The Essence of Leadership, Examples of Effective Leadership - Essay Example

Effective Leadership Introduction Effective management and leadership change is very important nowadays. The majority of the companies around the world are focused on the importance of a leader for further success of the company. There are different functions of the effective leader: he should be able to develop changes and adapt them appropriately with regards to organizational, economic, management, ethical and other concerns of the company. There are many arguments concerning similarities and differences between leadership and management. There is no need to identify these two entities, but it is better to treat leaders as inspirers of innovations and managers as performers of those ideas. Thesis: effective leadership is based on different features and not only professional features are important, but also personal characteristics matter a lot. Employees are members of a team, who are able to implement innovative and creative ideas of a leader. Consequently, there is a need for stable and trustful relations between them. The essence of leadership Taking into account modern researches and studies in business filed, it is evident that the main attention of researchers and scientists concerns effective leadership. Elving (2005) claims that effective leader can establish changes by means of communication. Basically, the employees are not ready for changes and perceive innovations or changes from a negative perspective. It is on behalf of the effective leader to enable employees to accept organizational changes. In accordance with Elving, there are five basic steps to be taken by leaders: a humane attitude to employees; communication in a friendly and a simple atmosphere; individual treatment for every employee; joking and easy-going manner of communication. In this case, changes and innovations in organizations are perceived “as is”, because organizational changes will be perceived as self-evident (Bovey 2001, p. 536). Caldwell (2003) claims that “leaders are transformed managers” (Caldwell 2003, p. 285). Change managers embody ideas and practices of change leaders. Actually, effective leaders invent and embody organizational changes and effective managers have implemented these actions at different organizational levels. Nevertheless, there are different leaders in the Western and the Eastern worlds. Consequently, in order to determine the effective leadership and change management in the Eastern world and Western world, it is relevant to take into account cultural and social peculiarities of different businesses, which are rooted in historic contexts of different countries. For example, the effective leader from the Eastern world is a patient, attentive person, showing respect and tolerance to his employees. In the Western world there are not so many concerns about the issues of hierarchy or ethical implication of seniority. Examples of Effective Leadership There is a great importance of effective leadership in the modern business context. There are many historic examples of effective leaders and the way they managed to introduce different changes and innovations in different fields. For example, one of the most prominent leaders is Ronald Reagan (Heclo, 2008). This great leader was focused on the importance of trust, tolerant relation and a friendly atmosphere created in his team. Reagan could inspire his team by making the right choices and taking the right steps. In such a way, the members of his team should listen to their leader and follow him. Personal features of Reagan identified him as “The Great Communicator.” He was simple in his communication and used vivid expressions to describe love to his country. America was named as “the shining city on the hill” and he made his nation proud of their country (For Vision and Leadership; Godspeed to Mr. Reagan, 2004). Ronald Reagan was a great optimist and he managed to develop the most effective strategies. Reagan managed to introduce changes and transformation in the policy for his team. Thus, he established a participatory culture of his administration and he took part in solving different problems of his team. For example, he managed to change conservative policies nature of the Soviet Union’s politics and he trusted their policies, but he often verified their cooperation. He was ready for changes and his ideas easily occurred to him and he was able to transfer his ideas to other people. Tolerance and humanism were two basic pillars for his policy. To be friendly, likeable, attentive and tolerant person was very important for him. He showed emotional attitude to his subordinates and inspired them for taking the right and appropriate actions. There are four main factors, determining his nature of a transformational leader: he was a charismatic and idealized leader, he developed his mission and was a spiritual inspirer for them (Tough Talk for Republicans; Ronald Reagan Has Gone Away; Look Ahead, 2009). Actually, effective leaders and their main features can be described in the following terms: honesty enables them to be credible and their people listen to them. A level of a personal responsibility is high and impressive and it should be noted, that relations between the leader and his team should be based on trust, credibility, cooperation and mutual support. Moreover, effective leaders keep their promises, believe in a worth essence and a talented nature of their subordinates. Of course, there is no doubt that even effective leaders can make mistakes. One of their strongest abilities is to show that they realize that they made a mistake and not to blame other people around them. They are not really oppressive for their people and they are able to recommend making some actions for their team members. The most appropriate features of leaders are: confidence, initiative, determination, critical thinking skills, good communication skills, good people skills. Managers are able to help leaders to implement their ideas in reality. Kotterman distinguishes between concepts of a leader and a manager: “To punish managers for letting us down, we blessed leaders with the good-guy styles and damned management with the bad-guy ones. The next step was to portray leaders as transformational and managers as transactional” (Kotterman 2006, p. 47). Currently, there is a clear tendency to differentiate between leaders and managers. There is a perfect example of a leader’s ability to change the corporate culture and strategic development of the company. PowerCo, an international electricity producing company, had to change its strategy, because there was a necessity to implement innovative ideas and changes. Thus, a leader of the company suggested development of different skills among the company’ employees. On the one hand, programming engineers got their education in a different field, accounting. There is no doubt that these innovative tactics implement brave business ideas of the company’s leaders. Managers helped leaders to make this change come true. Effective leaders are able to inspire people to work harder and effective managers are able to make people work harder (Kotterman, 2006). From another perspective, it is really hard for leaders to change the essence of corporate culture or to implement some organizational changes. “Strong” leaders are “clearing a pathway for people to be involved and achieve by removing blockages and providing a clear vision serviced by adequate resources. Staff felt empowered within a structured yet supportive environment” (Day & Leithwood 2007, p. 44). Thus, it is possible for a leader to function even in clearly structured environment. There is a need for a constant and a strong support, which can be provided by the subordinates in case leaders are open-minded and tolerant people. To change company’s strategies or culture is to penetrate in its essence and realize in-depth contexts and background of the company’s operation. Therefore, the leaders are dependent on certain networks and alliances. They are able to enforce a level of employees’ involvement in the process of further development. To be open, sincere and with a good sense of humor –means a lot for the leaders. These personal qualities determine the way employees would accept suggested changes and innovations. Employees are ready to work devotedly in case they are sure that they are paid fairly and equally. A frank leader is able to promote his own ideas and not to enforce them on employees, but recommend following his ideas and be inspired by his intentions. Conclusion A real successful leader should treat others they way he wants to be treated. To my mind, this is the most important principle of a humane attitude for employees. Successful relation in business is based on the ability of a leader to find a golden mean. On the one hand, it is unnecessary to treat employees like friends, feel a great sympathy to them. It is better to treat them like a labor force, which consists of individuals, separate talents, who should be treated in a unique and a special way. Of course, it is really hard to find this perfect balance and it is better for a leader to have inherited features of kindness, politeness, sympathy et cetera. Nevertheless, there are always many opportunities to cultivate those features and remain reliable and successful leader, who inspires people and not oppresses them. Therefore, education and training of a successful leader means a lot, but another important factor is the leader’s ability to show his individual and peculiar features, such as understanding, humanness, patience et cetera in the name of a common success. References Bovey, W., 2001. Resistance to organizational change: the role of defense mechanisms, Journal of Managerial Psychology, 16 (7), pp. 34-548. Caldwell, R., 2003. Change leaders and change managers: different or complementary. The Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 24(5), pp. 285-293. Day, C., Leithwood, K., 2007. Successful Principal Leadership in Times of Change: An International Perspective. Springer. Elving,W. J. L., 2005. “The role of communication in organizational change.” Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 10 (2), pp. 129-138. For Vision and Leadership; Godspeed to Mr. Reagan, 2004, June 10. The Washington Times, p. A23. Heclo, H., 2008. The Mixed Legacies of Ronald Reagan. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 38(4), p. 555+. Kotterman, J., 2006. Leadership versus Management: Whats the Difference? The Journal for Quality and Participation, 29, p. 43+. Ritter, K., & Henry, D., 1992. Ronald Reagan: The Great Communicator. New York: Greenwood Press. Stuckey, M. E., 1990. Playing the Game: The Presidential Rhetoric of Ronald Reagan. New York: Praeger Publishers. Tough Talk for Republicans; Ronald Reagan Has Gone Away; Look Ahead, 2009, January 30. The Washington Times, p. A23. Read More