Leadership - Librarians Portal

Leadership

What does leadership actually mean? When we think about leadership, many people like to talk about specific traits, characteristics, or behaviors that define effective leaders. The trouble with defining leadership in that way is that those traits, characteristics and behaviors are often exact to a situation and can vary from organization to organization. Traits, characteristics and behaviors that work well in one circumstance may not work in others. What are common across all situations?        

Thinking about a leader’s efficiency often leads to a discussion of the differences between leadership and management. This debate is very tricky as the two terms are often used interchangeably. Even when people do distinguish that there is a difference, those description can get quite fuzzy. Ask ten different people the difference between leadership and management and you might get eleven different responses. While the details of those responses may vary, the overall context commonly breaks down into something about leaders being charismatic and admired, and managers being organizational taskmasters with a whip in one hand

Leaders and managers are both implicated in performance such as establishing direction, aligning resources, and motivating people. Managers, however, tend to be task focused, while leaders tend to be more purposeful on direction and vision. Managers’ activities are purposeful on maintaining order and a stable work environment. Leaders are looking at new goals and how to align the organization’s priorities. A manager maintains control and solves problems. A leader motivates and inspires those around them. An effective manager should produce standards, consistency, predictability and order for their team and/or organization. An effective leader should produce the potential for dramatic change, but an ineffective leader can also create chaos and even failure.

Vision of Leadership:

A leader has a vision. Leaders see a difficulty that needs to be fixed or a goal that needs to be achieved. It may be somewhat that no one else sees or simply something that no one else wants to undertake. Whatever it is, it is the center of the leader's consideration and they attack it with a single-minded determination.

The Two Most Important Keys to Effective Leadership:

According to a study by the Hay Group, a global management consultancy, there are 75 key components of employee satisfaction (Lamb, McKee, 2004). They found that:

·         Trust and confidence in top leadership was the single most reliable predictor of employee satisfaction in an organization.

·         Effective communication by leadership in three critical areas was the key to winning organizational trust and confidence:

·         Helping employees understand the company's overall business strategy.

·         Helping employees understand how they contribute to achieving key business objectives.

·         Sharing information with employees on both how the company is doing and how an employee's own division is doing.

Principles of Leadership:

To help you be, know, and do, follow these eleven principles of leadership (U.S. Army, 1983). The later chapters in this Leadership guide expand on these principles and provide tools for implementing them:

    Know yourself and seek self-improvement - In order to know yourself, you have to understand your be, know, and do, attributes. Seeking self-improvement means continually strengthening your attributes. This can be accomplished through self-study, formal classes, reflection, and interacting with others.

    Be technically proficient - As a leader, you must know your job and have a solid familiarity with your employees' tasks.

    Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions - Search for ways to guide your organization to new heights. And when things go wrong, as they often tend to do sooner or later — do not blame others. Analyze the situation, take corrective action, and move on to the next challenge.

    Make sound and timely decisions - Use good problem solving, decision making, and planning tools.

    Set the example - Be a good role model for your employees. They must not only hear what they are expected to do, but also see. We must become the change we want to see - Mahatma Gandhi

    Know your people and look out for their well-being - Know human nature and the importance of sincerely caring for your workers.

    Keep your workers informed - Know how to communicate with not only them, but also seniors and other key people.

    Develop a sense of responsibility in your workers - Help to develop good character traits that will help them carry out their professional responsibilities.

    Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished - Communication is the key to this responsibility.

    Train as a team - Although many so called leaders call their organization, department, section, etc. a team; they are not really teams... they are just a group of people doing their jobs.

    Use the full capabilities of your organization - By developing a team spirit, you will be able to employ your organization, department, section, etc. to its fullest capabilities

David Hakala's Top Ten Leadership Qualities:

1.      Clear vision - passionately held, communicated to others, at the center of the leader's priorities and activities.

2.      Integrity - acting outwardly in a manner consistent with their inner values.

3.      Dedication - giving what time is needed to achieve the vision, setting the example.

4.      Magnanimity - giving others the credit where they deserve it and taking responsibility for failures.

5.      Humility - recognizing that the leader is not a better person than their followers.

6.      Openness - being prepared to listen to new ideas, even if they challenge their own view.

7.      Creativity - thinking differently, developing new ideas, encouraging new ideas in others.

8.      Fairness - treating everyone consistently and justly, not jumping to conclusions before hearing the facts.

9.      Assertiveness - stating what one wants clearly, without aggression, while also respecting others' views.

10.  Sense of humor - to relieve tension, diffuse hostility and to engage followers.

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