The word “leadership” can bring to mind a variety of images.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.
One of the most important aspects of leadership is that not every leader is the same. Of course we have all heard jokes about ‘mushroom’ leadership (keep them in the dark and feed them manure) and ‘seagulls’ (swoop in, squawk, and drop unpleasant things on people) but, joking aside, there are many different styles of leadership.
Leadership: a Definition
According to the idea of transformational leadership , an effective leader is a person who does the following:
- Creates an inspiring vision of the future.
- Motivates and inspires people to engage with that vision.
- Manages delivery of the vision.
- Coaches and builds a team, so that it is more effective at achieving the vision.
Leadership brings together the skills needed to do these things. We’ll look at each element in more detail.
- Creating an Inspiring Vision of the Future
- Motivating and Inspiring People
- Managing Delivery of the Vision
- The expectation that hard work leads to good results
- Coaching and Building a Team to Achieve the Vision
- The expectation that good results lead to attractive rewards or incentives
- Leadership can be hard to define and it means different things to different people
In the transformational leadership model, leaders set direction and help themselves and others to do the right thing to move forward. To do this they create an inspiring vision, and then motivate and inspire others to reach that vision. They also manage delivery of the vision, either directly or indirectly, and build and coach their teams to make them ever stronger.Effective leadership is about all of this – and it’s exciting to be part of this journey!
