Leaders’ Leader

Leaders’ leaders stand out from the rest. Somehow their contributions affect large groups and move organizations toward something better, yet they function for the most part, outside of organizations. The changes they bring are more like leaps than the small steps most use. They think of the world in large terms — they work for institutions or societies or cultures not for individuals. Leaders work to bring the special and creative gifts of these people to bear on the efforts of the group.

Once a leader decides to accept this kind of responsibility, we can define the process quickly.

We would call it a search for beneficial surprise. Traditional education does not prepare us for this. We must search for a creative productiveness, a compost heap of experience and ideas, experiments and failures and successes that will bring about the changes and improvements we need.

How does a leader approach the process of creative work? A leader first makes a personal commitment to be hospitable to gifted people. A leader protects unusual persons from the bureaucracy and legalism so ensconced in our organizations.

A leader remains vulnerable to real surprise and to true quality. Surprise here means – something totally unexpected. It may also mean a new level of quality, one that might not have considered before. Neither of these things is easy: really great ideas shake up organizations.

Creative work needs the ethos of jazz. A leader will pick the tune, set the tempo, and start the music define a ‘style’

After that, it is up to the band to be disciplined and free, wild, and restrained – leaders and followers, focused and wide ranging playing the music for the audience and accountable to the requirements of the band.

Jazz-band leaders know how to integrate the “voices” in the band without diminishing their uniqueness. The individuals in the band are expected to play sole and together.

Delegate:

Hard driving business managers are often too suspicious to abandon themselves to the consequences of real delegation. They trap themselves into dumping rather than delegating. Delegation is one of the ways for a leader to connect voice and touch. It is precious way of enabling people to participate, to grow to reach their potential.

Delegation is one way of dealing with the increasing complexity in organizations. It seems to me that it is impossible for a modern day organization to reach its potential until, through delegation a leader brings to bear the diverse gifts of many individuals.

It seems that diversity consists of our individual gifts and that the spectrum of gifts gives organizations strength. Every leader has limitations no one person can be all things to the organization.

Any leader who limits the organization to the talents and time of the leader seriously handicaps the group.

Assuming that the process of delegation is like most of a leader’s work which depends heavily on the quality of our relationship. We become corporately effective by trusting that others can do some things better than us. This is a risk, of course, in terms of the organizations, but it is a natural and essential risk.

Delegation requires a form of dying a separation of issue from self. We must surrender or abandon ourselves to the gifts that other people bring to the game. We must become vulnerable to every person’s need to do their best.

Delegation requires that a leader clearly state the corporate vision, a vision to be fully shared and discussed and scrutinized. Only then can leaders enroll followers in advocacy.

We must believe in “acceptance” and not “agreement”. In organizations even if we do not completely agree, we have to accept a broad direction so that we become advocates and allow the organization to do its job.

What do delegates need? First, they need to know their authority and accountability. They need to know who, what and when of the project and not the how – that is what the delegate brings.

They need all the information the leader has and the sum of a leader’s wisdom regarding the project. The delegate also needs to have certain agreements with a leader. Together they will define reality, establish the validity of the mission understand and accept the work to be done.

They need to state their goals. They need to come to terms about the potential for growth and the way to measure performance. Last, but not least, they need to discuss failure.

Personal qualities and Personality of leaders

Emotional Resilience: Emotional stress arises in managerial positions because they work in situations that involved authority leadership, power, interpersonal conflict, meeting deadlines all with some degree of uncertainty and ambiguity. Successful Managers need resiliency to cope.

Mental Agility & Creativity: Mental agility includes the ability to grasp problems quickly, to think of several things at once to switch rapidly from one situation to another, to see quickly the whole situation (rather than ponderously plough through all its components) and to think on one’s facts. Because of the hectic nature of managerial work, successful managers must posses these abilities.

Creativity means the ability to come up with new responses and to recognize useful approaches. It involves not only having fresh ideas, but also the ability to recognize good ideas when they come from other sources.

Balanced Learning Habits & Skills: Successful managers learn independently. They take responsibility for the rightness of what they learn, rather than passively depending on an authority figure of expert. Successful managers can think abstractly as well as concretely. The relative concrete ideas to attract one (and vice versa) rather quickly. This ability, sometimes known as a helicopter mind enables them to generate theories to develop their own practical ideas.

Self awareness: The way managers view their roles affect their values, their feelings, strengths and weaknesses, and a host of other people factors. Therefore, we must help them be aware of their abilities and the part they play in determining leadership behavior.

Factors Influencing Leadership Styles:

Personality of leaderships:

Value Systems: How strongly do they feel that individuals should share in decision making? How convinced are they that the officials paid or chosen to assume responsibility should personally carry out the burden of decision making? What relative importance do they attach to organizational efficiency and personal growth of subordinates?

Confidence in Group Members: Leaders differ in the amount of trust they have in other people. After considering the knowledge and competence of a group in dealing with problems, leaders may (justifiably or not) have more confidence in their own capabilities than in those of group members.

Leadership Inclinations: Leaders differ in the way they function most comfortably. For example, directive leaders issue orders and resolve problems easily. Some leaders operate best in a team role where they continually share functions with subordinates.

Feelings of Security in Uncertain Situations: Leaders who release control over the decision making process reduce the predictability of the outcome. Leaders with greater needs for predictability and stability are more likely to “tell” or “sell” than to “join”. Social psychologists increasingly view tolerance for ambiguity as a key in people’s manner of dealing with problems.

Personality of group members: Before deciding how to lead groups, leaders also need to understand the influence of personality variables. Generally, leaders permit groups greater freedom if the following conditions exist:

1. If members have relatively high need for independence;
2. If members have a readiness to assume responsibility;
3. If they have a relatively high tolerance for ambiguity;
4. If they are interested in the problem and feel that it is important;
5. If they understand the identity with the goals of the organizations;
6. If they have the necessary knowledge and experience to deal with the problem.
7. If they expect to share in decision making.

How to be an effective Discussion Leader:

Lending a discussion effectively is a skill that few possess. This ability to bring the combined intelligence and experience of many to bear on a problem effectively and congenially can be developed with practice.

1. Make sure the discussion room is as pleasant as possible and the chairs for the participants arranged in a circle so that all participants can see each other equally easily.
2. Your first task as discussion or group leader is to explain the purposes of the meeting or the precise questions(s) to be discussed.
3. Let the group know exactly its role, e.g. to react to give recommendations, or to decide.
4. Remember the principle: Don’t do it yourself. Let someone else take minutes or be reorder. Redirect questions back to the group. Be a traffic policeman, not a goalkeeper.
5. Don’t be afraid of a little silence at the beginning as members focus on the problem.

A positive attitude reflects on work performance

Surviving a recession needs no superficial platitude. But being positive really helps. When times are uncertain the best you can do is build a positive attitude that brings optimism into your life, and makes it easier to avoid worry and negative thinking especially when you are in the workplace.

What is attitude?
Understanding the connotation of attitude is a complex task. Attitude is our acceptance and reactions of certain ways of life which stems from our individual mindset, which again develops from various factors which can be family and upbringing, environment experiences in human relations etc. Attitude could be rigid, flexible or moderate. The rigidity leads to becoming pessimistic or negative in approach.

Required at Workplace:

Flexibility in your attitude results in optimistic or positive approach. It is this positive approach that employers seek in their employees. They want to hire people who take the initiative and have the motivation to get the job done in a reasonable period of time. It is this passionate employee who creates an environment of good will and who provides a positive role model for others.

A positive something that is most valued by supervisors and co-workers; and it also makes the workplace more pleasant and fun to be in each day.

Better workplace skills:

Research has shown that employees with a brighter outlook tend to demonstrate better workplace skills, simply because:

1. Positivity and optimism develop strong ties with others – employees who are happy spread cheer.
2. Positive people are good communicators and thus the work gets done without much effort.
3. Optimists tend to develop better coping skills and a more supportive social network.
4. Positivity wards off stress.

Develop Positive attitude:

The process of developing positive attitude is gradual and a conscious effort. There are no easy answers to how you can build one, but the following suggestions do stand the test of time.

1. Know yourself – which means you need to be aware of your strengths and weakness.
2. Draw a balance between your outer and the inner self.
3. Appreciate your positive qualities and work on rectifying the negatives.
4. Contemplate upon the futility of negative thinking and worries.
5. Do not be critical of others. Instead be appreciative and respectful
6. Associate yourself with happy employees
7. Respect relationships at work and never take either your seniors or your juniors for granted.
8. Be self-reliant
9. Meditate if required.

Dealing with Negative Co-workers:

Always remember, negativity mongers need a new job, a new company a new career, a new outlook, or counseling. They don’t need you. You need to deal with genuinely negative people by spending as much time as possible. Here are some tips that will come to your rescue:

1. Avoid befriending a negative co-worker
2. Refrain from providing a sympathetic audience to the negative conversations
3. Suggest the negative person seek assistance from human resources or their supervisor
4. Persistent negativity, that impacts co-workers’ work is a work behavior that may require disciplinary action. Speak to your boss or HR manager about it.

There are people who are always complaining either about their boss, their work, their home or social life. At the same time, we also see people who are perpetually smiling and are happy. Does this mean that they are blessed in life with no problems or difficulties? Or is it just a positive attitude?

Satisfied employees are more productive, work more diligently and enhance the organization’s brand value. Satisfied employees demonstrate commitment to service with every customer/client. Pessimistic employees, on the other hand, work to the advantage of your competition while on your payroll. They are usually depressed and transmit these emotions not only to fellow colleagues but also to the clients/ customers.

Well, positive attitude is rated as one of the best traits. Being positive puts a person in command of his entire faculties.