OB Handout # 10

What Is Leadership?

Leadership is a process of getting things done through people.
Leadership is not a science. So being a leader is an adventure because you can never be sure whether you will reach your goal -- at least this time. The city's citizens may not be convinced that the mayor's policies are right. So these leaders have to try again, using other methods. But they still use the same process the process of good leadership.
Leadership means responsibility. It's adventure and often fun, but it always means responsibility. The leader is the guy the others look to to get the job done. So don't think your job as a troop leader or a staff member will be just an honor. It's more than that. It means that the others expect you to take the responsibility of getting the job done. If you lead, they will do the job. If you don't, they may expect you to do the job all by yourself.
That's why it's important that you begin right now to learn what leadership is all about.
You are not a finished leader. No one ever is, not even a president or prime minister. But you are an explorer of the human mind because now you are going to try to learn how to get things done through people. This is one of the keys to leadership.
You are searching for the secrets of leadership. Many of them lie locked inside you. As you discover them and practice them, you will join a special group of people-skilled leaders.

Good leaders are made not born. If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a never-ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience. This guide will help you through that process.
To inspire your people into higher levels of teamwork, there are certain things you must be, know, and, do. These do not come naturally, but are acquired through continual work and study. The best leaders are continually working and studying to improve their leadership skills.
Before we get started, let’s define leadership. Leadership is a complex process by which a person influences others to accomplish a mission, task, or objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. A person carries out this process by applying her leadership attributes (belief, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and skills). Although your position as a manager, supervisor, lead, etc. gives you the authority to accomplish certain tasks and objectives in the organization, this power does not make you a leader...it simply makes you the boss. Leadership makes people want to achieve high goals and objectives, while, on the other hand, bosses tell people to accomplish a task or objective.

Some personality traits may lead people naturally into leadership roles. This is the Trait Theory.
A crisis or important event may cause a person to rise to the occasion, which brings out extraordinary leadership qualities in an ordinary person. This is the Great Events Theory.
People can choose to become leaders. People can learn leadership skills. This is the Transformational Leadership Theory. It is the most widely accepted theory today and the premise on which this guide is based.


When a person is deciding if he respects you as a leader, he does not think about your attributes. He observes what you do so that he can know who you really are. He uses this observation to tell if you are an honorable and trusted leader, or a self serving person who misuses her authority to look good and get promoted. Self serving leaders are not as effective because their employees only obey them, not follow them. They succeed in many areas because they present a good image to their seniors at the expense of their people.
The basis of good leadership is honorable character and selfless service to your organization. In your employees' eyes, your leadership is everything you do that effects the organization's objectives and their well being. A respected leader concentrates on what she is [be] (beliefs and character), what she knows (job, tasks, human nature), and what she does (implement, motivate, provide direction). What makes a person want to follow a leader? People want to be guided by those they respect and who have a clear sense of direction. To gain respect, they must be ethical. A sense of direction is achieved by conveying a strong vision of the future.

Leadership skills
1. Getting and Giving Information: This is probably the #1 competency required of leaders. If you cannot communicate effectively, then no other leadership skill will compensate for this lack. First and foremost, you must be able to exchange information effectively and accurately.
2. Knowing and Understanding Group Resources: This competency enables a leader to:
Recognize knowledge and use of group resources as a major technique in bringing a group together and creating commitment to common goals.
Recognize that resources are theoretically limitless, and that the leader's (and group's) ability to recognize and utilized diverse resources tremendously affects what the group can accomplish.
Involve more people in active leadership by giving each a part according to his or her resources.
Evaluate the impact the availability of resources has on doing a job and maintaining the group.
3. Controlling the Group: This competency enables a leader to:
Recognize how his own behavior influences and controls others.
Distinguish between controlling group performance and setting the example.
Identify control as a function of the group, or of a facilitator, and the advantages and disadvantages of each having that responsibility.
Identify different techniques for controlling group performance and their suitability in different situations.
Deploy group resources to the best interests of the group while encouraging personal growth.
Evaluate leadership performance in terms of group performance.
4. Counseling
This competency enables the leader to:
Gain knowledge of the principles of counseling.
Practice some simple techniques to be used in ordinary situations.
Develop an awareness of counseling as a function of leaders.
Grow personally in areas of problem solving and decision making.
Help others to increased ability to solve problems and make decisions.
5. Setting the Example
This competency enables the leader to:
List three positive results a leader who sets a good example can obtain.
See that Setting an Example is an important part of Controlling Group Performance.
Recognize the leader's responsibility for setting the example.
List seven ways a leader can set a good example
6. Problem-Solving
This competency, sometimes also called Planning, enables the leader to:
Identify problem-solving as one of they key techniques in developing the group's capability.
Gain knowledge of a definite technique for problem-solving and planning.
Understand the value of problem-solving in group commitment to the task and to group unity.
The basic outline for this competency has not changed in over 30 years. Additional information is added, layers of complexity are introduced, but the basic scheme remains: Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate.
7. Evaluation
This competency enables the leader to:
Use evaluation as a technique to maintain group integrity while improving job performance.
Describe what is meant by "getting the job done" and "maintaining the group."
Analyze a situation for improvement.
Avoid conflicts between getting the job done and maintaining the group.
Develop an attitude of constant (informal and formal) evaluation.
Use a variety of strategies for evaluation purposes.
8.Sharing Leadership
This competency enables the leader to:
Develop a concept of leadership for a group which permits different functions of leadership being shared or distributed among group members according to the situation and member's strengths.
Gain knowledge of the forces acting on the leader and the group, and inherent in the situation which makes for appropriateness of leadership styles.
Distinguish between situations in which certain styles of leadership are appropriate.
Relate styles of leadership to the twin factors of getting the job done and maintaining group integrity and morale.
Develop attitudes of using appropriate styles of leadership to fit needs of the group to meet situations and accomplish short-and long-range goals.