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Is Leadership a Trait Difficult to Inculcate?
We see a lot of managers and designations, however death of leaders is paramount at work place. What would be your pointers/advice/suggestion on the following theme?
- For the employee
- For the Leadership
- For HR
When you reply, do ensure you mention where the suggestion is applicable.
5 answers
Leader is the one who has Mission with Vision. We see lot of Leaders around but I call them Managers as they only manage business, client and other activities. So, we lack real leaders around us. And this is not only in corporates, even in political spectrum we lack real Leaders and that is the reason of Global Chaos all around us.
We cannot induce leadership qualities, there are so many trainings for leaders or becoming a leader, however I feel that's not how we get a person with leadership qualities, it has to be in-born, if you see a Leaders in real sense he/she will have those qualities imbibed from his childhood, the upbringing, social circle, education and the overall thinking and persona.
So, Leader has to be Mentor, Visionary, Guide who can lead the organisation or people. Leader can never be Manager.
I subscribe to the thought that true leaders are those who are trusted by others - due to their proven competence, character, and caring - and are, therefore, influential in moving others forward by example toward worthy goals, whether they are in a formal leadership positions or not. While healthy organizational cultures can help to produce sound leadership practices (e.g., listening, informed decision-making, serving others well, taking considered risks, etc.) and built-in organizational disciplines (e.g., trainng, coaching/mentoring, performance management, planning and execution KPIs, etc.), can help to equip future leaders, to me those most successful as topnotch leaders at the helm of organizations are generally those that combine both God-given gifts (e.g., sound mind and solid communication gifts, the ability to be humble but firm in pursuit of teeam goals, a peace and fearlessness that comes from doing right even when circumstances seem most difficult) and proven abilities diligently gained in their chosen profession. Under the right senior leadership and culture, HR can help to assess, identify, and encourage the development of leaders (2Timothy 2:2), but this primary responsibility is shouldered by the CEO who should be perpetually engaged in sound organization and succession planning efforts to ensure ready internal bench strength aligned to the firm's core principles. For employees, the best advice is to be diligent in doing a great job with whatever responsibilities you've been entrusted with at the moment, knowing that such trust will bring growing responsibility in a firm that is growing. Lifelong learning and sharpening of related skills (business, technical, market-specific, interpersonal, etc.) is something that all future leaders will do to be continually strengthening their capabilities in ways that will enable them to be future leaders.
We can all learn some of the skills required to be a leader but most of the requirements are something that some people are born with. Which one of these three is the leader? I like to think it's the guy at the bottom. He's encouraged his team to reach the summit and then is seeking their help to join them.
Management looks at WHAT needs to be done and Leadership looks at HOW. Good leadership provides clarity for all people in a team/organisation. Everyone works better with clear leadership, as they know what is expected of them. They trust the other members of their team and they are results oriented.
All leadership qualities can be learnt and every human being has the potential to develop them. Needless to say, not everyone does.
It's a journey of life-long learning. In its essence it is a journey of expanding first your own level of consciousness. Then it is about the ability to inspire others to do the same. Developing leadership skills is the ultimate level of personal development for any human being.
Additionally, leadership is also a collective capacity of a human system. An organisation's ability to truly thrive and prosper is directly related to the average leadership capacity of everyone across the organisation.
The reason it is difficult for organisations and HR and management to develop these skills are several. First, they often do not understand the difference between management and leadership. Second, they mistake knowing with being and doing. I.e. when we talk about leadership, it cannot be learnt by accumulating knowledge. Third, they think that leadership skills are generic. In effect, every organisation, leader and leadership team calls for different.