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The essence of leadership is vision - a vision articulated clearly and forcefully on every occasion. Leaders must take responsibility for areas they cannot delegate.
These however are not the only attributes of a good leader. Good leaders are made not born. If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a never-ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience.
Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective. The leader directs the organisation in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership attributes, such as beliefs, values, ethics, character, skills and knowledge.
Although your position as a manager, supervisor, leader, gives you the authority and responsibility for accomplishing certain tasks, this power does not make you a leader. It simply makes you the boss.
Leadership is different in that it makes followers want to achieve high goals. It necessitates getting others to follow rather than bossing them around.
Bernard Bass’s (1989 & 1990) theory of leadership states there are three basic ways to explain how people become leaders. The first two explain the leadership development for a small number of people. The third is the most commonly used. These theories are
• Some personality traits may lead people naturally into leadership roles. This is the Trait Theory.
• A crisis or important event may cause a person to rise to the occasion, which brings out extraordinary leadership qualities in an ordinary person. This is the Great Events Theory.
• People can choose to become leaders. People can learn leadership skills. This is the Transformational Leadership Theory and the one most widely accepted today.
When people make decisions as to whether they like and respect you as a leader they do not think about your attributes. They observe what you do so as to learn about who you really are. This observation is used to establish if you are a honourable and trusted leader.
Alternatively it will establish if you are a self-serving person who misuses authority to look good. Self-serving leaders are not effective because employees only obey, they do not follow. They succeed in many areas because they present a good image to their seniors at the expense of their workers.
The basis of good leadership is therefore honourable character and selfless service to the organisation.
Effective leadership necessitates you have a direction and the ability to lead others to the accomplishment of the goal. You need to have the ability to execute what you have planned. This requires a great deal of guts coupled with natural instinct. You must have the guts to forge ahead and to go forward irrespective of the obstacles.
Your leadership will be determined by your values and the vision you have for the organisation, enterprise or division. It is these very values and vision that will determine what action you take.
Values are one of the components of attitudes. Values help to determine how we act as they help us to weigh the importance of various alternatives. They drive all organisational and individual efforts. What is important for the effective leader is there should never be any compromise on values and ethics for any reason. Values and ethics in business must be 100% non negotiable.
Although there are a variety of definitions of attitude, most seem to centre around the notion that attitude involves measuring people, issues, objects and so on, in positive or negative terms. The inspirational leader should be capable of creating a positive environment where positive attitudes prevail.
The vision you have for the success of the enterprise should be shared with all concerned. There will be a need for “Buy-in” by those involved. Your vision should be innovative and inspiring. It should be exciting enough for others to want to be part of the action.
In a nutshell an effective leader must be trustworthy, honourable and ethical. The leader must have the ability to communicate and share a vision of where the organisation, enterprise or division wants to go. Good leaders surround themselves with great people who are prepared to share in the leaders vision. Together the must not compromise on values or ethics in working for the achievement of the common goal.
Des Squire (Director)
AMSI (Pty) Ltd
011 646 9369
www.amsi.co.za
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