Modern Day Leadership: The Challenges Of Team Leadership

Leadership constantly presents challenges to the leader’s abilities. Changes occur in the organization environment, disrupting the equilibrium. The approach a leader uses to handle and manage challenges effectively, greatly determine the success of the organization (Hall and Hord, 2006). In the modern-day organizations, challenges come in the form of people and obstacles that prevent the organization from reaching its goals. Moreover, there are a lot of complexity and unpredictability. New set of skills is required for the organization to stay competitive and achieve the set goals. Hence, the life of a modern-day leader is more demanding than ever (Kouzes and Posner, 2006).

The challenges facing leaders are of three kinds: external, internal and those arising from the nature of the leadership role. The external challenges stem from the fact organization faces lack of funds, economic, social and political forces (Kanter, 2003). The leader must be able to cope up with crises that threaten the survival of the firm. On the other hand,

Conflict is a difference in opinion. The leader must devise ways of dealing with conflict in the team. The focus is to promote a healthy discussion that does not lead to division in the team . The team members come from different department and thus may have differing opinion on tackling the problem. The leader should be able to reconcile the different opinions into one strategy. In such cases, the negotiation skill becomes vital (Harrison, 1971). The leader must negotiate with the team member to strike a balance on the decision. Furthermore, the decision made by the team must be presented to the management and approved. The leader must convince the management that the proposal is viable, and its implementation will be beneficial to the organisation. The ability of the leader to negotiate for resources will enhance the success of the