Effective Leadership and Different Ways of Leading

A simple definition is that leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal. This definition, I think, captures the leadership essentials of inspiration and preparation. Effective leadership is based upon ideas, but won't happen unless those ideas can be communicated to others in a way that engages them. Put even more simply, the leader is the inspiration and director of the action. He is the person in the group that possesses the combination of personality and leadership skills that makes others want to follow his direction.

In business, leadership is welded to performance. Those who are viewed as effective leaders are those who increase their company's bottom lines.

To further confuse the definition of leadership, we tend to use the terms "leadership" and "management" interchangeably, referring to a company's management structure as its leadership, or to individuals who are actually managers as the "leaders" of various management teams. I am not saying that this is a bad thing; just pointing out that leadership involves more.

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To be effective, a leader certainly has to manage the resources at his/her disposal. But leadership also involves communicating, inspiring and supervising. Is a leader born or made? While there are people who seem to be naturally endowed with more leadership abilities than others, I believe that people can learn to become leaders by improving particular skills. "Leadership is a winning combination of personal traits and the ability to think and act as a leader, a person who directs the activities of others for the good of all.

Anyone can be a leader..."

Leading Leaders:
Leading Leaders’ primary focus is to create dramatically improved performance and life satisfaction for people, by helping them understand who they are first and then where they are gifted. Then turning those abilities into
their strongest contribution to the world.

Follower Leader:
what does a great follower need?
1. They must be clear. They understand their role. You can’t be a good follower unless you have clearly identified the leader. While you may be a leader in your own realm, everyone has a boss including you. Great followers not only accept this fact but embrace it.
2. They must be obedient. While obedience may be a politically incorrect concept, it is essential for organizational effectiveness. No one should be allowed to give orders who can’t obey orders. This is how great leaders model to their own followers the standards of acceptable behaviour.
3. They must be servants. This is crucial. Great followers are observant. They notice what needs to be done to help the leader accomplish his or her goals. Then they do it joyfully, without grumbling or complaining.
4. They must be humble. Great followers don’t make it about them. They are humble. They shine the light on the leader. They make their own boss look good especially in front of his or her boss.
5. They must be loyal. Great followers never speak ill of their boss in public. This doesn’t mean they can’t disagree or even criticize. It just means that they don’t do it in public. Great followers understand that public loyalty leads to private influence.

Team Leader:
A team leader is someone who provides guidance, instruction, direction and leadership to a group of other individuals for the purpose of achieving a key result or group of aligned results. The team lead reports to a project manager. The team leader monitors the quantitative and qualitative result that is to be achieved. The leader works with the team membership. The purpose of a leader is to make sure there is leadership … to ensure that all four dimensions of leadership are the four dimensions being: (1) a shared, motivating team purpose or vision or goal (2) action, progress and results (3) collective unity or team spirit (4) attention to individuals.

The team membership may not directly report or answer to the team leader, (who is very often a senior member of the organization but may or may not be a manager) but would be expected to provide support to the team leader and other team members in achieving the team's goals. A good team leader listens constructively to the membership and to the customer(s) of the results that the team is charged with delivering. The responsibilities of a team leader vary greatly between organizations, but usually include some responsibility for team building and ensuring teamwork. The term is used to emphasize the cooperative nature of a team, in contrast to a typical command structure, where the head of a team would be its "commander".

1.2
Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first black president and anti-apartheid icon, has died at the age of 95. There is much to learn from the bold life of Mandela, who taught his country and its people to “walk tall” — as his fellow anti-apartheid campaigner, Archbishop Desmond Tutu put it — despite being imprisoned for 27 years. He was a true leader, in many ways was Nelson Mandela a entrepreneur. Their five key lessons we could learn from Nelsom Madela: For instanse : Believe in yourself .

Even when other leaders called Nelson Mandela a sinner and accused him of treason, he kept fighting for peace and equality. In his trial in 1964, Nelson Mandela said: “I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination.” On how Nelson Madela kept his resolve, he said at Robben Island, Cape Town, on February 11, 1994: “I had no specific belief except that our cause was just, was very strong and it was winning more and more support.”

Speak the truth:
Nelson Mandela always insisted on speaking the truth, even if it would ruffle the feathers of his own supporters. During the bloody fights between ANC supporters and the predominantly Zulu Inkatha movement, he refused to shift the blame to the opposition alone: “There are members of the ANC who are killing our people… We must face the truth. Our people are just as involved as other organisations that are committing violence… We cannot climb to freedom on the corpses of innocent people.” Later, during Nelson Madela’s campaign against AIDS, which had killed his son, he called it “the curse of Africa” even though he knew that would draw anger.

Lead by example:
Mandela’s sense of his own dignity was conspicuous. That was a trait evident all through his years. He said:“I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die,” Nelson Madela had said during his trial. He walked the talk.

Accountability:
Nelson Mandela was a strong believer in accountability in both the private and public sector. In particular, leaders should be held accountable. Nelson Mandela said: “If you want to take an action and you are convinced that this is a correct action, you do so and confront that situation.” HR professionals should be much stronger in striving towards accepting accountability for their work, and not blame line managers and other stakeholders when things go wrong.

Integrity:
In a country still plagued by fraud and corruption, Nelson Mandela’s example reminds us of the importance of integrity. He valued integrity throughout his life. Referring to corruption, he labelled South Africa as a “sick society.” HR professionals should be people of integrity and build ethical organisation cultures to create more ethical organisations and ultimately an ethical society.

2.1.1 Roles And Qualities

Leadership
Management

Definition
Leadership means "the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organizations of which they are members." Management comprises directing and controlling a group of one or more people or entities for the purpose of coordinating and harmonizing that group towards accomplishing a goal. Personality Styles

Are often called brilliant and mercurial, with great charisma. Yet, they are also often seen as loners and private people. They are comfortable taking risks, sometimes seemingly wild and crazy risks. Almost all leaders have high levels of imagination Tend to be rational, under control problem solvers. They often focus on goals, structures, personnel, and availability of resources. Managers’ personalities lean toward persistence, strong will, analysis, and intelligence.