LEADERSHIP IS AN INFLUENCE RELATIONSHIP

 The managing style of leaders is essential to the team’s success.  The leaders need to provide compelling directions for team members to achieve objectives.  It is said that leadership style may affect the team’s effectiveness.

Organisation today need effective leaders who understand the complexities and challenges of the rapidly changing global environment.  It’s considered important because leadership styles can affect the quality of work life.

It’s important to know that leadership is not a person nor is it a management.  Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers.

Professor Joseph Rost (1991) said leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purpose.  It no doubt is true that leadership includes the discipline of top-down management, but it actually extends far beyond that.

Everyone in every organisation is in a leadership role.  Leadership is gifted, not claimed.  Followers determine leaders, leaders do not determine followers.  Ultimately, leadership is a social process that depends on contingent needs of followers and the capacity of the individual to realise their leadership potential.

Dr. John C Maxwell writes about the Law of Influence in his book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.  He said that the accurate measure of leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.  He measured influence in 7 areas I.e. character, relationships,knowledge,intuitions,experience, past successes, and ability.  Dr. Maxwell outlined 5 myths about leadership:

1. The management myth where management and leadership are 2 equal terms.

2. The entrepreneur myth where the assumption is all entrepreneurs are leaders.

3. The knowledge myth with the assumption is knowledgable people will be a good leader.

4. The pioneer myth 

5. The position myth 

The 21 Laws of John Maxwell 

1. The Law of the Lid - there’s a limit to our potential.

2. The Law of Influence - refers to the power or capacity to produce desired results 

3. The Law of Process - leaders are learners have the capacity to develop and improve skills 

4. The Law of Navigation - charts the course, carefully seeing where they want to go 

5. The Law of Addition - focuses on advancing others

6. The Law of Solid Ground - a solid character, with integrity, authenticity and discipline 

7. The Law of Respect - must be strong and worthy of respect 

8. The Law of Intuition - the power to discern the true nature of a person or situation 

9. The Law of Magnetism - constantly attracting followers and new leaders 

10. The Law of Connection - bring or join one thing to another 

11. The Law of Inner Circle - those closest to us will determine our potential 

12. The Law of Empowerment - give the means, power or opportunity to do 

13. The Law of the Picture - lead by example 

14. The Law of Buy-In - getting support for ideas, visions, and strategies 

15. The Law of Victory - find a way for the team to win 

16. The Law of Big Mo - Mo (momentum) is a close friend of effective leaders 

17. The Law of Priorities - focussing on what is most important is so much more effective than being busy 

18. The Law of Sacrifice - the need to be willing to give up 

19. The Law of Timing - must know when to seize the moment, when to move forward, and when to back off, what to improve and how radical those improvements should be 

20. The Law of Explosive Growth - recognises developing leaders around them 

21. The Law of Legacy - make an impact on the world; leave a legacy of succession, create leadership culture, assure lasting success, value team leadership above individual leadership, choose a life of sacrifice not a life of success.

Some may say that leadership is transient and discontinuous.  Windows of leadership will come and go.  Remember, leaders lasting values can only be judged based on how well the organisation did after the leader is gone.

Reference 

https://trainingindustry.com

https://daveshoenbeck.com

https://trinitasadvisors.com

linkendin.com

Articles 

Leadership Styles and Job Performance: A Literature Review (Mohammad Al-Maliki, Wang Juan, School of Economics, Central China Normal University, Wuhan China)

Leadership Styles (Nanjundeswarasamy T.S., Swany D.R., Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, JSS Academy of Technical Education, Bangalore, India)

Leadership Definitions Application for Lecturers’s Leadership Development (Reni Rosari, Faculty of Economies and Business, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia)

SHORT NOTES: Leadership Themes and Styles

 LEADERSHIP THEORIES 

1. Great Men Theory 

- Thomas Carlyle (1847) claimed that leaders are born 

2. Traits Theory 

- Born leaders were endowed with certain physical traits and personality characteristics 

- Jenkins identified 2 traits; (a) emergent traits (heavily dependent upon heredity), (b) effectiveness traits (based on experience or learning)

3. Contingency Theories (Situational)

- recommended that no leadership style is precise 

- no single right way to lead 

- leaders have to adapt to the particular situation 

4. Style and Behaviour Theory 

- acknowledge the significance of certain necessary leadership skills 

- Yuhl (1989) introduces 3 leadership styles: (a) democratic leaders, (b) autocratic leaders, (c) laissez-faire leaders 

- Fiedler and House (1994) identified 2 additional leadership styles; (a) consideration structure, (b) commencing (initiating) structure 

5. Process Leadership Theory 

- Greenleaf 1970s) focuses include: (a) servant leadership, (b) learning organisation, (c) principal centred leadership, (d) charismatic leadership

6. Transactional Theory 

7. Transformational Theory 

LEADERSHIP STYLES 

1, Transformational Leadership Style

- comprises of 3 components:

- (a) contingent reward - focuses on achieving results 

- (b) management by acception (active) - have inherent trust in their workers to end the job to a satisfactory standard and avoid rocking the boat 

- (c) management by exception (passive) - avoid specific agreements, failure to provide goals and standards to achieve by staffs; waits for things to go wrong before taking action (Bass and Avolio, 2004)

2. Transformational Leadership Style

- (a) Idealised Influence (Charismatic) - attribute of a leader which inspires followers to take their leader as a role model 

- (b) Inspirational Motivation - encourages the employees in the organisational pursuit drawing the best out of them 

- (c) Intellectual Stimulation - measure the mentoring, coaching, morale, building strengths of individualise consideration i.e. display concern for their workers needs, and are equipped to boost and coach development of desired workplace 

Conclusion 

Leaders with essential traits will have the ability to take certain actions to be successful.  4 styles of leadership are established under optimal style of leadership:

- participating 

- delegating 

- selling 

- telling 

Reference 

Journal of resource development and management, vol. 16, 2016 - Zakeer Ahmed Khan Phd, Dr Allah Nawaz Irfanullah Khan Phd, Department of Public Administration, Gomel University, Deva Ismail Khan.

SHORT NOTES: Leadership - A Comprehensive Review

 Concept of leadership has evolved and developed over the years.  Most leadership research suggests that leadership is an important determinant of organisational effectiveness.  

THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP 

1. GREAT MEN THEORY AND TRAITS THEORY 

- Great Men Theory sought to identify the inherited traits leaders possessed that distinguished them from others.

- Traits Theory assumes that people inherit certain qualities and traits that make them better suited to leadership.

2. BEHAVIOURAL THEORIES 

- leaders become successful and effective according to what they actually do when dealing with subordinates 

- autocratic vs democratic behaviours

3. CONTINGENCIES (SITUATIONAL) THEORIES 

- different situations requires different leadership styles 

- i. Fiedler’s Contingency Model of Leadership: relationships oriented; tasks oriented 

- ii. Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory 

- iii. House’s Path Goal Theory: 4 classifications of leadership i.e. supportive leadership; directive leadership; participative leadership; and achievements oriented leadership 

- iv. Vroom, Yetton and Jago’s Contingency Model 

4. CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP THEORIES 

- emerged around the 1980s

- new styles: charismatic leadership; transformational leadership; transactional leadership; servant leadership 

- transactional leadership motivates followers to perform their jobs; focuses on economy; focuses on who will better perform their jobs 

- Transactional leadership insists on satisfying the needs of their followers; has the ability of satisfying followers 

- servant leadership is where the key is ethical and caring behaviour; motivated by the intention to serve 

Reference 

A comprehensive review of literature, research and theoretical framework, Sait Revda Dinibutun 2020

Short Notes: LEADERSHIP IN THE ORGANISATION: A Conceptual Review (October 2018)

 Leadership is a must.  Hence there exists the need for a leader who can understand and handle the complexity and challenges of the world.  Thus arise the need for the leader to always improve the quality of their knowledge relating to leadership. Leader is a must figura in an organisation who has to know the clear vision and how to achieve goals.  Leadership is one of the most significant branch of management.

Transactional Leadership 

- emphasises the clarification of goals and work standards 

- focuses on tasks completion and employee compliance 

- the leaders rely quite heavily on organisational rewards and punishments to influence employees performance 

- motivate subordinates through the use contingent rewards, corrective actions and rule of enforcement 

- also capable of giving punishments for poor effort or unsatisfied outcomes 

- the thing is, this type of leadership causes short-term relationships between leaders and subordinates 

Transformational Leadership 

- leaders uphold the interests of employees 

- encourages subordinates, provides inspiration and motivation for subordinates to innovate and create positive change 

- this type of leadership creates long term relationships between leaders and subordinates 

- leader becomes a figure that is admired and imitated by the subordinates 

- subordinates are given space for expressing thoughts, and able to develop their thinking towards the future 

- they prioritise teamwork 

Reference 

researchgate.net

IT’S OKAY TO FALL, EVERYBODY FALLS DOWN

 People struggle at times from their failures.  Some people give up as soon as they fail.  But the main thing is how to get back up as soon as we fall.  Remember, getting up as soon as we fall is nothing new, it has been with us since the day we first learned to walk, run, cycle etc.

So, as we get older, do we really get back up right away when we fall?  The question is whether we are bold enough to get back up again when going through the downs of life.  Falling down is necessary to human life simply for the moment of standing back up.

Different people react differently to the fall.  Whatever it is, we need to make peace with the fact that we may fall many more times throughout our life.  For most of us, failing down carries a certain negative connotation, eliciting thoughts of pain and embarrassment.  But don’t forget that everyone falls.  The beauty is that without falling down, there is no getting back up again.

Falling is not failing, it’s just a part of success.  Falling teaches us about resilience, courage, and support.  It’s just as a steppingstone.  By falling it will teach us that we need to improve ourselves and our skills, and thus gaining new perspectives.

Just as falling down, failure and mistakes are part of our life.  It allows us the chance to grow, provide us with something to look back to, and subsequently something to learn from.

Notice that even in falling there exist a forward motion, so some say it’s still progress in the process.  Generally after falling, people walk a bit clearer, and much more aware of the surroundings.

The healing process:

1. Acknowledge the fall

2. Feel the fall 

3. Let go 

4. Admit the need for help 

5. Ask for help 

6. Accept help 

7. Make no judgement of the falling 

8. Self examination 

    - what serves us

    - what needs to stop 

    - where to start 

    - what we need more of

    - what we need less of 

9. Take a long term view to rebuilding 

10. Recognise the stages, layers of healing, and rebuilding to be done.

11. Aim for holistic wellness 

12. Create goals and milestones along the way 

13. Celebrate and mark progress 

14. Keep motivated for the long term 

Reference 

https://mike-robbins.com

https://edenbabel.com

SOFT SKILLS: Learn and unlearn

 We need to have strong soft skills to be an effective employee.  Hard skill is the ability needed directly linked to the job.  Unlike soft skills, hard skills are quantifiable, testable, and often easier to learn.  Interviewers will almost always rate higher those with soft skills.

The word skills has a broad meaning, describing particular ability a person need to be able to master a profession or occupation.  Literature explain soft skills as an umbrella for skills under 3 functional elements that is people skills, personal skills, and career attributes.  Some refers it to personal attributes, behaviours, and social attitudes.  To have them make people flexible in a world which keep changing.

Soft skills are personal attributes typically linked to how we work and interact with others.  They are not restricted to a specific field.  But they are needed in order to keep up with the ever evolving job market.  Actively interacting with others and willing to accept feedback is one way to master soft skills.

There’s a wide range of soft skills which include:

Active Listening 

Adaptability 

Attention To Detail 

Coaching and Mentoring 

Communication (Verbal and Writing)

Conflict Management 

Creativity 

Critical Thinking 

Cultural Competence 

Customer Service 

Decision Making 

Dependability 

Diversity and Inclusion 

Emotional Intelligence 

Empathy 

Enthusiastic 

Financial Management 

Flexibility 

Goal Setting 

Humility 

Initiative 

Innovation 

Interpersonal Skills 

Leadership 

Learning Agility 

Negotiations 

Organisational Skills 

Presentation Skills 

Positive Attitudes 

Problem Solving / Analysis 

Resilience 

Self Motivation 

Stress Management 

Teamwork 

Time Management 

Trust Worthiness 

Work Ethics 

Soft skills are most often developed through life experiences, practices, and also through self reflection.  Also good to remember that soft skills can be learned through various methods.

Reference 

https://virtualspeech.com

en.wikipedia.org

joinhandshake.com

Why Choose To Be Good?

 As a person we are free to choose to do whatever we want, but we are always encouraged to always choose to do the right things.  There’s also this thinking saying that it’s better to be good than to be right.

The term ‘good’ has many angle.  When implying to a person, it actually means they act‘rightly’.  Acting rightly is a matter of doing a right thing (Dr Mikel Burley, Uni of Leeds).

Does being right means we are being good?  Most think that when they are doing right means they are good because it gives us a sense of being uprightness and so we may avoid feeling guilt or shame.  Thus in short, being good means involve obeying the moral rules.  And to obey the moral rules means we do good and thus the good things done are to be of benefit to someone or something.

Having good values means valuing what deserves to be valued.  Reasons why it is good to be good:

1. Necessary for happiness 

2. Having self respect 

3. Able to see what is truly of value in the world 

4. Taking good care of yourself 

5. Live truly happy lives 

After all being said, we are not perfectly good, no matter how hard we try.  We all play many parts and wears different hats.  Most people like to think of themselves as ‘good’ people.  And it’s a choice, one that you have to keep making.  

Reference

https://philosophynow.org

blog.oup.com

bahaiteachings.org

www.quora.com

CARING LEADERSHIP: The Shift Towards Human-Centred Leadership

Modern leadership is characterised by the capacity to cultivate environment where people feel valued, supported, and motivated to realize their full potential.  Caring leadership is the shift towards human-centred leadership which emphasises on well being, growth, and satisfaction of team members.

Even though you must care about people, it will not necessarily make you a good leader; not necessarily you will get along with them, agree on everything or work effectively together.  But caring about others is the initial touchstone that drives people to try harder and make it work.

Work becomes more meaningful when it aligns with a person’s values, passion, strengths and sense of purpose.  Humans are emotional beings who cannot connect with others based on practicality.  Employees feel valued when leaders demonstrate empathy and concern towards them, thus creating a healthy work environment.

Caring leadership supports employee’s autonomy and work life balance, and also offers opportunities for professional development.  They actively listen to the concerns of their employees, give constructive feedback, and recognise their achievements.  They also create environment where everyone feels valued, supported, appreciated, engaged in conversation, challenged as well as being heard.

The 5 pillars of caring leadership

1. Fostering culture of learning 

2. Prioritizing recognition and celebration 

3. Build trust 

4. Facilitating intentional connection 

5. Promoting meaningful work 

When learning is prioritised, mistakes are reframed as learning opportunities rather than failures.  Recognition is served as a powerful motivator where it goes beyond surface level acknowledgment.  Trust, in this case is where individuals feel psychologically safe to express ideas and address challenges.  There exist a deep awareness of the individual needs and experiences, fostering a sense of belonging and inclusion.

Leadership is not just about deadlines or numbers, it’s about creating an environment for the people to thrive.  There are 8 reasons why caring leadership is essential:

1. It creates a sense of belonging (feeling of being seen and valued)

2. It builds trust (a glue and foundation of successful team)

3. It boosts morale (people feel appreciated, especially when wins are celebrated)

4. It reduces turnover 

5. It prioritises mental health (balancing work and life)

6. It increases productivity 

7. It encourages creativity 

8. It creates a ripple effect (spreads throughout the team)

Caring leadership focuses on empathy, understanding, and genuine concern for team members. It fosters a positive workplace by creating an environment where people feel valued and supported.  Caring for others helps to develop empathy and the ability to connect with people, even in difficult situations.

Tips to implement caring leadership

1. Listen actively 

2. Create opportunities 

3. Trust your employees 

4. Show appreciation 

Caring leadership is not just about being nice.  It is also one of the most significant contributors to successful leadership.  It can be an important foundation to build effective and ethical leadership.  Being caring does not mean ignoring your leadership responsibilities.  Leadership is not being in charge; it’s about taking care of those in your charge.

Caring for employees will directly affect productivity, customer satisfaction and employee engagement.  People will go the extra mile for leaders who are genuinely concerned with what employees can do and who they are and can become.

Reference:

chapmancommunities.org

managersandleaders.com.au

benardletendre.ca

ivy.partners

https://www.greatplacetowork.com

https://eliotpartnership.com

https://rightflorida.com

https://www.homeinstead.ca

WOMEN: THE PILLAR OF STRENGTH

Strength be it mental strength or physical strength, can be developed.  Being mentally strong is not about how you look, not about being popular, nor is it about earning the most money.  It’s all about character, being a good example for others, and also taking good care of themselves.  So many amazing changes in our world are made by women.

Strong women are confident, optimistic, always have a positive mindset, and are always proud of themselves.  Despite their fears and challenges they face, strong women courageously pushed forward.  They understand that fear is only an emotion.

Fear is far more subtle and we may not even recognise that fear is what we are experiencing.  Fear is normal and sometimes it may even be healthy.  We fear all sorts of things, we fear changes, success, failure, or even our own imagined shortcomings, and most commonly is the fear of letting go.

Strong women overcome their fears to conquer their pain in order to embrace their potential.  A strong woman knows she can do anything and never shies away from a challenge.  They dream big, set extraordinary goals and try to achieve them with enthusiasm.  They do not whine, complain or wallow in self pity.  They look for solutions, they see problems as possibilities, and obstacles as opportunities 

They don’t wait around for someone to save them.  They ask for help when they need it, understanding that it doesn’t equate to weakness.  They appreciate failure and the gifts it can bring. Strong women understand that a new door opens with every failure.

Ways to be mentally strong:

1. Built confidence 

It’s a great sign of self love and helps to stay away from comparing.  Be happy in our own skin and be at peace in our own mind.

2. Be productive 

It makes you feel accomplished and keeps our mind happy.  Also it’s important to take breaks, breathe and avoid getting overwhelmed.

3. Be optimistic and positive 

Bring the good vibes with us everywhere we go.

4. Face your fears 

Face your fears head on, don’t runaway.

5. Be a more caring person 

Always show your care for others and also for yourself.  Develop positive relationships, and do not be afraid to stand up for what you believe in, and remember to always display good morality and values.

6. Always have pride 

Feeling pride about your positive aspect and achievements and accomplishments.  Share that pride, but always remember to remain respectful of others.  Do not make others feel less important.

7. Not being bothered by what other people say 

Sometimes people say hurtful things, but a mentally strong woman can overcome it.  Ignoring those hurtful words or comments is never easy but it’s possible.

8. Being true to yourself 

There’s no need to change ourselves to satisfy others.  Also do not need to change to impress others.

9. Know when to ask for help 

Asking for help is incredibly brave.  Reaching out is often a reflection of the strength.  Be sure to show resilience, courage, and determination in difficult times.

In general, definition of strong women are thought to be assertive, confident, influential, and are also leaders.  Resilience, confidence and physical wellbeing are all the qualities of a strong women.  They are kind, caring and helpful, always soft spoken with high self confidence.  To become stronger, women to develop their internal and external strength.

Reference:

https://discoverymood.com

https://schoolofselfimage.com