A person who lacks motivation requires a different approach than one with a high degree of motivation. For example, a new hire requires more supervision than an experienced employee does. Followersĭifferent people require different styles of leadership. To be successful you have to convince your followers, not yourself or your superiors, that you are worthy of being followed. If they do not trust or lack confidence in their leader, then they will be uninspired. Also, note that it is the followers, not the leader or someone else who determines if the leader is successful. You must have an honest understanding of who you are, what you know, and what you can do. There are four primary factors of leadership (U.S. Skills, knowledge, and attributes make the Leader, which is one of the Factors of Leadership. A person who has empathy will make a better counselor than a person who thinks the employees are simply there do accomplish her biddings. Knowledge and skills contribute directly to the process of leadership, while the other attributes give the leader certain characteristics that make him or her unique.įor example, a leader might have learned the skills in counseling others, but her traits will often play a great role in determining how she counsels. While leadership is learned, a leader's skills and knowledge can be influenced by his or hers attributes or traits, such as beliefs, values,Įthics, and character. These two leadership types are shown in the chart below (Northouse, 2007, p5): This is called Trait Leadership (Jago, 1982), in that it was once common to believe that leaders were born rather than made. However, we know that we have traits that can influence our actions. This is called Process Leadership (Jago, 1982).
Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership knowledge and skills. There is a need to accomplish something.Leadership requires others, who are not necessarily direct-reports, to get something accomplished.A person influences others through social influence, not power, to get something accomplished (bosses use power to get things done).Note that all the definitions have a couple of processes in common: Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal (Kruse, 2013). Leadership is inspiring others to pursue your vision within the parameters you set, to the extent that it becomes a shared effort, a shared vision, and a shared success (Zeitchik, 2012). One of their definitions is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish a mission (U.S. military has studied leadership in depth. Some other popular definitions of Leadership are:Ī process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse, 2007, p3). Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. “The meaning of a message is the change which it produces in the image.” - Kenneth Boulding in The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society Good leaders are continually working and studying to improve their leadership skills they are NOT resting on their past laurels.
These do not often come naturally, but are acquired through continual work and study. To inspire your workers into higher levels of teamwork, there are certain things you must be, know, and, do. This guide will help you through the journey. Good leaders develop through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience (Jago, 1982). If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader.
But I don't think that's quite it it's more like jazz. I used to think that running an organization was equivalent to conducting a symphony orchestra.