Definition of Leadership
![Picture](/uploads/9/1/3/3/9133862/4163842.jpg?336)
I used to think that running an organization was equivalent to conducting a symphony orchestra. But I don't think that's quite it; it's more like jazz. There is more improvisation. — Warren Bennis
Good leaders are made not born. If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience (Jago, 1982). This guide will help you through that process.
To inspire your workers into higher levels of teamwork, there are certain things you must be, know, and, do. These do not come naturally, but are acquired through continual work and study. Good leaders are continually working and studying to improve their leadership skills; they are NOT resting on their laurels.
BE KNOW DO
- BE a professional. Examples: Be loyal to the organization, perform selfless service, take personal responsibility.
- BE a professional who possess good character traits. Examples: Honesty, competence, candor, commitment, integrity, courage, straightforwardness, imagination.
- KNOW the four factors of leadership — follower, leader, communication, situation.
- KNOW yourself. Examples: strengths and weakness of your character, knowledge, and skills.
- KNOW human nature. Examples: Human needs, emotions, and how people respond to stress.
- KNOW your job. Examples: be proficient and be able to train others in their tasks.
- KNOW your organization. Examples: where to go for help, its climate and culture, who the unofficial leaders are.
- DO provide direction. Examples: goal setting, problem solving, decision making, planning.
- DO implement. Examples: communicating, coordinating, supervising, evaluating.
- DO motivate. Examples: develop morale and esprit de corps in the organization, train, coach, counsel.
PROCESS LEADERSHIP AND TRAIT LEADERSHIP
![Picture](/uploads/9/1/3/3/9133862/9194931.jpg?301)
Leaders
carry out this process by applying their leadership knowledge and skills. This is called Process Leadership (Jago,
1982). However, we know that we have traits that can influence our actions.
This is called Trait Leadership (Jago, 1982), in that it was once common
to believe that leaders were born rather than made. These two leadership types
are shown in the chart below (Northouse, 2007, p5):
![Picture](/uploads/9/1/3/3/9133862/7408117.jpg?389)
FOUR FACTORS OF LEADERSHIP
Leader
You must have an honest understanding of who you are, what you know, and what you can do. Also, note that it is the followers, not the leader or someone else who determines if the leader is successful. If they do not trust or lack confidence in their leader, then they will be uninspired. To be successful you have to convince your followers, not yourself or your superiors, that you are worthy of being followed.
Followers
Different people require different styles of leadership. For example, a new hire requires more supervision than an experienced employee. A person who lacks motivation requires a different approach than one with a high degree of motivation. You must know your people! The fundamental starting point is having a good understanding of human nature, such as needs, emotions, and motivation. You must come to know your employees' be, know, and do attributes.
Communication
You lead through two-way communication. Much of it is nonverbal. For instance, when you “set the example,” that communicates to your people that you would not ask them to perform anything that you would not be willing to do. What and how you communicate either builds or harms the relationship between you and your employees.
Situation
All situations are different. What you do in one situation will not always work in another. You must use your judgment to decide the best course of action and the leadership style needed for each situation. For example, you may need to confront an employee for inappropriate behavior, but if the confrontation is too late or too early, too harsh or too weak, then the results may prove ineffective.
Also note that the situation normally has a greater effect on a leader's action than his or her traits. This is because while traits may have an impressive stability over a period of time, they have little consistency across situations (Mischel, 1968). This is why a number of leadership scholars think the Process Theory of Leadership is a more accurate than the Trait Theory of Leadership.
Various forces will affect these four factors. Examples of forces are your relationship with your seniors, the skill of your followers, the informal leaders within your organization, and how your organization is organized.
BOSS OR LEADER?
![Picture](/uploads/9/1/3/3/9133862/6342788.jpg?374)
Although your position as a manager, supervisor, lead, etc. gives you the authority to accomplish certain tasks and objectives in the organization (called Assigned Leadership), this power does not make you a leader, it simply makes you the bosswant to achieve high goals (called Emergent Leadership), rather than simply bossing people around (Rowe, 2007). Thus you get Assigned Leadership by your position and you display Emergent Leadership by influencing people to do great things.
Concepts of Leadership
A LEADER IS NOT WHO ORDERS; EVEN SO, WHO WORKS UNDER HIS OWN ORDERS SUPPORTING HIS FOLLOWERS.
![Picture](/uploads/9/1/3/3/9133862/610400.jpg?393)
Leadership is a very broad concept to talk about, and now we know that good leaders are made not born, which means that everyone who wants to become a leader can do it only if he is able to develop the knowledge, skills and attributes to. A good leader never stops learning. He keeps on a process of self-study, training, and experience. A good leader is a person who inspires her followers to work and do great things.
Leaders carry out leadership through applying their knowledge and skills, and traits to influence others. We found two different processes of leadership and they are: 1. Process Leadership and 2. Trait Leadership; in the first one, leadership is considered by the leader’s leadership knowledge and skills; on the other hand, in number two, leadership is considered under the leader ability to influence others.
We prefer Process Leadership as it is based on what we know to become leaders.
Taking into account the four factors of leadership, we say that the leader is made by his attributes, character, and knowledge, so the leaders need to recognize who they really are, what they know, and what they are capable to do. Leaders should work for their followers not for themselves or superiors. The success of leaders is determined by their followers, and it is so necessary that followers trust their leaders and get motivated. We mean that leaders must know their people to apply the best leadership for everyone.
Another factor is communication which can be verbal and non-verbal. Leader must know how to communicate their followers what they expect from them. And finally the situation that needs judgment and decision making from knowledge. Besides, communication is important since the leader must collect and unify all follower`s opinion in order to know if they are on the same page.
Moreover, we know the difference between a leader and a boss. A boss is a person who has been given an assigned leadership according to his position; nonetheless, a leader is a person who makes people want to follow him and achieve high goals and do great things, so it is called Emergent Leadership.
Leadership in education is as important as teachers because the teacher should be a leader for students to follow in order to achieve great goals and go far beyond the expectations.
Being a leader means to have the ability to make people work, think, do new things, and take risks for growing up as much as possible.
As a conclusion, we, as teachers, need to apply different methodologies, and, of course, show our example to students that they can also become leaders not only in their groups, but also, as future 21st century teachers.