Leadership is the ability to influence others to strive to attain goals or objectives

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In today's era, everyone runs behind success and growth and what is forgotten between this is excellence, and this is exactly why leadership plays a vital and curtail role in an organization. But the bigger question here is, what is leadership? A classic example of a good organizational leader is the top executive in the organizational management who directs and is in control of all aspects of the operations of the organization.

Leaders of Today

Having said that, to be an effective leader, one has to manage available resources, communicate, supervise and inspire others around them and therefore leadership goes beyond just managerial duties. A true leader will always motivate his team to act in line with achieving a common goal and put the interest of the organization before his/her own personal interests. But not all leaders are the same; every leader differs in their own ways such as opinion, thoughts, characteristics and style. Their leadership style depends on the situation that they face in an organization and who they are as a person.

The Management

Not all top management personal prove to be good leaders, it's all about having good leadership skills that makes one a good leader. Leadership is an art or process of influencing people to perform assigned tasks willingly, efficiently and competently. If there is no proper leadership, the manager reporting below him/her will not be able to perform efficiently and this in turn will hamper the entire organization's goals. Thus, when good leadership is in place, it can be felt throughout the entire organization.

Another key skill for a good leader is to inspire people to reach great heights of success and performance. Many senior leaders often think that employees will follow them because of their title or the organizational hierarchy. However this does not mean that the leader inspires them to do their best work. An inspirational leader walks the talk, which essentially means performing his/her duties first before he simply delegates to others.

A Leader's Responsibility

By now we all know what leadership is all about and what it takes to be a good leader, but managing an organization as a leader is not an easy task, it involves a set of challenges one might face through the course. While there are many challenges, some of them need more attention, one of which is efficient communication, effectively communicating the overall mission and vision of the organization and where it is headed is of prime importance. Another challenge is converting strategy into outcomes by designating responsibilities to those employees which leaders deem important for success. Simply converting the strategy into outcomes through the right people is not enough; a leader's responsibility is to also provide strategic direction towards achievement of the desired objective, only then can a favourable outcome be achieved.

Duties and Performance

However, while performing all its duties internally, a leader will also have to maintain cordial relations with the client so as to build long term relations as a leader does not just delegate and lead his organization; he has to perform certain managerial duties himself to ensure smooth working within as well as outside the organization.

Communication

Since communication is key, global and national leaders are also responsible to lead teams across multiple locations. As a leader, you must communicate with all employees across several locations to ensure all employees work with the same morale. It is the leader's responsibility to manage his in-house team and employees in different locations to lead the organization successfully.

With this we clearly understand the roles and responsibilities of a leader and the importance of good leadership Also through this article we come to realize the value of an employee and therefore motivating and encouraging them to accomplish organizational goals at large is of great importance for a leader.

Team Work

As a leader, making the team feel appreciated and important can have a great impact on their output. Thus creating a positive work-environment and being approachable will play a crucial role as employees tend to value their leaders who respect their sincere efforts at work. Hence it is rightly said that a true leader should always earn respect rather than demand it.

Leadership can simply be defined as the ability to influence others. Leadership is the work that is done by the leader.

It is a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.

In the course of his survey of leadership theories and research; Stogdill came across innumerable definitions of leadership.

For our purpose, we may define leadership as the process of directing and influencing people so that they will strive willingly and enthusiastically towards the achievement of group objectives.

Keith Devis said that leadership is the process of encouraging and helping others to work enthusiastically toward objectives.

According to Koontz and Donnell, the act of leadership is the process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly and enthusiastically toward the achievement of the group goal.

Ideally, people should be encouraged to develop not only a willingness to work but also a willingness to work with confidence and zeal. Confidence reflects the experience and technical expertise; zeal is earnestness, and intensity in the execution of work.

A leader acts to help a group achieve objectives through the exploitation of its maximum capabilities.

A leader does not stand behind a group to push and prod; she/he places herself/himself before the group, facilitates progress and inspires the group to accomplish organizational goals.

Leadership is the potential to influence the behavior of others.

It is also defined as the capacity to influence a group towards the realization of a goal. Leaders are required to develop a future vision and to motivate the organizational members to achieve the visions.

Leadership is both a process and a property.

As a process -focusing on what leaders do; leadership is the use of no coercive influence to shape the group or organizational goals, motive behavior towards the achievement of those goals and help define a group or organizational culture.

As property leadership is the set of characteristics attributed to individuals who are perceived to be leaders.

Nature of leadership

• Leadership derives from the power and is similar to, yet distinct from, management. In fact, “leadership” and “management” are different. There can be leaders of completely unorganized groups, but there can be managers only of organized groups. Thus it can be said that a manager is necessarily a leader but a leader may not be a manager.
• Leadership is essential for managing. The ability to lead effectively is one of the keys to being an effective manager because she/he has to combine resources and lead a group to achieve objectives.
• Leadership and motivation are closely interconnected. By understanding motivation, one can appreciate better what people want and why they act as they do. A leader can encourage or dampen workers’ motivation by creating a favorable or unfavorable working environment in the organization.
• The essence of leadership is followership. In other words, it is the willingness of people to follow a person that makes that person a leader. Moreover, people tend to follow those whom they see as providing a means of achieving their desires, needs and wants.
• Leadership involves an unequal distribution of power between leaders and group members. Group members are not powerless; they can shape group activities in some ways. Still, the leader will usually have more power than the group members.
• Leaders can influence the followers’ behavior in some ways. Leaders can influence workers either to do ill or well for the company. The leader must be able to empower and motivate the followers to the cause.
• The leader must co-exist with the subordinates or followers and must have a clear idea about their demands and ambitions. This creates loyalty and trust in subordinates for their leader.
• Leadership is to be concerned about values. Followers learn ethics and values from their leaders. Leaders are the real teachers of ethics, and they can reinforce ideas. Leaders need to make positive statements of ethics if they are not hypocritical.
• Leading is a very demanding job both physically and psychologically. The leader must have the strength, power, and ability to meet the bodily requirements; zeal, energy, and patience to meet the mental requirements for leading.

Styles of Leadership

Leadership style refers to a leaders’ behavior towards group members.

The behavioral pattern which the leader reflects in his role as a leader is often described as the style of leadership.

Leadership style is the result of the leader’s philosophy, personality, value system, and experience.

It also depends on the types of followers and organizational atmosphere prevailing in the enterprise. The different types of leadership may be discussed under the following heads:

1. Leadership Styles Based on Authority.
2. Likert’s Four Styles of Managerial Leadership.
3. Leadership Styles in the Managerial Grid.
4. Leadership Continuum.

So it can be described as leading a process by which a person leads others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent.

Leadership is the ability of a manager to induce the subordinates to work with confidence and zeal.

Leadership is a Process and a Property

Leadership is the ability to persuade others to seek defined objectives enthusiastically.

It is the human factor that binds a group together and motivates it towards goals.

Leadership can be defined both as process and property.

Leadership is a Process

Leadership is the ability of a superior to influence the behavior of a subordinate or group and persuade them to follow a particular course of action.

It is the art of inspiring subordinates or followers to perform their duties willingly, competently, and enthusiastically.

As a process, leadership involves the use of no coercive influence to direct & coordinate the activities of the members of an organized group towards the achievement of group objectives.

Leadership is a Property

Leadership is the set of characteristics attributed to individuals who are perceived to be leaders.

Thus leaders are people who can influence the behaviors of others without having to rely on force or people whom others accept as leaders.

As a property, leadership is a set of qualities or characteristics attributed to those who are perceived to successfully employ such influence.

Such qualities include; ability to inspire the other, ability, to understand human behavior, the ability of verbal assertiveness, willingness to take the risk.

Is the ability of one person to influence others to attain objectives?

When leadership is defined as an influence process it means that leadership?

Which of the following is the process of influencing people to accomplish specific objectives?

Which of the following best defines leadership?