A lot has been published on leadership, including guidelines, best practices, leadership philosophies, and biographies of notable leaders from throughout the globe. However, while reading books, there are some leadership concepts that we ourselves overlook and are unaware of. Here is a brief selection of leadership-related topics you believed you understood.
Leaders come in different flavors.
There are various kinds of leaders, and you will most likely come across more than one over your lifetime. The people we elect to office, such as senators, congressmen, and local club presidents, are considered formal leaders. informal leaders or people we admire because of their knowledge and experience, like our grandparents or the elders of a tribe; or because of their skill and contribution in a particular field, like Leonardo da Vinci in the arts or Albert Einstein in theoretical physics. A variety of leadership philosophies are employed by both official and informal leaders.
Lewin's three basic leadership styles are authoritative, participative, and delegative
Likert's four leadership styles are exploitive authoritative, benevolent authoritative, consultative, and participative
Goleman's six emotional leadership styles - are visionary, coaching, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting, and commanding.
Leadership is a process of becoming.
Even while some people seem to have leadership traits from birth, they might not reach their full potential if they don't have the proper exposure and environment. Learning how to become a leader and developing your leadership skills is therefore similar to learning how to ride a bicycle. By attending leadership conferences, workshops, and seminars, one can formally acquire knowledge about leadership ideas and techniques. Leadership theories can be seen and put into practice via everyday interactions with people. When combined, formal and informal education can help you develop leadership attitudes and insights, which will advance the learning cycle. You don't suddenly become a leader and stop. Being a strong leader requires lifelong learning since every day presents new challenges that test your abilities, attitudes, and knowledge.
Leadership starts with you.
Applying leadership skills to your own life is the best way to cultivate them. Action speaks louder than words, as the saying goes. Leaders are in the spotlight all the time. Remember that how you connect with your family, friends, and coworkers, how you handle your personal and organizational obligations, and even how you speak to the newspaper vendor across the street all have a significant impact on your credibility as a leader. Habits are formed by repeated acts. A person's character is shaped by their habits. The book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey offers helpful advice on how to become a personal leader.
Leadership is shared.
In an evolving team, leadership is a shared duty rather than the exclusive domain of one individual. A leader is a member of a group. Every member has duties to do. Formal leadership roles are simply additional duties on top of their team member responsibilities. Members must perform their fair share of effort in order for leadership to be effective. Members and leaders strive to create a successful team from what began as a collection of individuals. Accordingly, social connection is crucial to leadership. It takes a lot of trust between leaders and members of a growing team to learn how to collaborate. Actions, not just words, are the foundation of trust. Mutual respect promotes the development of confidence and trust.
Leadership styles depend on the situation.
Why does Singapore's dictatorship function well when the US does not? The current state of a country influences the leadership styles employed by its official leaders in addition to its culture, beliefs, value system, and system of governance. There is no restriction on the use of a single style. Depending on the circumstance, leaders typically use a mix of leadership philosophies. Making decisions under dire circumstances, like times of war or disaster, might mean the difference between life and death. Therefore, when making important decisions, a country's leader cannot afford to confer with every department. Naturally, the situation is different during periods of peace and order, when various government branches and sectors are allowed to engage in governance. Leading organizations provide yet another example of this. A mix of moderately participative and highly delegative leadership styles works best when the employees are highly skilled and driven. However, organizational leaders must combine high coaching, high assistance, and high directing conduct if the team lacks dedication and competence.
Now that you are aware of these things, remember that there are always concepts that we take for granted but that turn out to be the most insightful thoughts about leadership.
