Leadership and Influencing Practice
Introduction
Leadership is a key issue in the development of groups, organizations and nations. The study of leadership plays a crucial role in the behavioural and management sciences. It receives a lot of attention and is intensively explored. Leaders primarily work through and with other people. They also help to establish the conditions that enable others to be effective. Leadership is a function more than a role. Although leadership is often invested in – or expected of – persons in positions of formal authority, leadership encompasses a set of functions that may be performed by any different persons in different roles throughout a community.
Leadership can refer both to the process of leading, and to those entities that do the leading. Leadership has been a central, and sometimes controversial, topic in the study of organizations. In spite of claims to the contrary, there is substantial evidence that leadership is positively related to a variety of individual and organizational outcomes. Leaders, by their very roles, are responsible for making decisions that help their organizations adapt and succeed in competitive environments. Leaders do not merely impose goals on followers, but work with others to create a shared sense of purpose and direction.
In a business organization it is important that the leader or the management must know what style of leadership to be used in order to make the flow of the company towards the goal or the objective set by the organization. As such, it is important to understand the different personality traits, attitudes and general traits of a good leader in the management environment. Unlike managers, leaders do not have subordinates. Instead, they have followers. Leaders have a certain charisma to attract others to follow them openly, towards their desires and interests. Leadership is a process of social influence in which one person is able to enlist the aid and support of other individuals in the achievement of a common task (1997). (1992) describe leaders as people who are capable of influencing others towards a particular goal, which represent what the entire group wants or needs. While managers usually have loud personalities and are focused on finishing tasks, leaders use a more charismatic approach. They value people, and give due credit to those who have done well. They also have this effective ability to establish loyalty among their followers. To keep going despite set backs, is the hallmark of all successful leaders. A good leader must have a positive attitude, should be optimistic, has ideas, always sees a way out and will not give up easily. They take every mistake as a learning experience. Strength of character and will are the moral qualities of a leader, the principles that motivate and control his functions to make the right choices. On the other hand, humility is necessary to define a leader’s ability and limitations especially and most importantly the correct measuring of other people’s worth and value. According to (2002), credibility is the foundation of leadership. A leader should be credible for him to lead. In addition to this characteristic, a leader should possess honesty, competence, aspiration, and a forward-looking approach.
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