Chapter 10: Leadership skills

Leadership
• Leadership is a process by which an executive can direct, guide, and influence
the behavior and work of others toward the accomplishment of specific goals in
a given situation. Leadership is the ability of a manager to induce the
subordinates to work with confidence and zeal.

• Leadership has the potential to influence the behavior of others. It is also

defined as the capacity to influence a group towards the realization of a goal.
Leaders are required to develop future visions and to motivate the
organizational members to want to achieve visions.

• Leadership is the “process of social influence in which one person can

enlist the
aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task”. M
Chemers
Leadership Style
Throughout history, great leaders have emerged with particular leadership styles in
providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people. These can be broadly
grouped into 5 different categories:
1. Autocratic Leadership
Autocratic leadership is a management style wherein one person controls all the
decisions and takes very little input from other group members. Autocratic
leaders make choices or decisions based on their own beliefs and do not involve
others in their suggestions or advice.
Autocratic leadership is a form of management style in which one leader or member
of the organization makes decisions on behalf of the company. This type of
leadership style is seen mostly in businesses that are relatively small with fewer
employees.
This type of leadership style is only effective in organizations where the nature of
work requires quick decision-making. The sole responsibility for the decision and
the outcome is with the leader.
Some experts argue that this type of leadership style can be
damaging rather than rewarding in the long run as it resembles
that of a dictator. It leads to low employee morale, which in turn
may lead to attrition in many cases.
However, there are some advantages of autocratic leadership as well.
It leads to quick decision-making, control over the processes and
the operation of a company, etc.
Autocratic leadership will be helpful in situations where a business
faces constant change crises. It will be able to react to the situation
promptly compared to other leadership styles, because of
streamlined organizational structure and quick decision-making
ability.
2. Authoritative Style
Authoritative leadership is often viewed as one of the more positive and
harmonious of all the leadership styles.

Authoritative leaders also called visionary leaders, tend to approach

leadership like a mentor guiding a mentee. Instead of telling their team to
follow instructions and do as they say, authoritative leaders put themselves in
the scenario and utilize a ‘come with me’ approach. They have a firm
understanding of the challenges to overcome and the goals to reach, and have a
clear vision for achieving success.
Authoritative leaders inspire motivation. They offer direction, guidance,
and feedback to maintain enthusiasm and a sense of accomplishment
throughout a project or endeavor.
Authoritative leadership depends on a thoroughly developed sense of
emotional intelligence. To be effective, authoritative leaders must demonstrate
certain emotional intelligence competencies such as:
• Self-confidence: to develop a vision and inspire others to follow it
• Empathy: to understand and anticipate the emotions felt by team members at key
junctures during a project
• Ability to adapt: to identify and remove barriers to change that may be required for success

Pros of Authoritative Leadership

• Authoritative leaders bring clarity
• It compasses the ability to inspire, motivate, and influence the team. Often, this motivation stems
from their ability to understand a company’s strategic goals and communicate them in a way that is
easy for employees to follow. When everyone knows what the organization is striving toward, it
is easy to ensure everyone is aligned.
• Authoritative leaders provide direction and vision: clear direction and constructive feedback as they work
toward organizational goals.
• Authoritative leaders breed goodwill
• Empathy. By understanding the personal and professional emotions, desires, and worries of a team
member, an authoritative leader is better able to identify potential roadblocks to performance and remove
them, while simultaneously incentivizing success.
• Cons of Authoritative Leadership
• Authoritative leaders can appear overbearing: for employees who are
accustomed to having reign over how they complete tasks, work toward
company goals, and contribute to overhead, the prescriptive approach of the
authoritative leadership style can appear somewhat overbearing. This can be
especially true for young leaders who are responsible for overseeing
older or more experienced colleagues.

• Authoritative leaders must own their mistakes: For authoritative

leadership to be effective, team members must be given a clear goal to
work toward and instructions for getting there. This requires the manager
to have the conviction to make a decision and stand by their choice. While
another leadership style may depend upon consensus to identify and
prioritize goals, where everyone involved shares in the success and failure, the
authoritative approach places the risk of failure purely on the shoulders
of the leader.
3. Participative Leadership (Democratic Leadership)
A participative leadership style is a more democratic method of leadership
that allows a group to discuss and make decisions together. The
participative style encourages collaboration and empowerment and requires
group members to contribute to the ideas as the team makes decisions
together.

The participative leadership style also instills team members with a

feeling of responsibility for the goals or strategies of an organization,
regardless of whether those objectives are achieved. Group members
working under this type of leadership may feel that their thoughts and
individual perspectives are respected more and might also feel more
closely aligned and connected as a team. They realize they need to trust
and know each other better because their combined insight and drive is
shaping their combined insight and drive is shaping everyday work and the
team’s ultimate success.
• The characteristics of Participative Leadership
The following is a list of tactics we can use to encourage full team
participation:
1. Lead Discussions:
2. Deliver Accurate Data:
3. Encourage sharing:
4. Summarize Progress :
5. Encourage Decisiveness:
6. Take action:
Disadvantages of Participative Leadership
Although participative leadership can be a powerful option in some situations, it may
not always be best.
1. Time or situation consideration: The process of discussion, collaboration, consensus, and decision
implementation takes time and energy, which might increase labor costs and could delay actua
production.
2. The illusion of Democracy: All democracies tend to marginalize dissenting voices. Certain team
members who disagree with group decisions may be afraid to speak up and slow down th
process. Or believe they are the only person with that view. They do not want to contribute thos
ideas.
3. Desperate levels of decision-making capacity or needed skills: Some team members may hav
the experience necessary to make large contributions to important decisions, while others might fee
unqualified or lost in the process.
4. Lack of collaboration tools: A team might not be well-equipped to gather and
effectively combine group member’s thoughts.

5. Indecisiveness: A leader or facilitator may be uncertain, if the group has reached a decision o
group consensus, possibly due to group dynamics, group thinking, or other factors. Some member
may simply be louder than others, while quieter group members may not feel comfortable sharin
4. Delegative Leadership
• Managers using the delegating leadership style share authority and responsibility with their
employees. Employees are given the ability to complete projects and tasks on their own. This does
not mean leaders give no direction, the act of delegating requires a manager to have a conversation
with an employee to assign a task, ensure the employee understands the task, and give the
employee the tools necessary to complete it.
• delegation is a hands-off leadership style in comparison to others, but employees still require
attention. Managers must delegate correctly to be effective and ineffective delegation can lead to
tasks being assigned to individuals who have neither the skills nor the authority necessary to
complete them.
• Characteristics of delegative leadership
• Delegative leadership is characterized by the following:
• Hands-off approach
• Leaders provide all training and support
• Decisions are left to the employees
• Comfortable with mistakes
• Accountability falls to the leaders
• Advantages of delegation leadership
1. It encourages personal growth: This leadership style creates an environment that
facilitates growth and development.
2. It encourages innovation: the freedom given to employees can encourage
creativity and innovation
3. It allows for faster decision-making: since there is no micromanagement,
employees under this leadership have the autonomy to make their own decisions.
They can make quick decisions without waiting weeks for an approval process.

To benefit from these advantages, certain preconditions have to be met. For

instance, if our team is full of highly skilled and experienced people, capable of
working on their own, this approach might work. Since these group members are
experts and have the knowledge and skills to work independently, they are
capable of accomplishing tasks with very little guidance.
• Disadvantages of delegative leadership
• Some possible disadvantages are:
1. Lack of role clarity: In some situations, this style leads to poorly defined roles
within the group. Since team members receive little to no guidance, they might not
be sure about their role within the group and what they are supposed to be doing
with their time.
2. Poor involvement with the group: In this style, leaders are often seen as
involved and withdrawn, which can lead to a lack of cohesiveness within the
group.
3. Low accountability: Some leaders take advantage of this style as a way to avoid
responsibility for the group’s failures. When goals are not achieved, the leader
can then blame members of the team for not completing tasks or living up to
expectations.
4. Passivity:
5. Transformational Leadership
• It is a leadership style where leaders work with teams to identify needed change,
creating a vision to guide the change through inspiration and executing the change
in tandem with committed members of a group. Transformational leadership is
the ability to get people to want to change, to improve, and to be led.
• It involves assessing associate’s motives, satisfying their needs, and valuing them.
Therefore, a transformational leader could make the company more successful by
valuing its associates.
• One successful transformational leader was Sam Walton, Founder of Walmart, who
often visited Walmart stores across the country to meet with associates to show his
appreciation for what they did for the company.
• There are four factors to transformational leadership
1. Idealized influence: describes managers who are exemplary role models for
associates. Managers with idealized influence can be trusted and respected by
associates to make good decisions for the organization.
2. Inspirational motivation: describes managers who motivates associates to
commit to the vision of the organization. Managers with inspirational motivation
encourage team spirit to reach goals of increases revenue and market growth for
the organization.
3. Intellectual stimulation: describes managers who encourage innovation and
creativity through challenging the normal beliefs or views of a group.
Managers with intellectual stimulation promote critical thinking and problem
solving in an effort to make the organization better.
4. Individual consideration: managers who act as coaches and advisors to the
associates. Managers with individual consideration encourage associates.
Managers with individual consideration encourage associates to reach goals that
help both the associates and the organization.
• Principle of Leadership
• Leadership principles are the set of actions or guiding beliefs that leaders can
implement to move them toward success. How well an organization, company or
business performs is directly related to how effectively the leaders motivate and
guide their employees.
• There are many different leadership styles, what works for one leader may not work
for another. Because of this, each leader must have a specific set of principles that
apply to them and their organization. However, certain principles are found in all
styles of leadership, such as showing people how to do a good job instead of just
telling them what to do.
• This is one difference that separates a greater leader from a manager or supervisor. A
leader should always be involved in their work and have a genuine interest in
seeing the organization succeed.
• Leadership principles are a framework of action we can take as a leader to inspire
others to work together toward a common goal, they are the foundation for success.
• Lead by example: Many successful leaders demonstrate how to behave, perform
tasks, and do their work. A good leader models excellent behavior and must be
able to motivate and encourage people.
• It is challenging for people to have faith in an idea or point of view if their leader is
not also committed to the vision and empowering their employees or followers
to take appropriate action. When we lead by example, our followers should see that
we are confident and dedicated and they will want to align their behavior to their
leaders.
• Leadership is about people: Communicating and engaging with our team is
essential to leadership. Leaders should work to constantly improve relationships
their interpersonal skills and how they influence the people who surround
them.
• Focus on change: Transformation should be the foundation of every leadership
plan. When we encourage others to change and grow, we will do the same as
leaders. Change for the better should be our focus, not just making changes for
financial gain. We have to focus on the overall vision and have the ambition to
bring about change.

• Be human and admit mistakes: everyone makes mistakes, but it can be beneficial
for other people to see a leader acknowledge their mistakes as it can help them
be more relatable.
• Understand the value of listening: we have to learn to listen more than we talk.
Leaders are great listeners, which does not mean that they must agree with
everything they hear, but they must try to make sense of it and understand it.
• There are two levels of human understanding: intellectual and emotional. When we
understand what someone is saying, this is the intellectual level. The emotional
level of understanding means that we know how they are feeling. A good leader
should understand both. People feel valued and respected when a leader takes the
time to listen and process what they are saying.
• Promote diversity: A diverse workforce encourages innovation and new ideas,
which in turn increases the likelihood of success. Many schools of thought now
identify diversity as key to business accomplishments like profit and growth. A leader
needs to recognize the importance of diversity and aim to build teams that embrace
it.

• Work together to achieve more: Collaboration is the act of working with others to
share information, strategies, and successes, and every great leader understands its
importance. A leader should embrace the benefits working collaboratively can bring.
• Use technology and innovation: Since technology use in the workplace is
widespread, as a leader we should take advantage of the benefits that technology can
bring to our organization. Technology can help in the operation of a business,
increase productivity, help movement into new markets, and facilitate in achieving
the company vision. Communication across the world is easier using new
technologies, which helps with collaboration. Teams can now work together even
if they are based in different countries.

• Help to develop future leaders: there is always a need for good leadership, and part
of being a great leader is to make sure there is someone else who can take over
our role when necessary. Thinking about the future in this way is a strong
leadership trait. The organization will benefit from having a plan in place that leaves
no time gap when people have no leader to look to. When employees are educated
on how to become leaders, they are motivated to take ownership of their work.
• Development of leadership qualities
• Regardless of where we are on the career ladder right now,
there will be a point when we will be handed a
leadership role and our team will expect us to hit the
ground running. Maybe we are aiming to lead an
initiative, chosen to lead a team project out of the blue, or
allowed to apply for a management position earlier than
we thought.

• So rather than waiting for the opportunity to arise, start

developing those skills now:
1. Practice discipline
A good leader needs discipline. Developing discipline in
our professional (and personal) life is a must to be an
effective leader, and to inspire others to be disciplined
as well.
We have to demonstrate discipline at work by always
meeting deadlines, keeping appointments, and
ending meetings on time. If we are naturally
disorganized, then we may have our work cut out for us,
but we can always start small: we have to try
implementing good habits at home, like waking up
early and getting daily exercise, and work our way up
from there.
2. Take on more projects
A great way to develop our leadership skills is to take on more
responsibility.
3. Learn to follow
A true leader has no problem yielding control to another person when
appropriate. We should not feel threatened when someone disagrees
with us, questions our thinking, or puts forth ideas of their own.
4. Inspire others
Being a leader means we are part of a team, and as a leader, we should be
able to motivate and inspire those we work with to collaborate as best we
can.
5. Keep learning
The best path to becoming a good leader is to always keep learning new
things.
6. Resolve conflicts
Instead of ignoring interpersonal conflicts, hoping they will go away, address
them by talking to those involved privately. Also, we have to be open to