Category Archives: Leadership

Leadership

The Optimal Leadership Model

Transformational Leadership and the Integrated Leadership Model

To optimize the rate of success in today’s competitive market, businesses must have an effective leader who will maximize the human resources available to increase market share. Transformational leadership focuses on developing leadership strategies that align an organization’s vision with the tasks performed. “A characteristic of Transformational leaders is that they create a new vision; a vision that separates them from competitors, and from where the organization is now” (Symons, 2006, p. 18). The behaviors exemplified by a transformational leader provide the effective leadership skills necessary to provide momentum that will innovate today’s businesses. “Over the past two decades, transformational leadership has emerged as one of the most popular approaches to understanding leader effectiveness” (Piccolo and Colquitt, 2006, p. 327).

The integrated leadership model emphasizes leadership behaviors which focus on establishing a relationship between increased job performance and customer satisfaction. Leaders can use the philosophy of the integrated leadership model to obtain the momentum necessary to motivate and maximize the utilization of human resources. The integrated leadership model illustrates a relationship between job satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Integrated Leadership Model promotes job satisfaction and motivates staff to participate in activities that will produce quality customer outcomes” (Perra, 1999).

Knowledge of Skill Levels

Gaining a broader understanding of employee’s skill levels is a behavior in transformational leadership that helps leaders to develop strategies to maximize the use of human resources. Leaders can use the practice of evaluating the behavior aspects of employees to determine how to provide successful motivation and stimulation for employees. “For leaders, understanding the differences in how generations approach authority, leadership, and loyalty can be especially important” (Salopek, 2006, p. 22).

The lack of knowledge on the skill levels of employees can cause an organization to have treats that have a negative effect on organizational performance. Successful leadership depends on a leader’s ability to develop strategies which maximizes the use of available resources. The process of maximizing the use of available resources includes matching skill levels with organizational tasks.

Understanding Core Objectives

Preparing employees to have a better understanding of an organization’s core values and objectives is an example of the utilization of the integrated leadership model. The awareness of employees on the values and objectives of an organization promotes consistencies in work ethic and performance. A better understanding of organizational values and objectives will assist leaders in providing the direction employees need in completing the mission and vision of the organization.

Lack of knowledge on the goals and objectives of an organization can negatively influence the performance of members of an organization. Rosen discusses how sales teams have the tendency to focus on only 20 percent of an organization’s customer based on the assumption that 80 percent of an organization’s revenue being generated by only 20 percent an organization’s customer base (Rosen, 2006). Building your sales team around the 80-20 rule contradicts the core objective of leadership which is, to make your people more valuable” (Rosen, 2006, p. 26)

Cultural Leadership

Focusing on cultural leadership is a behavior characteristic in the transformational leadership which enhances the merger of employee’s personal values with an organization’s values. In an interview with L. Daniel Jorndt, chairman and chief executive officer of Walgreens Co., Jorndt illustrates this confidence he has with Walgreens Company’s current culture. Jorndt stated,
True to the generations of leaders before them, the people who run Walgreen Co. today are not flashy. They don’t generate much media buzz, stage lavish parties or generate headlines like higher-profile corporate trendsetters. They speak plain, Midwestern terms about hard work, discipline and long-term rewards rather than short-term gains (Griffin, 2000, p. 221).
The interview portraits the strong cultural values which Walgreens has built over their 100 plus year tenure in the drug store industry.

The existence of sub-cultures within an organization can make it difficult for an organization to enforce its cultural values among the organizations employees. Businesses must evaluate and focus on ways to improve organizational management the awareness of the organizational values and desired cultural environment. Turman feels that organizational management includes using focused agencies designed to improve program management, and created or enhanced an evaluation culture within an organization” (2003).

Conclusion

To compete in today’s market place business must have the ability to maximize the use of available resources. Effective leadership will provide organizations with the direction and the vision needed to maximize survival. The behavior characteristics discussed by the author provide a collaboration of transformational leadership and the integrated leadership model to optimize organizational leadership. The combination of transformational leadership and the integrated leadership model represents an optimal leadership model for today’s competitive market.

References

Burns, J.M. (1978). Leadership. Harper & Row. New York. Retrieved June 26, 2006 from EBSCOhost Database.

Griffin, M. (2000, December). Positive, Productive People Are Key to Walgreens’ Success: An Interview with L. Daniel Jorndt. Chain Store Age. 76(12), 221. Retrieved June 28, 2006 from EBSCOhost Database.

Duta, A. (2005). Meta-Level Dialectical Interpenetrations in Transformational and Leadership. Conference Papers — International Communication Association, Annual Meeting. New York, NY. Retrieved June 28, 2006 from EBSCOhost Database.

Piccolo, R. and Colquitt, J. (April, 2006). Transformational leadership and job behaviors: The mediating role of core job characteristics. Academy of Management Journal. 49(2), 327-340. Retrieved June 26, 2006 from EBSCOhost Database.

Perra, B. (1999, January). The Leader in You. Nursing Management. 30(1), 35. Retrieved June 27, 2006 from EBSCOhost Database.

Rosen, Keith. (June, 2006). Kill the 80-20 rule. Qualified Re-modeler. 32(6), 26. Retrieved June 26, 2006 from EBSCOhost Database.

Salopek, J. J. Leadership for a new age. (June, 2006) T+D. 60(6), 22-23. Retrieved June 25, 2006 from EBSCOhost Database.

Symons, J. (April, 2006). The vision thing. e.learning age. 18-19. Retrieved June 26, 2006 from EBSCOhost Database.

I am currently pursuing my Doctoral degree in Business Administration to leverage my education with my work experience to further my development as an optimal strategic decision maker equip with the tools necessary to manage the challenges faced by today’s large corporations.

I am currently employed at IBM Corporation as a System P Sales Specialist. I have a strong sales, technical operations, and customer relations background due my job experiences and educational background. My employment experiences have enable me to master skills such as labor management, organizational development and training, technical expertise, conflict resolution, forecasting, organizational restructuring, as well as operations management.

I obtained my MBA in 2006 from the University of Phoenix and I received my BS in Computer Science in 1995 from Bethune-Cookman College.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/David_Hemmanns/40057

 

Leadership

The Art of Diplomatic Leadership

As leaders encounter entirely new kinds of challenges and responsibilities, they find that they have the strength and resources to meet these challenges. For example, some first-time leaders ultimately learn that they have a gift for leading and inspiring others. Others find that they’re especially talented at gauging others’ motivations and values. Each time you make something happen as a leader—whether it’s shaping your group’s culture in positive ways, helping someone master a new task, or assembling a top-notch team—leaders expand their abilities. They become more seasoned, experienced, and confident leaders, and have a sharper awareness of their own strengths and areas for improvement. Not only do they learn more about themselves as they progress in a leadership role; they also learn more about organizational life in general.

The command and control techniques of previous generations are increasingly ineffective. Today’s leaders must be forward thinking, possess moral courage, and skilled in the art of diplomacy. As a Trustee, I can recall several joint board meetings when the Pastor wasn’t present and it was difficult to keep everyone on task. I experienced similar instances onboard ship when the Commanding Officer and Executive Officer were ashore. The changing structure of organizations, the growth of alliances between organizations, and the changing nature of work itself calls for new approaches to leadership. Paul suggested a new approach in Galatians 5:22, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith…” By faith, Paul refers to something more than the knowledge of the earthly life of Jesus. He means a commitment of an individual to the way of life Jesus exemplified. This approach has less to do with formal authority and the power to control, and more to do with using situational, strategic, and ethical leadership skills to keep groups of people who may not report to you aligned with an overarching purpose.

The most Important Ingredient: Ethics

Ethical Leadership includes a variety of elements. Beliefs regarding ethics involves taking into account the purpose of the action taken, the consequences to self and others, and the moral standard by which the action is measured. This doesn’t mean ignoring profit and loss, productions costs, and so forth but rather concern for the rational measures of performance coupled with the recognition of the importance of treating people right every day. “Moral leadership is about distinguishing right from wrong and doing right, seeking the just, the honest, the good, and the right conduct in its practice” (Daft, 1999, p. 369).

Whether it involves judgment based on character or legal infractions, ethics has always been a popular topic. When leaders wonder whether their conduct is ethical, they need to ask ‘What would I think if someone else did it?’ Paul believed that the law identifies the flaws in a person’s character but it does not remove them. Paul writes, “…whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace” (Galatians 5:4). Compassion is grounded in a larger understanding of our relationship to God and one another. When we define Christianity as a list of do’s and don’ts, we restrict ourselves from enjoying an intimate relationship with God. We get caught up in rules as if God were waiting to catch us out of line when He’s really waiting to pick us up when we fall. Christ does not make demands on us that limit our self-direction therefore we should not be inclined to judge others in that manner. In his Virtue-Centered Theory of Judging, Lawrence Solum argued “theories of fairness are prior to theories of justice (2003, p. 178). True Christianity sees the role of leadership as based on love and grace.

We have all known people whose character was not consistent with their personality. However, character is of higher importance than personality. Malphurs (2003) maintained “A Christian Leader emphasizes godly character” (p. 19). The organization will hold people accountable for their behavior (character) but not for their personality traits. If the ‘fruit’ of the spirit (love, joy, peace, etc) and ‘fruit’ of the flesh (adultery, hatred, envy, etc) are the outcomes, then our character is the means towards that outcome. We must seek to do the right thing.

Character is our commitment to doing the right thing, which is why we should focus on character development. In 1 Timothy 4:7 Paul urges Timothy “…exercise thyself rather unto godliness.” Character and self-discipline are a leader’s moral strength to behave according to proper values. The difficulty arises not in knowing what is right but rather doing what is right. Look for organizations where the leaders have clearly defined, articulate, and exemplify the organizational values. “Leadership is doing the right thing even when we do not feel like it, perhaps especially when we do not feel like it” (Hunter, 2004, p. 145).

There are numerous ways to assist emerging leaders in ethical development. I would start with leading by example. It’s difficult to appreciate the pressures on a leader unless you have had that position. The best way to assist up-and-coming leaders whether they’re your peers or subordinates is to let them see Christ working through you. “The movement away from command and control leadership has brought new leadership styles that are more democratic and coach-like” (Lassiter, 2001). Terms such as shared or servant leadership are increasingly used to describe some of these ways of interacting.

Another way to develop ethical behavior is to develop a personal creed – that which defines who you are, what your goals in life are, and how you intend to live your life. Kouzes and Posner (2002) observed “When you clarify the principles that will govern your life and the ends that you will seek, you give purpose to your daily decisions” (p. 394). An ethical leader has one personality. Whether at home or at work, there is only one set of principles that guides his behavior.

As an Engineering Training Team leader onboard a Guided Missile Frigate, I worked hard to build trust within the team. Everything was smooth until Petty Officer Johnson joined. Several members suggested that he lacked experience and he did not collaborate very well. The group went out for a “team” lunch, and left Johnson behind. I was shocked and disappointed. Johnson was extremely competent and showed passion for his work. I met individually with all team members, including Johnson, to allow them to communicate their concerns. I actively listened to what’s being said. By better understanding the concerns of the group I was able get to the root causes of the problem. One method that helps make teams innovative is to “Make sure that the members of the group are communicating with one another.” (Biolos, 1996, p. 1).

The Most Important Lessons: Situations

“A Christian leader is a servant with the credibility and capabilities to influence people in a particular context to pursue their God-given direction” (Malphurs, 2003, 131). The same person can be a successful leader in one situation but fail in another. It is unlikely that there is a single set of abilities and characteristics that can be found in all leaders. It’s not that the characteristics are not important, but rather, the essential characteristics of the leader vary depending on the circumstances. The requirements to be a successful Naval Officer, for example, would differ from those of a Elementary School Principal or Sales Manager. McGregor (2006) suggested “…that it is more fruitful to consider leadership as a relationship between the leader and the situation than as a universal pattern of characteristics possessed by certain people” (p. 253).

The Situational Leadership Theory developed by Hersey and Blanchard focuses on the characteristics of followers as the important element of the situation, and consequently of determining effective leader behavior. Yukl (2002) observed “Major situational variables include the characteristics of followers, the nature of the work performed by the leader’s unit, the type of organizations, and the nature of the external environment” (p. 13). In other words, subordinates vary in readiness levels therefore leader behavior should be influenced by the factors that influence the entire situation.

Daft (1999) summarized the relationship between leader style and follower readiness into four categories: telling, selling, participatory, and delegating. Telling is very directive, selling involves explaining decisions, participatory is sharing ideas to facilitate decision making, and delegating is a style that affords very little direction and support. (p. 99 – 102). As leaders, our professional identity will transform in relation to the skills and abilities of the group as well as outside influences. This means that we look at the world from a different perspective.

As the Material and Logistics Officer for a Destroyer Squadron my areas of responsibility included two major departments on each of our six ships: Engineering and Supply. At the end of every month I experienced difficulty in getting summary reports from the Engineers but the Supply reports were always right on-time. However, when the ships were underway the Engineering departments functioned admirably while the Supply departments were somewhat shoddy. I had to adjust my style of leadership when dealing with the Department Heads as the situations changed. For the monthly summary reports I used delegation with the Supply Officers but a more directive approach with the Engineers but the reverse during the operational phases. From a naval perspective, the Engineers were very operationally and technically proficient while the Supply Officers were very business oriented.

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Leadership

Hiding Your Leadership: The Jersey Joe Walcott Way of Leading

Former heavyweight champ Jersey Joe Walcott was training for a fight against a boxer who had a ferocious left hook. Asked if he was worried, Jersey Joe replied, “Nope. I’ll take his left hook and put it in his pocket.”

Walcott’s low key, wry, confident attitude matched his boxing style. He hardly looked as if he was fighting at all. It was more like Aikido than boxing, the martial art that controls an attacker by redirecting their energy instead of blocking it.

Jersey Joe didn’t attack. He lured his opponent to him. He shuffled “the Walcott Shuffle.” He created ingenious punching angles. He feinted not only with his hands but with his shoulders. He threw a sneaky right hand counter and a counter-punch left.

In other words, Jersey Joe, to better employ his boxing abilities, hid those abilities. Jersey Joe Walcott provides a lesson in leadership.

To be a better leader, do what most leaders neglect to do, are even ignorant of: hide your leadership.

Why would you want to hide your leadership? After all, isn’t a leader supposed to stand out? When you’re a leader, aren’t you supposed to be the center of attention, telling people to do things?

Yes, that way of being a leader is appropriate if you are viewing leadership in its conventional terms and getting average results.

But if you want to be a leader who gets consistently great results, remember Jersey Joe, if only for this simple, powerful dictum most leaders miss. People are more effective not when they are “ordered to …” but when they “want to …” Having people “want to” through your leadership is the drive shaft of all great results.

Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu, wrote 2500 years ago: “As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate … When the best leader’s work is done the people say, ‘We did it ourselves!'” In other words, the best leadership is the hidden leadership.

Leadership is about getting results, however one may define those results. If you can’t get results, you won’t be a leader for long. But, clearly, you can’t get results by yourself. You need others to help you do it. The “best” leader is the leader who gets the “best” results through the good offices of other people.

The best results are tied to a concept I’ve been teaching leaders for almost a quarter of a century: When they seek to get results, they should seek to get more results; they should seek to get faster results; and they should seek to get “more, faster” on a continual basis.

(For a discussion of what results really are I refer you to my web site and the articles section.)

If hiding your leadership doesn’t help you get more results, faster results continually then it should be taken no more seriously than the notion that the moon is made of green cheese.

How does hiding your leadership achieve these results? The HOW is in “want to.” But remember this: the people’s motivation is not the choice of the leaders. It’s the choice of the people. Leaders communicate, the people themselves motivate. They make the choice to motivate themselves. When your leadership is exhibited not on stage but behind the scenes guiding them to be motivated to make that choice, you’re creating the super-charged environment conducive to the establishment of more results faster, continually.

What is the best way to hide your leadership? Hide your leadership by realizing the Leader’s Imperative. “I will lead people in such a way that we not only accomplish the needed results but that we together help one another grow personally and professionally.”

This has two parts: results accomplishments and self-improvement. You are never more powerful as a leader as when, in getting results, you are helping others be better than they are – even better than they thought they could be. And when you’re realizing the Imperative, you are advancing yourself in the best way — by advancing them.

Make hiding your leadership a way of life. Test every leadership situation against the Leadership Imperative. Build the Imperative into your strategy, tactics, and have it be a driving factor in your interpersonal relationships.

Two points of caution. First, don’t mistake, or mistakenly communicate, the pejorative side of “hide.” The word can have a negative connotation: i.e., that you have something to hide, or that you are running away from somebody or something, or that you are being secretive or sneaky.

Use the word in its positive sense; you are hiding your leadership to better realize the Leadership Imperative.

Second, hiding your leadership can turn into a failing if you don’t hide it in a robust way. Hiding your leadership does not mean living an easy life for yourself – i.e., detaching yourself physically and emotionally from the people and doing your own thing. Instead, hiding your leadership means living a hard life for other people – i.e., working hard, taking risks, and putting yourself out to promote their welfare.

You will never know how really good you are as a leader unless you are leading people to be better than they think they are. You’ll have a better chance of manifesting your best leadership when you lead the way Jersey Joe Walcott fought – and have the people say, “We did it ourselves!”

2006 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson’s recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. – and for more than 21 years has been helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audacious results. Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: “49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results,” at http://www.actionleadership.com

PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson’s most recent books are: THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. http://www.actionleadership.com

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Brent_Filson/1911

 

Leadership

The New Leadership Is A Sacred Calling

You can greatly improve your job and career performance when you embrace leadership as a sacred calling.

The global marketplace is creating historic changes in human circumstances as broad and deep as those originated by the Industrial Revolution. But one significant change that observers are overlooking involves leadership.

From the outset of the Industrial Revolution, order-giving has been the standard of leadership. The word “order” comes from the Latin root meaning to arrange threads in a woof. In the Industrial Revolution’s early years, workers were “ordered” or ranked like threads in a woof of textile production lines.

But globalization is creating a need for new leadership. Instead of ordering people to go from A to B, the new leadership has people want to go from A to B.

This simple, even simplistic, difference illuminates an enormous leadership opportunity. Clearly, people who “want to” are more competitive than people who are simply responding to orders, given their skills are commensurate. Your arousing want-to in others can be accomplished most effectively when you see your leadership as a sacred activity.

Sacred is commonly defined as being devoted or dedicated to a deity or some religious purpose. But the emergence of the global marketplace has necessitated a new meaning for the sacred. The sacred I speak of is not connected to any principle exclusive to a particular denominational religion. If it were, it could not be applied universally throughout the global market’s interplay of many languages, cultures, and religions. Instead, the sacred aspect of leadership is based on the undeniable fact that all humans everywhere are interconnected through their relationships in profound, practical ways. The sacred flows from the wellsprings of those deep, human relationships.

Paradoxically, this “new” leadership has been manifested since time in memorial. After all, when people needed to accomplish great things, a leader had to first gather them together and speak from the heart. In that gathering, in that speaking, in that sharing something truly sacred was established.

To examine the sacred, we must understand the stuff that leaders’ activities must be made of: results. If you’re not getting results, you won’t be a leader for long. Results come in countless forms and functions. But one thing all results share is they are the outcomes of the relationships people engender to take action.

The word “relationship” comes from a Latin root meaning to “carry back.” To be involved in a human relationships is to both give and get. Such relationships are best realized in leadership when you engage in what I call the Leadership Imperative. The Imperative states: “I will lead others in such a way that we together not only accomplish our needed results but we grow professionally and personally.”

The Leadership Imperative is the rough, organizational equivalent of the Golden Rule that most religions, in one form or another, urge; but don’t confuse it with a guide for conduct exclusively; it’s also a way of getting great organizational results. When people understand that your leadership will improve their lives, their jobs and their careers, you’ll establish a sacred bond with them, and they’ll be more likely to be motivated to accomplish extraordinary things for you.

(An important tool for actualizing the Leadership Imperative is a methodology I’ve been teaching to leaders worldwide for nearly a quarter of a century. See my website for my information on the Leadership Talk.)

In our time, order leadership has held sway in all sectors of business and government. However, order leadership has nothing sacred to offer. Orders are sent, orders carried out or not. Deep, human, “sacred” connections are superfluous, even antithetical, to giving orders. And because order leadership can’t get the consistently great results that the new leadership triggers, the order way of leadership is destined for history’s scrap heap.

Don’t be put off or discouraged if you can’t immediately see the sacred in your leadership today. First, align your words and actions to conform to the Leadership Imperative. When you do, you’ll see the sacred in the very practical necessities of your daily life. It’s been there all along, waiting for you to find it and realize it. You may be in a bureaucracy that at first blush seems to have nothing to do with the sacred. But I submit that no matter what organization you’re in, what job you hold, you’ll get the best results when you work to manifest the sacred in your leadership. In fact, the sacred is the true reality of what you do, where you do it.

When you’re realizing the sacred calling of the Leadership Imperative, everyone you encounter, every challenge you face, is invested with special meaning that can boost results.

The exigencies of the global economy are demanding a change in the standard of leadership. Your understanding and realizing the new leadership but also its sacred dimensions will notably advance your job and career performance.

PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com

2006 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson’s recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. – and for more than 21 years has been helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audacious results. Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: “49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results,” at http://www.actionleadership.com

For more about the Leadership Talk ==>[http://www.theleadershiptalk.com]

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Brent_Filson/1911

 

Leadership

Leadership – Do We Know What It Is? 4 Pointers To Start You On The Road To Becoming A Leader

A great deal of work has been done by many authors and researchers in trying to identify and define “leadership”. The vast body of research has focused on leadership traits, habits, competencies, behaviours, styles, values, skills and characteristics. Dave Ulrich (Ulrich, D et al, Results Based Leadership, Harvard Business Press, Boston, 1999) categorised much of the research into:

– Who leaders are – values, motives, personal traits

– What leaders know – knowledge, skills and abilities

– What leaders do – behaviours, habits, styles and competencies

However, when one looks at the vast body of research into leadership, it is mostly concerned with: – the inputs of leadership and leaders, – not the outputs – ie. what leaders achieve.

Two significant factors have led to a great deal of the confusion around the issue of “leadership” and the definition of leadership itself.

Firstly, many authors erroneously use “leadership” and “management” interchangeably as if they were the same thing.

Secondly, a great deal of the research into leadership has been with people who are in formal organisational positions (e.g. supervisors, managers, senior executives) – the inference being that leadership is an integral part of the formal management role (Parry, K.W., Leadership Research: Themes, Implications, and a new Leadership Challenge, Leadership Research and Practice, Warriewood 1996).

Our experience in designing, developing and implementing management and leadership development programs, processes and interventions over the last twenty years has led to the development of The Leadership Benchmark™ ([http://www.nationallearning.com.au/index_files/LeadershipDevelopment.htm]), a 360 developmental tool for leaders and aspiring leaders. Much of the initial research emanated from focus groups of key stakeholders (participants, peers, managers, staff, customers, suppliers etc) conducted as part of these development initiatives and the subsequent follow-up interviews, coaching sessions and evaluation processes and forums.

In developing The Leadership Benchmark™, we have clearly delineated that:

– Leadership is different from and distinct to, management – it does NOT necessarily occur as part of a formal management position

– Leadership is contextual and therefore has to do with outputs (what the leader achieves) as much as what the leader is or does (inputs)

1. Leadership v’s Management

Almost 100 years ago, Mary Parker Follett described a manager as “one who gets things done through people”. This description is still used by management educators and scholars today, but in my opinion should be changed to: “one who gets the things done that are described by the organisation in the manager’s role or position description, through the people they have been assigned”. My contention is that, if you are a manager, then:

– You become a manager when you sign on for the job

– You only become a leader when your people say so

So, you get given the title of “manager” from the organisation and people will do things for you (either well or not so well depending on how well you manage them) because of WHAT you are not WHO you are. Only your people (your team, the people you manage) can give you the title of “leader”.

In other words, the organisation gives you your “corporate” manager’s hat that lets everyone in the organisation know that you are officially a manager. Then, your people, when they believe in you, give you your leadership badge, your badge of honour!

I am indebted to my colleague Dennis Pratt (Pratt, D., Aspiring to Greatness – Above and Beyond Total Quality Management, Business & Professional Publishing, Sydney 1994) for enabling the clear distinction between leadership and management that has assisted our research in developing The Leadership Benchmark:™ . This distinction is described as:

• Leading: Leadership occurs at all levels of the organisation. The essence of leadership is concerned with creating the following conditions that encourage others to follow:

– A shared understanding of the environment.

– A shared vision of where we are going.

– A shared set of organisational values.

– A shared feeling of power.

• Managing: While the leadership function is “big picture” the management function on the other hand, has a narrower focus. Leavitt described leadership, as “path finding” while management was “path minding”. Management is situational and invloves:

– Getting things done (task focus)

– Through people (relationship focus).

2. Leadership is contextual and is concerned with outputs

The Leadership Benchmark™ focuses purely on the following four outputs achieved in any particular organisational context by the leader:

– A shared understanding of the environment.

– A shared vision of where we are going.

– A shared set of organisational values.

– A shared feeling of power.

Whereas many other (quite legitimate) management 360 tools focus on the management function. Managers who aspire to be leaders therefore need more than the feedback they might get from a normal 360 managerial profile.

3. If you are a manager, what does this mean for you?

Anyone in the organisation can become a “leader” irrespective of their formal organisational position. Just because you have a formal title of “manager” does not mean you are a leader. So for example when a fire breaks out in the building and the brand new young employee who has just completed induction training, and who instructs people to follow the evacuation procedures impeccably, shows as much leadership as the CEO who has just announced the new corporate strategy for everyone to follow.

Here’s a quick test to gain some indication on your status as a leader. Once you have been in your current role for say, 9 to 12 months, ask yourself “Would my people do the things I now ask them to do even if I were not their manager?” If you can truthfully answer “Yes”, then you are well on the path to becoming a leader. I suspect, that many of you will probably answer this with a “Maybe” – try not to be concerned at this, as the road to leadership is a long one, but a truly rewarding one. If you are concerned that it seems to be taking you “forever” to develop as a leader, keep in mind the experience of one of the greatest leaders of our time, Nelson Mandela who spent 27 years in prison waiting to show how he could lead his country!

4. How to develop yourself as a leader

Our research indicates that leaders become leaders because they do four things (at least) for us:

1. They help us understand and make sense of our environment. So for example, when things aren’t working out or are unclear for us, they are able to explain what is happening in practical terms that we can understand.

2. They help give us a sense of direction. They are able to paint a picture of a brighter future and help us believe that we can achieve the things we want to achieve.

3. They give us a belief in the values that are important to us. In doing so, they make us feel part of a team of people that share these values and have the same aims.

4. They are able to make us feel powerful by allowing us the freedom to make decisions about our life, work and the future.

If you are looking to develop yourself as a leader, then I would suggest working with your team to put in place some strategies to achieve the four leadership outputs we have described here.

Copyright 2006 The National Learning Institute

Bob Selden is the Managing Director of the National Learning Institute. He has been an HRD consultant for over 30 years, prior to which he was a line manager in a financial organisation. He is the author of The Leadership Benchmark™ and is a part time member of faculty at the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne and the Australian Graduate School of Management in Sydney. You can contact Bob at http://www.nationallearning.com.au/

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Robert_Selden/25526