Leadership

Who is a leader?

Abdul Hasib Safi

 Outline

1. Defining leadership
2. Defining influence
3. Leaders – Followers
4. Why is leadership important?
 Defining Leadership
• The topic of leadership has generated
excitement and interest since ancient times.
• When people think about leadership, images
come to mind of powerful dynamic individuals
who command victorious armies, shape the
events of nations, develop religions, or direct
corporate empires.
 Defining Leadership

There is no universal definition of leadership

because leadership is complex, and because
leadership is studied in different ways that
require different definitions.
 Defining Leadership

• “the art of empowering and mobilsing others

to want to accomplish a mutually agreed-
upon goal while advancing the group’s integrity
and morale.” Eric Michel, 2011
• Peter Economy argues that leadership
embodies:
1. Decisiveness 5. Empathy
6. Confidence
2. Awareness
7. Optimism
3. Focus 8. Honesty
4. Accountability 9. Inspiration
Leadership Key Elements

Influence
Organizatio
Leaders –
nal
Followers
Objectives

Leadership

Change People
Influential Leaders
 Defining Influence

• Influencing is the process of a leader

communicating ideas, gaining acceptance of
them, and motivating followers to support and
implement the ideas through change.
• “It involves getting people to change their
minds about a topic and to act in a certain
way by acknowledging their opinions.
Influencing people is about getting something
done instead of complaining that it is a
certain way.” smallbusiness.chron.com
 Defining Influence

• Influence is a skill that is essential for any

manager, leader or a salesperson.
• The ability to bring others to your way of
thinking without force or coercion is key to any
business.
• Influencing is a transferable skill business
persons take with them from job to job.
• It is NOT threatening. It doesn’t disregard
people’s thoughts and opinions. It requires
winning support from people.
 Leaders – Followers
• If you are not interested and not willing to be
in charge, you are better suited to be a
follower.
• followers also perform leadership roles when
needed. And followers influence leaders.
• It is not just a leader influencing followers; it’s
a two-way street. Knowing how to lead and
developing leadership skills will make you a
better leader and follower.
 Organizational Objectives

Taking advantage of followers for

personal gain is not part of leadership.
 Change

• Influencing and setting objectives is about

change. Organizations need to continually
change, in adapting to the rapidly changing
global environment.
• Leadership involves influencing followers to
bring about change toward a desired future
for the organization.
 Why is leadership important?

• Organisations take on the personality of

their leaders
• Helps to maximise efficiency and to
achieve organisational goals.
 Why is leadership important?

The following points justify the importance of leadership in a concern.

• Initiates action- Leader is a person who starts the work by
communicating the policies and plans to the subordinates from
where the work actually starts.
• Motivation- A leader proves to be playing an incentive role in the
concern’s working. He motivates the employees with economic and
non-economic rewards and thereby gets the work from the
subordinates.
• Providing guidance- A leader has to not only supervise but also
play a guiding role for the subordinates. Guidance here means
instructing the subordinates the way they have to perform their work
effectively and efficiently.
 Why is leadership important?
• Creating confidence- Confidence is an important factor which can be
achieved through expressing the work efforts to the subordinates, explaining
them clearly their role and giving them guidelines to achieve the goals
effectively. It is also important to hear the employees with regards to their
complaints and problems.
• Building morale- Morale denotes willing co-operation of the employees towards
their work and getting them into confidence and winning their trust. A leader can
be a morale booster by achieving full co-operation so that they perform with best
of their abilities as they work to achieve goals.
• Builds work environment- Management is getting things done from people. An
efficient work environment helps in sound and stable growth. Therefore, human
relations should be kept into mind by a leader. He should have personal
contacts with employees and should listen to their problems and solve them. He
should treat employees on humanitarian terms.
• Co-ordination- Co-ordination can be achieved through reconciling personal
interests with organisational goals. This synchronisation can be achieved
through proper and effective co-ordination which should be primary motive of a
leader.
Thanks for attention!