Leadership

Leadership:

Skills necessary to succeed

There is a reason that in this country we pay our CEO's top dollar to manage and make decisions for a company. We think of them as the best possible minds to take a company to the top of their respective market. Companies spend billions of dollars on leadership training. An effective leader can take a failing business and turn it in to a thriving organization. Leaders are not just top managers and people's bosses. All levels of the organizations need leaders. The leaders are needed to not only help the company reach it's goals, but also help the company's employees reach their goals as well. In this essay I will define what a leader should be to an organization. I will also describe the different styles that one can take towards leadership. I would also like to give a real life example of leadership that I was a part of at my job.

The best leaders in today's world do a number of things to help distinguish themselves from the average Joe. The great leaders, challenge the process, inspire a shared vision, enable others to act, model the way, and encourage the heart (Management, 2007, p.394). What do all of these characteristics do? They inspire and motivate. They show the employees that there is a vision and then they motivate that employee to accomplish that vision. If the vision is clearly visible to the staff then they can work towards completing this vision. They also see the potential for growth in the company. If a leader does not put a clear vision into place, then an employee cannot work above and beyond their particular potential. The vision needs to be clear. Not the needs and vision of the leader, but the needs and vision of the organization. Once the vision is in place then that is when the leader can provide the tools and motivation necessary to succeed.

Effective managers are not necessarily true leaders (Management, 2007, p.395). Just because you are a supervisor or and executive that does not mean that you have the necessary skills to be a good leader. Management and leadership are of equal importance, but they need to be dealt with in different ways. Just because they involve different processes does not mean that they require different, separate people (Management, 2007, p.396). The invaluable tool that leaders posses is the ability to make people follow them. To inspire your workers into higher levels of teamwork, there are certain things you must be, know, and, do (Concepts of Leadership). This is different then just having the power to tell people what to do. If you are a good leader, then people will want to follow you and help you succeed. As an effective leader you must play the role of both the leader and follower. You cannot just bark orders around. You must give them the necessary tools to succeed.

There are typically three approaches to leadership. There is the trait approach, which attempts to categorize the traits that great leaders share. This approach assumes that leaders are born and not made. There is also the behavioral approach, which deals with the behavior that great leaders exhibit. The final approach is the situational approach. The situational approach states that effective leadership approaches vary from situation to situation (Management, 2007, p.404). These different examples and styles of leadership are different ways to gauge leadership traits and how to use them most effectively. The most important trait that a leader can have is the ability to accurately analyze the situation and then change accordingly.

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