Table of Contents
The term leadership can be defined differently by different people. A leader is an individual who has the ability to apply his qualities to make others move towards a given goal. Each person can approach the issue of leadership from their experience, their knowledge or their scope of profession. However, in all definitions several aspects of leadership stand out. First, there should be the presence of leaders with the ability to influence others; secondly, leadership occurs where followers exist to be led (Doyle, 2001). Another aspect that is present in all the observations is that leadership comes to action when there is a crisis and lastly, in order to have effective leadership, the leader must possess behaviors, traits and a sense of purpose both in their lives and on their service to others. In this study, we are defining the term leadership as the ‘ability of some individuals to take action in a time of crisis in order to influence others in a positive way so that there is an accomplishment of a shared vision. There are various levels of leadership that are taken into consideration in this study which include the traits of the leaders, their behaviors and their sense of purpose in their actions.
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Believes and Values
Leadership in any field should be based on a foundation that is strong and purposeful. The foundation, as the first level, mainly depends on the values and beliefs that the leaders themselves posses. Since the leaders have to have clear cut principle, they must also be in a position to make those that they lead not only to accept them, but have an ease in operating with the principles. As Millard (2008) notes all leaders must posses the core value of integrity. It’s the genuine approach to controversial issues that are faced leadership and leaders in the most open and transparent way. Initiative is another value vital to leadership. It’s the ability for leaders to come up with creative ideas so that a given challenge can be solved in the most efficient and effective manner. Self confidence is a value that enables leaders to convince others without fear or intimidation.
Other values that are vital in leadership include intelligence and knowledge. All leaders must have necessary facts at hand to be able to make good judgment. Strategic decisions ought to be made based on sound knowledge and facts because they affect the long term survival of a business, entity organisation or a family setting, so facts must be accurate to make those decisions. Intelligence enables leaders to predict and analyze situations before making decisions. Skilled decisiveness and physical stamina are other values that compliment the core values of the leaders as they enable leaders have a notch higher that those they lead.
Behaviors and traits
The conduct leaders; how they carry themselves and how they relate to the people they lead is also critical. Some behavior exhibited by leaders may elaborate all or several characteristics among those listed above. People with integrity are trustworthy and exhibit openness and transparency as the go about their roles. This value makes them stand out as reliable and understanding. Certainly they have a lot of concerns towards achieving what they are called upon to do. The ability of leaders to develop proper initiative with a lot of creativity makes them directive leaders defining the direction to be taken by the led. This kind of behavior gives a definite clear destination or mission of a given organisation.
Another leadership behavior that is a product of the above characteristics is the concern for others. If leaders have the interests of others at heart they will prioritize the present and the future of the lead. As such, proper actions by leaders today make it possible for the lead to have a better tomorrow. Fairness and knowledge on the part of the leaders as the deal with subject can enable them illustrate their concerns for the subjects and they empower the subjects in preparation for future challenges and their wellbeing.
Being intelligent impart to the leaders the behavior of taking intelligent risks as well as avoid mistakes while making decisions. According Brown et, al (2003), Good leaders empower, encourage and prepare their followers for future eventualities. In this regard, being clever or wise enables the leader make choices that is three fold, one to himself, his followers and lastly to the organization’s general well being.
Sense of purpose
All these behaviors make it possible for leadership to achieve short term and long term goals for common good. Transparency derived from the integrity of leaders makes internal or external stakeholders of an organisation have a lasting relationship with each others. The internal stakeholder includes workers, employees, the support staff and the lower management level. The external stakeholders on the other hand include the customers, creditors, competitors, partners and so on. The integrity of top management harnesses all these parties and makes them feel compelled to be associated the organisation. This increases the volumes of business as it proves to be the trustworthiness of the leaders. Integrity also makes the business thrive because there is a general employment of workers on the basis of merit which include the employment of workers in the firm transparency in the awarding of tenders so on.
Certainly the concern leaders express toward their responsibilities and their junior serves as an example to be copied by the led and future leaders. This means each one tries to put the best into the work having in mind that their leaders have their future interests at heart. The behavior of directive approach by leaders gives the followers a sense of mission and possible vision.
Having seen the values and the qualities of good leaders and what such leadership can achieve for the led and the society in general, every person who takes a leadership position must cultivate a good approach issues that is responsive to all specific area within their domain.
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