Leadership is an art

 

By Taslim Ahammad:

The environment of our future leaders have to operate is quite different from what we were used to in the previous decade. Nowadays, organizational culture massively influenced by leadership and consequently, leadership affects organizational performance.

Leader is somebody who influences a group of people towards the achievement of a goal. Hence, a leader can be defined as a person who delegates or influence others to act so as to carry out listed task to achieve the goal. Leadership is a manner by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the group in a way that makes it more consistent and coherent.

Leader help themselves and others to do the right thing/s. They set direction, build an inspiring vision, and create something new. Leadership is about mapping out where essential to go to win as a team or a business; and it is vibrant, exciting, and inspiring.

Know yourself and seek self-improvement, be technically proficient, seek responsibility and take responsibility for actions, make sound and timely decisions, set the example, know people and look out for their well-being, keep workers informed, develop a sense of responsibility in workers, ensure that tasks are understood, supervised and accomplished, train as a team and use the full capabilities of organization.

Management’s main function is to produce order and consistency through processes, such as planning, budgeting, organizing, staffing, and problem solving. While leadership’s main function is to produce movement and constructive or adaptive change through processes, such as establishing direction through visioning, aligning people, motivating, and inspiring.

Leaders with high emotional intelligence are intrinsically more self-aware. They understand their mental processes and know how to direct themselves. They naturally care more for others and receive more compassion in return. They are more socially in tune.

There are several different types of leadership styles. However, democratic leaders focus more on mentoring and coaching their followers instead of being in complete control of activities. They typically delegates responsibilities, seeks input from, and shares authority with followers. They generally attempt to avoid conflict, and are naturally concerned with creating an atmosphere that fosters warm, open, interpersonal relationships.

Characteristics of a good leader: (i) Self-Awareness – Have an intimate knowledge of inner emotional state, know strengths and weaknesses. (ii) Self-Direction – Able to direct effectively and powerfully, know how to get things done, how to organise tasks and how to avoid deferment. (iii) Vision – Work towards a goal that’s greater than yourself, it could be something small, like the success of the team, or a larger vision like world peace (iv) Ability to Motivate – Leaders cause people to want to help them. A key part of this is cultivating your own desire to help others. While others sense that you want to help them, they in turn want to help you. (v) Social Awareness – Understanding social networks and key influencers in that social network is an additional key part of leadership. (vi) Professional – loyal to the organization, perform selfless service, and take responsibility (vii) Good character – honesty, competence, candour, commitment, integrity, courage, straightforwardness and imagination (viii) Factors of leadership – follower, leader, communication, and situation (ix) Know yourself – strengths and weakness of character, knowledge, and skills (x) Know human nature – human needs, emotions, and how people respond to stress (xi) Know your job – proficient and able to train others in their tasks (xi) Provide direction – goal setting, problem solving, decision making, and planning (xii) Implement – communicating, coordinating, supervising and evaluating.

Process of great leadership: (i) Challenge the process – Find a process that you believe needs to be improved (ii) Enable others to act – Give tools and methods to solve (iii) Model the way – A boss tells others what to do; a leader shows that it can be done (iv) Encourage the heart – Share the glory with your followers’ hearts.

The connection between leadership and art has been made many times over. The best leaders and artists give us perspective on our social circumstance “good or bad” and greater appreciation of our world, ourselves, and our choices. They bring us closer together by providing a forum for shared experiences and by shaping a sense of community. Leadership and art both animate social encounters. They can change our lives in the ways that are as invigorating and real as being hit by a wave.

In this global orientated competitive environment, effective leadership is necessary to reduce the attrition rate. Through effective leadership only it is possible to achieve organizational goal effectively.

Taslim Ahammad, Assistant Professor

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University, Gopalganj, Bangladesh.

taslim.ahammad@gmail.com