traits in him. He can be a friend by sharing the feelings, opinions and desires with the employees. He can be a philosopher by utilizing his intelligence and experience and thereby guiding the employees as and when time requires. He can be a guide by supervising and communicating the employees the plans and policies of top management and secure their co-operation to achieve the goals of a concern. At times he can also play the role of a counselor by counseling and a problem-solving approach. He can listen to the problems of the employees and try to solve them.

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.

Let us go through some tips to overcome challenges in leadership:

A leader needs to inspire his/her subordinates. Don’t expect your juniors to concentrate on work if you yourself are not serious about your work. The best tip to overcome challenges in leadership is to understand the psychology of your subordinates. An individual who is leading a team of say five employees also has a reporting boss. Now try to analyze your relationship with your reporting authority. How would you feel if your superior insults you in front of all? Yes, you would never like to see your Boss’s face again and he/she would become your biggest enemy. Yes, your team members also go through the same feeling when you do not scold them in private. Always keep yourself in other’s shoes before reacting. Yes, a boss needs to be a little strict, else no one would actually listen to him/her but that does not mean you really need to be a Hitler. A Hitler like Boss finds it extremely challenging to make his team work and deliver.

The next tip to overcome challenges in leadership is to encourage open communication among team members. You are sadly mistaken if you feel that your job as a team manager is to sit in your closed cabin and sleep. A leader needs to know what his team members are up to but yes there is a difference between knowing and interfering.

You need to give your team members the space they require. The best way to win the trust of your team members is to sit with them once in every week and enquire whether they are happy with their current role or not? Remember, employees who are not satisfied with their jobs are the ones who create problems and badmouth their organization. Let them come up with their grievances and it is your duty to provide the most appropriate solution as soon as possible. Trust me, if minor issues are addressed at the earliest, you would never have a problem later on. Communicate in the presence of all. Common policies ought to be discussed in the presence of all so that information reaches in its desired form.

As a leader, you need to have the quality of extracting the best out of your team members. Remember, a leader ought to lead from the front. Set an example for your subordinates. Make them work as a single unit. Once in a while go out with them for sales meetings, client presentations, and so on. You need to assure your employees that you are always there with them, even in the most critical times. A boss needs to protect his team. Handhold and guide them as to what is right and what is wrong? Employees tend to blindly follow their leaders, thus as Bosses, you need to watch your behaviour carefully.

Encourage ice breaking activities at the workplace. Celebrating festivals together, going out for lunches and team outings once in a while go a long way in strengthening the bond among employees and their superiors.

Top performers need to be appreciated. Do not be rude to the ones who have not performed well this time. It would demotivate them. Sit with them and try to work on their problem areas. Trust me, this way, your subordinates would not only become your biggest fan but also strive hard to perform better.

Planning intelligently also goes a long way in overcoming challenges in leadership. Do not depend on a single plan. It is always better to be ready with Plan B than to crib later.

Leadership is no rocket science. You just need to treat your subordinates with utmost respect and care

The 4 important aspects of EI as proposed by Daniel Goleman are:

• Self Awareness
• Self Management
• Social Awareness
• Relationship Management or Social Skills

A leader tends to have a huge influence on the thoughts and motivation of people. He/she has the capacity to enthuse optimism and confidence in the followers and lead them to constructive endeavors which is called resonance and on the other hand they can negatively influence them to destruct, e.g of such leaders being Hitler and d Osama Bin Laden which is opposite to resonance called desonance.

Leaders are closely observed in terms of their body language, facial expressions etc. So, it is important for a leader to consider the non-verbal form of expressions as well, which may positively or negatively influence followers. Therefore, if a leader is talking about ethics in business with a slightly unconvinced and bemused look on his face, the followers make a note of it and the message is not received by them. A leader has to act as a role model too, supporting his statements, ideologies and values with appropriate actions.

As a leader one also has to be aware of one’s own capabilities and weaknesses, it is difficult to accept guidance from a leader who is not self aware. As managers, leaders have to empathize as well with the situations, emotions, aspirations and motivations of the subordinates. A decreasing performance of a team member might be because of a number of reasons, a disruptive worker might be facing motivation issues and a subordinate who uses abusive language with others might be lacking confidence in his own abilities. A leader needs to discern facts and try and reach to deeper levels and understand things beyond obvious.