Definition of Leadership

The meaning of a message is the change which it produces in the image. Kenneth
Boulding in The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society

Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and

directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. This definition is
similar to Northouse's (2007, p3) definition Leadership is a process whereby an individual
influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.

Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership knowledge and skills. This is
called Process Leadership(Jago, 1982). However, we know that we have traits that can influence
our actions. This is called Trait Leadership(Jago, 1982), in that it was once common to believe
that leaders were born rather than made. These two leadership types are shown in the chart below
(Northouse, 2007, p5):

While leadership is learned, the skills and knowledge processed by the leader can be influenced
by his or hers attributes or traits, such as beliefs, values, ethics, and character. Knowledge and
skills contribute directly to theprocess of leadership, while the other attributes give the leader
certain characteristics that make him or her unique.

Skills, knowledge, and attributes make the Leader, which is one of the:
 Four Factors of Leadership

There are four major factors in leadership

Leader

You must have an honest understanding of who you are, what you know, and what you can do.
Also, note that it is the followers, not the leader or someone else who determines if the leader is
successful. If they do not trust or lack confidence in their leader, then they will be uninspired. To
be successful you have to convince your followers, not yourself or your superiors, that you are
worthy of being followed.

Followers

Different people require different styles of leadership. For example, a new hire requires more
supervision than an experienced employee. A person who lacks motivation requires a different
approach than one with a high degree of motivation. You must know your people! The
fundamental starting point is having a good understanding of human nature, such as needs,
emotions, and motivation. You must come to know your employees' be, know, and do attributes.

Communication

You lead through two-way communication. Much of it is nonverbal. For instance, when you set
the example, that communicates to your people that you would not ask them to perform
anything that you would not be willing to do. What and how you communicate either builds or
harms the relationship between you and your employees.

Situation

All situations are different. What you do in one situation will not always work in another. You
must use your judgment to decide the best course of action and the leadership style needed for
each situation. For example, you may need to confront an employee for inappropriate behavior,
but if the confrontation is too late or too early, too harsh or too weak, then the results may prove
ineffective.

Also note that the situation normally has a greater effect on a leader's action than his or her traits.
This is because while traits may have an impressive stability over a period of time, they have
little consistency across situations (Mischel, 1968). This is why a number of leadership scholars
think the Process Theory of Leadership is a more accurate than the Trait Theory of Leadership.
Various forces will affect these four factors. Examples of forces are your relationship with your
seniors, the skill of your followers, the informal leaders within your organization, and how your
organization is organized.

Boss or Leader?

Although your position as a manager, supervisor, lead, etc. gives you the authority to accomplish
certain tasks and objectives in the organization (called Assigned Leadership), this power does not
make you a leader, it simply makes you the boss (Rowe, 2007). Leadership differs in that it
makes the followers want to achieve high goals (calledEmergent Leadership), rather than simply
bossing people around (Rowe, 2007). Thus you get Assigned Leadershipby your position and
you display Emergent Leadership by influencing people to do great things.

Bass' Theory of Leadership

Bass' theory of leadership states that there are three basic ways to explain how people become
leaders (Stogdill, 1989; Bass, 1990). The first two explain the leadership development for a small
number of people. These theories are:

o Some personality traits may lead people naturally into leadership roles. This is the Trait
Theory.
o A crisis or important event may cause a person to rise to the occasion, which brings out
extraordinary leadership qualities in an ordinary person. This is the Great Events Theory.
o People can choose to become leaders. People can learn leadership skills. This is the
Transformational or Process Leadership Theory. It is the most widely accepted theory
today and the premise on which this guide is based.

Total Leadership

What makes a person want to follow a leader? People want to be guided by those they respect
and who have a clear sense of direction. To gain respect, they must be ethical. A sense of
direction is achieved by conveying a strong vision of the future.

When a person is deciding if she respects you as a leader, she does not think about your
attributes, rather, she observes what you do so that she can know who you really are. She uses
this observation to tell if you are an honorable and trusted leader or a self-serving person who
misuses authority to look good and get promoted. Self-serving leaders are not as effective
because their employees only obey them, not follow them. They succeed in many areas because
they present a good image to their seniors at the expense of their workers.

Be Know Do
The basis of good leadership is honorable character and selfless service to your organization. In
your employees' eyes, your leadership is everything you do that effects the organization's
objectives and their well-being. Respected leaders concentrate on (U.S. Army, 1983):

o what they are [be] (such as beliefs and character)

o what they know (such as job, tasks, and human nature)
o what they do (such as implementing, motivating, and providing direction).

What makes a person want to follow a leader? People want to be guided by those they respect
and who have a clear sense of direction. To gain respect, they must be ethical. A sense of
direction is achieved by conveying a strong vision of the future.

The Two Most Important Keys to Effective Leadership

According to a study by the Hay Group, a global management consultancy, there are 75 key
components of employee satisfaction (Lamb, McKee, 2004). They found that:

o Trust and confidence in top leadership was the single most reliable predictor of employee
satisfaction in an organization.
o Effective communication by leadership in three critical areas was the key to winning
organizational trust and confidence:
1. Helping employees understand the company's overall business strategy.
2. Helping employees understand how they contribute to achieving key business
objectives.
3. Sharing information with employees on both how the company is doing and how
an employee's own division is doing relative to strategic business objectives.

So in a nutshell you must be trustworthy and you have to be able to communicate a

vision of where the organization needs to go. The next section, Principles of Leadership, ties in
closely with this key concept.

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How to Build Highly Effective Teams
Too often, teams are formed merely by gathering some people together and then hoping
that those people somehow find a way to work together. Teams are most effective when
carefully designed. To design, develop and support a highly effective team, use the
following guidelines:

1. Set clear goals for the results to be produced by the team.

The goals should be designed to be SMART. This is an acronym for:

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant and
Time-bound.

As much as possible, include input from other members of the organization when designing
and wording these goals. Goals might be, for example, to produce a project report that
includes a project plan, schedule and budget to develop and test a complete employee
performance management system within the next year. Write these goals down for
eventual communication to and discussion with all team members.

2. Set clear objectives for measuring the ongoing effectiveness of the

team.

The objectives, that together achieve the overall goals, should also be designed to be
SMART. Objectives might be, for example, to a) to produce a draft of a project report
during the first four weeks of team activities, and b) achieve Board-approval of the
proposed performance management system during the next four weeks. Also, write these
objectives down for eventual communication to and discussion with all team members.

3. Define a mechanism for clear and consistent communications among

team members.

New leaders often assume that all group members know what the leaders know. Consistent
communication is the most important trait of a successful group. Without communication,
none of the other traits can occur. Successful groups even over-communicate, such that:

All members regularly receive and understand similar information about the group,
for example, about the groups purpose, membership, status and accomplishments.
These communications might be delivered through regular newsletters, status
reports, meetings, emails and collaboration tools.
4. Define a procedure for members to make decisions and solve
problems.

Successful groups regularly encounter situations where they must make decisions and solve
problems in a highly effective manner. Too often, the group resorts to extended discussion
until members become tired and frustrated and eventually just opt for any action at all, or
they count on the same person who seems to voice the strongest opinions. Instead,
successful groups:

Document a procedure whereby the group can make decisions and ensure that all
members are aware of the procedure.
The procedure might specify that decisions are made, first by aiming for consensus
within a certain time frame and if consensus is not achieved, then the group resorts
to a majority vote.

5. Develop staffing procedures (recruiting, training, organizing,

replacing).

Too often, group members are asked to join the group and somehow to chip in.
Unfortunately, that approach creates chips, rather than valuable group members. Instead,
if group members go through a somewhat organized, systematic process, then new
members often believe that the group is well organized and that their role is very valuable
in the group. Successful groups:

Identify what roles and expertise are needed on the group in order to achieve the
groups purpose and plans they staff according to plans, not personalities.
New group members go through a systematic process to join the group they
understand the groups purpose, their role, their next steps and where to get help.

6. Determine the membership of the group.

Consider the extent of expertise needed to achieve the goals, including areas of knowledge
and skills. Include at least one person who has skills in facilitation and meeting
management. Attempt to include sufficient diversity of values and perspectives to ensure
robust ideas and discussion. A critical consideration is availability members should have
the time to attend every meeting and perform required tasks between meetings.

7. Determine time frames for starting and terminating the team, if

applicable.

Now consider the expertise needed to achieve the goals of the team, and how long it might
take to recruit and organize those resources. Write these times down for eventual
communication to and discussion with all team members.
8. Determine the membership of the team.

What expertise might the team need to achieve the goals of the group? For example, an
official authority to gather and allocate resources, or an expert in a certain technology.
Always consider if the members will have the time and energy to actively participate in the
team.

9. Assign the role of leader to ensure systems and practices are

followed.

The leader focuses on the systems and practices in the team, not on personalities of its
members. For example, the leader makes sure that all team members: a) are successfully
staffed, b) understand the purpose of the group and their role in it, c) are active toward
meeting that purpose and role, and d) utilize procedures for making decisions and solving
problems. (Note that the leader does not always have to be a strong, charismatic
personality while that type of personality can often be very successful at developing
teams, it often can create passivity or frustration in other members over time, thereby
crippling the group.)

10. Assign role of communicator communication is the lifes blood of

teams!

Communication is the most important trait of a successful team. It cannot be left to chance.
Someone should be designated to ensure that all members receive regular communications
about purpose, membership, roles and status. Communications should also be with people
outside the team, especially those who make decisions or determine if the team is
successful or not.

11. Identify needs for resources (training, materials, supplies, etc.).

Start from analysis of the purpose and goals. What is needed to achieve them? For
example, members might benefit from a training that provides a brief overview of the
typical stages of team development and includes packets of materials about the teams
goals, structure and process to make decisions. Consider costs, such as trainers,
consultants, room rental and office supplies. How will those funds be obtained and
maintained?

12. Identify the costs to provide necessary resources for the team.

Consider costs, such as paying employees to attend the meeting, trainers, consultants,
room rental and office supplies. Develop a budget that itemizes the costs associated with
obtaining and supporting each of the resources. Get management approval of the budget.

13. Contact each team member.

Before the first meeting, invite each potential team member to be a part of the team. First,
send him or her a memo, and then meet with each person individually. Communicate the
goals of the project, why the person was selected, the benefit of the goals to the
organization, the time frame for the team effort, and who will lead the team (at least
initially). Invite the team member to the first meeting.

14. Early on, plan team building activities to support trust and working
relationships.

Team building activities can include, for example, a retreat in which members introduce
themselves, exercises in which members help each other solve a short problem or meet a
specific and achievable goal, or an extended period in which members can voice their
concerns and frustrations about their team assignments.

15. Carefully plan the first team meeting.

In the first meeting, review the goals of the team, why each member was selected, the
benefit of the goals to the organization, the time frame for the team effort, who will lead the
team (at least, initially), when the team might meet and where, and any changes that have
occurred since the individual meetings. Have this information written down to hand out to
each member. At the end of the meeting, ask each person to make a public commitment to
the team effort.

16. Regularly monitor and report on status of team members toward

achieving the goal.

It is amazing how often a team starts out with a carefully designed plan, but then abandons
the plan once the initial implementation of the plan is underway. Sometimes if the plan is
behind schedule, team members conclude that the project is not successful. Plans can
change just change them systematically with new dates and approval of the changes.

17. Support team meetings and the members processes in the team.

At this point, it is critical that supervisors of team members remain available to provide
support and resources as needed. The supervisor should regularly monitor team members
progress on achieving their goals. Provide ongoing encouragement and visibility to
members. One of the most important forms of support a supervisor can provide is
coordination with other supervisors to ensure that team members are freed up enough to
attend meetings.

18. Regularly celebrate team members accomplishments!

One of the best ways to avoid burnout is to regularly celebrate accomplishments. Otherwise,
members can feel as if they are on treadmill that has no end. Keep your eye on small and
recurring successes, not just the gold at the end of the rainbow.

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