I used to th01ink running an organization was equivalent to conducting a symphony orchestra.
The meaning of a message is he change which it produces in the image.” - Kenneth Boulding in the image: Knowledge in Life and Society
Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and direct the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent.
some other popular definitions of Leadership are:
A process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse, 2007, p3). The U.S. military has studied leadership in depth. One of their definitions is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish a mission (U.S. Army, 1983)
While leadership is learned, a leader’s skill and knowledge by his or hers attributes or traits, such as beliefs, values, ethics, and character. Knowledge and skills contribute directly to the process of leadership, write the other attributes give the leader certain characteristics that make him or her unique.
For example, a leader might have learned the skills in counseling others, but her traits will often play a great role in determining how she counsels. A person who has empathy will make a better counselor than a person who thinks the employees are simply there do accomplish her bidding Skills, knowledge and attributes make the leader, which is one the factors of leadership.
There are four primary factors of leadership (U.S. Army, 1983):
Leader – You must have an honest understanding of who you are, what you know, and what you can do. Also, note that it is the followers, not the leader or someone else who determines if the leaders is successful. If they do not trust or lack confidence in their leader, then they will be uninspired. To be successful you have to convince your followers, not yourself or your superiors, that you are worthy of being followed.
Followers – different people require different styles of leadership. For example, a new hire requires more supervision than an experienced employee does. A person .who lacks motivation requires a different approach than one with high degree of motivation. You must know your people. The fundamental starting point is having a good understanding of human nature, such as needs, emotions and motivation. You must come to know your employee’s be, know and do attributes.
Communication – you lead through two – way communication. Much of it is nonverbal. For instance, when you “set the example.” that communicates to your people that you would not ask them to perform anything that you would not be willing to do. What and how you communicate either builds or harms the relationship between you and your followers.
Situations – all situations are different. What you do in one situation will not always work in another. You must use your judgment to decide the best course of action and the leadership style needed for each situation. For example, you may need to confront an employee for inappropriate behavior, but if the confrontation is too late or too early, too harsh or too weak, then the results may prove ineffective. Also note the situation normally has a greater effect on a leader’s action than his or her traits. This is because while traits may have an impressive stability over a period of time, they have little consistency across situations (Mischel, 1968). This is why a number of leadership scholars think the process theory of leadership is a more accurate than the trait theory of leadership.