What is Leadership?
Ask a hundred people ‘what is leadership?’ and you will receive a hundred different answers, so let’s look at the fundamentals
What is Leadership?
Leadership is a familiar term in most walks of life such as business, politics, armed forces and sport. However, familiarity with a word can sometimes cause us to lose sight of its meaning. So, what is leadership? This article focuses on the fundamental aspects, and provides links to other articles that go into more detail.
Towards a Group Objective
In its simplest definition, leadership applies to any situation where an objective requires the efforts of many people. Group activities require coordination, and a leader is the central organising force that ensures objectives are achieved optimally and effectively.
The group looks to its leader for many fundamental tasks that form the basis of the leadership role.
Set the Objective
If an objective does not already exist, then the leader must define it. This requires skill because choosing an objective requires just as much strategic thinking as deciding how to achieve it.
Objectives can be ambitious, but the group must stand a good chance of success. If the objective is too difficult, you risk placing the group under pressure, which can damage motivation and morale. In the worst case, team members are unlikely to commit to an objective that feels unrealistic.
Equally, objectives cannot be too easy. If they seem like a walk in the park, then interest and productivity will dwindle. Good leadership is about finding the balance between ambition and achievability.
Provide a Compelling Reason
Being paid to achieve an objective is not the same as being inspired to achieve it. Even if employees are well-rewarded, objectives must be emotionally compelling if you want them to give their best. This is particularly important if you require the input of people who are not under your direct authority.
The leader is responsible for making objectives feel personal for people, which creates a richness of emotion that motivates action. Team members can feel proud of being part of a worthy objective, excited about realising its many benefits, and curious about what happens next. Once the objective is achieved, they can feel a sense of accomplishment that carries them through to the next chapter.
Identify the Strategy
Leaders are in charge of how objectives are achieved, whether identifying the strategy themselves or coordinating a team working on the solution.
Choice of strategy defines leadership as much as setting objectives. In effect, a leader says, “here is my vision and this is how we will achieve it.” In doing so, they declare their objective is achievable and their strategy is the optimal way to accomplish it.
This tends to be what differentiates those who wish to lead from those who don’t. Leaders have the confidence to stand up and state that their direction is the right one.
Steer the Ship
Change happens every day, and many factors can impact a group objective. As most organisational goals are medium to long-term endeavours, it is the leader’s job to identify relevant developments and adjust the strategy accordingly. Major changes may even necessitate changing the nature of the objective itself.
Good leadership means staying connected to what goes on inside and outside their organisation. Internally, leaders need to know anything that might impact achievement, such as a lack of technical capability or resources, loss of motivation or morale, or a more serious conflict within the business.
Externally, leaders must understand the events that increase the risk of failure, particularly consumer trends, competitive actions and major disruptions. The pandemic provided a hash lesson in just how significantly markets can be disrupted.
Reward Effort
People like to be recognised for their achievements, so missing opportunities to reward hard work is a demotivator. Naturally, it falls to the leader whose vision and strategy are being followed to recognise those who contribute to its success.
However, tread carefully because giving leadership praise is a skill in itself. It is easy to single out the team members who went beyond the call of duty, but this risks demotivating others.
Most important is to celebrate the group achievement overall because everyone played a part in it. Having done that, focus on the stars of the group but also its unsung heroes. You will generate a huge amount of team motivation if you praise members who steadfastly carried out less visible yet pivotal roles.
The Right Person for the Job
The best choice for leadership is the person with the most appropriate experience for the objective and strategy. That might be someone with a particular market expertise or technical understanding. It might simply be the person who best understands the team’s capabilities and the resources at the organisation’s disposal.
Here are some of the ideal leadership qualities that drive objective success.
Willingness to Take Responsibility
A leader is someone who is comfortable with responsibility and accountability. They are willing to make decisions, such as setting the parameters of an objective, defining the best strategy for achieving it, and tackling all the challenges encountered along the way.
Vision
Vision is the ability to imagine non-existent things in enough detail to make confident decisions about them. Many business ideas begin with a clear vision of how to satisfy the emerging needs of customers. Inside the business, leaders must have a clear vision of what pursing and achieving the objective will look like, and the strategic opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. Vision is as much about risk as reward.
Decisiveness
Decisions are the moment-to-moment activity of a leader, so you need to be proficient at making them. But what is leadership decision-making? In simple terms, decisions are required when tackling dilemma, which is choosing between two or more options that offer varying benefits and risks. The leader must decide which benefits and risks the group should accept.
Commitment to Succeed
Once a leader takes responsibility, they must commit to objective success. They must oversee execution of the strategy, and drive the team forward to the project’s natural conclusion. That means being the most motivated person in the room, and taking the initiative at all times. Team members will always look to the leader, particularly when challenges arise.
Adaptive to Change
Managing change is a leadership task, and they must be ready to embrace both the good and bad. Leaders look for opportunities to accelerate towards an objective, and even increase the scope of its benefits. They are also resilient in the face of challenges, and immediately begin solving them to keep the group on track.
Team Player
Leaders must be the ultimate team players in every respect. They must be visible, approachable and sensitive to the needs of colleagues. They must build strong partnerships inside and outside the team, and foster good relationships between everyone. We often hear of leadership being a lonely role but, done well, the leader should be the least lonely person in the room.
Strong Communicator
Groups need clear instructions, so it stands to reason that a leader must be good at communicating. Good leaders understand that communication is a two-way process. They need to understand progress towards the objective, and quickly learn about anything that might put it at risk. Active listening is an essential leadership skill that not only enables you to gather information but also shows you value team members.
Delegation and Empowerment
Group objectives require delegation, but this is more than matching tasks to individuals. Empower team members with an appropriate amount of decision-making authority, autonomy and flexibility to achieve tasks successfully. Based on an individual’s capability and how risky the task is, establish the right level of trust for optimal success.
Seek Advice
Never fall into the trap of believing you need to make instant decisions to appear worthy of leadership. You cannot be an expert in everything required to achieve the objective, so rely on the guidance of your specialists. If you discover a skills gap, find someone with the expertise to fill it rather than chance a decision yourself. The best leaders gather as much information as possible, and make timely decisions based on analysis.
How Can Training Help Me?
This article answers the question ‘what is leadership?’, but bear in mind there are no hard and fast rules. You may already possess many natural leadership qualities and skills, but they can also be learned.
Self-development is valuable, but never underestimate the power of working with a trained professional. They will be able to assess your qualities objectively and build a tailored development plan.
Remember that every person is unique, and so is every leader. Start by considering the qualities you already possess that enable you to lead others. Our leadership quiz can help you identify them, as can our leadership quotient test. Following that, leadership and management training courses enhance the skills you already have, and help you develop others. Learn how to get the most out of your leadership training.
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