Topic 1 Leadership Born

or Learned

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this topic, you should be able to:

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1. Describe various characteristics of a leadership
2. Describe and explain the leadership roles

1.0 INTRODUCTION

It’s one of the most common questions when it comes to leadership. Are leaders
born or made? Can leadership be developed or do leaders need to be genetically
blessed with leadership traits. Leaders are made, not born. Although some traits of
great leaders may appear to be inherent, leadership is a skill that can be learned.
Even traits that are considered innate, such as creativity, can be developed, learned,
and enhanced.

Before going any farther, though, let’s talk about our definition of leadership. It’s
comprised of five essential traits. These traits, by the way, do not include integrity,
which is a requirement in any leadership position, or intelligence, which is likewise a
ticket to the game in today’s complex global marketplace. Nor do they include
emotional maturity, another necessity. These three characteristics are baseline –
they’re givens.

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  First essential trait of leadership is positive energy – the capacity to go-go-go
with healthy vigour and an upbeat attitude through good times and bad. 
 The second is the ability to energize others, releasing their positive energy, to
take any hill. 
 The third trait is edge – the ability to make tough calls, to say yes or no, not
maybe. 
 The fourth trait is the talent to execute – very simply, get things done. 
 Fifth and finally, leaders have passion. They care deeply. They sweat; they
believe.

As you may have figured, positive energy and the ability to energize are hard-wired.
They’re basically personality. Similarly, passion feels inborn. Some people just seem
to come fully loaded with intensity and curiosity; they naturally love people, life, and
work. It’s in them. It is them.

Edge and the ability to execute are different. New hires rarely show up with them in
polished form, and even middle managers benefit from training in both. But the best
teacher for these two traits is trench warfare. That’s because edge and execution are
largely a function of self-confidence. You can say yes or no, a lot better when you’ve
done it a bunch of times and seen how well decisiveness works. Likewise, only in
real world challenges can managers truly feel the power of moving quickly,
demanding accountability, and rewarding results. They can also experience how
damaging it is not to execute – a mistake most effective leaders don’t make twice.

So are leaders born or made/learned? The answer (perhaps not surprisingly) is both.
Your best strategy, then, is to hire for energy, the ability to energize, and passion. Go
full force in training and developing edge and execution. Promote the people who
have a good dose of all five traits. Always remember, though, that not everyone was
meant to be a leader. But if you are one yourself – it’s your job to find and build those
who were.

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1.1 LEADERSHIP CHARACTERISTICS

Successful leaders come in a wide variety of personal characteristics such as their

ability to make speeches in public or to relate to people in groups or individually. We
have all met successful leaders that we wondered what enabled them to be effective.
Some are smooth and some are rough. Some are charming and some….. It is
impossible to find any one characteristic that all of them have and many non-leaders
do not have.

Motivation is the most important characteristic (yes, it can be called a trait) of any
leader. Even the shyest person may become a hard charger if something near and
dear to them is threatened. Talk to parents of school age children and many will step
out of the quiet shells. After the threat or need passes, some of these people return
to their non-public roles, but others find that they have some previously unknown or
newly developed skills that can be used in other leadership activities. These will
become the community and organizational leaders of the future. Communications
skills are the second most important. If you cannot communicate effectively, you
cannot be an effective leader.

We will begin this topic by closely examining fourteen traits of leadership. All these
characteristics can be developed or attained. None are genetic, although some of
the traits may be the gifts of wise parents to some very fortunate young people. For
many of us, they are the results of hard work over years of time (very slowly
developed habits in most cases).

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  Personality

An outgoing style - the ability and enjoyment of "working the crowd" is a very useful
skill both for leadership and many other parts of life. I have a friend who whenever
he is in a meeting or a party, makes sure that he shakes every hand and greets
every person.

Charisma is often thought of as a trait of many leaders. We are not quite sure what
charisma is. It is probably the ability of a person to gain very quickly the attention,
respect, and trust of others. Famous leaders like Martin Luther King and John
Kennedy is said to have had charisma. No question, it is an effective tool for leaders
in certain situations, but it is difficult to learn.

Humour and warmth are effective in most leadership (and non-leadership) situations.

If we are not fortunate enough to have them now, we can develop them. Start by
developing a good smile and laugh. This will be hard for many males in our culture
who have been acculturated to be stoic with a stone face. Women have a distinct
advantage in being encouraged to smile and to show emotions. This will take a long
period of consistent self-conscious efforts.

The ability to deliver one-liners and tell a few jokes helps also. Joke telling must be
done with considerable care. The most effective humour concerns yourself. Another
useful characteristic is the ability to remember personal characteristics such as
names, items about the family, how many children they have, etc. People like to hear
their names. It recognizes them as a unique individual.

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  Persuasive

Communications skills - you must be able to speak effectively in public and in most
cases, you must have good writing skills also. You must be able to communicate in
the style or jargon of the group or organization. Your message must fit your
audience. For example, large words and complex sentences will not work with
people of limited formal education. Writing in technical terms may help in a few
instances but writing in clear simple terms helps in almost all cases. Well-educated
people can understand simple clear information; but those with limited education
cannot go the other way. 

People need to take every opportunity through courses or informal opportunities to

improve your communications skills. These traits, truly, are the bottom line of
leadership - with them, successful leadership (and many other types of success) is
an open door - without them, success will be a struggle.

 Persistence

Keep trying - most social changes, large and small, is and should be slow. Major
changes in values and beliefs often occur between generations. It is unusual for
major social changes to occur in less than a few years or even decades. Changes in
the educational system often take several decades. If change occurs too fast, people
become uncertain about what is "right," good or appropriate. They lose their sense of
security. Something as simple as a small change in curriculum of the local school
system may take years. But if the idea is good, the results may last decades and
effect many people. Also realize that in historical perspective, the changes you are
working toward are small and incremental. Be prepared for an effort of several
years when you start the process of bringing about change in your organization or
community. Leadership in major projects will require a large among of stamina and
perseverance.

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  Patience

There are times when you will need to relax and wait for events or time to pass.
Many new ideas will become accepted after people have had time to think about
them. Most people who are angry or excited about a proposed change will cool down
with time. Patience is a hard attribute for many young and not so young to learn.
Most things, especially if they are worthwhile, do not happen quickly. Self-discipline
is an essential trait for leadership.

Patience and persistence are essential twins for getting things done. Always
remember it takes time, time for leadership, and time for change. Patience and
persistence are very difficult traits for the young.

 Perceptive

You must be sensitive to other people's wants and needs and to changes in these
wants and needs. Genuine interest in another person will often develop a sense of
trust by that person. The ability to listen is an essential skill of a good leader.  You
must stay in touch with your supporters. If the group is large or unorganized, this is
very difficult to do because of the lack of accurate feedback.

 Probity

Honesty and trustworthy, you need to be honest both now and in the future. Most
people will believe and follow someone they trust. Openness and candour are
characteristics that most people appreciate. There are a few people who will take
advantage of such traits, but the vast majority will appreciate them.
The age-old Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is a
good standard to follow both today and tomorrow.

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  Praise giving

Almost everyone likes to be recognized especially if they have worked hard on the
project. It may be possible to give too many kind words, but it is very difficult to do so
especially if they are given in a sincere manner. If you, a leader, are working with a
committee or other team, make sure that everyone is given full public recognition. If
you don't, your support the next time is likely to be much less.

The folk saying: "praise in public and criticize in private" is very effective. But the
praise should be deserved; a person can quickly develop a reputation as overly
"smoothie."
Mistakes and errors must be dealt with as quickly as possible. If the errors are part of
the public record, then your responses should be public also. However, you should
take the public blame.

Another folk saying that comes to mind: "honey attracts more flies than vinegar."
People are more attracted by praise than by criticism and will be willing to work on
change if their contributions are acknowledged.

 Positive orientation

The future should always be bright and optimistic. Tomorrow will be better than
today. We prefer the positive in our personal and everyday lives. We want to think
that the future will be better than today, that things can and will improve. Problems
can be solved by our actions. And we want our leaders to portray a positive
optimistic attitude. Problems are not "problems", but opportunities. Simultaneously,
we want our leaders to be honest and realistic. So, in dismal situations, the
statements of optimism must be tempered. If there are no easy answers, say so. You
must be open and honest.

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A motto you might want to try: "Pessimism breeds negativity. Optimism breeds
opportunity."

 People based

Leadership must be of, by and for the people. The only reason for leadership should
be for the benefit of the people. The current tendency is to look for the benefits to an
individual and not to the larger group. One reason why many so-called leaders are
distrusted today is that they are self-serving - primarily interested in their own
benefits.

 Possible

A leader must be realistic to determine the art of the possible. How much can
realistically be accomplished in the time and resources available? How strong is the
desire for change? Are the people willing to pay the price either in reduced services
or higher taxes - whatever it takes? Very often people call for changes, but when
they find out how difficult or expensive it will be to solve the problems, they will not
support the proposed solutions. Determining which ideas in any organization or
setting are politically and economically feasible and which are not is a vital asset for
any leader. Do not jump into "solving" a problem until you have given very careful
consideration to the process of solution. Will the other people support the proposed
solution? A little caution is a good asset for a leader. An old folk saying has
considerable wisdom for leadership: "fools rush in where angels fear to tread."

 Practical

A leader must realize that pleasing all the people all of the time is not possible. A
leader must be practical in decisions made catering to the
majority, perceptive enough to realize when the majority is right and strong enough
to act without the support of the majority when the majority is wrong. At the same

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time, you must be strong enough to stand by your convictions and accept the
criticisms - valid and invalid - which are sure to come.
Again, practical and possible are twins that have considerable interrelationships.

 Progressive

An effective leader will move the group forward. Incorporating new strategies in
leadership and communications is important. Sometimes progress may mean
maintaining the current situation. It depends upon the group's needs and desires.
And you must be progressive in other things such as media usage. A person cannot
be a successful candidate for president or most other public offices if he/she cannot
make full use of the media. The Kennedy - Nixon debates proved that many years
ago. Similarly, many CEOs of businesses have found themselves suddenly facing
the media to answer questions about their organization.

 Prepared

A leader must be knowledgeable about his or her goals, the variety of means for
reaching the goals, the needs necessary to meet the goals and about the people in
the group. An effective leader must be both organized and prepared. Many leaders
have opened their mouths and inserted their foot and suddenly found that they were
no longer regarded as leaders. A more modern folk saying is that "you should not
have your mouth in gear while your mind is in neutral."

 Power building

Even the best leaders cannot tackle most leadership jobs alone. They need to have
and to motivate followers to become involved in getting the job done. They must trust
other people to get a job done and they must be able to delegate. A similar trait is
the ability to network - to build linkages of friends and acquaintances that may be
able to provide needed assistance at some future time.

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1.2 Roles and responsibilities of a leader

 Training new workers.

 Providing clear, constructive communication.
 Encouraging the team to work together to benefit the company.
 Listening to feedback and resolving conflict.
 Empowering each member to see his own potential and to grow within the
company.
 Complimenting good behaviour.
 Recognizing ineffective methods or practices.
 Correcting bad habits.
 Monitoring team members without micromanaging them.
 Developing timelines to reach goals.
 Setting examples.
 Being an inspiration.
 Making work interesting and even enjoyable.
 Rewarding jobs well done (think pizza payday).
 Establishing shared ownership for good results.
 Taking responsibility for ineffective outcomes.
 Adapting to company changes and policies.
 Approaching management with concerns or ideas and to report on metrics.

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 Class Activity

1. Which theory states that leaders are born not made?

2. What are the 5 most important qualities of a leader?
3. Is leadership a skill or quality?

SUMMARY

 Leaders are made, not born. While many leaders possess traits that come
natural to them, or that they developed early in their lives, these traits can be
obtained.
 Leadership courses, mentorship and experience are among the best ways to
develop leadership capabilities.
 A person can be born with natural leadership abilities, and someone can learn
how to be a good leader at work.
 Team leaders are first-wave management
 They add another level of control. They’re hired to influence and build
relationships, to make things happen
 Team leader’s to-do lists can be vast, but by categorising them, it’ll give you
clarity about the purpose of your job.

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