Leadership Roles And Responsibilities

Leadership Roles and Responsibilities

University of Phoenix

Monique Amilcar

Introduction

Supervising is like parenting. These are two of the most important jobs any one can do, but few people are adequately prepared or trained to do them. Most people learn by trial and error with varying degrees of success. But both jobs are far too important to be left to chance and the good news is that you can learn with some help and guidance how to be successful in them.

Leader's Role

A role is a main activity or two that you are charged with undertaking. What is a leader? The answers could be: to provide leadership and collaborative direction to ones staff; Ð'* to be a team leader Ð'* to ensure the staff has the human and physical resources to undertake their work in an efficient manner (Bateman & Snell, 2007).

New Ways of Leading

Over the years, the role of a leader has changed from just coaching to being a motivator. A leader needs to be able to do many things from ordering to asking question; and consulting, from telling to listening, they also need to a little policing and coaching people on his team. A leader does not fear mutual respect from anyone (Bateman & Snell, 2007). This change has come about, not because people are becoming "soft-hearted," but because it is now very clear that people are more productive if they are happy, motivated and upbeat. This takes place in an employee-friendly environment. The change is one of enlightened self-interest on the part of managers who decide what training is appropriate for their supervisors. They know that happy employees are productive employees.

Without having a clear idea of what is acceptable behavior for a leader, one may be likely to have employees that model their behavior after some role model in their life: such as a parent, a teacher, a boss. This could be good; but it could be disastrous if any of these people are dictatorial and demanding, or weak and indecisive. A major benefit of leadership training is that it provides someone with guidelines about what is acceptable leadership behavior, and what is not. It may also provide someone with the skills to bring about a positive behavioral change in their subordinates. Once someone knows what a positive change is, it is possible for a leader to be more confident in what they do, because another leader or supervisor won't be wondering whether or not the leader is taking the right action. Also, if you train with other leaders, they may all learn the same skill set and be able to help each other in the future when challenges arise.

Most leaders have a clear understanding of what their Company's goals and objectives are and how their role fits into the goals of the Company. Most leaders have a clear vision of the objectives in their area (Kumle & Kelly, 2006). It is up to that leader to communicate that Company objectives and goals to the people under them on a regular basis and provide them frequent feedback to help encourage their development and the achievement of their goals and objectives. When the leader does recognize and celebrate their team's successes it helps their team members feel like they are the most important assets on the team or in the organization. Example of this effective leadership is when a leader is working effectively on developing a positive self-image. Leaders own enthusiasm may increase the desire of their own team to do better

Leadership Roles

Working with a manager a leader may want to have a written plan or personal performance goals which should be agreed upon by that leader and manager to whom they report(Taffinder 2006). By doing this when the leader works with their team on a regular to set and support their personal goals within the workplace it helps to not only development the leader's performance plan but the subordinates as well (Taffinder 2006). It also helps with the long and shorter-term goals of everyone involved. Another major role for the leader is to review the progress of their team goals regularly. They need ensure that the members of their team know on a regular basis the status of the Company's goal achievement. By making sure that the leaders goals for themselves and their team tie into the Company's goals. By setting goals that stretch and challenge their team they are more likely to achieve a high proportion of the goals that are set.

It is the responsibility