Steps of the Leadership Process

I find a new job an exhilarating feeling! However, when I walk into a new environment the mixed feelings of self-doubt, anxiety, and a tinged of fear. I am knowledgable and quite an expertise in the field of employee development. Yet, the question I always ask myself is how I can influence my new follower to buy into my vision and accomplish the goals at hand. I know good leaders are made not born. Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse, 2013). This definition implies that it is not a trait or characteristic obtained at birth. It is an accessible role available to everyone. Leadership is a process that occurs between the leader and its followers. It is an interactive process where the leader influences followers to achieve a common goal. This article addresses steps that will help you through that process

To inspire your followers into higher levels of collaboration, there are certain things you must be, know, and, do. These do not come naturally, but are acquired through continual work and study. Good leaders are continually working and studying to improve their leadership skills; they are NOT resting on their achievements.

Definition of Leadership

Leadership is complex to define In the past century, more than 10,000 articles have been published about leadership. Through the decades, the complex definition of leadership has intrigued the masses. In the book The Extraordinary Leader, the authors Zenger and Folkman write that there has been no way to define the different constituencies of the leader (Folkman, 2009). According to J.M. Burns, “Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth.” Leadership is a p...

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...n does not necessarily make you a leader. There is a vast difference between an assigned and emergent leader. According to Northhouse, assigned leadership is based on a formal position in an organization. While emergent leadership results from what one does and how one acquires support from followers (Northouse, 2013). Although your position as a manager, supervisor, lead, etc. gives you the authority to accomplish certain tasks and objectives in the organization (called assigned leadership), this power does not make you a leader, it simply makes you in person in a position of authority. Leadership differs in that it makes the followers want to achieve high goals (called emergent leadership), rather than simply bossing people around. Thus you are assigned leadership by your position and you display emergent leadership by influencing people to do great things.