Understanding Effective Leadership - Essay Example

Effective Leadership Name: Institution: Course: Tutor: Date: Introduction Effective leadership is an aspect that has attracted much attention globally. Effective leaders are made up of various attributes which contribute to their effectiveness as a leader. An effective leader plays a key role in creating and maintaining a healthy working environment that enhances positive outcomes from the employees and all stakeholders (Lussier, & Achua, 2010). Additionally, it influences personal mastery, interpersonal effectiveness, financial and human resource management, care, respect, and critical thinking. We have met successful leaders on the globe that have left us wondering what empowered them to become effective. Meg Whitman is amongst the most effective leaders known worldwide. Whitman’s effective leadership was witnessed during her tenure as the eBay’s CEO. She propelled the growth of the company into higher levels with revenue increasing from millions to billions. This was attributed to her great leadership qualities and skills. Most often, Whitman found herself as a new employee in many organizations she worked for like eBay. Through this experience she has developed to be an effective leader throughout her life. This paper explores effective leadership based on Whitman’s attributes and developing a human resource development program for preparing new and aspiring leaders to achieve same attributes. One of her main attributes was collaborative leadership. Whitman described eBay as a collaborative network partnering with the community of buyers and sellers. Collaborative leaders are leaders who are good at articulating the vision and mission for the organization, inspiring employees to act as well as focusing on the concrete challenges and outcomes. More specifically, they are leaders that guide and motivate employees rather than control and direct them. Whitman firmly believed in influencing the relationship with her employees rather than controlling them. According to the leader member exchange theory (LMX), building or destroying of relationship is based on the trust between the leader and employee (Lussier, and Achua, 2010). The relationship begins once a person either a leader or employee joins an organization. LMX process has three dimensions; role taking, role making and routinization. Role taking involves assessment of a person once he/she joins the organization for his/her abilities and talents. Thereafter, an opportunity is offered for one to demonstrate his/her capabilities. In role making, the leader engages the employee in a negotiation from which his/her role is developed outlining the duties and responsibilities as well as the benefits and repercussions. Trust building takes central position in this stage. Lastly, routinization is a stage where a relationship is established after several exchanges and interaction. However, the quality of this relationship is affected by various factors like task complexity. Additionally, this also affects the level of involvement. For instance, when the task complexity is high level of exchange is high and vice versa (Clemens, 2008). The second attribute is motivation which is of vital significance in effective leadership. Whitman motivated her employees by instilling a good vision and mission which all the employees were passionate about. Visions or missions that are too broad or vague, unattainable and do not consider the role of individuals in achieving them, are characteristic of ineffective leadership. Research has proved that visions of most organizations are devoid of action (Bijlsma-Frankem, 2005). In addition, Whitman is very supportive of her employees. She supported her employees emotionally and treated them with utmost care and respect. Support is used to successfully implement the job requirements. This is because the leader will have one-on-one communications with the staff creating trust and understanding between the two parties. The leader will be able to openly tell the staff whether they are doing a good job or not. The leaders become more considerate about the human needs of their staff. Leaders who are considerate are proved to be effective and they get contented with the work of their staff. Aside from emotional well being, Whitman nurtured innovation from the employees. She believes that news ideas and innovation take place throughout the company and thus need to be supported/nurtured. EBay’s incredible success was partly attributed to constant innovation. Furthermore, Whitman is a participative leader and involved herself with all employees at every level of the company. Whitman eagerly listened to all employee viewpoints and involved them in decision making and carrying them out. Participative leaders share their knowledge, power as well as credit with their employees. Whitman was not concerned with gaining individual recognition but rather the achievements of the group. Finally, Whitman’s integrity and honesty were unquestionable to no reasonable doubts. An effective leader never compromises his/her integrity and trustworthy, both in the present and in the future. Integrity is a major component for success in an organization. And it is usually present in every aspect of the organization. Therefore, it is a long term goal that every organization strives to achieve. However, this much investment in terms of time and commitment hence it is not an easy task. Whitman maintained her integrity throughout the institutions she worked for. The majority of employees only believe and follow those leaders they trust. Moreover, most employees appreciate leaders characterized by openness and candor. Only a few people are known to take advantage of these traits while the majority appreciate them. In today’s world, leaders are under very careful scrutiny from the public and the press. Due to the rising technology, private actions or records are exposed to the public. Sometimes, one does not plan of being a leader, but plans/events change and you find yourself in a leadership position unexpectedly. Developing effective leaders (such as Meg Whitman) is a fundamental activity for any organization (Noe, & Winkler, 2009). Leaders can be developed from the team of employees present in an organization. However, this requires a good HRD program. To begin with, developing an HRD program for leadership building involves envisioning your team of employees (Neal, 1985). This is to enlighten them on the requirements of effective leadership. Developing a HRD program based on collaborative leadership can be achieved through various activities. The first activity is modeling of good leadership. This is the most important activity that can be done to develop new and aspiring leaders. This is one through demonstration of what comprises a good leader in terms of looks and actions. If the present leader has good leadership qualities and skills, there are high chances that potential leaders will notice and copy them. On the other hand, If the present leaders is not a good leader, the potential leaders will probably notice and copy the wrong behavior. In this regard, your model of leadership skills will not be of any help (Training & Development Journal 1986). Next, teaching and training the new and potential leaders as you lead them (Noe, & Winkler, 2009). Teaching new and aspiring leaders through everything you do as you do it is a perfect way to develop leaders. For example, when dealing with a delicate issue such as negotiation, take the chance to teach other employees on how to negotiate. Always bring along your potential employee(s) who is willing and ready to learn. In addition to this, take to time to teach and expound on the concept further when you get a moment together. Teach them what negotiations are all about, your strategy, things to consider as well as your hunches. Sharing your knowledge about your undertaking and why you do it can be a valuable learning experience to potential leaders you are training (Training & Development Journal 1986). Mentoring of aspiring leaders is another crucial activity of developing effective leaders. Mentoring entails taking an aspiring leader under your wing and teaching him/her on a one-on-one basis over a certain duration. This includes teaching him/her as you are leading, as aforementioned, but on a more commitment basis. As a matter of fact, you help him/her develop into a leader through teachings on what you know as well as encouraging him/her about taking on new challenges. Therefore, this is a bigger and more important activity. For instance, mentoring involves sitting down to watch and listen your aspiring candidate try to lead something for his/her the first time. Listening to your potential leaders present really helps them think through their experiences and be ready for the coming challenge. Aside from listening to him/her, your confidence in her/him developing into a leader is another most effective way to mentor an aspiring leader become really a leader for years to come (Training & Development Journal 1986). Additionally, organizing workshops for aspiring leaders help them to focus on key issues. This includes decision-making, fundraising, creation of an action plan and so forth. Such workshops addressing the key issues help aspiring leaders learn about how to keep an organization on the right track. On the other hand, workshops help uplift the morale and renew the commitment of aspiring leaders through solving a long-term challenge. Retreats work for the same course but are excellent in refocusing organizations. Most notably, a retreat helps an aspiring leader identify new goals or strategies. Thus, a retreat is used whenever an organization is preparing to take a new turn where aspiring leaders need to understand the new changes in order to make them successful. Retreats help aspiring leaders recommit themselves to the organization’s mission. Also, retreats remember aspiring leaders on the of relationships with each other in working together (Training & Development Journal 1986). Furthermore, aspiring leaders need to be exposed to leadership exchange programs. It is of much benefit to involve an aspiring leader into a leadership exchange program with another different organization. This is done by trading your aspiring leaders to another organization for a certain duration, so that they can get to learn how other organizations work. Also, this can be done by visiting other organizations. Through this, people get to learn new skills and possibilities lacking in their organization. In regards to new leaders, orientations are used to get them on-board quickly about the organization. This makes people feel they are valued and needed, and gives them information and training needed to perform their work well. Giving the needed assistance to people early is a worthy investment for an organization with time. Leaving new potential leaders on their own when they are beginning often make the, feel left-out and/or resentful. It is required that during orientation the new potential leader gets; a warm welcome; the necessary training needed for the job; organizational history; opportunity to learn of organization’s mission, policies, and procedures; and meeting other employees. Finally, new and aspiring leaders need to be in an activity in leadership groups. This is an ongoing leadership development meant to enhance their relationships with other leaders. This helps leaders to continue to grow and overcome difficulties they are facing. Sometimes, leaders feel in their jobs and need people who they would talk to and share together their ideas and experiences. For new and aspiring leaders, setting up of peer leadership groups is a better way. This involves Inviting peer leaders from the organizations as well as from others organizations to meet based on a certain time frame like weekly or monthly. During these meetings, leaders can talk about their experiences as leaders, rewards and the challenges. Leadership groups are very valuable for new and potential leaders in an organization. Leadership groups should be regularly convened to support individual leaders in order to help them focus on their growth and work (Training & Development Journal 1986). In conclusion, an effective leader plays a key role in creating and maintaining a healthy working environment that enhances positive outcomes from the employees and all stakeholders. Meg Whitman is a good example of an effective leader. Whitman developed her leadership attributes throughout her life career to become one of the successful leaders among the world’s top companies. Meg Whitman is a very collaborative leader who uses her influence to guide and motivate employees rather than forcing them. Developing new and aspiring leaders with attributes like Whitman’s involves a vigorous HRD program. Leaders are developed from the team of employees present in an organization. This program includes: good role modeling; teaching and training; mentorship; workshops; leadership exchange programs; orientations; and leadership grouping. In all the above activities, new and aspiring leaders are molded into effective leaders to become over time. Effective leaders are those good at articulating organizational vision, inspiring employees to act as well as focusing on the concrete challenges and outcomes in the organization. References: Bijlsma-Frankem, K. (2005). 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