Leadership and Mentorship - Essay Example

On the other hand, a leader is not necessarily a mentor. Although the leader has the decision-making authority yet the subordinates may not necessarily consider him competent enough to make the right decisions. Leadership may not always be like mentorship, which means that the leader may not always have a responsibility of the development of the mentees like a mentor has. For example, servant leadership is a kind of leadership in which the leader works among the followers. Followers and students comply with the instructions of leaders and mentors respectively because they know that doing so would benefit them in some way.

In the workplace, workers follow their managers in order to have increments of salary and addition of benefits or to be in a superior position. In the school, students listen to the mentors because they know that their mentors control their academic career, and not complying with the instructions of the mentor might have an adverse effect on their grades. On the other hand, leaders and mentors may or may not have personal interest in leading the followers. It really depends upon the circumstances that vary from one case to another.

For the leader of a political party, the motivation to lead is intrinsic since the leader’s personal interests are associated with that. . Likewise, a mentor teaching in a school is just another employee who is assigned the task of teaching a certain subject to certain classes, and the performance of his students depict the effectiveness of the individual as a teacher. Hence, the goal of a leader or a mentor may or may not be of his/her personal interest. An individual can be a leader without being a mentor, but he/she cannot be a good or effective leader until he/she is also a mentor.

Not many leaders are able to successfully transfer their knowledge to their followers or let them benefit from their experiences. Leadership is more about the people who are being led than the leader himself. The success of a leader is fundamentally depicted by the level of satisfaction of the followers. The privileges one gets as a leader are obtained not without one’s obligation of service. The leader assumes the prime responsibility of providing the followers with care and stewardship and assuring their well-being.

This may be perceived as the liabilities of being in the position of a leader, but this is all what leadership is about. Had the objective of safeguarding the rights and interests of the followers not been there, there would not have been any need of a leader in the first place. Mentoring is one of the job responsibilities of a leader. One’s obligation as a leader is the development of the followers’ skills and competencies so that they may optimize on their potential to play a constructive role for the progress of the organization they are working for.

Without being a mentor, one cannot do justice to one’s responsibilities as a leader. Similarities between Mentorship and Leadership There are many things that a leader and a mentor have in common. The first and the most