Being a leader to a team or having a leadership quality is something everybody should possess from within us. One should be able to guide and support their teammates or group members in their work. He/she should be able to collaborate and have a good rapport with the team mates.
Because commitment and hard work in work by team members and its leader leads to creation of an extraordinary team guided by a champion of a leader.
As said by Chester I Barnard a famous business executive “Leadership is the quality of behavior of individuals whereby they guide people or their activities in organizing efforts” a person’s leadership quality is based on his/her behavior quality whether they are patient enough to be a good orator and can also provide thorough and proper explanation about their project then 100% success can be achieved.
Also if a leader is able give the boost and confidence to his/her subordinates to work with full awareness about the concept of the work and help them whenever they require help. Theo Haimann, German management educator defines “leadership as a process by which an executive imaginatively directs guides and influences the work of others in attaining specified goals”.
Leadership may also be defined as a position of authority held by an individual in a group which provides him/her with an opportunity to exercise interpersonal influence on the teammates. The leader is a person in the centre who keeps the entire team together and helps them in improving their work and reach toward the ultimate goal: success. (source)
He/she (leader) emerges to top position through his virtuous and strong personality who can build his own team and company through creative ideas and thinking. A leader is and should be the source of inspiration to the teammates. This can be achieved through sheer commitment
For instance, a leader of a nation or international standing has command over wide spread influence over a large number of people while in a small group the leader’s influence is limited. But both are perfect in their own way and in their own way they fulfill the definition of leadership.
The process of leadership can be influential because the leader is in a position to shape regulate, control and change the attitudes, behaviors and performance of the his/her groups. Sometime the leader has to let go of his/her judgment and discretion for their group members’ sake so that all the members are felt that they are treated equally. This sort of relationship is characterized by interpersonal and social interaction.
There are few bases of power by virtue of which he is in a position to influence the behavior of group members. They are:
- Knowledge , informative and experience
- Resources for dispensing favors, rewards and penalties
- Formal authority
- Charisma
- Distinct personality like dominating, ability to establish rapport, skill to communicate, identity with and understanding of people, decisiveness and so on.
Skilful use of these powers by the leaders is what makes him/her achieve success. A successful leader gains more credibility. Successful leader gains credibility when he/she is able to resolve the problems faced his teammates/group during the completion of the project/work. With great power come great responsibilities. Leaders who can handle the responsibility with ease are considered to be having good leadership quality. But there is one thing power can be misused if the only aim of the leader is causing harm to the company/ society.
Highlights of good leadership
There are certain highlights that can make a person an able leader. They are as follows:
- Effective direction
An organization comes into being with certain objectives and to attain these objectives there needs to be a good direction. This direction of the organization can be availed from a hard working brilliant leadership. In other words effective leadership is what an organization/company needs to be run in methodical way to gain their long-term goals.
- Source of Motivation
A good leadership is source of motivation and inspiration with team efforts. Effective leadership motivates the teammates/group members. This in turn can lead to more output in terms of company/organizational profits.
- Confidence
Good leadership creates a sense of faith by giving proper guidance and advice
- High Morale
Great and effective leadership boosts the morale of the employees and team members which in turn helps in contributing higher productivity.
- Development of team spirit
A good leader should have the capability to enhance team-spirit and team work which are quite important for success of an organization/company.
- Encouraging initiative
A broad minded, forward leader always will reinforce the initiative on the part of the team members/ team mates.
- Overcoming resistance to change
An abled leader is smart enough to overcome the resistance, also encourage his/her teammates to handle the organizational changes. This is important for both enterprises and employees.
- Leadership depends upon personal traits
- Situational
- Leadership vs. management
- Leadership is a function
A good leadership is a function of the leader, team mates and the situations is like this:
L = f (l, f, s)
Leadership is determined by characteristics of the particular leader, team and situation that exist in an organization.
- Role Model
Leaders are considers as role models for their teammates/group members. The team mates/group members will not supportive unless and until the team leader is supportive. The leaders should be cooperative with their teammates/group members if they want their teammates to cooperate with the leader. It’s actually a give and take policy, give respect take respect in other words. That is if the leader respects the ideas of his/ her team members/group members they will respect the leader’s opinions.
- Leaders are also followers
Sometimes leaders have to be good team member so that he/she can understand and analyze his/her team members easily. How to be good team member can be learned from an abled leader who can be role model to them by being a good listener and a helping hand to his/her team mates/group members.
- Pervasive function
Leadership is not only related to business organizations but also for other commercial establishments. When a person influences the behavior of others, there perfect leadership takes place. Educational institutions, charitable organization, military organization and hospitals etc needs strong leadership one time or the other.
- Leaders should have followers
A person can known be a leader if he/she has followers/ team members. That is if the team mates/ group members are willing to be under the guidance of leaders. It is then the leaders become true leaders.
- Leadership and power
A leader derives great influence to the behavior of others through power. He/ she can get power from different sources they are:
- Legitimate power
Legitimate power is the power obtained by the position in the organizational hierarchy. An employee knows when his/her superiors have power to issue him directions.
- Reward power
It is the power to give reward in the form of bonus, increments, promotion etc. for positive alms to organizational goals.
- Coercive power
Coercive power is nothing but the power to punish undesirable tasks. The team members/group members can be provided salary or a bonus vacation to ensure the teammates/ group members will be with the leader
- Expert Power
Leader enjoys the expert power by virtue of his/her expertise and skill. A tax expert for example can solve tax related matters to his/her team mates/group members.
- Information power
Information power is nothing but to have access to organizational information. The more information one has about his/her organization, the more informational power he/she has.
- Referent power
While all the other three powers, referent power is abstract based on identification, loyalty and intimation. A person becomes abled leader because of his/her skills and traits. Many people follow the leaders because they like to collaborated themselves with experts.
- Connection power
Leaders enjoy the power because they have vast connection with influential people. As per recent trends people follow a superior who has contacts with people of high social and economic influence.
- Leadership aims at goal achievement
In general leaders are dynamic persons who can set high standards of performance. Also they help in achieving the set targets. They guide their team mates toward target achievement.
Why there is a need for Leadership
Ever thought why we need a good leadership here are the reasons:
- Task support
Support of leaders to their team mates by assembling organizational resources and help them in completing their tasks.
- Psychological support
True leaders help their team mates/group members accomplish their tasks and helps in promoting their teammates/group members with zeal and confidence.
- Develops individuals
Willingness, enthusiasm and confidence that leaders built in the team mates for accomplishment of individual and organizational goals with result in their growth and development.
- Other important reasons are; Builds team spirit, Motivation, Provides feed backs, Facilitates changes and maintain discipline