Leadership

Has been described as a process of social influence in which a person can enlist the aid and support of others in accomplishment of a common task.

Elements of effective Leadership

Modeling Not looking for buy-in Providing support Learning from failure Transparency Flexibility Resilience Never passing the buck

MODELING

In my opinion, the best leaders model their expectations for their employees and peers.

The best leaders not only talk the talk, but they also walk the walk.

Don't ask your employees or colleagues do something that you are not prepared to do. Better yet, show them what the practice can and should look like in action.

Not Looking For Buy-In

Effective leaders should not have to "sell" their employees and colleagues on a better way of doing things.

Intrinsic motivation is the most powerful force we have to initiate and sustain change.

Think about how you can get people to embrace a new idea, strategy, or initiative.

Providing Support

Support comes in many forms - financial, time, and professional learning opportunities.

The lack of any (or all) of these should never be an excuse to not move forward.

Support begins with adopting a "no-excuse" attitude.

We all know one-size-fit-all approach never works.

Learning From Failures

Everyone fails. That is life. The key point, however, is that failure is

one of the greatest learning tools we have.

We don't like it, but it should be embraced.

If leaders are afraid to fail, then nothing will ever change.

Leadership is all about risks and rewards. With every risk there is the potential for failure looming around the corner.

Exercise

Share your experience from day to day life in which you failed , learnt from mistake and then succeeded..

Transparency

Leaders' decisions and actions are not challenged as much if those leaders are transparent.

Effective leaders use transparency to assist with the embracement of change.

This is accomplished through a combination of communication, shared decision-making, consensus, debate, and social media.

Flexibility

Stubbornness and rigidity are clear indicators of a top-down approach to leadership.

This almost always builds resentment and animosity towards change.

Leaders who are flexible listen to other points of view, bend when necessary, and are not afraid to change course if things are not going well.

Resilience

Leadership is fraught with challenges on a daily basis.

There will always be people second-guessing, undermining, and ignoring decisions that are made.

Effective leadership requires something between having empathy and having a thick skin. This results in resilience.

Without resilience, one's ability to lead effectively will be severely diminished.

Never Passing A -Buck

If you are -- or want to be -- a leader, you must always remember that there is no passing the buck.

When final decisions have to be made, they must be made with confidence, clarity, and decisiveness.

Exercise

What else qualities you think should be there in an effective leader.

Different styles of Leadership

A Leadership style is a leaders style of providing instructions, making plans and motivating people.

Different situation needs different leadership style.

The style adopted should be the one that most effectively achieve the objective of the group while balancing the interests of indivisualm members.

Styles of Leadership

Autocratic or Authoritarian Participative or democratic Laissez-faire or Free-rein Narcissistic

Autocratic or Authoritarian

Under the style of leadership all decisions are taken by the leader.

Leaders do not entertain any suggestions or initiatives from subordinates.

This is successful as it provides strong motivation to the manager.

It involves quick decision making because only person is involved in decision making for the whole group.

Participative or Democratic

The democratic leadership style consists of the leader sharing the decision-making abilities with group members by promoting the interests of the group members and by practicing social equality.

This has also been called shared leadership.

Laissez-faire or Free-rein

A person may be in a leadership position without providing leadership, leaving the group to fend for itself.

Subordinates are given a free hand in deciding their own policies and methods.

The subordinates are motivated to be creative and innovative.

Narcissistic

• leadership style in which the leader is only interested in him/herself.

• Their priority is themselves - at the expense of their people/group members. This leader exhibits the characteristics of a narcissist: arrogance, dominance and hostility.

• It is a common leadership style. The narcissism may range from anywhere between healthy and destructive.