Leadership credibility - Essay Example

An overview of the four characteristics described in Kouzes and Posner Being honest This is the first among the characteristic of effective leadership as described by in Kouzes and Posner, which requires that a leader should always be truthful (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). According to Kouzes and Posner, leadership is all about relationships, and no one can possibly do it alone. Therefore, it requires the ability to inspire others to take up the challenge of realizing a common goal that an organization or a group of people have set to achieve.

However, without being honest and truthful, there is no way that a leader can inspire others, because honesty does not only come in the form of acting and telling the truth, but also living the truth, demonstrated through following a set of ethical standards and principles (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). Therefore, it is through the consistency of the leader to say, to act and live what is truthful, through adhering to ethical principles and set standards, that motivates the other subordinates within the organization to join in the challenge of achieving what the organization has set to achieve.

Forward-Looking This fundamental principle of great leadership provides that leaders must have a vision for the organization that they lead, but most importantly is that the vision should be well aligned with the aspirations of the organizational stakeholders (Kouzes & Posner, 2012).. on, and this way, makes it easy for the people to rally behind the leader, simply because they all know the direction they, and the organization is headed (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). Inspiring Maintaining a positive attitude has always been the fundamental principal of achieving, on the face of numerous existing challenges (Kouzes & Posner, 2012).

Therefore, the only way through which an organization can succeed is through having employees and a management team that shares a positive attitude, which then gives them a commitment to continue striving towards realizing the future objectives of an organization. Motivation, therefore, forms the basis of good leadership, where great leadership does not seek to castigate the subordinates or continuously point at their weakness and failures, but on the contrary, it entails seeking for their areas of strength and motivating them to enhance it, with genuineness and interest in their positive achievement (Kouzes & Posner, 2012).

A great leader always shares the excitement of future organizational possibilities, and then shares the excitement with the team that works through him/her, through motivating them to put on a positive attitude and brace to overcome all obstacles towards realizing the organizational vision. Competent The greatest achievement that any leader can ever have is the ability to get things done. How better then it is, to have things done, through instilling a positive attitude on the team that works towards realizing the set objectives (Kouzes & Posner, 2012).

Therefore, competency is an essential characteristic of any great leader, since it entails the application of both leadership and behavioral skills, to rally the workforce behind an established organizational course, and motivate them towards realizing the