Lecture 18 Becoming a Leader Theories of Leadership

Lecture 18

Becoming a Leader

Theories of Leadership

Theories of Leadership n n n Big Man Theory (politics, by birth Muhammad, Hitler, Churchill) Contingency Theory (politics and change, Karzai, president of Iraq) Trait Theory (business and general administration)

Behaviors and Skills of Effective Leaders 1. Practice Strong Ethics 2. Direction Setting 3. Develop Partnerships with People 4. Help Group Members Reach Goals and Achieve Satisfaction 5. Set High Expectations 6. Give Frequent Feedback on Performance 7. Manage a Crisis Effectively 8. Ask the Right Questions 9. Be a Servant Leader

Behaviors and Skills of Effective Leaders n n In addition to personal attributes, a leader has to do things that influence group members to achieve good performance. The behaviors and skills of leaders described next contribute to productivity and morale in most situations.

Behaviors and Skills of Effective Leaders 1. Practice Strong Ethics: n n n Being trustworthy facilitates a leader practicing strong ethics, the study of moral obligation, or separating right from wrong. Workers are more likely to trust an ethical leader. Good ethics serves as a positive model for group members, thus strengthening the organization. Ethical leaders help group members avoid common ethical pitfalls such as lying, divulging confidential information, and covering up accidents. An effective leader practices the Golden Rule.

Behaviors and Skills of Effective Leaders 2. Direction Setting: Given that leaders are supposed to bring about change, they must point people in the right direction, including establishing a vision.

Behaviors and Skills of Effective Leaders 3. Develop Partnerships with People: n n In a partnership, the leaders and group members are connected in such a way that the power between them is approximately balanced. A partnership involves an exchange of purpose, a right to say no for either side, joint accountability, and absolute honesty.

Behaviors and Skills of Effective Leaders 4. Help Group Members Reach Goals and Achieve Satisfaction: n n The leader smoothes out the path to goal attainment, and also looks out for the satisfaction of group members. Another way of helping group members achieve goals is to reduce frustrating barriers to work accomplishment.

Behaviors and Skills of Effective Leaders 5. Set High Expectations: n n n Group members live up (or down) to the leader’s expectations according to the Pygmalion effect. The manager’s expectations become a selffulfilling prophecy in part because when a leader expresses faith in group members, the members become more confident.

Behaviors and Skills of Effective Leaders 6. Give Frequent Feedback on Performance: n Feedback is informational and rewarding. Effective leaders inform employees how they can improve and praise them for things done right.

Behaviors and Skills of Effective Leaders 7. Manage a Crisis Effectively: Crisis management, including managing adversity, is becoming the mode in organizations.

Behaviors and Skills of Effective Leaders 8. Ask the Right Questions: n n n Leaders can make a major contribution by asking the right questions. Although being knowledgeable about the group task is important, there are many times when asking group members penetrating questions is more important. This is especially true because in today’s complex and rapidly changing business environment, the collective intelligence of group members is needed to solve problems.

Behaviors and Skills of Effective Leaders 9. Be a Servant Leader: n n n A humanitarian approach to leadership is to be a servant leader, one who serves group members by working on their behalf to achieve their goals, not his or her goals. Servant leadership stems naturally from a commitment to service.

Developing Leadership Potential

Developing Leadership Potential 1. General education and specific training 2. Leadership development programs 3. Acquire broad experience 4. Modeling effective leaders 5. Self-development of leadership characteristics and behavior 6. Practice a little leadership. 7. Help your leader lead 8. Become an integrated human being

Developing Leadership Potential 1. General education and specific training: n n You should have general information and understanding about your field. You should have specific training of your job related activities so that you could lead and guide your team members.

Developing Leadership Potential 2. Leadership development programs: n Leadership skills can be acquired by taking courses or programmes on leadership.

Developing Leadership Potential 3. Acquire broad experience: n A leader should have broader knowledge of the things in order to handle or run the affairs of the organization smoothly.

Developing Leadership Potential 4. Modeling effective leaders: n n You should have some models in your mind that you admire as good leaders. You should try to internalize the characteristics of those leaders.

Developing Leadership Potential 5. Self- Development of Leadership Characteristics and Behavior: n Study leadership characteristics and behavior, and target one or two for improvement through selfdetermination and self-monitoring of behavior.

Developing Leadership Potential 6. Practice a Little Leadership: n n Look for opportunities to exert a small amount of helpful leadership in contrast to waiting for opportunities to accomplish extraordinary deeds. Mentoring would be an example of practicing a little leadership.

Developing Leadership Potential 7. Help Your Leader Lead: n Leaders need assistance so they can do a good job and providing this assistance provides some leadership experience.

Developing Leadership Potential 8. Become an Integrated Human Being: n n n The leader is first and foremost a fully functioning person. Leadership development is therefore the process of self-development. As a result, the process of becoming a leader is similar to the process of becoming an integrated human being.

Suggestions for Becoming More Charismatic Leader

Suggestions for Becoming More Charismatic Leader 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Communicate a vision Make frequent use of metaphors and analogies Inspire trust and confidence Be highly energetic and goal oriented Be emotionally expressive and warm Make ample use of true stories Smile frequently Be candid Make everybody feel that he or she is important Multiply the effectiveness of your handshake Stand up straight and also use non-verbal signals of selfconfidence Be willing to take personal risks Be self-promotional