Natalie Schneider Leadership

Archive for November, 2011

In performing leadership functions, managers sometimes make attempts to change over from one leadership style to another with changes in the situation. This is rather difficult to do for most people and unless one learns to do it effectively, it may only make matters worse. What really matters from the point of view of effective direction is that the leader provides the lead to the satisfaction of the led.

A manager must be very careful in his conduct in the presence of his subordinates. Every little act, gesture, expression and movement on his part is watched and interpreted by the subordinates in relation to their own work. In exercising leadership functions in his formal position, a manager must avoid all kinds of false impression formation on the part of his subordinates. He must strive to develop and maintain morale by evoking confidence and zeal.

The leader can win and maintain his subordinate’s confidence in him by establishing his superiority in knowledge and his ability to provide psychological support when needed. According to experts, leader should make use of orientation, which consists in providing the subordinate with the required information about his functions and its relationship with other functions, follow it up with training in managerial skills and continued supervision and provide his subordinates with job security assuming that he is efficient.

In addition, the other important function of managerial leadership is to create and sustain enthusiasm for organizational goals and activities. This is somewhat complicated. The manager exercising leadership in motivating his subordinates towards organizational goals should try to determine the conditions of factors in the organizational situation which prompt a subordinate to put in efforts beyond the acceptable minimum. The function of creating enthusiasm for the enterprise goals can be performed by the use of two techniques: inspiring subordinates and strengthening personal qualities.

Leadership and management are two distinctly different roles with a somewhat paradoxical relationship.

Abraham Zaleznic, in a now-famous 1977 Harvard Business Review article, was one of the first scholars to differentiate between managers and leaders. According to Zalzenic, managers are focused on getting the job done, whatever that job may be. While managers are concerned with how work is done, leaders are concerned with what is done. This view is echoed by Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, who state that managers do things right, and leaders are people who do the right thing. Yet Zaleznic goes further, implying that managers are overly rational, somewhat detached and task-oriented-a living personification of Frederick Taylor’s Principles of Scientific Management. By contrast, Zaleznic views leaders as intuitive, empathetic and people focused-a precursor to the emotionally intelligent and transformational forms of leadership that became popular in the late twentieth century. It is important to note that Zaleznic distinguished leaders from managers, not leadership from management. In Zaleznic’s view, managers and leaders were very different types of people, each with their own distinctive values and personalities.

In 1990, John Kotter, another Harvard scholar, offered a new view of the difference between leadership and management. According to Kotter, managers are concerned with stability, efficiency and order, while leaders are concerned with innovation, adaptability and change. Despite this new focus, Kotter subtly builds Zaleznic’s view of warm, inspiring leaders and well-organized, task-focused managers into his own model. Kotter states that management is about planning and controlling, while leadership is about setting direction and motivating people to help them get there. Like Zaleznic, Kotter regards leadership and management as complementary roles. An organization that lacks good management is like a ship without an engine, while an organization without great leadership is like a ship without a rudder. Leaders steer their organization to new and exciting destinations, while managers make sure that everyone is fed along the way. Yet Kotter sees management and leadership as different roles, rather than different people. Individual executives can and should both manage and lead. These new leader-managers need to skilfully attend to both:

* the task at hand and the people completing it
* productivity in the present and positioning the organization for the future

Leadership and management are complementary parts of your job.

Developing a theme for a training program is like naming a baby. Although many choices are available, you really only have one chance to get it right. This article proposes to ignite your thinking and get you on the right track. At length, you will create an appropriate theme that distinguishes your youth leadership program.
Review your goals.

The theme should relate to your goals. Therefore, begin by reviewing your goals, and if you have not established goals, now is the time to do so. What does the leadership program aim to do for youth? Is it designed to address a particular problem or need?
Examine your philosophy.

Take a few minutes to write down your thoughts about leadership. Why is it important? Moreover, why do think youth need leadership training? What are your beliefs? I, for example, believe that leaders should have a strong foundation in the basics. Equally important, I believe that great leaders constantly seek improvement.

Connect the dots.

List all of the components of your program on a blank sheet of paper. Include the key buzzwords, like internships, educational seminars, mentoring, etc. Then, step back, and let the theme emerge.

Be creative.

Take the gloves off, and unleash your creativity. One company, for example, used the acronym O.L.Y.M.P.I.C.S as the theme for its training program; the organization wanted a theme that expressed its commitment to excellence and ongoing professional development.

Avoid mixed messages.

The theme conveys a message. Hence, the content of the program must support the theme. If it does not, make the necessary adjustments. Do not send mixed messages by advertising something that you are not delivering.

Get others involved.

Discover a way to get others involved in the process. Holding a contest is one fun option. Reward people for participating.

In brief, the ideas mentioned in this article require you to look within and to answer key questions. While other techniques exist for creating a theme, these have helped me over the years. I believe they will help you produce themes that are exciting and on target too.