LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS: Principles of LeadershipTo help you be, know, and ...

LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS: Principles of LeadershipTo help you be, know, and ...: Principles of Leadership To help you be, know, and do, follow these eleven principles of leadership. The later chapters in this series e...

Principles of Leadership

To help you be, know, and do, follow these eleven principles of leadership. The later chapters in this series expand on these principles and provide tools for implementing them:

1. Know yourself and seek self-improvement - In order to know yourself, you have to understand your be, know, and do, attributes. Seeking self-improvement means continually strengthening your attributes. This can be accomplished through self-study, formal classes, reflection, and interacting with others.
2. Be technically proficient - As a leader, you must know your job and have a solid familiarity with your employees' tasks.
3. Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions - Search for ways to guide your organization to new heights. And when things go wrong, they always do sooner or later — do not blame others. Analyze the situation, take corrective action, and move on to the next challenge.
4. Make sound and timely decisions - Use good problem solving, decision making, and planning tools.
5. Set the example - Be a good role model for your employees. They must not only hear what they are expected to do, but also see. We must become the change we want to see - Mahatma Gandhi
6. Know your people and look out for their well-being - Know human nature and the importance of sincerely caring for your workers.
7. Keep your workers informed - Know how to communicate with not only them, but also seniors and other key people.
8. Develop a sense of responsibility in your workers - Help to develop good character traits that will help them carry out their professional responsibilities.
9. Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished - Communication is the key to this responsibility.
10. Train as a team - Although many so called leaders call their organization, department, section, etc. a team; they are not really teams...they are just a group of people doing their jobs.
11. Use the full capabilities of your organization - By developing a team spirit, you will be able to employ your organization, department, section, etc. to its fullest capabilities.
12. Don't Work For Money - By building a subconscious mind of not working for money you stand out in your organization because you are purpose driven and not money driven. Next time, we will look into THE ATTRIBUTES OF LEADERSHIP.

LEADERSHIP SERIES

HERE, WE WILL LOOK AT WHO A LEADER IS:

                     Concepts of Leadership

I used to think that running an organization was equivalent to conducting a symphony orchestra. But I don't think that's quite it; it's more like jazz. There is more improvisation. — Warren Bennis

Good leaders are made not born. If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience (Jago, 1982). This guide will help you through that process.
To inspire your workers into higher levels of teamwork, there are certain things you must be, know, and, do. These do not come naturally, but are acquired through continual work and study. Good leaders are continually working and studying to improve their leadership skills; they are NOT resting on their laurels.

                           Definition of Leadership

The meaning of a message is the change which it produces in the image. — Kenneth Boulding in The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society

Before we get started, lets define leadership. Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. This definition is similar to Northouse's (2007, p3) definition — Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.
Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership knowledge and skills. This is called Process Leadership (Jago, 1982). However, we know that we have traits that can influence our actions. This is called Trait Leadership (Jago, 1982), in that it was once common to believe that leaders were born rather than made. These two leadership types are shown in the chart below (Northouse, 2007, p5):

While leadership is learned, the skills and knowledge processed by the leader can be influenced by his or hers attributes or traits, such as beliefs, values, ethics, and character. Knowledge and skills contribute directly to the process of leadership, while the other attributes give the leader certain characteristics that make him or her unique.
Skills, knowledge, and attributes make the Leader, which is one of the:

Four Factors of Leadership

There are four major factors in leadership (U.S. Army, 1983):

Leader

You must have an honest understanding of who you are, what you know, and what you can do. Also, note that it is the followers, not the leader or someone else who determines if the leader is successful. If they do not trust or lack confidence in their leader, then they will be uninspired. To be successful you have to convince your followers, not yourself or your superiors, that you are worthy of being followed.

Followers

Different people require different styles of leadership. For example, a new hire requires more supervision than an experienced employee. A person who lacks motivation requires a different approach than one with a high degree of motivation. You must know your people! The fundamental starting point is having a good understanding of human nature, such as needs, emotions, and motivation. You must come to know your employees' be, know, and do attributes.

Communication

You lead through two-way communication. Much of it is nonverbal. For instance, when you “set the example,” that communicates to your people that you would not ask them to perform anything that you would not be willing to do. What and how you communicate either builds or harms the relationship between you and your employees.

Situation

All situations are different. What you do in one situation will not always work in another. You must use your judgment to decide the best course of action and the leadership style needed for each situation. For example, you may need to confront an employee for inappropriate behavior, but if the confrontation is too late or too early, too harsh or too weak, then the results may prove ineffective.
Also note that the situation normally has a greater effect on a leader's action than his or her traits. This is because while traits may have an impressive stability over a period of time, they have little consistency across situations (Mischel, 1968). This is why a number of leadership scholars think the Process Theory of Leadership is a more accurate than the Trait Theory of Leadership.
Various forces will affect these four factors. Examples of forces are your relationship with your seniors, the skill of your followers, the informal leaders within your organization, and how your organization is organized.

Boss or Leader?

Although your position as a manager, supervisor, lead, etc. gives you the authority to accomplish certain tasks and objectives in the organization (called Assigned Leadership), this power does not make you a leader, it simply makes you the boss (Rowe, 2007). Leadership differs in that it makes the followers want to achieve high goals (called Emergent Leadership), rather than simply bossing people around (Rowe, 2007). Thus you get Assigned Leadership by your position and you display Emergent Leadership by influencing people to do great things.

 

Bass' Theory of Leadership

Bass' theory of leadership states that there are three basic ways to explain how people become leaders (Stogdill, 1989; Bass, 1990). The first two explain the leadership development for a small number of people. These theories are:

• Some personality traits may lead people naturally into leadership roles. This is the Trait Theory.
• A crisis or important event may cause a person to rise to the occasion, which brings out extraordinary leadership qualities in an ordinary person. This is the Great Events Theory.
• People can choose to become leaders. People can learn leadership skills. This is the Transformational or Process Leadership Theory. It is the most widely accepted theory today and the premise on which this guide is based.

Total Leadership

What makes a person want to follow a leader? People want to be guided by those they respect and who have a clear sense of direction. To gain respect, they must be ethical. A sense of direction is achieved by conveying a strong vision of the future.
When a person is deciding if she respects you as a leader, she does not think about your attributes, rather, she observes what you do so that she can know who you really are. She uses this observation to tell if you are an honorable and trusted leader or a self-serving person who misuses authority to look good and get promoted. Self-serving leaders are not as effective because their employees only obey them, not follow them. They succeed in many areas because they present a good image to their seniors at the expense of their workers.

Be           Know           Do

The basis of good leadership is honorable character and selfless service to your organization. In your employees' eyes, your leadership is everything you do that effects the organization's objectives and their well-being. Respected leaders concentrate on (U.S. Army, 1983):

• what they are [be] (such as beliefs and character)
• what they know (such as job, tasks, and human nature)
• what they do (such as implementing, motivating, and providing direction).

What makes a person want to follow a leader? People want to be guided by those they respect and who have a clear sense of direction. To gain respect, they must be ethical. A sense of direction is achieved by conveying a strong vision of the future.

The Two Most Important Keys to Effective Leadership

According to a study by the Hay Group, a global management consultancy, there are 75 key components of employee satisfaction (Lamb, McKee, 2004). They found that:

• Trust and confidence in top leadership was the single most reliable predictor of employee satisfaction in an organization.
• Effective communication by leadership in three critical areas was the key to winning organizational trust and confidence:
  1. Helping employees understand the company's overall business strategy.
  2. Helping employees understand how they contribute to achieving key business objectives.
  3. Sharing information with employees on both how the company is doing and how an employee's own division is doing — relative to strategic business objectives.

So in a nutshell — you must be trustworthy and you have to be able to communicate a vision of where the organization needs to go. The next section, Principles of Leadership, ties in closely with this key concept.
LETS STOP HERE, NEXT NNACHI ORJI CHINONSO WILL TAKE YOU INTO THE PRICIPLES OF LEADERSHIP REMAIN BLESSED.

LEADERSHIP SELF CONFIDENCE

I rarely encounter this issue in my work with CEOs and potential CEOs because people at the top of huge organizations don't often have self-confidence problems. But I have had several inquiries lately about helping future leaders who need to demonstrate more self-confidence.
Let me give you a few suggestions that I give leaders who have self-confidence issues (then I'll ask our readers to pitch in with more suggestions):

1. Decide if you really want to be a leader. Many of the MBAs who report self-confidence issues are brilliant technicians. They often find the uncertainty and ambiguity of leading people very unsettling. They are looking for the "right answers" - similar to the ones in engineering school. In some cases, brilliant technical experts should continue to be brilliant technical experts - and not feel obligated to become managers.
2. Make peace with ambiguity in decision making. There are usually no clear right answers when making complex business decisions. Even CEOs are guessing.
3. Gather a reasonable amount of data, involve people, then follow your gut and do what you think is right.
4. Accept the fact that you are going to fail on occasion. All humans do
5. Have fun! Life is short. Why should you expect your direct reports to demonstrate positive enthusiasm, if they don't see it in you?
6. Once you make a decision, commit and go for it. Don't continually second guess yourself. If you have to change course, you have to change course. If you never commit, all you will ever do is change course.
7. Demonstrate courage on the outside, even when you don't feel it on the inside. We are all afraid on occasion -- that is just part of being human. If you are going to lead people in tough times, you will need to show more courage than fear. When direct reports read worry and concern on the face of a leader, they begin to lose confidence in the leader's ability to lead.
Readers - Many of you have more experience in dealing with self-confidence issues than I do. Any of your suggestions for answering this question are appreciated.

LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS: KEY AREAS OF CONCENTERATION

LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS: KEY AREAS OF CONCENTERATION: A respected leader concentrates on three key areas: 1. “ Be ” - what he/she is, i.e. beliefs and values 2. “ Know ” - what he/she know...

KEY AREAS OF CONCENTERATION

A respected leader concentrates on three key areas:
1. “Be” - what he/she is, i.e. beliefs and values
2. “Know” - what he/she knows, i.e. job, tasks, human nature
3. “Do” - what he/she does, i.e. implement, motivate, and provide direction
What makes a person want to follow a leader? People want to be guided by people they respect and who have a clear sense of direction. To gain respect, they must be ethical. A sense of direction is achieved by conveying a strong vision of the future.

THE FRUIT OF TRUST

Trust as the Foundation of Leadership

TIME MANAGEMENT - making the time worth it

                                                                The Eleven Time Thieves
Nnachi orji Chinonso lists out the eleven ‘inconsiderate troupe’ of eleven thieves that gang up to steal some of the precious time away from productive use of managers.

 1. Poor Planning: Failure to see the value of planning and getting impatient to get
something done are the causes of poor planning. Absence of a plan of action is likely to
trigger off a false start, resulting in unproductive time utilization on the critical path of the
task being undertaken. Consequently, the managers might not find enough time for
completing the task.

2. Crisis Management: Most often, crisis management is an offspring of lack of
prioritization of tasks. As a result of the inability to distinguish between the urgent, the
important and the unnecessary tasks, unimportant tasks are likely to get done first at the
cost of important tasks. Consequently, the managers are not likely to find enough time to
get around to the important things.

3. Procrastination: It is easy to put off tasks if they are not due right away. The trouble is,
tasks pile up and can force managers to run into a time crunch later. Procrastination is
generally triggered off by the fear of failure / success, perfectionism, wanting to do it all or
incorrect priorities. It is a virtue to want to do a good job. But some people become so
anxious about getting a job done perfectly that they never complete it. Managers should
examine whether their efforts to get the job done perfectly are really improving things or
preventing them from getting the job done.

4. Interruptions: Interruptions and distractions arise due to lack of planning, poor
concentration and lack of control over environment. They are unnecessary thieves of a
manager’s time and come in many forms – drop-in visitors, telephones, e-mails
unscheduled meetings, poor communications and confused chain of authority etc. Managers
should be less willing to automatically give away their time just because they demand it.
They should learn to avoid distractions if they are to get work done. They should work in
areas where they are less likely to be disturbed and tell people when they are busy and
cannot be disturbed.

5. Not Delegating: Wanting-to-do-all by oneself is yet another thief that could let the
managers lose control. They feel that employees can never do anything as well as they
can. They fear that something will go wrong if someone else takes over a job. They lack
time for long-range planning because they are bogged down in day-to-day operations.

6. Unnecessary Meetings: If a meeting is held without a specific agenda and nothing
productive comes out of it, clearly that meeting was unnecessary. Obviously, such meetings
are thieves as the time is wasted and things just do not get started.

7. The “shuffling blues”: Managers often waste much time because of disorganization.
Keeping things that they need in a specific place, eliminating clutter, making sure that they
have all the materials or information that they need before starting on the task and following
a day-planner or schedule will help keep the ‘shuffling blues’ away at the work place.

8. Poor Physical Setup: Not having the things that the managers need frequently within
easy reach and having a lot of the things that they seldom require close-by results in wastage
of a lot of time, wearing out the carpet, retrieving what they frequently need. And of course,
as they pass others they will often pull them aside to steal some of their time.

9. Poor Networking: Quality relationships with employees and others can be a substantial
time-saver as they open doors for the managers with all kinds of opportunities. Failing to
develop a good network base will cause them to waste time creating what they might have
had through their network.

10. Bad Attitude: Nothing sinks a day more effectively than having a poor attitude. It
causes the managers to dwell on the problems and not the solutions and makes it possible
to throw the day away. When they are burdening others with their problems and complaints
they are forfeiting their valuable time.

11. Negative People: Being surrounded by negative people could mean the managers
are spending a lot of their time listening to them but getting nothing much or purposeful
from them. Obviously, avoiding such people will help the managers to minimize wasted
hours and get some of their productive time back.

THE IMPACT OF DECISION MAKING

Introduction

Throughout history, the world has seen many good leaders who possessed a variety of attributes that made them great. One only has to think of such people as Ghandi, Alexander the Great, and Prince Llywelyn of Wales. It would be nice to think that we all have something of the right stuff to make a difference in the workplace or in the world. As the Chinese philosopher Lao-tsu said,To lead people, walk beside them . . .
As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence.
The next best, the people honor and praise.
The next, the people fear;
and the next, the people hate . . .
When the best leader's work is done the people say,
"We did it ourselves!"


Many Leaders Use Five Key Skills:
The ability to accept people as they are, not as you would like them to be.
The capacity to approach relationships and problems in terms of the present rather than the past.
The ability to treat those who are close to you with the same courteous attention that you extend to strangers and casual acquaintances.
The ability to trust others, even if the risk seems great.
The ability to do without constant approval and recognition from others.

And so it goes that different people lead differently, but there is a set of attributes that most good leaders share, and includes an ability to organize; a desire to succeed; to bring forth a shared vision; drive and determination; problem-solving ability; and the all-important decision-making ability. What would Alexander the Great have been without this attribute?

The object of this essay is to get management to begin thinking or rethinking their ideas concerning one aspect of leadership: the decision-making process. As managers, we are also leaders, who must have a sense of vision for the future, an orientation toward action, and a facility for persuasion -- we must be able to motivate our colleagues into action within a healthy and happy work environment, and part of that must come from a projection of decisiveness. As Michael Novak points out in Executives Must Be AIlowed to Execute:
Money managers are learning the hard way that their bread is buttered by corporate managers with vision, steadiness, talent, and guts - in short, with what used to be called "the right stuff". That means character, wedded to a precise talent, a talent for figuring out the right thing to do and for doing it the right way and at the right time (Novak 1997,22).

Or as Sal Marino says, there are many people who think and plan in organizations, but very few who have the ability to move cognitive processes into executable phases (Marino 1998,26). Isn't that the difference between mediocre managers and leaders? The ability to make decisions in a systematic way by following a model, and being aware of the stakeholders in every scenario is part of the process. What are some of the skills needed to become a good decision-maker? And how can we build upon those skills to become better leaders?
Skills of a Good Decision-Maker

I think the first and most important component of decision-making is self- confidence. If you are confident in your mental capabilities and how you envision the world around you, then you will have no problem in analyzing a situation and making a decision you can stand by for better or worse. That leads into the second element, the ability to be analytical. The value of analysis cannot be overstated because it allows a person to systematically break down a situation and see its individual parts for what they are, thereby, providing a thorough overview. Thirdly, a major part of decision-making is the ability to think critically. The great value of critical thought can be traced all the way back to the philosopher Socrates (b.399 B.C.) of Athens, who advocated that critical thought and self-reflection are major components of what it is to be human.

Finally, the last two attributes of being a decisive person are understanding the value of research and the ability to manage conflict, within yourself and your belief structure, and with and amongst others. One must be able to 'nip things in the bud' before they grow and turn into invaluable and possibly destructive forces within the workplace. All these components make up decisive behaviour techniques and flow out of an overall orientation toward action, and an assumption of risk. These components do encourage individual development through self-awareness, as well as skill acquisition and improved competence.

To clarify, this writer is not advocating that managers must take responsibility for everything going on in the workplace, and it is okay to "decentralize decision- making and rely on decision teams rather than solely on ourselves" (Novak 1997,24). However, this focuses on the different kinds of decisions required by organizations; who should be involved; and how to make the best decision in a complex situation. Regardless of team support, when all is said and done, we must be the ones who step up to the platform and make things happen.

Talking about his book The Leadership Engine, Noel M. Tichy says that good leadership is a lot like good parenting; both need the systematic investment of time and what he calls "a teachable point of view" (HRFocus Jan. 1998,5). He insists that you must have the edge to make the important yes/no decisions: the edge or the courage. Courage is the missing link that puts the concept of taking risks and having the guts to be decisive into play and transforms them into a reality, often, in the face of great opposition.
How to Put it All Together

Possessing the right set of attributes and having the courage to make a decision, does not mean the work is all done. You should have your own decision-making process which must take the communication network, the staff, and the stakeholders into consideration. There must be a set of steps to incorporate the above elements into a process. Of course, this can be tailored differently for each scenario, but it might work something like this: Research a situation thoroughly -- analyze all the components -- think of all the people who will be effected by your decision -- think everything through using innovative and strategic thought processes -- have the self-confidence to make a short or long term decision and the fortitude to stand by it -- communicate it to the staff -- and have the ability to overcome the conflict that may arise from the decision. Never forget evaluation.

For example, it could be that after many in-depth meetings and evaluative analyzes by decision teams, there is still no consensus, no judgement made about whether or not the library should continue to collect a multitude of government documents in paper form even though the latest and most-up-to-date information can be found at the government websites posted on the Internet. One must think about the implications for the library in terms of additional workstations needed to handle the barrage of inquiries if the print sources were phased out; the possibility that computer hardware can fail; and the interminable worry that websites are not static, but rather, forever fluctuating or lost in the sea of electronic bits and bytes. In addition, there is the consideration of how this move would effect the library budget allocated for acquisitions in the government documents section, and what message you are giving to the public concerning the direction the library's policy on collection development is taking.

In addition, what of the stakeholders involved? Is the staff able to navigate the Internet -- how quickly can they navigate around the millions of documents, broken links, and the reality of slow modems? Perhaps they will need training to help them get used to the system; but who will pay for it? What about the most important stakeholders in the scenario, the public? Will they be able to function without help from a staff member? We cannot and should not assume that everyone knows how to use computers or have even heard of the Internet. Still, these people may be in desperate need of the government information located on sites. How will they access it? Will they receive training? Who will pay for it? Many more questions can come to mind, but the point is, no decision is an easy one, yet, someone has to have the fortitude to decide definitively about certain things, and live with the decisions.
The Myths of Leadership
Leadership is a rare skill. Nothing can be further from the truth. While great leaders may be rare, everyone has leadership potential. More important, people may be leaders in one organization and have quite ordinary roles in another. The truth is, leadership opportunities are plentiful and within reach of most people.

Leaders are born, not made. Don't believe it. The truth is, major capacities and competencies of leadership can be learned. We are all educatable, if the basic desire to learn is there. This is not to suggest that it is easy to be a leader. There is no simple formula, no rigorous science, no cookbook that leads inexorably to successful leadership. Instead, it is a deeply human process, full of trial and error, victories and defeats, timing and happenstance, intuition, and insight.

Leaders are charismatic. Some are, most are not. Charisma is the result of effective leadership, not the other way around. Those who are good at it are granted a certain amount of respect and even awe by their followers, which increases the bond of attraction between them.

Leadership exists only at the top of an organization. In fact, the larger the organization, the more leadership roles it is likely to have.

Leaders control, direct, prod, and manipulate. This is perhaps the most damaging myth of all. Leadership is not so much the exercise of power itself as the empowerment of others. Leaders are able to translate intentions into reality by aligning the energies to the organization behind an attractive goal. Leaders lead by pulling rather than pushing; by inspiring rather than ordering; by enabling people to use their own initiative and experiences rather than by denying or constraining their experiences and actions.
Conclusion

We can build upon these skills by first being consciously aware of the steps we travel through on our quest for the right solutions to both short and long term problems or situations. There is also the possibility of putting together workshops to learn the concepts, experience the components that make up the process, and even practice some of them in experimental scenarios based on making decisions. And of course, facilitation of a mentorship program geared towards the development of new leaders, is a great use of an organization's time. All of these will bring us a lot closer to our personal desire of becoming powerful, insightful leaders of the future. How important is decision-making? I will let the reader be the judge of that.

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