Leadership Styles and Leadership Development Basics

What is Leadership?

The term Leadership covers a wide spectrum of things. It can mean different things to different people. In this article we'll cover a few common definitions of leadership, as well as some related ideas and areas for you to explore further on your own. Leadership is an essential quality in organizations, and in every situation.

Leadership is both an educational skill and an essential practical skill encompassing an individual's power to lead, influence, or direction of other people, teams, or whole organizations. A leader should be skilled in self-leadership, delegating authority, building solidarity and consensus, inspiring trust and respect, managing conflict and resolving problems.

Leaders come in all shapes and sizes, from every walk of life, from every social and cultural position and from every era. Generally, it is viewed that those who possess the best leadership skills are the most capable leaders. These skills are best demonstrated when a person displays a high degree of competence, effectiveness, creativity, emotional intelligence, and authenticity.

What is Required to be a Leader?

Leaders must set the goals, lay down the strategy, motivate the team, make sure that they understand the goals, and carefully plan each step along the way. They must also be able to judge the success of their strategies, check their progress, evaluate performance of subordinates, and assure that they are still on track with the goals. All these skills are necessary if leaders want to lead effectively.

The Process of Making of a Leader

Leadership involves more than simply having the "social influence" to influence others; it also encompasses persuasion and negotiation skills. One of the most important leadership qualities is being able to influence and persuade others to see the results you want them to see. This is where some people excel and where others may lack.

Leadership is a process, and not an event. It is built on the foundation of goals and organizational development. Leaders must be clear about their objectives, and their vision for the organization.

They should be able to explain clearly their reasons for leaving, why the organization needs to be reorganized, how they will get there and what they will do to get there. Leaders need to be able to instill confidence in their teams, their subordinates, their boards, and other key decision makers. In the planning stages of any leadership effort, careful attention to details and organizational development of the processes will help ensure that all goals are achieved.

Another essential component of leadership is understanding the difference between leadership and management. The difference between leadership and management is that leaders are focused on their own vision, whereas managers are focused on the success of the organization as a whole.

This focus is an essential part of organizational development. A good leader is focused and knows how to work within the constraints of organizational development.

Leadership Qualities

Leadership qualities are the skills and attitudes that leaders need to bring into play in order to lead. The ten leadership qualities include assertive, confident, communicate effectively, communicate with a variety of people, develop motivation, focus, positive self-confidence, positive attitude, goal-oriented, perseverance, visualize, willing to take risks, and zest for success. While these are all important, some leadership qualities are often overlooked, such as creativity, listening, flexibility, and adaptability.

All of these traits can be taught and developed through leadership training. It is important that individuals who wish to be leaders develop these skills as much as possible.

Leadership development is also important in increasing personal leadership skills, such as assertiveness and managing effectively. This allows leaders to influence and alter perceptions in a positive way and can even have an effect on the attitude of others towards them.

In this way, leadership may encourage a positive outlook within employees. This positive attitude is important in achieving organizational objectives, which in turn leads to productivity growth, which ultimately affects the bottom line. It can also positively influence the decisions of decision makers, and thus the success of the organization.

Types of Leadership Styles?

A leadership style is the way of motivating people, outlining plans, and providing overall direction. Different authors have identified many different leadership styles, as displayed by great leaders from history. Napoleon Hill wrote "The Science of Getting More Done," outlining the value of goal-setting goals that are realistically attainable. Bob Edwards wrote "The Long Range Planning," which focused on the importance of establishing realistic and achievable goals. These authors provide valuable input for making leaders effectively communicate.

Autocratic Leadership

In the past three decades, two additional leadership styles have been developed to help leaders think more clearly. The first was called autocratic leadership style. According to this style, the leader establishes the rules and makes sure that everyone follows them.

The person in the role of the follower does not have the freedom to explore ideas or options. They are not allowed to disagree with the leader. This type of leadership style usually results in authoritarian managers who control employees through force.

Democratic Leadership

The second leadership styles was termed democratic leadership style. Here, the leader allows for a free discussion and makes sure that opinions are exchanged. People can criticize their boss freely without being intimidated. It is also believed that this type of management style leads to less conflict and more cooperation.

The disadvantages of using this style are that it tends to lead to autocratic managers who do not have flexibility, creativity, or openness to change. Additionally read this style also: Laissez-Faire Leadership.

New Generations Leadership Styles

Charismatic Leadership

The first style is charismatic leadership style. Charismatic leaders exude confidence that makes them seem likable. Charismatic leaders are able to generate an aura of confidence that can lead to the followers feeling like they can do anything. There is a high likelihood that charismatic leaders will gain the respect of followers because of their positive energy. The only downfall of charismatic leadership styles is that they can be too demanding and forceful.

Paternalistic Leadership

The Second leadership styles is the paternalistic leadership. This leadership style is best suited for management positions in which the leader cares for their team members. If you want to become a paternalistic leader, make sure that you share your leadership qualities with others.

You do not want to alienate your team by making them feel like you are more concerned with what they think than with your own leadership goals. One of the major disadvantages of using the paternalistic leadership style is that it can make team members feel like the leader does not trust them and that they are not important.

Strategic Leadership

The third type of leadership styles is the strategic leadership style. Strategic leadership is good in situations when there is a deadline or competition. For example, if a business needs to have leads created quickly in order to stay ahead of their competition, the strategic leadership style can work very well. On the other hand, strategic leadership is not so good if the goal of the organization is to create opportunities for creativity.

The final two leadership styles are the delegate and participative leadership styles. With these leadership styles, the leader is involved in every decision making process. The delegation leadership styles involve the leader letting others know what decisions are made and this decision may not be a good one.

They can also easily become ineffective, especially when the group as a whole does not have the same opinion. On the other hand, with the participative leadership styles, leaders interact with the group on issues that deal with specific issues that affect them.

Why Leadership is Required?

Why Leadership is required? It is the ability to lead and inspire others to be productive. The value of having the ability to encourage and influence lies in the ability to inspire and influence others. This ability to influence and guide others enables the manager to gain the respect, support, and cooperation from the workforce.

Educational Background of Leadership

A core activity of the MBA program focuses on the skills required to be an effective leader. Core activities within the MBA program focus on strategy and vision. The core activities of the leadership development program focuses on learning how to communicate effectively, problem solve, influence, plan, and lead. The program also learns about motivation and people skills that are essential for effective leadership.

Important Aspects of Leadership

1. Why is it important to learn to manage and channel your emotions positively? Managers often fall into negative emotions when confronted with challenging situations or obstacles. Managing your emotions positively will help you overcome the resistance to change, which is common in the workplace. The primary emotion that managers commonly feel is anger. Learning to manage anger will enable you to direct your anger where it is needed instead of letting it destroy your performance and relationships.
2. Why is it necessary to provide a manager with emotional support? As a manager you may be required to make decisions that are difficult and challenging. You must learn how to support your team by giving them the information, resources, and emotional support that they need to successfully complete their task. Emotional support and a positive state of mind will greatly enhance a manager's ability to make sound strategic decisions.
3. Why is it important to seek counseling when faced with a situation that requires strong emotions? Counseling will provide the resources, support, and information that a manager needs to confront an issue and come to a logical conclusion. When the work life of a manager is consumed by emotions, it is very difficult for them to make a sound decision.
4. Why is it necessary to engage in coaching? Through coaching and/or counseling a person will gain access to resources and tools that enable them to make better decisions. Effective decision making requires an accurate assessment of both the strengths and weaknesses of an issue. In the case of emotions most decisions are made by an "eye opener" based on the personal reaction to the opposing viewpoints. A coach or professional who can assist a person in this process provides them with the guidance and resources required to make an objective, practical decision.

Conclusion

Leadership is essential to a manager's success, because it empowers the manager to control the emotions of others. If you are a manager whose emotions have taken control, it is unlikely that you will take a difficult assignment. Likewise, if you are in a position where you are losing the confidence of your team members, it is unlikely that you will be able to lead effectively. Leadership allows a manager to take control, rather than being controlled by others.

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