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There are several ways to define leadership.  Experts have tried to define leadership using several aspects. A process that influences other people to achieve an objective and guides the company in a way to make it more coherent and cohesive is called leadership. You can also define leadership as a process of leading people in the right direction in order to achieve goals. Leaders apply leadership attributes such as values, knowledge and skills to implement this process in any organization. Leadership ensures that that the organization works successfully and accomplishes the desired goals. Leadership is also defined as a process that can have a positive impact on others. It motivates people to excel in the field they are working.

Leadership does not mean yelling at your followers to accomplish certain tasks. If you are the boss of a company that does not mean you will have leadership qualities. Leadership makes its followers want to accomplish high goals. Thus, leadership will be aptly defined as a process that encourages the followers to achieve their objectives. You can also define leadership as an action that directs the followers to lead a respectable and honorable life. Leadership qualities are not inborn but can be developed gradually through education and self-study. Leadership can also be defined as lernership as it is a continuous learning process. Some scholars have defined leadership as an ability to inspire other people with a dream.

Behavioral theory of leadership defines leadership in terms of relation and behavior of leaders towards their followers. Some leaders are people oriented while some are task oriented. Accordingly, there is participative leadership and directive relationship. Leadership can also be defined as a process that cultivates and nurtures later generation of leaders. Leadership is about awakening the persistence and passion among its followers to get the desired result. Some experts have defined leadership as an ability to transform dream into reality.  Leadership does not mean just imparting instructions to its followers but also striving hard to implement and achieve the desired goals. Leadership is a process that persuades people to do the right thing for a better future. Leadership is a process in which one person encourages, inspires and motivates others to work for the betterment of society.

Your actions should motivate people to do more and then become more. It can also be defined as the ability of a senior to persuade his or her subordinates action to implement a course of action. Leadership directs people to inculcate qualities that will make them good citizens of the country. Leadership defines a clear vision for the company and capacity to translate it to reality. Leadership is like a 2 way street. You should have respect for seniors as well as your juniors. Leadership persuades people to go where they do not want to go necessarily but they ought to go. Leadership is a process that makes sure that his followers accomplish the task Leadership is also defined as a set of actions that are implemented   in order to create a friendly work environment

Leadership quotes are leadership tools that inspire us. They play a very significant role in our day-to-day life. Studies have shown that leadership quotes have made a positive impact in our day-to-day life. They are considered as one of the best leadership tool. These inspirational words awaken your potential. Leadership quotes are one-line statements but their meaning is vast and impact is immense. These words not only inspire but also promote personal development. Leadership quotes motivate you and therefore rightly called as motivators and if followed them seriously then success is guaranteed in whatever you do. They can bring a sea change in your attitude, strength your resolve. Leadership quotes can resolve conflicts. These leadership quotes can awaken you from a very bad state of unconsciousness.

They tell you to believe in yourself to conquer any kind of fear or problem. If you have a friend who has been unsuccessful in his career then give him or her, a card with a leadership quotation written on it. The quotation will do its magic. A leadership quotation is vision for blind people. When you feel that you are going nowhere, leadership quotes will inspire you to think positively and will give you the right direction. If you are not sure about any decision that you have taken then leadership quotes can help you to take right decisions.

Leadership quotes are the right words that are delivered at right time and in a right way.  They can change your negative attitude and transform your problems into opportunities. They awaken a person who has drowned in the river of misperceptions and despair.
Leadership quotes can give you strategy to solve your problems. These words help to stay focused in your work Leadership quotes will encourage and inspire you to achieve higher goals. They tell us that to be successful in any field, one must be sincere in whatever work we do.  They are tools that positively influence your performance. If you use leadership quotes in speeches, it will have a greater impact on the audience. Leadership quotes will help the speaker to effectively communicate with the audience. Strong leaders use leadership quotes for effective leadership. They use it as a tool to support their strategy, vision and mission. 

You can learn a lot from leadership quotes. Leadership quotes are like loaded bullets. If they are fired from a correct angle, they can go through the strongest of the armors. They can give you new directions to solve a particular problem. They tell us what great people thought and how did they overcome their problems. In the past, leadership quotes were used to pass on knowledge from king to heir, from mother to daughter etc. Leadership quotes are not just for reading but they should also be implemented in day-to-day life. Leadership quotes are like pearls of wisdom. It is up to you, to find vision in leadership quotes. A leadership quote if implemented can transform your life positively. Leadership quotes can tell you how to be successful in life

There is much that is written about leadership; like books on leadership styles, techniques and also biographies of leaders that have inspired people to action. While this is true, there is the everyday leadership and a slightly different outlook to leadership as well. Here are a few of them.

1. There Are Different Kinds of Leaders

Among leaders are formal and informal leaders. Formal leaders are elected to their positions like congressmen, senators and office bearers of clubs. Informal leaders on the other hand are those we look up to because of their experience and wisdom. This could be your parents, grandparents or elders in your community. Informal leaders can also be those that are respected because of their expertise and contributions in certain fields such as Albert Einstein in Theoretical Physics and Leonardo de Vinci in Arts. Whether formal or informal, these leaders practice certain styles. This could be

a. Lewin’s 3 basic leadership styles

- autocratic or authoritative: the leader takes decisions without consulting with others

- democratic or participative: the leader involves the people in the decision-making

- laissez-faire or delegative: the leader’s involvement in decision-making is minimized

b. Likert’s 4 leadership styles

- exploitative authoritative: the leader has a low concern for people and uses such methods as threats and other fear-based methods to achieve conformance

- benevolent authoritative: the leader adds concern for people to an authoritative position

- consultative: the leader makes genuine efforts to listen carefully to ideas, but major decisions are still largely centrally made

- participative: the leader makes maximum use of participative methods, engaging people lower down the organization in decision-making

c. Goleman’s 6 emotional leadership styles

- visionary: the leader inspires, believes in own vision, is empathetic, and explains how and why people’s efforts contribute to the ‘dream’

- coaching: the leader listens, helps people identify their own strengths and weaknesses, counsels, encourages, and delegates

- affiliative: the leader promotes harmony, is nice, empathetic, boosts moral, and solves conflicts

- democratic: the leader is a superb listener, team worker, collaborator, and influencer

- pacesetting: the leader has a strong drive to achieve, has high standards, initiative, but low on empathy and collaboration, impatient, micromanages and is numbers-driven

- commanding: is commanding, threatening, has tight control, monitors studiously, creates dissonance, contaminates everyone’s mood, and drives away talent

2. Leadership Skills Can Be Developed

For some people, leadership seems to be most natural, that it makes you wonder if it is a quality that they are born with. Even if this may be true, without exposure to the right environment, it is possible that they may not develop to their full potential.

You can learn how to become a leader. Attend leadership trainings or leadership seminars. Read books on leadership. You can observe the leadership skills in your daily interactions not only in the working environment but even at home and social environment. This becomes obvious when something goes wrong and you see how this person responds and sets things right.

Observing both formal and informal leadership modes, you can pick up leadership insights and further your knowledge on leadership skills.

Remember, though, that leadership styles are not learnt in a day. It needs daily use to learn from daily experiences and to put your learnt knowledge and skills to the test.

3. Practice Makes Perfect

Theoretical knowledge alone is not sufficient to develop leadership styles. The best way to develop it is to apply it at every opportunity you get. As you get better at it, people will recognize that you take charge when you are around.

Leadership is not only handling situations. It is also how you carry yourself. How you interact with people be it your work colleagues, family, friends or the guy at the bookstore. It is also reflected in how well you manage your personal and organizational responsibilities.

If you keep applying your knowledge, leadership should become a habit to you.

4. Successful Leadership Requires Trust Between The Leader And Team

There is no leader without the team members. The responsibility of achieving objectives is a shared responsibility as the leader alone cannot achieve them.

A person may be made leader as a formal position but this does not necessarily mean that he or she can bring the team together to complete the tasks at hand. Each member will have their own skills that makes them informal leaders in those areas.

The formal leader needs to be able to work together with the team and generate trust to build a cohesive group. Just words are not enough. Appropriate actions will be required to foster trust and to build confidence.

5. Situational Leadership

The type of leadership varies depending on the situation at hand. You cannot just apply the last technique you learnt without due consideration to the situation.

In emergency situations, like a fire, you cannot be consulting everyone on the decision. It is different during normal times, especially when you need everybody’s buy-in. In this case, you will want to take a consultative approach.

The style you choose will also depend on the skill level of your team. For a highly skilled and motivated team, you may use a combination of high delegative and moderate participative styles. But if the team has low competence, you may need to use a combination of high coaching, high supporting and high directing leadership styles.

Leadership styles need to be continually learnt not only through leadership training and books but also from observing other good leaders. Most importantly, practice because the best learning will be that which you learn from your own experience.

What makes a good leader?

Leadership development

Ever since we started Impact Factory, lo these many years ago, we have struggled with the whole notion of leadership development or leadership training. Indeed, we have resisted writing about it in much detail because the subject is so subjective.

Are leaders born or made? Can you use management leadership training to give leadership skills to someone who isn’t leadership material? How is it done?

Given that we’re being asked to create a lot more leadership programmes of late, we decided we’d take a hard look at just what makes a good leader.

Even of you don’t think of yourself as a leader, you will have areas in your life where other people look to you for leadership. So here are some essentials qualities and skills you need to be a good leader in whatever leadership arena you’re in.

Leadership training

Training is a misnomer when applied to leadership. Any leadership development programme has to include at least a passing reference to the following

Introduction to the concept of leadership behaviours
Discussion and debate about leadership
A widening of the definition beyond traditional leadership stereotypes
Personal understanding of individual leadership qualities and strengths
The difference between leadership and management
A look at how people perceive, their perception is their reality
Assumptions and their effect on how people see the world
What are your terms of reference and seeing the bigger picture
Personal patterns and beliefs
A look at the elements that have influenced and shaped the participants
Establishing ownership of individual’s leadership behaviours

A programme needs to be designed around the development of the individuals involved rather than towards competencies identified as required by the organisation.

Leadership style

What does a leader look like?

No cookie cutter models here. Everyone can develop their capacity to lead, from church committees to local pressure groups to business teams to political parties. When someone is committed to, and practises using their leadership capabilities at all levels in their life, then they can and will develop their own potential as a leader.

There is a tendency, in our Western culture, to see Leadership as synonymous with white, middle class, male, in charge. There’s a kind of unspoken template of what leadership is supposed to look like. Now we know that isn’t true. Leadership can and does come in many different shapes and forms.

Good leaders don’t conform to a template. Indeed, leaders are people who don’t usually follow the party line. They have an edge to them, they get up people’s noses sometimes, they make decisions – lots of them – that often others don’t like. They say the things that need saying in a way that others understand.

Don’t let the picture get in the way

However, it is important to acknowledge that people developing their leadership skills are often hampered by their picture (or other people’s picture) of what a leader is supposed to ‘look’ like.

This is when it’s important to understand that the role of leader is not only completely individual (remember, they don’t fit a mould!) but also has to be worked at with belief and will and determination by the person occupying it.

It’s different for everyone

Not only that, leaders will be experienced differently by the individual people they lead. One getting encouragement, another understanding. That, of course, will be due to the leader’s ability to see what each person needs (more on this later).

In addition, not every leader is going to be a great leader in the sense that the world around them acknowledges their leader status. Many leaders get no ‘public’ recognition, only their personal satisfaction of a job well done.

Leadership theory

Seeing the Big Picture Vision

When the ‘vision’ word is used it usually means that someone has an idea of what the future could look like and a plan to get there. No point painting rosy, pie in the sky pictures (‘we’ll double our turnover in a year; we’ll create international markets; we’ll be number one in the UK’, etc.) if pie in the sky is all they are.

More like, ‘we could double our turnover in a year, this is how we could get there, this is what I expect from everyone in the organisation to help us get there and any new ideas are welcome’.

The ability to see

There is one essential quality for anyone in any position of leadership: the ability to see what is going on. Seeing is clarity. Seeing in the ‘wood for the trees’ kind of way.

We’ve heard the following phrase from a number of people throughout the years and it’s a good one – get your attention off yourself and on to whatever is going on.

What you’ll see

Here’s what you’ll be able to see if you do that: you’ll be able to see things from other people’s points of view; you’ll be able to understand what’s going on for them. You’ll be able to see what other people are capable of and how to help them achieve it. Most importantly, you’ll be able to see the whole picture not just your little bit of it.

Leadership skills

What makes you tick?

Know thyself. To be able to see you need a clear understanding of what has made you the way you are and what has shaped and influenced your life. The clearer you are about what motivates and affects your behaviour, the clearer you will be able to see what is going on with other people.

You didn’t spring fully formed from Zeus’s head – many things have affected you over the years. A good leader is proud to acknowledge role models, people, places, things, etc, which have inspired them.

You can’t do it alone

Any good leader worth their salt should be able to name 100 people, places, things, right off the bat. Why? Because they know themselves well enough to acknowledge who has supported and inspired them along the way, and what support they still need to get things done.

Leadership quality

Qualities

Think about what qualities your role models have that are attractive to you, that make them inspiring. Now, putting aside modesty, false or otherwise, think about what qualities they have that you also have. You have to know who you are and accept that you have outstanding qualities – leaders are able to do that.

Beliefs, rules and patterns

How well do you understand the rules, beliefs and patterns you have created in your life so far? Everyone’s got ‘em.

They can be the simple kind of rule – you should brush your teeth twice a day. They can be the more complex kind – you should treat everyone the way you expect to be treated. Beliefs can be things like – I believe everyone should be fair. And patterns can be as simple as going to and from work the same way every day.

When identifying your rules, patterns and beliefs see if you can avoid putting a value judgement on whether they are good or bad; this is far more about seeing just how well you understand your own behaviour.

Leadership management

Moving things forward Innovative thinking

Leadership requires innovative thinking; it requires people making positive and inspiring impacts; and it requires them to be able to motivate others. What is needed is an ability to think and act ‘out of the box’; out of the accepted or ‘right’ ways of doing things.

The culture of tomorrow will be one where change and innovation are the order of the day. Out of the box thinking and identifying future needs go hand in hand.

There’s no such thing as ‘can’t do’

‘Can’t do’ is an alien concept to a real leader. Leaders get things done. They have commitment, persistence, determination and resilience. Couple all of that with creative problem-solving and you have a person things happen around.

What we mean, is that no matter what their personality, there will be a kind of buzz around them; things change when they’re around; indeed, things might even get shaken up when they’re around. It isn’t always comfortable being around leaders.

You can’t stay stuck

Along with a ‘can do’ attitude, is an ability to move things forward. When others get bogged down, good leaders know how to motivate and inspire the people around them. They are willing to take risks and stand up for what they believe. They want to get things done and bring people along with them.

Development training

Can training develop leadership skills?

In our view, you cannot ’send’ someone on a leadership programme who doesn’t want to be there and expect them to become a leader. It’s not like the reluctant presenter who gets sent along to a course and finds out that it’s not so bad after all. If your prospective leader isn’t fully engaged in the process, sending them along to be ‘taught’ leadership skills will be a waste of time and money.

If you fall into that category, then no amount of leadership training is going to develop your skills.

However, if you have to step into a new leadership role, or there are greater expectations of how you manage people, or you’ve become a project leader, and you have a willingness to develop and take on new skills, then it’s really possible to give yourself a leadership boost. Everyone can develop their capacity to lead, from church committees to local pressure groups to business teams to political parties. When you are committed to, and practise using your leadership capabilities at all levels in your life, then you can and will develop your own potential as a leader.

Management training

We believe there is a real difference between management and leadership. You don’t need to be a leader to be able to manage other people. However, to be an outstanding manager, you do have to have some of those essential skills and qualities that are necessary in developing as a leader.

Even if you are a manager with no major aspirations of leadership, there will be people who will turn to you for leadership, whether you like it or not. Therefore, when looking for training to develop your skills, it might be a very good idea to look at leadership courses as well as management courses.

Leadership courses

There are scores of courses available calling themselves Leadership Training, Leadership Development, Leadership Skills, etc. We cannot judge just how good they are, but if you think about everything you’ve read so far and feel in synch with our sentiments, then that’s what you need to look for: courses that incorporate a clear approach to developing leadership skills.

Earlier in this document we outlined some of the things to look for in a Leadership Training Programme. Add to that list a few more essentials:

How to initiate leadership behaviours
Understanding how commitment works
Leading by example
Influencing skills
Empowering and motivating others
Thinking on your feet
Handling yours and others’ stress

In our view, really good leadership courses need to incorporate all of these elements to be truly effective. Equally important, a programme needs to be relevant to your specific leadership needs and not something off the peg.

This is why Impact Factory only delivers tailored leadership training; so that each and every course fits the organisation to a ‘T’.

In conclusion:

Expect the unusual, the quirky, the non-conformist, the doer, the inspirer and you’ve got yourself a leader. To become one or to develop your leadership skills you have to be fully engaged in the process of development and just like everyone else, you have to practise, practise, practise.

Key Learning Points:

The power of aligning personal motivation and business objectives
The capacity of strong well expressed beliefs to motivate others
Communication is far more than just words
Leadership is not just about getting people to do what you ask
It is far more about seeing what is needed and carrying people forward with your vision
Being able to create the impact you want
Expanding your spheres of influence
Being able to talk to people in terms they understand
Using appropriate language
The relevance, development and use of personal style
Putting across concepts and ideas with ease and flair
The value of creative risk-taking and “out of the box” thinking
Making sure projects move forward without having to do all the work yourself.

Leadership is vital for any organization’s sustained success. A great leader at top makes a big difference to his or her organization. Everyone will concur with these statements. Experts in human resources field mention the importance of leaders at all levels, and not just that of the leadership at the top. It is not without reason that companies like 3M, Proctor & Gamble, GE, Coca Cola; HSBC etc. have known to put in place processes for developing leaders continuously.

Mention this subject, however, to a line manager, or to a sales manager, or any executive in most organizations and you will probably deal with diffident responses.

Leadership development -a strategic need?

The subject of leadership is dealt with in a general way by many organizations. Leadership is usually understood in terms of personal attributes such as charisma, communication, inspiration, dynamism, toughness, instinct, etc., and not in terms what good leaders can do for their organizations.  Developing leaders falls in HR domain. Budgets are framed and outlays are used with indicators like training hours per employee per year. Whether the good intentions behind the training budgets get translated into actions or not, is not monitored.

Such leadership development outlays that are based on only good intentions and general ideas about leadership get axed in bad times and get extravagant during good times. If having great or good leaders at all levels is a strategic need, as the above top companies demonstrate and as many leading management experts assert, why do we see such a stop and go approach?

Why is there skepticism about leadership development programs?

The first reason is that expectations from good (or great) leaders are not defined in operative terms and in ways in which the outcomes can be verified. Leaders are expected to achieve’ many things. They are expected to turn laggards into high performers, turn around companies, charm customers, and dazzle media. They are expected to perform miracles. These expectations remain just wishful thinking. These desired outcomes can not be used to provide any clues about gaps in leadership skills and development needs.

Absence of a comprehensive and generic (valid in diverse industries and conditions) framework for defining leadership means that leadership development effort are scattered and inconsistent in nature. Inconsistency gives bad name to leadership development programs. This breeds cynicism (these fads come and go….) and resistance to every new initiative. This is the second reason why the objectives of leadership development are often not met.

The third reason is in the methods used for leadership development. Leadership development programs rely upon a combination of lectures (e.g. on subjects like team building, communications), case studies, and group exercises (problem solving), and some inspirational talks by top business leaders or management gurus.

Sometimes the programs consist of outdoor or adventure activities for helping people bond better with each other and build better teams. These programs generate ‘feel good’ effect and in some cases participants ‘return’ with their personal action plans. But in majority of cases they fail to capitalize on the efforts that have gone in. I must mention leadership coaching in the passing. In the hands of an expert coach a willing executive can improve his leadership skills dramatically. But leadership coaching is too expensive and inaccessible for most executives and their organizations.

Leadership -a competitive advantage

During my work as a business leader and later as a leadership coach, I found that it is useful to define leadership in operative terms. When leadership is defined in terms of what it does and in terms of capabilities of a person, it is easier to assess and develop it.

When leadership skills defined in the above manner are present at all levels, they impart a distinct capability to an organization. This capability gives a competitive advantage to the organization. Organizations with a pipeline of good leaders have competitive advantages over other organizations, even those with great leaders only at the top. The competitive advantages are:

1. They (the organizations) are able to solve problems quickly and can recover from mistakes fast.

2. They have excellent horizontal communications. Things (processes) move faster.

3. They tend to be less busy with themselves. Therefore they have ‘time’ for outside people. (Over 70% of internal communications are about reminders, error corrections etc . They are wasteful)

4. Their staff (indirect) productivity is high. This is one of the toughest management challenges.

5. They are good at heeding to signals related to quality, customer complaints, shifts in market conditions and customer preferences. This leads to good and useful bottom-up communication. Top leaders tend to have less number of blind spots in such organizations.

6. It is easier to roll out programs for strategic shift and also for improving business processes (using Six Sigma, TQM, etc.). Good bottom-up communications improve top-down communications too.

7. They require less ’supervision’, since they are strongly rooted in values.

8. They are better at preventing catastrophic failures.

Expectations from good and effective leaders should be set out clearly. The leadership development programs should be selected to develop leadership skills that can be verified in operative terms. Since leadership development is a strategic need, there is a need for clarity about the above aspects.

Hemant Karandikar advises companies on business & brand strategy, on business transformation, and for achieving breakthroughs in business processes. He leverages this expertise in product creation projects for companies along with his design associates. He coaches business leaders and executives for developing leadership skills. Hemant founded Exponient Consulting and Learning Leadership.

Previously, Hemant was Managing Director, GWT Global Weighing (now Sartorius Mechatronics) and held position of General Manager at Philips India. He is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India.

For Onsite and online coaching for leadership development, please visit http://www.learning-leadership.com/