Command and Conquer (How to Become An Effective Business Leader)
Leadership is the ability of a company's management to set and achieve challenging goals, take swift and decisive action, outperform the competition, and inspire others to perform well. It is tough to place a value on leadership or other qualitative aspects of a company, compared to quantitative metrics that are commonly tracked and much easier to compare between companies. Individuals with strong leadership skills in the business world often rise to executive positions such as CEO, president and chairman.
All successful organizations and businesses need effective leaders. The leadership of effective and well-trained leaders is paramount to providing an agreed upon goal for the company’s success. Leaders are invaluable when it comes to formulating and communicating new strategic directions, as well as communicating with and motivating employees to increase dedication to organizational goals. Ongoing leadership skills training are essential to making sure that leaders are on the right track.
Importance of Leadership
Significance: A leaderless organization is like an army without generals. Work forces need the leadership of skilled and experienced individuals to provide guidance and a single direction for all employees to follow. Leaders are invaluable when it comes to formulating and communicating new strategic directions, as well as communicating with and motivating employees to increase dedication to organizational goals.
Functions: Business leaders serve a range of important functions in their organizations. Leaders are responsible for training employees to perform their tasks effectively, as well as supervising the actual completion of those tasks on a regular basis. Leaders must inspire employees to get excited about the company and their work, pushing them to excel and helping them along the way. Leaders are also tasked with protecting the employees under their supervision from internal and external threats, including everything from political backstabbing to physical security.
Delegation: Delegation, the act of assigning productive tasks to subordinates, is vital to success as a business leader. More important than delegating individual tasks, however, is the ability to delegate authority and develop leaders for the future. Assigning tasks is a basic management activity; assigning responsibility for figuring out how to accomplish objectives takes management to the next level. It is important to develop leaders to partner with you in the future as your business grows; this can greatly increase employee satisfaction and loyalty as well.
Considerations: Leaders and leadership styles may need to be changed to suit specific situations. A new CEO in an established company, for example, may benefit from altering his leadership style to be more in line with the culture of his new company. Top executives themselves may need to be switched out from time to time if a company's performance establishes a pattern of decline.
Types of Leadership
1. Laissez-Faire: A laissez-faire leader lacks direct supervision of employees and fails to provide regular feedback to those under his supervision. Highly experienced and trained employees requiring little supervision fall under the laissez-faire leadership style. However, not all employees possess those characteristics. This leadership style hinders the production of employees needing supervision. The laissez-faire style produces no leadership or supervision efforts from managers, which can lead to poor production, lack of control and increasing costs.
2. Autocratic: The autocratic leadership style allows managers to make decisions alone without the input of others. Managers possess total authority and impose their will on employees. No one challenges the decisions of autocratic leaders. Countries such as Cuba and North Korea operate under the autocratic leadership style. This leadership style benefits employees who require close supervision. Creative employees who thrive in group functions detest this leadership style.
3. Participative: Often called the democratic leadership style, participative leadership values the input of team members and peers, but the responsibility of making the final decision rests with the participative leader. Participative leadership boosts employee morale because employees make contributions to the decision-making process. It causes them to feel as if their opinions matter. When a company needs to make changes within the organization, the participative leadership style helps employees accept changes easily because they play a role in the process. This style meets challenges when companies need to make a decision in a short period.
4. Transactional: Managers using the transactional leadership style receive certain tasks to perform and provide rewards or punishments to team members based on performance results. Managers and team members set predetermined goals together, and employees agree to follow the direction and leadership of the manager to accomplish those goals. The manager possesses power to review results and train or correct employees when team members fail to meet goals. Employees receive rewards, such as bonuses, when they accomplish goals.
5. Transformational: The transformational leadership style depends on high levels of communication from management to meet goals. Leaders motivate employees and enhance productivity and efficiency through communication and high visibility. This style of leadership requires the involvement of management to meet goals. Leaders focus on the big picture within an organization and delegate smaller tasks to the team to accomplish goals.
6. Democratic Leadership: In this leadership style, subordinates are involved in making decisions. Unlike autocratic, this headship is centered on subordinates’ contributions. The democratic leader holds final responsibility, but he or she is known to delegate authority to other people, who determine work projects.
7. Visionary Leadership: This form of leadership involves leaders who recognize that the methods, steps and processes of leadership are all obtained with and through people. Most great and successful leaders have the aspects of vision in them. However, those who are highly visionary are the ones considered to be exhibiting visionary leadership. Outstanding leaders will always transform their visions into realities.
How Can Leadership Skills Help You With Your Career Goals?
Manage Effectively: Small business owners carry a great deal of responsibility, often filling the role of leader and manager. Although management and leadership are terms often used interchangeably, the definitions are slightly different. Small business managers must understand how to control environments, while small business leaders must know how to inspire others. Effective managers run efficient departments, maximize production and know how to manage employees.
Help Gain Respect: Effective small business leaders not only possess the ability to get others to follow them, but also understand the importance of leading by example. Small business owners who display leadership skills in the workplace and lead by example create a trusting and respectful work environment. The respect of your employees can go a long way in helping you achieve your career goals. When employees respect their employer, they are more apt to flow with organizational changes and are motivated to produce at a high level.
Decision Making: The success of a small business is in part dependent upon a business owner's ability to make critical decisions. The first requisite of success is to possess the ability to focus your physical and mental energies on a particular decision without becoming discouraged. Leadership skills help you make critical decisions and set clear goals for your organization. Possessing leadership skills can help a business owner stick to his decision and conviction despite the rejection of others.
Motivate Employees: Employee motivation is critical to the success of a small business. Motivated employees are more productive and are typically satisfied in their jobs. Unmotivated employees can hurt a business by working inefficiently and not producing according to the organization's standards. Leadership skills can help business owners motivate and influence their employees and build employee morale. Important factors that motivate employees include recognition, positive performance feedback, and providing employees with the resources and tools they need to succeed.
The Impact of Leadership on Organizational Performances
Setting the Tone: Small business owners usually set the leadership tone for their organization. Owners accomplish this by developing a mission or set of values by which they operate their company. This creates a minimum level of acceptance for employee behavior. Business owners often create company policies or guidelines from the company’s mission or values. Policies and guidelines also give business owners the ability to remove under-performing employees from the company.
Types: Three types of leadership are common in business: authoritarian, democratic and laissez-faire. Each type of leadership impacts organizational performance differently. Authoritarian leadership is commanding and sets clear expectations for employees in the organizational. Democratic leadership encourages feedback and input from managers or employees regarding organizational performance. Laissez-faire is a hands-off approach, where managers and employees work according to their own preference and schedule. This leadership style can lead to poor motivation and work practices.
Features: Successful organizational performance relies on the proper behavior from managers and employees. Leadership can be an evolutionary process in companies. Business owners who provide leadership can transform an employee from a worker completing tasks to a valuable team member. Leadership skills can help change an employee’s mentality by instilling an ownership mindset. Employees who believe they have a direct owner-style relationship with the organization often find ways to improve their attitude and productivity.
Function: Leadership can help a business maintain singular focus on its operations. Larger business organizations can suffer from too many individuals attempting to make business decisions. Business owners can use leadership skills to get managers and employees on the same page and refocus on the original goal. Leadership skills can also help correct poor business practices or internal conflicts between employees.
Warning: Leadership can have a negative impact on organizational performance. Leaders who are overly dominant or become obsessed with achieving goals can overlook various details in the business organization. Managers and employees may also be less willing to help dominant or extremely critical leaders with accomplishing goals and objectives. Dominating leadership creates difficult business relationships. Other companies and business owners avoid dominant leaders who consistently request financial benefits.