Being a leader

                                                                 

Being a leader

Being a leader is bliss in its true sense as it helps a person to set goals or targets in their lives and then prepare an organized plan of action in order to accomplish all these goals.



Leadership is the capability of efficient execution of various tasks by driving each member of the team to give his/her best , channelize his/her potential and co-ordinates the entire team to work collectively in order to accomplish greater organizational goals.



The individual who is blessed with the leadership qualities can keep all the members of the team united, create a healthy and progressive work environment , realize the potential of each team member , assign them the smaller tasks at which they are best and finally boost up the performance of an organization.



Leadership is not just about being an achiever or powerful, leadership has much more to it. The leader is someone who sets up the path for the members of the team and guides each member to follow the right direction in order to hit the target.



The individuals, groups or communities belonging to an organization are very likely to distract away from their path which could create the negative impact on the organization. Here the role of the leader comes into play because a leader will influence the employees in a positive way in order to achieve the goals of an organization.



The concept of the leadership aims to increase the productivity of the business firms and make the organization profitable.



Relationship between management and leadership



The leadership and the organizational behavior are the deciding factors for whether the organizations are profitable or not. The leadership has a huge impact on the success rate of the organizations and vice-verse.



The work culture, ambiance and the work ethics, output of various employees, the motivation and passion to perform better among employees are directly or indirectly determined by the leaders.



The strategies which are used by an organization for achieving success in the corporate world are also dependent upon the leadership. The efficient planning and the execution of the business strategies can be done only if the organization encourages the leadership qualities among its employees.



It is not necessary that only the employees at the higher positions can have leadership qualities in them because leadership is something which can be incorporated at each level of the organization. Besides that, if the leadership qualities are encouraged in an organization from the clerical level to managerial level, an air of discipline and organization is rushed among the employees and this eventually turns out to be profitable for the company.

Effect of the work culture and values of the organization over the leadership



The terms, success, leadership and work culture are entirely dependent on each other.As the leadership qualities affect the success rate and the work culture of an organization, the work culture and the leadership qualities affect the leadership incorporated in an organization.



If the work culture of an organization is progressive and growth oriented then automatically leadership will be incorporated in the organization. There are no fixed values or qualities that are present in the leaders but every leader works for promoting the growth of an organization.



The leaders motivate the human resources of the company to make the maximum usage of the resources of the company and realize their potential to the fullest. The leaders play a major role in the major organizational functions such as human resource management, asset management, project management, content management, document management and inventory management.



All these functions can be performed in a proper manner only if the leadership qualities are inculcated among the employees of the organization.

Thus, every aspect of the growth of an organization is related to the leadership qualities directly or indirectly.



u}Leadership qualities



The individuals who possess the leadership qualities in them don’t belong to another planet or have an extra IQ level, they are ordinary human beings just like you and every individual has a potential leader inside him or her.



Some people are naturally very positive, organized and influential and create a strong and motivational impact over others. Some people inculcate the leadership qualities in them after learning through their experiences or taking inspiration from other influential people. If the environment of the organization is organized then people are very likely to adapt themselves to this environment and inculcate leadership qualities in them.



The person who has leadership qualities must be honest and trustworthy. He should have strong and clear opinions and he should mean whatever he says. A leader is a balanced person who can see every situation from the neutral and unbiased perspective.



A leader is someone who has the ability to control his emotions and who is not impulsive. A leader knows what reactions to give and what time. He has a calm and composed state of mind and he doesn’t panic even in the most difficult situations.



A leader is an extremely positive and high spirited person and he fills the environment of the organization with the positivity.



A leader can analyze every situation in its true sense and has the capability to think logically and rationally. He is extremely intellectual and can find the practical solutions for all the problems and issues which are currently faced by the organization. He can devise various strategies for the successful handling of all the projects of an organization.



A leader wins the loyalty of all the team members and has a power to influence them in a positive way. A leader is generally the most respected person of the organization and has no enmity towards any individual of the organization.



A leader has excellent communication skills and the ability to communicate with all the individuals of the organization.



Each employee of the organization feels connected to the leader and will asks for suggestions in order to improve their performances.



A leader has the ability to motivate others to give their best performances. A leader has a strong control over the team members and his utmost priority is to maintain integrity in the organization.



A leader is a person who has an interesting and charming personality and who can create a friendly and healthy environment in the organization.



A leader is a good conversationalist and he is very knowledgeable. He has full knowledge of all the information related to the organization such as shares of the company, new products and services which are manufactured by the companies, the growth rate of the company, the amount of sales of the company, assets of the company, current projects which are handled by the company, the status of the projects currently in hand, information related to the company’s personnel and more.



Besides all the knowledge of the organization, the leaders should be well versed with the general topics such as politics, technology and sports. The leaders have an ability to make people laugh with their great sense of humor.



A leader will take a fair decision related to every situation in an organization and he will never be biased on the basis of cast, color, age, sex or anything else. He will never favor the ones who are closer to him as compared to the ones who aren’t. He will always try to resolve the differences among the employees of the organization and try his level best to keep the organization united.



Styles of leadership and their importance in different situations

Before getting into a deep insight of the styles of leadership one must know what exactly are the styles of leadership? The way a leader is able to influence the employees of the organization and drive them to work in the united and organized manner is called the style of leadership.



The style of leadership might vary from every organization. It is not necessary for a leader to strictly follow a particular style of leadership and he can adopt some of the features from each style but his leadership style will be definitely be more inclined towards one of the leadership styles.



After the several researches being conducted on the styles of leadership, following styles of leadership have been observed on a large scale in the organizations.

Autocratic style



According to this style of leadership, the suggestions, opinions and the views of the team members are not considered and they have to follow the guidelines and the instructions given to them by the leader. Team members will have to follow the steps directed by the leader within the time assigned to them.



This style of leadership can be very beneficial for the organization if the leader is clear about the project and he has full knowledge of the tasks involved in the project, the suitable team member to handle each task and the time required for the completion of the tasks assigned to them. If the concept and the idea which is used by the leader is tried and tested and he is pretty sure that this idea would bring excellent results for the company then taking of the new ideas from the employees will only create confusions, conflicts and unnecessary wastage of time.



If you have only a limited period of time to handle a particular project and you have to meet the deadlines at any cost then it would be a great idea to use this style of leadership. If the leader has faith in the potential of the employees and they’re sure that they will be able to finish the tasks assigned to them in an efficient manner that too in a given interval of time then the leader will not feel the need to ask for the suggestions of the employees if they are comfortable with the tasks assigned to them and if they will be able to meet the deadlines.



However, there are many people who have a wrong perception of the autocratic style of leadership and they think that ruling the employees and being rude to them is a part of the autocratic style of leadership. Scolding the employees, threatening or abusing them and taking the wrong advantage of the power assigned to the leaders will be called as totally unprofessional and unhealthy and it is nowhere close to the autocratic style of leadership.

However, it is always better to use this style of leadership only when necessary and prefer the democratic or the participative style of leadership.



Democratic Style

In the democratic style of leadership, the employees are asked to bring up with fresh and new concepts for handling the project. They are given a full right to prepare a plan of action for the efficient execution of the project and they are allowed to choose the task at which they are best and about which they have maximum experience and knowledge.



The leader is open to the ideas, views and the opinions of the employees and he decides which plan of action will be the most profitable for the company and he takes the decision regarding the strategy devised for the handling of the project collectively with the employees. Choosing the democratic style of leadership doesn’t mean that the leader has no control over its employees.



The leader has a power of taking the final decision and the employees has to obey the decision taken by the Democratic leader. It is wrong to say that the employees will take their work for granted if the Democratic leadership is practiced because this style of leadership instead encourages the employees to work harder. The employees respect their leader even more if he practices the democratic style of leadership because respect is give and take process and the employees will feel an important part of an organization only if their opinions, views and suggestions are respected by the organization.



Most of the organizations implement a democratic style of the leadership because it has shown proven results.



In this style, if any new type of project is given to the team leader and he doesn’t have any knowledge regarding that project then leader listens to the opinions of each and every person from its team and use the best opinion for the accomplishment of the project.



For this the leader should be such a smart person so that he/she can manage the opinion of others.



The Leader should be able to select the best opinion. This style is also useful where you have the knowledge of one part of your project and your members have the knowledge of other parts. In these situations the democratic style of leadership works out the best for you.



You never know that the team members might bring up with some of the best concepts and fresh ideas which will boost the success rate of the company. If all the members of the team are applying their skills, knowledge, talent and wisdom for handling the project then the leader will definitely be able to take better decisions for the company and the employees will be happy to be a part of that company.



Delegant style

The Delegative or the free reign style of democracy is a perfect blend of the democratic and the autocratic style of leadership. In this style, the leader asks for the opinions, views and suggestions from the employees but the final power and responsibility of handling the project is in the hands of the leader.



If the strategy used for handling the project is successful or unsuccessful, the leader is held responsible for that so he has to be very careful before using the strategies suggested by the employees and he should use them only if he is pretty convinced that it will bring out positive results for the company.



You can use the Delegant style of leadership if you have full confidence in the capabilities of the employees who are working under you and you are sure that the ideas that they bring up will be very profitable for the company.



Effect of the organisation’s legal and ethical rules over the type of leadership



The leadership incorporated in an organization is also dependent upon the ethical or legal rules and regulations set which are set up in an organization.



The ethical laws of the company generally includes to be able to make the maximum usage of the various resources of the company so that the company has to make a minimum amount of investments and time and bring out the maximum profits for the company.



The ethical laws of an organization also ensure that no negative work culture must be encouraged in an organization such as bias, politics or low productivity.



All the unethical activities such as corruption, theft of data, fraud, abusive behavior and exploitation must be avoided in order to make the organization successful and it is the duty of the leader to prevent such non ethical activities from occurring in the organization.



The open door policy must be adopted by the leaders to enhance the flow of communication in an organization so that the employees feel free to interact with the senior employees or managers.



The leader tries to organize some recreational yet productive activities for the team members so that they enjoy working with  that organization. The tasks assigned to the employees must be interesting and challenging so that the employees work wholeheartedly and they must be provided with promotions, rewards, recognitions and bonuses in order to drive them to work more.



Conclusion

It is the duty of the leader that no illegal or unethical activities should take place in an organization and if he finds out that the particular employee is engaged in unlawful and unethical activities then he must report to the senior managers so that the actions could be taken against him.

The leader must understand the need and the requirements of the employees in order to bring out the best of them.