Leadership

What is leadership?

Depending on who you ask, you will receive get replies as to what leadership is all about. Is a leader:

Ð'* someone who gets the job done?

Ð'* someone who get other people to follow them?

Ð'* someone who has great management skills?

Ð'* someone who inspires people?

The list could be longer, and the responses, as we mentioned, even more diverse, depending on whom you ask.

Someone once said: "If you want to know if you are a leader, look around and see if anyone is following you". Whilst this may be a good test in one sense, it is probably a too simplistic answer to the question. It is more likely to cause problems than provide an answer or a solution. To stop and look around when you have been going in a particular direction is fine if there are people following you; the problem arises when you look around and see that no one is following you!

Kouzes and Posner mention in their book that there are five practices of exemplary leadership:

Ð'* Model the Way

Ð'* Inspired a Shared Vision

Ð'* Challenge the Process

Ð'* Enable Others to Act

Ð'* Encourage the Heart

They have also conducted a survey across six continents to identify the characteristics of admired leaders, and it is interesting that the top four characteristics are:

1. honest 88% A93%

2. forward-looking 71% A83%

3. competent 66% A59%

4. inspiring 65% A73%

In the area of honesty, integrity and character were often linked together in people's minds. Forward-looking was to do with a sense of direction, awareness of the future. Competent was about ability to get things done, NOT about their ability as far as skills for the technical aspects of the operations side of work. And inspiring was about a person's ability