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Four (4) elements of Transformational Leadership
Characteristics of a leader and follower
Leadership approaches and theories
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Recommended: Four (4) elements of Transformational Leadership
Leadership Characteristics
Leadership is a dynamic and interesting topic. There have been hundreds of studies done on the subject, and many seek to find out why some leadership styles are better than others. Other studies attempt to look into the personality traits of certain leaders to find any defining characteristics that makes them stand out among their peers. The information gathered here is from all over the world, and from multiple disciplines. In all of these studies, common themes begin to arise from the data. Coaches, managers, team leaders and experts in the field of study, all agree that these main three topics are crucial for effectively leading any group of people. Building trust, communicating effectively, and looking towards
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Studies show that gaining the trust of a group of individuals is critical to become an effective leader. It is the foundation that forms the team. “Developing a leadership style that produces trust is the ultimate root and source of influencing another” (Gaiter, 2013 p. 324). This rings true in any leadership role. Any coach, pastor, or department manager needs to understand that building trust takes time and effective leadership is a time consuming task. Leaders are always being watched by their teams and leaders must always act with integrity and honesty while trying to better the team he or she leads (Gaiter, 2013). Once trust has been built between leadership and their peers, productivity, team cooperation and morale have been shown to increase dramatically.
The very core of effective leadership comes down to being a morally upright individual. Studies show that gaining the trust of a group of individuals is critical to become an effective leader. It is the foundation that forms the
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Looking ahead to determine things that may become issues beforehand, is a characteristic of a good leadership. Leaders cannot be afraid of change. Looking ahead to make sure that the team will not face issue in the future is mandatory. Putting off something because it will be difficult will not help the team. Transformational leaders excel at shaking up the status quo by improving the current processes by working hand in hand with his or her team (Gaiter, 2013 pp. 235-236). Leaders must always strive to better themselves through education and practice. Studies show that being an intrinsically motivated individual is critical to continue growing in knowledge and expertise (Ryan & Deci, 2002). Leadership skills are like anything, they must be honed and refined through experimentation and practice. There are debates whether leaders are born or made, but studies have clearly shown that anyone with genuine interest for the wellbeing of his or her team can become an effective leader with time, education, and
The role of a leader is often inaccurately defined as an individual who is in a position to give orders. However, there are enormous differences in the attributes of an outstanding leader, and one of mediocrity. An outstanding leader, above all else, is a role model for their peers. In doing so, a leader of the highest caliber is trustworthy in both their peer’s trust for the leader as well as the leader’s trust of their peers. A leader must also display exceptional skill in communication which transcends speaking and, more importantly, includes listening and consideration to the ideas presented to them. Furthermore, a leader must be supportive of and willing to help their peers build their own strengths. The attributes listed above represent only a small subset of what makes an outstanding leader. Yet,
Leadership is a quality which cannot be acquired by any person from the other but it can be acquired by self-determination of a person. Leadership can best be called the personality of the very highest ability-whether in ruling, thinking, imagining, innovation, warring, or religious influencing. Leadership is practiced not so much in words a it is in attitude and in actions. Their actions leave a long lasting memory in the line of history and lead up to may events that occur today. To be a leader one will need many qualities. Leaders have a purpose and strategies to accomplish that purpose. They are driven and motivated. In the end they should be able to attain good results. These innate talents help to make up a leader that will succeed and be efficient in carrying out tasks. But, the purpose of this paper is determine what truly makes a leader successful. A successful leader should be considered more on their impact rather than their accomplishments of their organizations alone for they are not sufficient in determining the key to their success .
Lastly, the key to successful leadership is getting all of one’s followers on their side. In order to achieve this, leaders must gain all their followers trust. Bennis outlines four key elements to gain this trust. Primarily, constancy must be enforced. Leaders must stay the course. Second, congruity is essential. This is so the leaders can “walk the talk.” Third, reliability is needed so that leaders are present when it matters most. Lastly, leaders honor their commitments through integrity. All of these important, aspects gain the trust of their followers by their side.
Throughout history, there have been great leaders: civil rights leaders, business leaders, and spiritual leaders who have inspired millions. Leaders and visionaries such as John Lennon or Martin Luther King Jr. fought for unity, love, and made an impact on people through their speeches or songs. Watching these great men touch the hearts of millions has brought out a desire for me to become a C.E.O. and an important leader in the life of others. Not only do leaders have knowledge in politics, in emotional values, and spread a certain message or “vision” to their followers or co-workers, but they have certain special characteristics which make them great leaders or heroes. So, what makes these people different from you and me? Could it be that they are better looking? Perhaps they speak in parables or give great speeches? People have often said to me that a good leader is a person who guides both physically and mentally. Going to the job shadowing program has given me an opportunity to broaden my view on how efficient and effective a good leader can be in the work place. Something that has been shown to me in my many interviews with the board of directors has been that every leader must have the capability to have integrity, listen, a vision, and must be responsible.
What is a leader? In times of crisis the ultimate survival of a group depends on the leader, or person who steps forward to take control, direct others, and maintain order. Although in today's society people are judged based on their appearance, yet looks have no influence on whether or not a person is capable of being a successful leader. Instead, good leadership is based on the individual skills and traits that the person possesses. The characters Ralph, Jack, Simon, and Piggy in William Golding's Lord of the Flies are perfect examples of people who may not be the best looking physically, but who despite this have the superior qualities to be an excellent leader.
In taking a further look into the article Ten Traits of effective leaders, leaders are often taught skills to help create a successful leadership style. An effective leadership style is supportive in addition to directive. As a leader it’s not enough to have leadership sense. You must understand your employees. Once you have established a connection as a leader you gain a strong logic of what employees are looking for in a company. For exa...
After completing the “Leadership Style Questionnaire” and analyzing my results, I have learned what my preferred leadership style is and how that influences how I lead and may be perceived from members of the group. From the results attained from the questionnaire, my preferred style of leadership is directing. This type of leadership style is best for individuals who have a low competency and high commitment level. These types of leaders are highly focused on tasks and less focused on relationships. They make decisions without consulting with the group and communicate without regarding the group’s concerns or suggestions. This type of leader also supervises the followers intently. They are very successful in creating objectives for each follower and the group as a whole to guide the group in reaching a certain goal.
Enable Others to Act – leaders actively engage individuals and make an effort to generate an ambience of trust and self-esteem.
Engendering trust is an important factor for organizational success and the welfare of its employees; however, encouraging and maintaining trust can be difficult and demanding at times. Trust is essential to an effective team. A team lacking trust isn't really a team at all, it's just a group of people who work together. They unsuccessfully communicate with one another effectively, fail to share important information, and they often don't cooperate or work well with one another. As a result, they are not cohesive, nor do they collaborate efficiently as a group.
A leader should have substantial influence in creating and developing trust in his team. By studying biblical scriptures, and other authors’ recommendations, I believe below three act as important recommendations for a modern leader.
To become a truly effective leader, one must encapsulate the various behaviors related to the aforementioned course learnings in his/her persona and demonstrate such behaviors daily. This course has allowed me to identify four behaviors that all leaders must portray to be effective. The first of which is that a leader must be inspirational. To do so, a leader must set the appropriate vision and direction for the organization and provide a path to achieving defined goals. Additionally, a leader must induce the proper levels of motivation so that each employee has sufficient incentive to work towards the organization’s goals. As discussed in the class, motivation can be accomplished by factors such as rewarding hard work and providing the correct opportunities to employees. While these are motivating in that employees desire to be fairly compensated and to be doing work they deem valuable, inspiration comes more from organizational culture. A leader will be inspirational by setting a tone that appreciates each employee’s contribution, no matter how small in scale it is. Further, employees are inspired when they work collaboratively in a group setting and can capitalize on individual strengths to drive organizational goals.
As a growing debate, the question at hand is whether great leaders are born with specific leadership traits, or if one can be taught certain traits over time. According to (Wikipedia.com) the approach of listing leadership qualities, often termed "trait theory of leadership", assumes certain traits or characteristics will tend to lead to effective leadership. I believe that leadership traits such as honest, competent, initiative, inspiring, hardworking, intelligent, and the ability to lead the masses, are some of the leadership traits one should possess. Within this paper, I will examine the overall concept of leadership traits, while observing the traits that were, or can be associated with successful leaders.
”Leadership involves the exhibition of style or behavior by managers or supervisors while dealing with subordinates; leadership is a critical determinant of the employees ' actions toward the achievement of the organizational goals” (Saeed, Almas, Anis-ul-Haq, & Niazi, 2014). Leadership is a strength that initiates, inspires, and guides the cooperation and attitudes of others on the way to set vision. Leadership is influential and involves several styles of approaches that involve trust, accomplishment and focus to reach a projected result. Using and implementing the ideas of others motivates new thinking and gains the confidence to build the trust and encourage everyone to work to the same goals (Northouse,
Leadership is defined as a process by which an individual influences others to obtain goals. There are three aspects that should be addressed when explaining leadership. One aspect is that leadership is a social influence process; leadership could not exist without a leader and one or more followers. Another leadership aspect is compliance; all of the leader’s directions must be complied with voluntarily. Compliance is what separates leadership from other influence-based formal authority. Finally, leadership results in the followers’ behavior, that is purposeful and goal-directed which must be in some organized setting (Leadership Theories and Studies, 2009).
Trust is built by trusting team members and communicate about any issues that arises in the team. You would make commitment and believe in your ability to get the job done.