Effective leadership
There are many skills and abilities that are incorporated in a successful leader. There is so much information on how to become a leader, that it may be very difficult to determine which advise or theories you should follow in order to become your very best. This is why I have created my own theoretical perspective of leadership that includes elements of several different theories, which include the most important skills and abilities you must develop in order to become a successful leader.
1) The first step in becoming a successful leader is to know what a successful leader is, and how they are developed. Though it is debatable, not many people are born leaders. Some people are born with certain leadership qualities, but it is important to realize that these qualities can be learned, practiced, and mastered. Leadership is defined as the use of power and influence to direct the activities of followers toward goal achievement.* In layman's terms leadership is, expressing your control of power and influence to lead people toward a specific desire or goal. The definition of leadership is a bit general, but this is done on purpose because there are many different types of people, and many different types of leaders. So, what makes a leader? The most important thing that all leaders share is emotional intelligence. The technical skills, and the IQ of a person are also important but it has been found that there are many who exert these skills and still prove to be poor leaders. Emotional intelligence is a combination of self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill.* Self-awareness is the ability to understand your moods, emotions, and drives, and the effect they have on others. You can develop self awareness by simply being aware, know that you can do it; be self confident. Be able to fairly assess yourself and your actions. Self-regulation is the ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods, and the ability to think before acting. Motivation is the passion to accomplish your goals that goes beyond just compensation or status. Empathy is the ability to understand the emotions of other people, and how to treat people based on that knowledge. The last part of Emotional intelligence is Social skill, which is being able to manage relationships and build networks. Finding the common ground amongst people and then building a connection off of that connection. If you are able to develop and manage those 5 components of Emotional Intelligence you will have the framework to become a great leader.
2) The second step in becoming a successful leader is to realize and be aware of the different kinds of noise, or distractions that get in the way of being an effective leader. Knowing what challenges are out there, and knowing what challenges have brought down other leaders, you can learn by their mistakes and stay a sustainable leader over time. Some of the major barriers are that hinder leaders are overemphasizing personal goals, worrying too much about your public image, turning competitors into enemies, trying to do it alone, and being too patient.* Personal goals are very important to have, but if you become too worried about your personal goals this could cause you to have self-protection and self-promotion. These things are not good because they get in the way of making other people better and more successful, which is a major part of being a leader. There are many people that worry to much about how they are perceived. Though it is important to be perceived in a good manner, the desire to be looked at a certain way can hold you back from doing what might be best for the group that you are leading. Sometimes your reputation has to take a hit for the better of your followers, basically, sometimes you have to be able to "take one for the team" and if you are to worried about your image, it can get in the way. It is very important to be able to be competitive with your competition but if you become too competitive with them, they can turn into an enemy. Enemies are almost never good because they can impair your decision making skills and can cause you to want to win, rather than to succeed. It is also important that you allow those around you to help you. Don't just order people, hear what they think should happen, and take their thoughts into consideration before making decisions. This is a form of leadership called Consultative style.* The last major barrier that I will discuss is being too patient. As the saying says, patience is a virtue, may be true but when wanting to be an effective leader, you have to know when to take your shots. They aren't always just going to come to you. You have to show initiative, suggest a more efficient way of doing something, you need to take some chances. Leaders are great at this.
3) The third most important skill of a leader is decision making. As mentioned above the consultative style is a very good style of decision making but after you consult others you have the final say, and how you make that decision is a very important part of being a leader. There are two main types of thinking people have in regards to decision making, these thought processes are conventional and integrative. Leaders that think conventionally seek simplicity in the decision making process, which can cause them to make unattractive trade-offs. Leaders that use integrative thinking don't shy away from complexity which allows them to craft innovative solutions* Below is a table of the decison making process for both conventional and integrative leaders. Pay close attention to the integrative column, that is the kind of thinker you need to be a successful leader.
1) The first step in becoming a successful leader is to know what a successful leader is, and how they are developed. Though it is debatable, not many people are born leaders. Some people are born with certain leadership qualities, but it is important to realize that these qualities can be learned, practiced, and mastered. Leadership is defined as the use of power and influence to direct the activities of followers toward goal achievement.* In layman's terms leadership is, expressing your control of power and influence to lead people toward a specific desire or goal. The definition of leadership is a bit general, but this is done on purpose because there are many different types of people, and many different types of leaders. So, what makes a leader? The most important thing that all leaders share is emotional intelligence. The technical skills, and the IQ of a person are also important but it has been found that there are many who exert these skills and still prove to be poor leaders. Emotional intelligence is a combination of self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill.* Self-awareness is the ability to understand your moods, emotions, and drives, and the effect they have on others. You can develop self awareness by simply being aware, know that you can do it; be self confident. Be able to fairly assess yourself and your actions. Self-regulation is the ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods, and the ability to think before acting. Motivation is the passion to accomplish your goals that goes beyond just compensation or status. Empathy is the ability to understand the emotions of other people, and how to treat people based on that knowledge. The last part of Emotional intelligence is Social skill, which is being able to manage relationships and build networks. Finding the common ground amongst people and then building a connection off of that connection. If you are able to develop and manage those 5 components of Emotional Intelligence you will have the framework to become a great leader.
2) The second step in becoming a successful leader is to realize and be aware of the different kinds of noise, or distractions that get in the way of being an effective leader. Knowing what challenges are out there, and knowing what challenges have brought down other leaders, you can learn by their mistakes and stay a sustainable leader over time. Some of the major barriers are that hinder leaders are overemphasizing personal goals, worrying too much about your public image, turning competitors into enemies, trying to do it alone, and being too patient.* Personal goals are very important to have, but if you become too worried about your personal goals this could cause you to have self-protection and self-promotion. These things are not good because they get in the way of making other people better and more successful, which is a major part of being a leader. There are many people that worry to much about how they are perceived. Though it is important to be perceived in a good manner, the desire to be looked at a certain way can hold you back from doing what might be best for the group that you are leading. Sometimes your reputation has to take a hit for the better of your followers, basically, sometimes you have to be able to "take one for the team" and if you are to worried about your image, it can get in the way. It is very important to be able to be competitive with your competition but if you become too competitive with them, they can turn into an enemy. Enemies are almost never good because they can impair your decision making skills and can cause you to want to win, rather than to succeed. It is also important that you allow those around you to help you. Don't just order people, hear what they think should happen, and take their thoughts into consideration before making decisions. This is a form of leadership called Consultative style.* The last major barrier that I will discuss is being too patient. As the saying says, patience is a virtue, may be true but when wanting to be an effective leader, you have to know when to take your shots. They aren't always just going to come to you. You have to show initiative, suggest a more efficient way of doing something, you need to take some chances. Leaders are great at this.
3) The third most important skill of a leader is decision making. As mentioned above the consultative style is a very good style of decision making but after you consult others you have the final say, and how you make that decision is a very important part of being a leader. There are two main types of thinking people have in regards to decision making, these thought processes are conventional and integrative. Leaders that think conventionally seek simplicity in the decision making process, which can cause them to make unattractive trade-offs. Leaders that use integrative thinking don't shy away from complexity which allows them to craft innovative solutions* Below is a table of the decison making process for both conventional and integrative leaders. Pay close attention to the integrative column, that is the kind of thinker you need to be a successful leader.
The top row of the table represents the four stages in making a decision for a particular challenge. Determining Saliance is figuring out which factors to take into account. Coventional thinkers try to eliminate as many possible factors. Integrative thinkers don't just go for the obious factors, they take the time and investigate all factors that might turn out to be relevant. Analyzing Causality is figuring out how each factor relates to the others. Integrative thinkers don't just see the relationships as linear, they recognize that they can be multidirectional as well. Envisioning the Decision Architecture being aware that the order of your decisions can affect what you do in the future. Successful leaders are able to see how all of the factors fit together, and make there decision cautiously so that they do not negatively impact the other factors that follow. Finally, the fourth step is achieving resolution. Achieving resolution is the actual outcome. If integrative thinking was used in all of the previous steps this will allow for a creative resolution, and you will not just settle for a bad trade-off.
If you can follow these three steps you will be in a great position to be a great, effective leader. I realize that it was a lot of information but if you can just work on it consistenly every day from here on out, you can become the great leader you want to be. Continue onto the following pages to see personal applications of my Effective Leadership.
If you can follow these three steps you will be in a great position to be a great, effective leader. I realize that it was a lot of information but if you can just work on it consistenly every day from here on out, you can become the great leader you want to be. Continue onto the following pages to see personal applications of my Effective Leadership.
