Leadership Part 1: OVERVIEW
Over the past few years, the subject of leadership yea, effective leadership has come into sharp focus. To the curious mind, the question is why? Why put so much emphasis on leadership now and not in the past? Having talked about management for many years, why the sudden shift? Is it another passing management fad? Almost every management book on the market today has devoted at least a chapter or mentions leadership. As earlier intimated, in yester-years, much weight was on management practice, procedures and maintaining the status quo because people believed that a manager was nothing more than one who controls, directs, coordinates and plans activities. But as time went on, it was discovered that for some reasons, management was not working too well in terms of achieving the desired and expected results. Thus, investigations and research were instituted to discover the root causes and to find out a new way to get round this hurdle. Therefore, as time went on, people started coming up with probable reasons and possible solutions. As such, a number of theories came up that pointed to leadership as the ultimate solution, at least for now. Leadership is a wide subject but suffice it to say that there is the informal and formal leadership that is further broken down into at least three leadership theories namely, the traits theory, the style theory and the contingency theory. Admittedly much has been written on this subject and a plethora of books entirely devoted to leadership theory have filled libraries in hard copy form or no (1). The said books seek to define more clearly what leadership theory is, its genesis and development across the decades, its practical outworking and the end of leadership. As one author has aptly quipped, ‘ leadership is the only vehicle for tomorrows’ development…’ (2) As we prepare to tread in years of the unfolding new millennium, let us always remember that the road on which we now walk is in some sense new yet old. Let us get some detail on the said subject because ‘leadership forms the bridge between organisation goals and individual goals and is the crucial element in determining the success of the organisation.'
As earlier mentioned, Leadership has now taken the centre stage in Management circles as this has proved to be more effective mode to unleash the latent potential within fellow team members. As opposed to the now obsolete way of the traditional “Bossy” kind of management, the latest trends of leadership permeate the organisation with a fresh fragrance of new pragmatic motivational ethics. Nowadays there is more talk about effective leadership rather than just general leadership. But wherein does effective leadership consist? What exactly is effective leadership?
Leadership, in its simplest form, is defined as the ability to influence and inspire others towards a worthwhile goal. Effective leadership goes a step further than the aforementioned definition. Writers like Heller accurately define it as “the key to truly effective leadership lies in mastering a wide range of skills, from implementing and administering processes to inspiring others to achieve excellence”. As can be seen, this definition states that for one to be effective, they must have a wide knowledge in many a field and be able to make the most of every opportunity that presents itself. The leader, among other things, must be visionary and able to inspire confidence in others by being a challenge, trust others, a mentor, a coach, motivator via compliments and rewards, approachable, able to seat with subordinates and give a sympathetic and empathetic listening ear. The said leader does not content him/herself to know about the general things regarding the workmates but goes out of his/her way to know the back ground details which might affect out put as well as the best ways to delegate and build a team spirit among workmates. This may well mean taking time off to visit team members on the job, at home, in a social gathering, having informal chats over a drink or cup of tea as well as going for workouts together after hours. This has the effect of reducing suspicions and prejudices that people harbour. Once people feel valued and needed, they open up and are willing to take on bigger challenges as well as risks to innovate and promote the cause of the organisation rather that remaining indifferent and aloof. They “own the goal” as it were, due to the effective leader’s contagious influence.
The effective leader is systematic, highly organised and focused on what s/he wants to achieve. S/he sets benchmarks of quality, time frames and is determined that others catch the ropes as well. This further means that the said leader is continuously willing to listen and learn from others who ever they may be (Whether young or old, subordinates or superiors etc), gains experience by the day, and makes every effort to master own function as well as others’ functions. The time has arrived when one must be multitalented and have a good working knowledge about other disciplines. Gone are the days when the Manager knew next to nothing about Marketing or finance, for example. The 21st century leader must have a firm grasp of all the areas in order to confidently lead. Apart from the afore mentioned points, the leader must ensure he/she is able to detect strengths and weaknesses in others and positively facilitate the strengthening of the positive sides while gently correcting the weak sides. Having done the above, in the leader hurtles along to deal with the preparatory work to leadership, which culminates into forming teams over which the selfsame leader, exercises authority in a prudent and efficient fashion. Under team work, the issues of delegation, communication, decision making (through discussions and brain storming sessions initially), goal setting, analysing problems and giving support to staff in agreed areas of implementation are dealt with. The last part the leader deals with is the all important area of motivating others, establishing a vision, generating ideas, ideal management style (in this case, open management), boosting achievements and finally, being competitive with respect to the outsiders. This competitive advantage is realised by first treating the internal customers. Employees well who in turn will go out of their way to treat the external customer most diligently and courteously. Remember, the customer is king! This approach to business works wonders for the organisation in that it produces product loyalty and woos many more to the company products. Furthermore, the effective leader must develop an apt acumen to network, identify and exploit opportunities through taking risks as well. Self SWOT analysis and frequent introspection and refocusing are critical. In addition, the leader must be bent on success and all out to win for his/her team.
The nature of true leadership As earlier intimated, leadership is defined generally as the ability to inspire confidence in others by influencing them towards a goal. This, among many things, includes the prowess to challenge others, give them confidence to and the “tools” to achieve a goal to which you are leading them. A leader is neither a boss nor a manager primarily but is robust, highly energised, resilient, astute, racy, inspirational, magnetic and visionary. He or she has a passion and longing to achieve something while carrying others along. In other words, leadership is the ability to challenge, attract & stimulate others to achieve worthwhile goals as well as to solicit support among the people in the organisation and otherwise. Leadership entails teamwork, partnership and an ability to build cohesive friendships with others leaving an indelible mark on the tablets of their hearts. There is a difference between a leader & a manager. A leader may not necessarily hold office but affects others while a manager usually holds office and basically ensures that the planned objectives are implemented and controlled towards an appointed end. In my research upon the subject of leadership, almost all the books I consulted had a section on “leadership verses management” and this for a good reason. I think that this whole area of leadership has been either veiled under management or indeed been assumed that all managers are leaders. As earlier intimated, in a way, that assertion is correct but needs to be qualified out because some managers have proved demotivators rather than motivators. Generally, as Harvey Maylor (1999) aptly puts it, that “Management is the technical discipline of applying and administering authority over others which is given through the formalised structural arrangement of Organisation.” While “leadership is the quality of obtaining results from others through personal influence…” Clearly, we can see that whereas management largely depends on the structural organisation make up, leadership is independent in the sense that the leader possesses certain traits and attributes that influence other to do something. The manager has authority by virtue of office and exists basically to control, direct and coordinate activity to their appointed ends while the leader may not necessarily hold office to have things done. Furthermore, the leader handles change, takes risks and influences new decisions while the manager has a delimited area of operation. The table below attempts to summarise the differences:
MANAGER LEADER 1. Ensures things are going according to plan 1. Can face change, leads into new frontiers optimistically.
2. Usually directs, controls resources 2. Inspires confidence in others
3. Authority base is the Office 3. Not necessarily an office holder
4. Usually limited in operations 4. Not limited and can think big/ strategically
5. Will not usually take risks 5. A dreamer & risk taker
6. Short term in out look usually- The manager is operational rather then forward looking. 6. Long term out look and visionary
7. Uses vested power to get things done 7. Gets on well with people & solicits their support
8. Not necessarily creative and /seeks to maintain standards 8. Creative and encourages innovation
9. Task oriented-Plan, implement and control budgets etc. 9. Not really task oriented but visionary & goal oriented
10. More concerned with results rather than mentoring 10. Builds others & hires other leaders
11. Is above everyone considered boss, self sufficient, always correct 11. Good team player, coach and mentor
As can be seen from the table, the leadership function, although traditionally part of the management function (motivating) is quite a discipline on its own. The question that begs answering at this stage perhaps is,” is it possible for an individual to be both a manager and a leader in the same context? I think it is possible because effective managers have been leaders in their own right. Zalenik (1977) pondered over this and commented as follows:
“What is the best way to develop leadership? Every society provides its own answer to this question, and each grouping for answering, defines its deepest concerns about the purposes, distributions and uses of power. Business has contributed its leadership to the leadership question by evolving a new breed called the manager. Simultaneously, business has established a new power ethic that favours collective over individual leaders, the cult of the group over that of personality. While entrusting the competence, control and the balance or power relations among groups with the potential for rivalry, managerial leadership unfortunately does not necessarily ensure imagination, creativity, or ethical behaviour in guiding the destinies of corporate enterprise”. We can see then that a person can wear both caps but the degree is what varies from person to person, though some will still argue that leadership is automatic when one assumes management status. Further still, another school of thought seems to suggest that all managers must of necessity be leaders. Drucker’s statement is worth quoting at this stage in relation to management leadership:
“The manager is the dynamic life – giving element in every business, without his leadership, the resources of production remain resources and never become production. In a competitive economy above all, the quality and performance of the managers determine the success of the business, indeed they determine its survival. For the quality and performance of its managers is the only effective advantage an enterprise in a competitive economy can have” Peter Drucker, one of the fore most respected management gurus of our time, is correct in asserting that leader- managers are critical to the progress and success of any entity. In a nutshell then, management and leadership are different in their functions, scope, power base and the extent of influence. The one largely depends on the office while the other (leadership) emanates from personal attributes and qualities. __________________ People like Hary Chamers believe that one can be appointed a manager, not a leader, meaning that leadership is not automatic up assuming management status. Executive excellence vol 16 no 12 August 1999.
2. Harvey maylor: project management pp168 Dubrin: leadership, page 2
To be continued…
By:
Billy C Sichone
Box T 102,
Mpika,
Zambia
Cell: 260966559762 or 260977429521
|