Leadership: A Skill Or A Reward - ETCSINES
Leadership, a skill or reward. How I wish this is an argumentative essay where we have two opponents arguing about what is right but are finding it difficult to understand that reward is the result for every skill utilised in leadership role.
According to Wikipedia, “Leadership is both a research area and a practical skill encompassing the ability of an individual or organization to "lead" or guide other individuals, teams , or entire organizations”. Leadership is a matter of intelligence, trustworthiness, humaneness, courage, and discipline. All this are attributed to skill, you can't be rewarded with all this. They have to be learnt, if
given there is probability of occurrence of the response. Skills are proven and the efforts exerted in the skills are rewarded. Skills are challenged and performance are rewarded. Skills are expanded and contributions are rewarded in an atmosphere that encourages both personal and professional growth. Leaders help themselves and others to do the right things. They set direction, build an inspiring vision, and create something new. Leadership is about mapping out where you need to go to "win" as a team or an organization; and it is dynamic, exciting, and inspiring. Management skills is
needed to guide their people to the right destination, in a smooth and efficient way.
Leadership means different things to different people around the world, and different things in different situations. A leadership role requires an entirely different set of skills than an employee's previous position. Granting a promotion without assessing the person's capacity for leadership reduces the role to a mere transaction. Pay your dues to the right people, and you get the job.
However, some high performers get good results through unethical or cutthroat methods, while others take credit for teammates' work and struggle on their own. Many are experts at their current jobs, but lack the imagination, authority and communication skills to lead others; because they are being rewarded as a leader. Leadership is not a gift to be given to people but a gift embedded in an individual. Let's consider this in two variations:
• Leadership skills
• Leadership reward
Leadership skills: Leadership skills are the strengths and abilities individuals demonstrate that help the oversee processes, guide initiatives and steer their employees toward the achievement of goals. The question of what makes a good leader is widely debated. It is clear that the ability to lead effectively relies on a number of key skills, but also that different leaders have very different characteristics and styles. There is, in fact, no one right way to lead in all circumstances, and one of the main characteristics of good leaders is their flexibility and ability to adapt to changing circumstances. Leadership skills are highly sought after by employers as they involve dealing with people in such a way as to motivate, enthuse and build respect. Ideally, leaders become leaders because they have credibility, and because people want to follow them. Using this definition, it becomes clear that leadership skills can be applied to any situation where
you are required to take the lead, professionally, socially, and at home in family settings. leaders are not always appointed, and leadership skills may be needed in many circumstances.
According to Shakespeare, we might say that “ some are born leaders, some achieve leadership, and some have leadership thrust upon them ”. Many successful leaders, however, have never had any formal training. For them leadership is a state of mind, and it is their personalities and traits that make them successful leaders. No one is a born leader everyone can develop leadership skills and everyone can benefit from using them. First, take time to honestly analyze yourself. Learn to understand yourself. It’s the first step to understanding others. The most effective leaders are those who can successfully influence the way other people influence themselves. The following skills are required for effective leadership:
1. The desire to lead: With any job, resisting the work of leading will make it difficult to be effective – and impossible to find fulfilment or enjoyment in what you do. Without the desire to lead, you will not be willing to do the work that it takes to become the leader of the team. You won’t put in the effort to acquire the skills you need to motivate others or to handle conflict. Instead, you’ll stick with the comfortable patterns of behaviour you’ve already developed, regardless of whether or not it helps you to lead. Are you sure that you want to be a leader? If you are, then you are already a step ahead. But if you aren’t certain that you want to be someone who is followed rather than someone who follows, you need to consider whether or not a leadership role is right for you. There are a number of characteristics and feelings that can help you determine your level of desire to lead.
2. Commitment : The first leaders of any organization were those that first created it. They had a mission and a vision about what the company would do, who it would serve, and what changes it would make to the industry or sector they were entering. Those leaders had to take risks like borrowing money or leaving the job they were in at the time in order to start the business. There were likely personal sacrifices, long nights and weeks of work, and times of significant stress before the company could be considered a success. Those first leaders then had to hire others who could share the vision and believe in the mission of the company.
The leaders would coach these new hires, helping them learn how to make decisions which would move the team or organization towards the company’s goals. This trend would hopefully continue as each layer of administration was added to the organization. In an ideal world, every employee would perform as if fulfilling the mission and vision of the organization were his or her personal goal. Of course, we don’t live in an ideal world. The more layers of administration or bureaucracy there are between the visionaries at the head of an organization and the front-line employees who deliver the actual services or product, the more difficult it is to see the mission and vision translated to the employees.
3. Integrity: The third trait that every leader must have in order to be successful is integrity. Integrity can be defined simply as being true to your word, being authentic in your actions and speech, and demonstrating the kind of behaviour that you would like to see your employees have. Integrity, like leadership skills, is something that you have to practice. It takes effort to honour your word every time and to be the example you want from your employees even when you are under stress or simply have a personality conflict. But the benefits you can gain from developing integrity are enormous when compared to the damage you can do in the workplace if you lack it.
• Leadership reward: There are two things people want more than sex and money recognition and praise. It is not new knowledge that people will leave a job where they feel they are not valued. In some cases, the disgruntled employee will leave a stable job for lesser paying one, or even for no job at all. The reward of appreciation and being valued is that important. No matter their age, gender, or ethnicity, people are motivated to do their best, stay long hours, and give more than they take for those leaders who value their contribution.
This reality reveals the power and magnitude that an intangible reward like appreciation provides to employees. Appreciation is vital to employee motivation. Employees seek tangible rewards of compensation, promotions, training, and improvements to their work environment as concrete, measurable forms that are valued. It is the leader that understands these elements of motivation that attracts employees to come to work for them. Employees expect to be compensated fairly and those employees that are not adequately performing their job responsibilities need to be held accountable .
Leaders can be the man picking up the garbage who is always conscientious about cleaning up anything that hits the ground instead of leaving it there, or the administrative assistant who treats every call like it’s the most important one she’s had all day. They can be the co-worker who sets the example for the rest of the team by always being on time, doing their best work, and keeping a positive attitude. Or they can be the person who takes the initiative to organize the group’s help when a co-worker’s family has experienced a tragedy.
Writer: Juliette Akomolafe
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