Leadership - Part 1
Identifying what exactly makes a good leader is hotly debated and will probably continue for some time yet. Every time someone thinks they have the formula, a successful leader comes along that just doesn’t fit that criterion.
There seems to be no absolutes, no finite rights or wrongs. Just a general consensus that most experts in the field would agree is the right direction.
However, I do think that researching successful leaders and modelling their behaviour is one of the best ways to identify our own development needs.
Meanwhile, to start you on your quest to find the essence of a good leader I have assembled a few ‘quick hit’ ideas for you to consider. It is a sizable subject so I have broken it down into a series of three very short parts. This is intended as the laypersons guide to leadership, something to make you think and explore further. It is not an all-inclusive study of the subject.
The Environment
To understand what leadership is, you must first identify how a leader ‘fits’ within their environment. All environments typically consist of three components.
1. STRUCTURE
Each environment has a structure of some description, which gives it form and dictates the way it interacts with the other components. In the business sense, the environment would be the organisation you work for. But it could just as easily be a person’s home and family. Sometimes, it may seem difficult to identify the environmental structure. You may be looking too hard; it may be society itself, your country, the world. You get the idea.
2. FOLLOWERS
The followers respond to, and interact with, the structure and the leaders. We are all followers at some time, in countless environments, even if we are leaders in others.
3. LEADERS
The leaders determine the ultimate evolutionary direction of the environment. Their character and skills, their leadership ‘traits’, determine the approach used to resolve issues and how tasks are accomplished.
Definition of a Leader
In my opinion the following quote pretty much sums up what a leader is.
Managers are people who do things right, while leaders are people who do the right thing. - Warren Bennis, Ph.D. On Becoming a Leader
To add to that, in an ideal world - good Managers need to be good leaders and good leaders need to be good managers. Each supports and is influenced by the other, but neither is dependant on the other.
Becoming a Leader
There are three major theories of how people become leaders.
Trait
Some personality traits may lead people naturally into leadership roles.
Great Events
A crisis or significant event may cause a person to rise to the occasion, which brings out leadership qualities in a person.
Transformational Leadership
People can choose to learn leadership skills and become leaders.
There is only a small amount of people who slot into the ‘Trait’ and ‘Great Events’ theories. The ‘Transformational Leadership’ theory is the most widely accepted today. This then links in nicely with the behavioural modelling I mentioned earlier.
Here are a couple of leadership models you might be interested in.
Four Framework Approach, Bolman and Deal (1991)
The Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid (1985)
There seems to be no absolutes, no finite rights or wrongs. Just a general consensus that most experts in the field would agree is the right direction.
However, I do think that researching successful leaders and modelling their behaviour is one of the best ways to identify our own development needs.
Meanwhile, to start you on your quest to find the essence of a good leader I have assembled a few ‘quick hit’ ideas for you to consider. It is a sizable subject so I have broken it down into a series of three very short parts. This is intended as the laypersons guide to leadership, something to make you think and explore further. It is not an all-inclusive study of the subject.
The Environment
To understand what leadership is, you must first identify how a leader ‘fits’ within their environment. All environments typically consist of three components.
1. STRUCTURE
Each environment has a structure of some description, which gives it form and dictates the way it interacts with the other components. In the business sense, the environment would be the organisation you work for. But it could just as easily be a person’s home and family. Sometimes, it may seem difficult to identify the environmental structure. You may be looking too hard; it may be society itself, your country, the world. You get the idea.
2. FOLLOWERS
The followers respond to, and interact with, the structure and the leaders. We are all followers at some time, in countless environments, even if we are leaders in others.
3. LEADERS
The leaders determine the ultimate evolutionary direction of the environment. Their character and skills, their leadership ‘traits’, determine the approach used to resolve issues and how tasks are accomplished.
Definition of a Leader
In my opinion the following quote pretty much sums up what a leader is.
Managers are people who do things right, while leaders are people who do the right thing. - Warren Bennis, Ph.D. On Becoming a Leader
To add to that, in an ideal world - good Managers need to be good leaders and good leaders need to be good managers. Each supports and is influenced by the other, but neither is dependant on the other.
Becoming a Leader
There are three major theories of how people become leaders.
Trait
Some personality traits may lead people naturally into leadership roles.
Great Events
A crisis or significant event may cause a person to rise to the occasion, which brings out leadership qualities in a person.
Transformational Leadership
People can choose to learn leadership skills and become leaders.
There is only a small amount of people who slot into the ‘Trait’ and ‘Great Events’ theories. The ‘Transformational Leadership’ theory is the most widely accepted today. This then links in nicely with the behavioural modelling I mentioned earlier.
Here are a couple of leadership models you might be interested in.
Four Framework Approach, Bolman and Deal (1991)
The Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid (1985)
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