Leadership principles
Leadership principlesIntroduction
Leadership is the process of motivating others to work to meet specific goals and objectives. "Leadership is deliberately causing people-driven actions in a planned fashion for the purpose of accomplishing the leader's agenda" (Crosby 2). A leader motivates others to action. Thus, it is the motivation of others and their actions that defines a successful leader. In other words, leadership is the art and science of getting others to perform and achieve a vision. Therefore, leadership is not only reflected in performance, no matter how good that performance is, but in accomplishment.
As a leader one's focus should be on accomplishing that leadership goals, whether in a personal, community or charitable, business, political, or industrial forum. In the business world, managers have a great responsibility of leading employees working under them. In order to achieve successful leadership, a leader or a manager should possess certain principles and essential skills.
Leadership Principles, Objectives and Problems
There are several principles a leader should follow to be successful. A few of the principles are as follows:
1) Listening and Understanding:
The most important principle of leadership is 'listening'. "A good leader is always an active listener" (Rausch, Washbush 143). Active listening shows that the leader cares, is interested and wants to be involved, enabling the n leader to benefit from the experience.
The primary objective of a leader would be to adapt the principles of 'listening' into their own life. If the leader is not a good listener, then he/she should learn how to really listen. In addition to listening and carefully understanding what a team member is saying, leader should also make sure that every team member gets leader's undivided attention (Normand, Jackson 111).
Unfortunately, as a listener, leaders have their own problems to face with. Listeners frequently have too many sound and visual signals reaching them at the same time. It is difficult for the listener to pay attention to multiple speakers all at once. Also, there could be a number of other problems the leader could be facing in their own life. The leader as a listener will never listen with understanding until other matters are forgotten for the moment and attention is given to the speaker. Another problem involved with listening is the leader not being able to understand the words being spoken. Hearing what is being spoken is just a part of listening, but understanding some of the words could be tricky sometimes.
To avoid problems involving listening, the listener should use good eye contact so that he/she can concentrate on the particular speaker. That helps the listener pay attention on the subject too. Leader should also learn the meaning of the words the speaker is using and if he is unable to understand, he needs to ask questions. This also lets the speaker know that the listener is unable to understand and the listener is paying attention.
2) Planning
Planning is determining what you want to accomplish, working out beforehand how...
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