Are You a Great Leader?

Many organisations believe they have leadership and more particularly those who hold management or leadership positions believe in their own leadership qualities as they know no better. So to sell leadership development to any organisation is extremely difficult. But do they really have leadership or is it more about management? Do they know what real leadership is? Do they understand the very real benefits true leadership brings?

Very few leaders appear naturally without mentoring and training. Those that do appear naturally are often flawed in their leadership style either as one dimensional leaders or as inconsistent leaders. One dimensional leaders believe in autocracy, dictating to, or dominating their employees using top down leadership. They limit rather than liberate and this can lead to employee frustration.. Those that are inconsistent in their dealings will create cohesion difficulties amongst their staff and this could eventually lead to a void appearing between the team and the leader. Either way the passage of communication up and down and hence the enhanced power and real advantages of the group through employer empowerment is stifled. Both styles make a leader appear arrogant and uncaring to some of their subordinates and this can become poisonous to the organisation and can affect staff loyalty. Remember 49% of employees would rather take a pay cut than work for a bad boss.

Leadership is about more than management or the skills and knowledge to lead. Management-the skills and knowledge have rarely lead to a leader’s downfall, however they will affect his or her initial selection. Hence these professional skills are generally taken for granted. But Leadership has two other aspects which are often neglected in leadership training and development, they are personal qualities and behaviour and they are always evident in exceptional leaders look at Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Field Marshall Slim, Mother Theresa, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela:

Leadership = Personal Qualities + Skills and Knowledge + Behaviour

Personal Qualities consist of such things as: judgement, bearing, willpower, effective intellect, moral courage, confidence and knowledge. The Behavioural aspect of leadership consists of: consistency, fairness, rationality, proportionality and setting an example. How often do we see bosses who neglect these qualities setting a bad example or being inappropriate in their behaviour; Parliamentary expenses being a classic modern case. Do you focus on your behaviour and personal qualities?

Good leadership requires individual sacrifice, it demands humility and it creates a natural respect for all those involved in an organisation. This perhaps why so many of my examples have been assassinated, they trust others and take personal risk. Good leadership is about communication it is about subordinate reward and acknowledgement. Good leadership engenders respect, support and mutual admiration between a leader and those led. Good leadership empowers the experienced, motivates the unwilling, develops the inexperienced but values each and every individual’s positive contribution. Does your organisation empower? Does your organisation possess that mutual respect and is it as evident at the bottom as it is perceived to be at the top?

A good leader will flourish far more in today’s open social and business environment where groups and conglomerations are more powerful than old fashioned resource intensive stove piped organisations. Leaders need to be flexible in their style and a good leader will also know when a commanding style suits the situation and when a visionary ‘servant leadership’ style is right. It is the ability to flex an approach to the needs of the task, the needs of the individual and the needs of the group that allows a good leader to become a great one. Do you have that awareness? Do you change your style consciously depending upon who you are leading and what the situation is? Are you a great leader? Great leaders create great followers.