The Essence of Good Leadership

Good leaders are made or born?

There remains a constant confusion regarding the statement whether good leaders are made or born. The statement is highly confusing and considered as one of the most difficult question to be answered. Considering the fact that everyone has a different perspective on defining the attributes related to good leadership, it becomes important to state that being leader is not an easy task. As influenced by Yahaya and Ebrahim (2016), a leader needs to serve as a mentor and role model, both at the same time. It is for the same reason, leader needs to build a strong character and develop a deeper level of understanding it is all that it takes to be a successful leader, someone on whom the employees could look up to

Common approach to modern leadership

Innovative leadership: The modern approach to leadership is often fuelled by the leaders to get hold of the whole situation and go beyond the normal course of action. As pointed out by Anderson and Sun (2017), innovative leadership is termed as a good approach for visualizing the future and knowing what is likely to be effective in running the business organization. Worthy et al. (2020), stated the fact innovative leadership can bring new vision and ideas within the reality. The implementation of new vision and idea could work on enhancing the level of productivity by adopting new ideas

Authoritative leadership: A research conducted by Fiaz et al. (2017), authoritative leadership is one of the oldest forms of leadership, implemented during those times when there exists no stringent managerial structure. In the chosen form of leadership, the leaders are seen to dictate the policies and procedures that must be achieved for controlling the direct activities of the organization without ensuring strong participation of the employees

Pace setters: The aspect of leadership has gained a holistic approach, involving the communities for obtaining the right kind of outcomes. As stated by Ricard et al. (2017), communication plays an evident role in ensuring effective leadership. Pace setter leaders are seen to make use of proper modes of communication in setting high levels of performance for people working in groups or individually. The leader in the chosen regards optimizes behaviour sought from the other members within the group.

Servant: This can be termed as one of the most common approaches to leadership and most implemented practice across organizations. As stated by Rawat et al. (2017), leaders are seen to put their service to other people within the group before their interests and include the members of the team within the process of decision making

Transformational: The transformational style of leadership is a modern approach to leadership and brings meaningful changes in the lives of the people working under the chosen mode of leadership. As per the study conducted by Gandolfi and Stone (2017), transformational leadership is where; the leaders are expected to implement change on their team members. As stated by Huertas-Valdivia et al. (2019), the change may be often quoted as unnecessary thing to do; however, the leader exhibits the best interests and acts as a role model during the course of change by motivating the team members

Charismatic leadership: This kind of leadership is based on the personal qualities of the leader, or charisma. Asrar-ul-Haq and Kuchinke (2016), stated that the charismatic leaders are often seen to exhibit a strong sense of mission and vision that on the other hand arouses a strong emotion among the followers.

Research based study stated the fact that it is difficult being the ideal leader but being fully informed about various approaches to leadership allows the leaders to understand the skills and personal characteristics, an inevitable part in achieving their mission- to served and not to be served by the others. The statement mentioned above is what makes a good leader. As supported by Gandolfi and Stone (2017), a good leader is one who knows the way to handle the team members and appreciates their skills

Things that takes to be an inspiring leader

To ask question or to not ask question

However, Urick (2016) expressed contrasting views stating, there is a vital caveat in regards to the concept that supports asking questions. For the session of questioning to produce productive outcomes, the questions need to be sincere, with honest answers. Nevertheless, this is not always the case with organizations. As opined by Maak, Pless and Voegtlin (2016), managers are often seen to make use of guiding questions for producing replies that facilitate short term gains. Answers during the course of questioning is often twisted in approach to conceal the important components

Asking a lot of question is something that has been termed as a good way of enhancing the aspect of inspiring leadership. As supported by Cummings et al. (2018), in modern system of management asking questions can be termed as a good way of learning. The underlying idea of the aspect is simple; asking questions as a manager, helps him to achieve his professional goals. The manager can extend the existing level of knowledge in regards to a specific topic, employees and their skills. The employees in the mentioned regards get involved and are allowed to voice their opinions.

Figure out the work environment before asking questions

Gaining an understanding about the work culture can be termed as a good way of enhancing the outcome of implemented leadership. As proposed by Sousa and Rocha (2019), before asking the questions it is important to figure out the kind of environment the leaders are working and the legacy followed there. If the environment is not conducive, then it is important for the leaders to set the scene for the employees facilitating an environment that promotes the instances of asking questions

Become a role model

Human psychology coupled with social theory underpins the fact that the people are often seen to follow what is being done, rather than doing what is being told to do. Thus, as opined by Yasir and Mohamad (2016), the only way of making an individual behave in a certain expected way is to continuously act in that very same way. As stated by Romager et al. (2017), people are highly influenced by activities done by others and tend to follow the same. It is for the same reason; employees within an organization need a right leader who can set the frame for work and inspire the employees overseeing the prospects of growth of the people. Ricard et al. (2017), further supported the fact, freedom of the employees facilitates the formation of fully individual employees in near future

The basic model of situational leadership is composed of two dimensions of behaviour in a leadership (directive and supportive). On basis of the stated dimensions, leaders can propose basic type of leadership based on the situational needs; directing, supporting, delegating and coaching (Yahaya and Ebrahim, 2019)

Leadership on demand

There is no specific right kind of leadership. The right kind of leadership is based on the situation. Situational Leadership Theory can be termed as right way of handling the demand for leadership based on the situation (Rawat et al. 2019). The proposed theory by Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard is divided into two streams; task (directive behaviour of the leader) and relational (supportive behaviour of the leader). However, the situational theory of leadership is based on the prime notion that not all the followers need same relationship or task based leadership. Thus, it can be conclusively stated the type of leadership implemented by the leader is based on the readiness of the followers (Huertas-Valdivia et al. 2019)

Directing: The act of directing the leader is needed by the followers. The followers in the mentioned case are seen to lack the motivation and skill needed to perform a specific task. Yahaya and Ebrahim (2019) is seen to recommend against the use of supportive behaviour, as supportive behaviour may be perceived as a form of rewards for the follower. Instead the follows need to have oversight and task directed means of communication

Supporting: There remains no dearth of evidence that a business organization is composed of several employees with different professional approach. As pointed out by Urick (2016) there exists employees within the business organization that need limited level of direction from the leaders, but they do need support from the leaders. These followers have more often than not the needed skills but need leaders for the event of motivation. Thus, it can be conclusively stated supporting leaders should work on creating suitable organizational ambience that fosters motivation of the followers

Coaching: The second type of leader discussed within the domain of situational leadership is coaching leader. As stated by Cummings et al. (2018), the coaching leader is important and need of the situation when the followers need support or direction for carrying out a specific task. Followers lacking the confidence or unable to perform the task but are committed to the organization. The leader need to exhibit direct control over the attempt exhibited by the followers to accomplish the task and provide series of encouragement throughout the course

Functional Approach: In domain of the situational and trait approach to leadership, the primary characteristic is to create a concept. The functional approach posits that a leader is not someone who acts or communicates like a leader. In order to help and understand the functional approach to leadership examining different functional roles of the leaders, it is important to ensure proper means of communication (Sousa and Rocha, 2018).

Delegating: Followers are often both skilled and motivates, she or he needs a leader who delegates them. As stated by Urick (2016), leaders can delegate the tasks to the individuals with the mentioned expectations that the follower would accomplish the task. However, it becomes important to state the fact that leaders should not avoid the supportive behaviour if follower feels that they are ignored, the relationship between the follower and leader could be sour

ESSENTIAL LEADERSHIP SKILLS

Establishing a system of communication

The act of right kind of leadership can be formulated through the implementation of right kind of communication. Thus, Romager et al. (2018), came up with rules that can help in forming clear lines of communication for better rates of understanding. Following are the requisites for communication:

The communication channels need to be definite

The leaders and the followers should be aware of the communication channels

People should have adequate access to formal channels of communication

Lines of communication need to be direct and short as possible

Competence of the person acting as communication channel needs to be adequate

From the mentioned perspective the leaders are endowed with the prime task in developing and controlling all the forms of communication within the business organization

Conclusion

No leader is perfect and the aspect of perfection is instilled through practice of various ways to manage people. The constant course of development from manager to leader is often laced with challenges. However, it becomes important that the leaders and the followers embrace a collaborative approach for addressing better productivity related demands.

Key takeaways

Situational approach to leadership can be termed as the right way to begin with. As stated by leaders are not aware of the skills and competencies of the workers. Hence, situational type of leadership can be termed as the right way to ensure that the needs of the employees are rightly answered. In similar regards, a leader needs to be flexible in order to incorporate and embrace different working cultures. As stated by Gandolfi and Stone (2017), leaders need to be flexible; the aspect of flexibility can work on answering the issues created within the workplace. In similar terms it could be easily stated a collaborative approach can work on answering the leadership related challenges

Reference list

Anderson, M.H. and Sun, P.Y., 2017. Reviewing leadership styles: Overlaps and the need for a new ‘full‐range’theory. International Journal of Management Reviews, 19(1), pp.76-96.

Asrar-ul-Haq, M. and Kuchinke, K.P., 2016. Impact of leadership styles on employees’ attitude towards their leader and performance: Empirical evidence from Pakistani banks. Future Business Journal, 2(1), pp.54-64.

Cummings, G.G., Tate, K., Lee, S., Wong, C.A., Paananen, T., Micaroni, S.P. and Chatterjee, G.E., 2018. Leadership styles and outcome patterns for the nursing workforce and work environment: A systematic review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 85, pp.19-60.

Fiaz, M., Su, Q. and Saqib, A., 2017. Leadership styles and employees' motivation: Perspective from an emerging economy. The Journal of Developing Areas, 51(4), pp.143-156.

Gandolfi, F. and Stone, S., 2017. The emergence of leadership styles: A clarified categorization. Revista De Management Comparat International, 18(1), p.18.

Gandolfi, F. and Stone, S., 2018. Leadership, leadership styles, and servant leadership. Journal of Management Research, 18(4), pp.261-269.

Maak, T., Pless, N.M. and Voegtlin, C., 2016. Business statesman or shareholder advocate? CEO responsible leadership styles and the micro‐foundations of political CSR. Journal of Management Studies, 53(3), pp.463-493.

Sousa, M.J. and Rocha, Á., 2019. Leadership styles and skills developed through game-based learning. Journal of Business Research, 94, pp.360-366.

Yasir, M. and Mohamad, N.A., 2016. Ethics and morality: Comparing ethical leadership with servant, authentic and transformational leadership styles. International Review of Management and Marketing, 6(4S), pp.310-316.