Leadership Development & Management Training
There are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are writers about the subject. This in itself informs the reader about the elusiveness of any consensus what makes for a good leader let alone, how to develop them. At its simplest, the leader is the one who has followers though it would not be accurate to say that “the one with the most followers is the best leader”.
Successful leadership characteristics will vary by organization, culture, age, circumstances, and many more variables. Successful leaders don’t use the same skills and behaviors on every occasion, but often draw from an array of arrows in their quiver to be successful.
Good managers are not necessarily good leaders as a manager’s title is conferred upon them by the hierarchy in an organization. The title of leader is conferred upon the person by those who will follow. So, how do you get people to follow?
Among the many characteristics of effective leaders are:
Vision – is the description of the future and preferably a future that is better than the present or one that will comfortably address anticipated events. The vision must be believable in the sense of being perceived as achievable. It must be a statement with which follows can identify and aspire to and it must be articulated by one who has the confidence and trust of the followers.
Trust – is likely the most critical characteristic to any leader. Once it is gained it is difficult to lose and once it is lost it is virtually impossible to regain. A trusting relationship is created through consistent experience that the leader is acting in the follower’s best interest. Once trust is established it is assumed that the leader is acting in the best interest of the follow until proven otherwise. As a result, it is not uncommon to find people being led in directions that are not in their best interest. However, once this is discovered, the leader is usually abandoned.
Communication – is the link or connective tissue between the parties. An effective and highly skilled communicator can make up for lapses in vision and trust and an ineffective communicator will often fail as a leader regardless of the wisdom of the vision or the integrity of the trust. While there are many more characteristics found in effective leaders, it is clearly the formulation of a vision, the ability to communicate that vision and the existence of trust are the three most fundamental skills required.
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