Leadership
involves influencing others, and being highly motivated and passionate towards
achieving certain goals. A leader, then, is someone who is playing an
influential role in making others work towards successfully attaining certain
goals. For that, a leader needs to be someone who is a visionary. A good leader
is the one who can make others see that vision and instill a high level of
motivation within them, and guide them to move closer towards that vision.
Leaders are, therefore, agents of change. The process involved in bringing
about that change is reflected in the many facets of leadership.
To
have that high level of motivation, passion, and being a visionary, having a
clear self-understanding is essential. An effective leader needs to have self-awareness.
This self-awareness gives an understanding of true potential, develops a
realization of strengths and weaknesses, and gives an understanding of how he
or she is different from others.
A
good understanding of oneself or self-awareness helps in having a high level of
psychological wellbeing and a proper ability to cope with life issues. Because
self-awareness gives a good understanding about one’s potential, it helps to
give purpose and direction, it gives meaning in life, and leads towards
self-satisfaction. All this certainly prove to be essential for a leader in
order to achieve that vision that he or she has set up.
A
leader, however, needs others to see that vision, make them believe in it, and
motivate and encourage them to achieve certain goals. This requires a leader to
have a wide range of interpersonal and communication skills. A common
misconception is that interpersonal and communication skills largely comprise
of having a good speaking ability. However, being a good speaker may not always
be an important skill that is required in leadership. The interpersonal and
communication skills involved in leadership are much beyond being a good
speaker.
Being
a leader requires continuous interpersonal interactions with the team members.
A two-way communication is involved. Receiving of messages is as important as
conveying the message. The leader needs to consider and understand the point of
view of the team members. For this, listening skills become very important. A
leader, thus, needs to be a good or active listener.
To
be a good listener, the individual needs to be attentive and observant. The
person needs to be focused on what the other person is saying, avoid all kinds
of other distractions, not let the mind wander, and letting the person complete
what he or she is saying, and not interrupt and assume what the other person
could be saying.
Further,
it is also good to be observing the nonverbal cues of the person to get a
better understanding of the feelings involved. Observing whether the person is
calm and confident or fidgety or seemingly anxious, helps to get an idea
whether or not the body language is in sync with the verbal message. Finally, if
there is any doubt, the person should always ask and clarify whether or not he
or she has completely understood what was meant to be said.
Another
interpersonal skill, along with active listening, that is highly essential for
leadership is empathy. Broadly, empathy is understanding the feelings
and emotions of others and taking the perspective of others. A leader has to
interact with all kinds of people. To motive them, to influence them, it is
important to understand what they feel, how they may respond in certain
situations, what are their concerns, how can they deal with different
circumstances, and so on. Therefore, to deal with people effectively, and to
make them clearly see the vision that they have, leaders need to be highly empathetic.
It surely is helpful to achieve the goals that the leader has set forth.
When
interacting and guiding others, the ability of giving and receiving feedback
becomes important. The leader should know when to give feedback and how exactly
it should be given to have effective results. Feedback, to be effective, should
be precise and specific, and it should not be vague. It should be contextual
and immediate. Feedback should also be constructive. The purpose should be to
improve performance and not to humiliate, insult, or point out the mistakes and
weaknesses of the person.
Likewise,
the leader should also be prepared to receive feedback from others, even in the
form of constructive criticism. Being recipient to feedback, the leader gets to
rethink and reflect upon the ideas and strategies. In contrast, being rigid and
not willing to receive feedback will not allow the leader to take in different
perspectives, which may eventually cause a deterrent to achieving the required
the goals.
A
leader is also supposed to give proper guidance to others, helping them to hone
their skills in order to be closer to the vision that has been foreseen. Thus,
the leader is required to be a mentor and coach to others. Coaching and
mentoring skills reflect the nurturing aspect of leadership. It helps in
developing confidence in others, making others believe in themselves, and
enhancing their abilities.
While
interacting with all kinds people, the leader has to deal with the many
disagreements that may arise, either among the team members or between team
members and the leader itself. Such disagreements give rise conflict.
Disagreements, in a way, are a good sign, as they are indicating diverse
perspectives. However, if that comes in the way of accomplishing the larger
goals, then it needs to be taken care of. Thus, dealing with conflict or conflict
management is an important skill of leadership. Especially, in times of
globalization and multiculturalism, the skill of conflict management becomes
very useful.
Depending
on the situation, different conflict management styles can be used. These
strategies or styles can be categorized under a concern for the needs of others
or a concern for one’s own needs. In this regard, conflict can be managed
either by passive, aggressive, or assertive behavior.
In
avoiding style of conflict management, the individual passively ignores
the issue, wherein the relationship is maintained, but somewhere the conflict
remains unresolved. In accommodating style of conflict management, the
individual passively gives in to the other person, ignoring one’s needs and
going along with the other ones. In forcing style of conflict
management, the individual aggressively gets his or her own way. The person may
seem to be uncooperative, but caters to his or her own needs, and decision is
made easily.
In
the negotiating style of conflict management, the individual is being
assertive, using give-and-take concessions. In this, the decision is made
quickly, and relationships are also maintained. However, the decision made may
not be the best possible one, which is why this is also called the compromising
style of conflict management. Finally, in the collaborative style of
conflict management, the individual is being assertive to jointly resolve the
conflict with the best possible solution. This is also called the problem-solving
style.
All
the conflict management styles can be used, depending on the appropriateness
and requirements of the situation. The collaborating style, however, is the
most difficult, as it involves a lot of cooperation, and there is a will to get
the best solution. Leaders are advised to get training in using to the
collaborative style of conflict management.
As
leadership involves the processes of relationship development and trust, these
wide range of interpersonal and communication skills turn out to be fruitful.
These skills also help in clearing the misconception that only extroverts can
be good leaders. It is believed that leaders need to be good speakers, which is
why introverts, who are generally hesitant, are not fit to be good leaders.
This
is clearly inaccurate, because as mentioned above, leadership involves skills
that are beyond being a mere good speaker. Additionally, the skills such as good
listener, empathy, mentoring, and even the collaborative conflict management
style are associated with introversion. Authors like Susan Cain and Jennifer
Kahnweiler have suggested that introverts can be very effective leaders, at
times better than extroverts. Many of the world leaders such as M. K. Gandhi,
Barack Obama, and Bill Gates are known to be introverts.
Leadership
involves being influential and bringing about change. This is both at the
organizational level or at the larger societal level. In this regard, transformational
leadership has been found to be the most effective, over the years. Introduced
as a concept by James McGregor Burns, transformational leadership involves
bringing about change in individuals as well as social systems.
Transformational
leaders are said to be strong agents of change. They are inspirational, enthusiastic,
and are known to be visionaries. They have the ability to develop strong
connections, creating a collective identity. They redirect the thinking of the
subordinates by creating a sense of purpose.
The
transformational leader understands the strengths and weaknesses of the
subordinates, making it easier to assign tasks. Such leaders enhance the
motivation and boost the morale of the subordinates, increasing the performance
levels. The defining feature of the transformational leader is that they
develop new leaders.
Transformational
leaders are often found to be similar to charismatic leaders. However, the
difference lies in that, unlike transformational leaders, charismatic leaders
have a self-promotional personality. Charismatic leaders also see themselves as
above of the team, often believing more in themselves rather than the team. The
approach of transformational leadership is being widely used, in the past few
years.
A
more recent and widely used approach to leadership is the emotionally
intelligent leader. This approach was described by Daniel Goleman, Richard
Boyatzis, and Annie McKee, in their book Primal Leadership. The approach
of the emotionally intelligent leader is based on the theory of emotional
intelligence, which was introduced by Peter Salovey and John Mayer, and
popularized by Daniel Goleman.
Emotional
intelligence is the ability to understand and manage emotions of oneself and
others, motivating oneself and others, and handling relationships. It involves
self-awareness, self-management, social awareness (empathy), and relationship
management. Based on the theory of emotional intelligence, Goleman, Boyatzis,
and McKee described six leadership styles, which are visionary, coaching,
affiliative, democratic, pace-setting, and commanding.
The
visionary leadership style is one in which the leader inspires and is
someone who strongly believes in his or her vision. The leader also believes in
openly sharing information. The coaching leadership style is one in
which the leader is a good listener, helps others to identify their strengths
and weaknesses, and even counsels them. The affiliative leadership style
is one in which the leader promotes harmony, is empathetic, boosts the morale
of others, and resolves conflicts.
In
the democratic leadership style, the leader is an active listener, a
team worker, and a collaborator. In the pace-setting leadership style,
the leader has a strong drive to achieve, and takes initiative. In the commanding
leadership style, the leader monitors others, and exerts a tight control on
others.
All
six of the leadership styles can be used by the same leader, depending on the
situation, the requirements, and the type of subordinates. Each of these styles
are equally important in their own way. It cannot be said that one can be
better than the other.
As
the emotionally intelligent leader has characteristics of empathy, relationship
management, and conflict resolution, they are known to be strong proponents of
social justice. This strong belief in social justice makes the emotionally
intelligent leader suitable and effective in dealing with diversity. It makes
them to be accepted by a wide range of people, which turns out to be highly
advantageous in bringing about change and being a visionary.
The
approach of the emotionally intelligent leader has been found to very similar
to transformational leadership. There is a whole lot of research that suggests
that transformational leaders are high in emotional intelligence. Thus, there
is a strong correlation between transformational leadership and the emotionally
intelligent leader.
Leadership
is a multifaceted process. It involves a number of skills, which are helpful in
bringing about change in the individual, organization, and the society. The
approaches of transformational leadership and the emotionally intelligent
leader are highly popular, widely used, and have been found to be highly
effective.
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