What is a description of the significance of leadership?

Answer 1

The Significance of LEADERSHIP As rightly said by Faye Wattleton, "The only safe ship in a storm is Leadership." Leadership can refer to influencing a group of people to move towards its goals setting or goal achievement. It is influencing people by providing purpose, direction and motivation while operating to accomplish the mission and improving the organization. A good Leader leads but doesn't push. Different types of Leadership styles are Laissez Faire, Bureaucratic, Charismatic, Autocratic, Democratic, People Oriented, Task Oriented, A Servant Leader, Transactional Leader, Transformational Leader, Environment Leader and Situational Leader. However. Leaders are different from Managers. All managers are not leaders. Abraham Zaleznik in 1977 has mentioned the difference between a Leader and a Manager which are as follows:-

v Manager administers, Leader innovates;

v Manager ask how and when, Leader ask what and why;

v Manager focus on system, Leader focus on people;

v Manager do things right, Leader do the right things;

v Manager maintain, Leader develop;

v Manager rely on control, Leader inspire trust;

v Manager have short term perspective, Leader have long term perspective v Manager accept the status quo, Leader challenge the status quo;

v Manager have an eye on the bottom line, Leader have an eye on the horizon;

v Manager initiate, Leader originate;

v Manager emulate the classic good soldiers, Leader are their own person;

v Manager copy, Leader shows originality. Thus, Leadership differs in that it makes the followers want to achieve high goals, rather than simply bossing around people. "Inventories can be managed, but people must be led" - H. Ross Perot. Clear Vision, Consistency, Self-Sacrifice, Confidence, Persistence, Initiate, Innovation, Planning, Risk-Bearing, Time Management, Decision Making, Charisma, Timeliness, Passion, Enthusiasm, Technical Proficiency, Emotional Maturity, Flexibility, Rational Thinking, Motivation and Honesty are the suggested qualities in a Leader. Kenneth Blanchard once said that the key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority. A Leader need to understand him by analyzing his strengths/weaknesses, character, knowledge, skills and continuously seeks self-improvement for setting an example. WHEN THINGS GO WRONG HE TAKES RESPONSIBILITY OF THE ACTION. He knows his employees well, keeps them informed; develops a sense of responsibility among them; effectively communicates the task to them; motivates them; inspires a shared vision; ensures that the task is understood and accomplished by training/counseling them as a team thus enabling and encouraging others to act and ensuring fullest utilization of available resources. A leader sets realistic and attainable goal by developing a programme to achieve each goal and involving all his subordinates in the goal setting process, keeping in mind that he can't please everyone. James Shore believed that some of the most talented people are terrible leaders because they have a crippling need to be loved by everyone. Tony Blair also added by saying that the art of leadership is saying "no", not "yes", it is very easy to say "yes". Thus, the leader leads by example as he is a father figure. "The Leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say "I". And that's not because they have trained themselves not to say "I". They don't think "I". They think "We", they think "Team". They understand their job is to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don't sidestep it, but "we" gets the credit. That is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done." - Peter Drucker.