http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2011/11/18/why-arent-leaders-delivering-the-basics/
With the world changing faster than it has ever, leaders are having a tough time keeping up. Rapidly changing technology, global markets, and a diverse workforce is making it harder to lead today. It is almost as if leaders need to develop a new skill to lead employees, but this is the exact opposite of what they need to do. Leaders need to assess themselves to see if they are utilizing the basics of leaderships. In addition to adapting to new leadership traits, using the basics of leadership will help you become more effective. Treating employees with respect, demonstrate integrity, show trust in employees, provide an environment that fosters performance, and give employees autonomy are all ways leaders can become more effective. Whether someone is an effective leader or not can be the difference of whether a business succeeds or fails.
Leaders should show people-orientated leader behaviors. These types of behaviors show concern for employee feelings and treat employees with respect. People-orientated leader behaviors tend to leave employees more satisfied and react with positivity. Effective leaders should show integrity. A leader who demonstrates integrity acts ethically and honestly. Showing integrity gains employees' trust. Showing trust in your employees is also a way for them to gain trust in you. A leader who is achievement-orientated is leading in a way that fosters performance. They set goals for employees and encourage them to reach their goals. An effective leader gives employees autonomy when the situation calls for it. Using laissez-faire decision making is one way to give employees autonomy. This type of decision making occurs when leaders let employees make decisions on their own. The leader provides little to no guidance in the decision. Effective leaders have been linked to the traits of conscientiousness and extraversion of the Big 5 Personality Traits. Conscientiousness are people who are organized, take initiative, and demonstrate persistence. Extraversion is being outgoing, talkative, sociable, and enjoying social situations. Extraverts like interacting with others and show self-confidence.
Do you think people today are having a harder time leading? To be an effective leader today, do you think people need to develop a new skill to keep up with the changing world? Should leaders look back to the basics of leadership to become effective? Will the basics of leadership be enough to stay effective in the changing world?
-Steven Stanek
I think that the new up and coming leaders and the older leaders are having leadership problems for the same reason – technology. The new leaders grew up with technology and don’t know how to function without it. They have spent a lot of their time online and conversing with people via text message. They have lost the face to face communication and people skills that are required of a leader. They may be very good at their jobs, but lack the communication that an effective leader must have to convey important messages to their peers. They need to work on their communication and people skills. The older leaders need to learn how to communicate with the younger employees that have spent most of their time with technology. They need to be aware that they will be doing things very differently than when they started.
ReplyDeleteThe basics of leadership should always be the standard to any leader. From those standards, they can be tweaked to each individual job. No two jobs will require the exact same leadership style, thus each leader must cater to their employees. Microsoft leaders differ from a local bar leaders, but they are all effective leaders to their employees. As long as the core values stay the same, a leader will be effective.
- Kristi Rudin