Understanding Effective Leadership - Essay Example

Effective Leadership Name Course Lecture Date Introduction The opinion on what constitutes effective leadership in organizations remains divided. While some argue that leadership is in-born it now widely agreed a range of Leadership skills can be learnt. In this paper we use the transformational leadership theory and the situational leadership theory to highlight some of the qualities of a highly effective leader. This qualities have been observed among the most effective leaders on the globe and can be learns and practiced by other leaders. Discussion Emotional maturity is identified as one of the key characteristics of a transformational leader. Due to the pressure present in contemporary workplaces leaders may feel a persistent feeling of frustration (Judge and Bono 2000). It is important not to pass on this stress on followers. Effective leaders contain their emotions properly. For example, an effective leader will refrain from talking angrily to employees who fail to perform their tasks. While some leaders engage in cruel outbursts in response to their employee behaviour this is not the case with effective leaders. An effective leader instead analyzes the problem to find out where he can help his followers overcome their weaknesses (Miller 2001). Effective leaders also build rapport among their followers so when problems of underperformance occur there are able to talk with the followers at a personal level. Furthermore, effective leaders minimize the power-distance between them and followers by showing that followers are not subordinates to them (Mandell and Pherwani 2003). In so doing they destroy organizational hierarchies which are responsible for demoralizing employees. An effective leader outlines what is expected of his followers clearly. He then inspires his employee to reach out and achieve these performance expectations (Palestini 2009). He considers the concerns and problems of employee that may impact on their performance critical. Effective leaders encourage and assist their followers to deal with their challenges. An effective leader understands his followers and knows what they can or can’t achieve. He ensure that employee have the necessary drive to undertake and excel at the task they are assigned (Gill, 2011). The effective leaders access the performance of his followers against set objectives. This evaluation assists in the award of compensation for good performance. Furthermore, performance objectives help organizations identify individuals they should train so they can perform better or take up leadership roles. According to Kotter (2001) transformational leaders are effective because their posses humility, integrity, openness, creativity, dedication, assertiveness and fairness. Transformational leaders show their humility by freely mixing up with subordinates and involving them in decision making. Lafley the CEO of P&G for example sought the support of staff by meeting up with personally (Chesbrough 2012). Effective leaders also show every employee that they are important contributors to the success of the organization. Integrity implies that an effective manager displays virtuous behaviour and his actions are always ethical. Integrity enables effective leaders earn the trust and confidence of their followers (Miller 2001). Leaders who show integrity in their work are also admired by their followers and they can use this admiration to inspire employee. Most employees say that they are willing to support any leader with a high moral integrity. Such a leader is fair, candid, honest and forthright and treats everyone equally. Miller (2001) identifies integrity as character. He reasons that the character of leaders can only become apparent when he is faced by a difficult situation. If leaders show integrity in this situation they earn the respect of their followers. The decision of a respected and trusted leaders have the support of employees every time. Employees always know that a leader with integrity is justified and fair in the decisions he makes. Since free flow of information between leaders and followers is critical for the success of the organization, effective leaders promote openness between employees and followers (Miller 2001). For example, effective leaders practice the open door policy where any employee can go in and contribute ideas. They keenly listen to the concerns of every employee and seek out new ideas to solve the organizations problems from employees. Most successful leaders have realized the power of sharing knowledge in the organization (Judge and Bono 2000). Leaders should ensure every person in the organization have updated information on organizations performance expectations. Two-way communication should be encouraged between leaders and followers. Soliciting and rewarding employees for improvement ideas is one of the techniques of effective leaders for gaining feedback from employees (Miller 2001). Since organization’s employee already trust and respect the leaders they are more open to him. With openness the organization benefits from constant flow of feedback from employees which is key in improving organizational performance. According to Kotter (2001) leaders who show a higher degree of dedication to the organization are more successful. They dedicate their energy and time in achieving the organizations objectives. By acting this way they inspire the rest of the organization to emulate them and perform to the best of their ability (Miller 2001). Furthermore, effective leaders are dedicated to their followers and shield them from harsh judgement. Where their followers fail to perform as expected they step in to explain their failure or weaknesses. This dedication to the team enables these leaders cushion team members from harsh performance evaluation (Tucker and Russell 2004). The aspect of dedication to followers enables transformational leaders gain the dedication of their followers in return. Kotter (2001) views an effective leader as one leader who is competent, courageous and compassionate. Competence means a leader know what needs to be done and how it is to be done. Effective leaders are competent in leadership task such as team building and delegation of duties (Miller 2001). The competence of a leader gives employee confidence in the ability of a leader. A competent leader gives employees the impression he know what he is doing. Transformational leaders have been praised for their compassion. They are able to show employee that they truly care for them. Compassionate leaders are unlikely to treat employee harshly and thus are loved by their followers (Tucker and Russell 2004). They also take the time to appreciate the effort of the people who work under them. When assigning tasks, transformational leaders take into consideration each individual’s weakness (Hallinger 2003). When a leaders show compassion employee react by performing exceptionally. Compassionate leaders inevitable gain the trust of their subordinates. Effective leaders must also be courageous in their leadership. A leader’s fundamental duty is decision making (Gill 2011). Everyday leaders have to make challenging decisions which they must do with courage. Some decisions do not sit well with some employee or are harmful to others. If circumstance requires it a leader should be able to make a tough call. Furthermore, they should be able to stick with the decisions they make and defend them to higher authorities. However, an effective leader makes sure all of his decisions are well thought (Miller 2001). For example, some organizational leaders find decision about staff downsizing difficult. However, the leader has to have the courage to explain and explain staff layoffs when they are necessary. The survival and prosperity of the organization must remain key consideration for any decisions made by the leader. According to Gill (2011), great leaders inspire their follower to do whatever it takes to achieve the organizations objectives. They remove the organizational barriers that may impede the creativity and innovativeness of their follower. The leaders themselves are creative and implement innovative and creative leadership solutions. In the views of Gill (2011) great leaders also show great optimism in what they do. They often remind their follower they are part of something great. They look for the positive aspect of their people and emphasize them therefore enabling followers overcome self-doubt and become more confident. Effective leaders will use such phrases as “ yes we can”, We can make it”, “If they can why not us” and “ I trust in you” to spread optimism among followers. A transformational leader also makes a good organizational environment that supports good performance (Tucker and Russell 2004). These leaders ensure that it is safe to take risk, to voice concerns and tell the truth without attracting punishment. They view the criticism from employee as an opportunity to improve the organization. Having confidence in their leadership is another important trait of effective leaders. They have to believe in their own ability to succeed in their entire ventures (Tucker and Russell 2004). Employee will also fall suit and become more confidents when faced with challenging situations. The above mentioned qualities of a leader are those associated with the transformational leadership style (Segal 2002). However, the situational leadership theory holds that situational leadership is much more effective leadership style (Gill 2011). Situational leadership is style of leadership that adopts the leadership style to the type of people that are being managed. According to Kennedy (2012), an effective leaders adopts his leadership style to the development level of his followers. In a situation where employees are at their lowest level of maturity the telling and directing leadership is preferred. This leadership style is characterised by close involvement and supervision. Communication always flows top-down and the employee is told exactly what to do (Gill 2011). Thus effective leaders must recognize employee who are still immature and apply this directing style on them A second style of situational leadership is the selling and coaching style of leadership. This style is effective with inexperienced employees who can also work on their own (Gill 2011). While close supervision is maintained, employees in this group are required to contribute before implementation of decisions. Effective situational leaders praise the effort of their followers to increase their self-esteem and confidence. When employees are more mature the Participating and Supporting leadership style is most effective (Kennedy 2012). Followers have more decision making powers and are free to make independent decisions. Leaders only need to provide directions. Praise and constant feedback are strategies employed by effective leaders applying the participating and supporting leadership style. While employee in this group is highly skilled they are not motivated to perform exceptionally. Finally effective situational leaders apply the delegating style where employees are well motivated and highly skilled (Gill 2011). This group of employees abhor supervision as they are able to self-manage. The leaders give minimal input in his work other than direction and for feedback (Gill 2011). Employee already know their role and work under minimal or no supervision. Conclusion No matter which organization a person leads the attributes discussed in this paper can assist him become an effective leader. Using the transformational leadership qualities discussed in the first section a leader is able to inspire his followers to exceptional performance. The most appealing leadership quality of transformational leaders is their integrity. Integrity ensures that the leader makes the right decision and they are perceived by followers as fair. More people respect and are ready to follow leaders with a high level of integrity. Other qualities of transformational leaders that make them effective is their compassion, courage, competence, humility, openness and assertiveness. Notably, leaders are called to have high emotional maturity and intelligence to be able to handle the daily rigours of today’s busy business environment. Furthermore, leaders should always remember they will be called once in awhile to make difficult and challenging decisions. In such situations, what best serves the interest of the organization and is legal should be the leader’s priority. While the transformational leadership theory proposes a number of qualities that make up an effective leader, the Situational leadership theory maintains an effective leader is one who adopts his leadership style to the leadership situation. Situational leaders use a leadership style that corresponds to employee level of development. For poorly skilled new employees the directing or commanding leadership style is most preferred. For highly competent employees the delegating leadership style with minimal supervision is used. Both situational leadership and transformational leadership theory provide relevant guidance on what effective leadership is. However, both theories borrow heavily from each other especially when it comes to the delegating style in situational leadership. References Chesbrough, H. (2012). Why companies should have open business models. MIT Sloan management review, 48(2). Gill, R. (2011). Theory and practice of leadership. Sage. Hallinger, P. (2003). Leading educational change: Reflections on the practice of instructional and transformational leadership. Cambridge Journal of Education, 33(3), 329-352. Judge, T. A., & Bono, J. E. (2000). Five-factor model of personality and transformational leadership. Journal of applied psychology, 85(5), 751. Kennedy, K. J. (2012). Devil in the Details: The Practice of Situational Leadership. iUniverse. Kotter, J. P. (2001). What leaders really do. Harvard Business Review, 79(11), 85-98 Mandell, B., & Pherwani, S. (2003). 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