“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.”

 –John Quincy Adams

There is probably no topic more important to business success today than leadership, the concept of leadership continues to evolve as the needs of organizations change, thus leadership is the ability to influence others, gain their trust, and motivate them to make every effort to achieve goals in a dynamic and challenging business environment.

What is leadership?

Leadership in business:

Leadership is “The art of getting someone else to do something you want to be done because he wants to do it.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower, former U.S. President, Thus it is the ability to influence others to get on board and get the work done, which requires a set of personal traits along with managerial competencies.

What leadership qualities are?

Characteristics of leadership:

Mental and spiritual qualities of leaders:

From the previous definition, it is clear that there is a set of personality traits that must be in a leader. (Genevieve Capowski) has determined a set of mental and spiritual qualities in leaders and called them (mind and soul):

Personal characteristics of leaders:

However, Bernard M. Bass has defined a set of personal characteristics in a leader based on six aspects of personality:

1. Physical characteristics:

• Activity
• Energy

2. Intelligence and ability:

• Judgment, Decisiveness
• Knowledge
• Fluency of speech

3. Personality:

• Alertness
• Originality, Creativity.
• Personal integrity, ethical conduct
• Self-confidence.

4. Social background:

• Mobility

5. Social characteristics:

• Ability to enlist cooperation.
• Cooperativeness.
• Popularity, prestige.
• Sociability, interpersonal skills.
• Social participation.
• Tact, diplomacy.

6.  Work related characteristics:

• Achievement drive
• Drive for responsibility
• Responsibility in pursuit of goals.
• Task orientation.

Managerial competencies of leaders:

• Comprehensive knowledge of management principles and the most important modern intellectual trends.
• The ability to transfer the science and knowledge of management to the reality by practical application.
• The ability to keep abreast of developments in the management environment and adapt to them.

Leadership skills ladder:

• Conceptual skills: The ability to see the organization as a whole and its interrelationships.
• Human skills: The ability to work with and through other people, and to work effectively as a group member.
• Technical skills: The experience and proficiency in performance of specific tasks.

Learn more about management levels Click here

What are the manager’s roles?

• There are ten main roles managers perform to maintain effectiveness and efficiency of their organizations:

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Leadership and management:

Leadership and management don’t conflict unlike trending opinions about the relationship between them are like the good and bad, therefore In 2004 Buchanan and Huczynski have set four main factors to address leadership and management functions as complementary elements to each other:

1. Creating an agenda.
2. Developing people.
3. Execution.
4. Outcomes.

• Leadership functions:

1. Creating and agenda: Establishing direction, vision of the future and develop strategies for change to achieve goals.
2. Developing people: Aligning people, communicate vision and strategy and influence creation of teams which accept validity of goals.
3. Execution: Motivating and inspiring, energize people to overcome obstacles and fulfill human needs.
4. Outcomes: Motivated employees, innovation and high level of efficiency.

• Management functions:

1. Creating and agenda: Plans and budgets, decide action plans and timetables in addition to allocating resources.
2. Developing people: Organizing and staffing, decide structure and allocate staff, develop policies, procedures and monitoring.
3. Execution: Controlling, problem solving, monitor results against plan and take corrective action.
4. Outcomes: Produces order, Consistency and predictability.

You may learn more about leadership and management through this article: Another perspective in the leadership management dilemma

Leadership functions:

1. Creating and agenda: Establishing direction, vision of the future and develop strategies for change to achieve goals.
2. Developing people: Aligning people, communicate vision and strategy and influence creation of teams which accept validity of goals.
3. Execution: Motivating and inspiring, energize people to overcome obstacles and fulfill human needs.
4. Outcomes: Motivated employees, innovation and high level of efficiency.

Management functions:

1. Creating and agenda: Plans and budgets, decide action plans and timetables in addition to allocating resources.
2. Developing people: Organizing and staffing, decide structure and allocate staff, develop policies, procedures and monitoring.
3. Execution: Controlling, problem solving, monitor results against plan and take corrective action.
4. Outcomes: Produces order, Consistency and predictability.

Sources of power:

Power is the potential ability to influence others’ behavior, thus there are different methods leaders can use to achieve that influence:

• Bureaucracy and legitimacy.
• Coercive.
• Reward.
• Experience, skill and competency.
• Emotions.
• Charisma.

Therefore, there are different leadership styles that can be used according to the situation, risk, and the type of subordinates:

1. Autocratic leader: A leader who tends to centralize authority and rely on legitimate, reward and coercive power to manage subordinates.
2. Democratic leader: A leader who delegates authority to others, encourages participation, and relies on expert and referent power to manage subordinates.

The situational theory of leadership:

 A contingency approach to leadership links the leader’s behavioral style with the task readiness of subordinates. According to the situational theory, there are four types of leadership depending on the situation which the leader should decide which situation to take according to two main factors:

1. The Situation:

Situations often govern the decisions of the leader or his/her leadership style according to the importance of the decision and the eligibility to take it, as well as the extent of its impact, whether inside or outside the organization.

2. The readiness of the subordinate:

The readiness of the subordinate depends on his/her capabilities, whether his/her personal experience or administrative competencies, in addition to qualification and training to perform some administrative and leadership tasks.

The Leadership four styles:

According to Gary A. Yuki in his book (Leadership in Organizations), leaders use different methods according to the situation or the nature of the subordinate as well as the desired effect and expected results.  These methods can be grouped into four basic styles:

1. Supportive leadership
2. Directive leadership
3. Achievement-Oriented leadership
4. Participative leadership

New leadership approach: Transformational leadership:

Leaders within the organization must transform the vision into action. A transformational leader is distinguished by a special ability to drive innovation and change thus aligning his/her team to achieve a greater goal than themselves. Such types of leaders are usually critical thinkers and decision-makers and often emerge in crises and critical situations as they step forward and volunteer to lead when nobody wants to regardless of the chain of command or the vertical hierarchy.

Do and do not in leadership

Conclusion:

Leadership is an ability to motivate and influence others through various approaches either charismatic or administrative, however, successful leaders adopt the right strategy according to the situation they are dealing with along with the readiness of their subordinates. “The core leadership strategy is simple: Be a model” – Peter M. Senge.