An approach on what and how leadership is achieved depends on different theories and most importantly is how an individual perceives it. There are diverse ways of thinking about leadership beginning with realizing the personality aspect of great leadership and conclude with emphasizing aspects of the situation which will eventually help to assess how people lead. Like any other topic leadership is a nuanced subject that has a mixture of many factors determine why some people become great leaders while others don’t. A majority of theories explain why and how some people become leaders, focusing on the characteristics of leaders although some theories attempt to identify the behaviors that people can adopt to enhance their leadership abilities in different scenarios.
The question on whether a leader is born or made is theoretically based. According to ‘Great Man’ theory, great leaders are simply born with the necessary internal characteristics such as intelligence, confidence, charisma and social skills that make them natural born leaders. Leaders are born not made. On the hand ‘behavioral theories’ urges that leaders are made not born. That people can learn to become leaders through teaching and observation. The theory focuses on the action of leaders, not on mental qualities or internal states. (Pranesh et.al, 2017)
Qualities and Skills of Leaders.
The ability to balance business foresight, character and performance makes one to qualify as a great leader. This is enhanced most by having courage, vision, cooperation, humility and the focus to plan projects strategically. Great leaders will always see the next future by creating a vision, articulate the vision, own the vision and bring it to completion. Getting everyone working and pulling together for success is essential. Cooperation in leadership is a vital quality that every leader should embrace. Focus, is also an aspect of leadership good leaders will always focus in the strength they have and that in others. Focusing on what might be achieved by others, themselves and the company is important. Great leaders are outstanding at strategic planning. Research shows that with the increasing competitiveness, only the leaders and organizations that can accurately anticipate future markets can survive.
One of the more vital qualities of a good leader is courage. Having the quality of courage embraces the willingness to take risks in the achievement of ones’ goals with no assurance of success. Since there is no surety in life or business, every commitment one makes and every action taken entails a risk of some kind. Leadership entails integrity that is expressed both internally and externally. Integrity requires one to always tell the truth, to all people, in every situation. Truthfulness is the foundation quality of the trust that is necessary for the success of any business. Good leaders are those who are strong and decisive but also humble. Humility doesn’t mean that one is weak or unsure of yourself but it only means that one has self-confidence and self-awareness to recognize the value of others without feeling threatened or above others. Humility is a rare attribute in leaders since it requires containment of ones’ ego. Great leaders are outstanding when it comes to strategic planning as it serves a s a basis for making fundamental decisions and actions that guide the operations of the organisation (Robertson J., 2016).
Leadership Styles
A manner in which one leads will portray which kind of leadership is being administered depends whether one is a born or made leader and the kind of qualities one has. This paper will give a clue on autocratic, democratic, servant, laissez-faire and transformational styles. The autocratic leadership style gives managers a chance to make decisions alone without the input of others. Managers possess total authority and impose their will on employees. This leadership style benefits employees who require close supervision. Creative employees who thrive in group functions detest this leadership style. Similarly, laissez-faire leader lacks direct supervision of employees and fails to provide regular feedback to those under one supervision. Highly experienced and trained employees requiring little supervision fall under the laissez-faire leadership style. Laissez-faire style produces no leadership or supervision efforts from managers and this leads to poor production, lack of control and increasing costs.
The transformational leadership style depends on high levels of communication from management to meet goals. Leaders incite employees and improves productivity with efficiency through communication and high visibility. It requires the involvement of management to meet goals. Leaders basically focus on the big picture within an organization and delegate minor tasks to the team to accomplish goals. Democratic leadership values the input of team members and peers, but the responsibility of making the final decision rests with the participative leader. It boosts employee participation as employees make contributions to the decision-making process. Making them to feel as if their opinions matter. Lastly servant leadership, the leader possesses power to review results and train or correct employees when team members fail to meet goals. Employees receive rewards, such as bonuses, when they accomplish goals. (Eagly et al, 2001)