Saturday, October 10, 2009

Leadership Development: What Leadership Is All About

By Bart Icles

Many people find it easy to define and explain leadership. However, not many people find it easy to practice effective leadership. Indeed, effective leadership appears to be quite difficult to find these days, especially with many leaders who fail to understand that behavior is far more important than skills. There are leaders who are not able to see that when people trust and respect them, it is far easier to lead those under them. More than just the skills that they possess, leaders must learn to behave like leaders so that people will continue to look up to them.

It is also important to note that there is a difference between management and leadership. While management involves planning, organizing, directing, and communicating, leadership (on the other hand) involves the different qualities needed to lead people to a single direction. These qualities can include a degree of personal charisma, commitment, compassion, confidence, courage, determination, honesty, humility, integrity, passion, sensitivity, sincerity, and wisdom.

One should also understand that there are some who are naturally born to become leaders. However, this does not mean that one cannot learn how to become a leader. Many people do not seek to become leaders, while there are those who want to become one. Anyone who wants to become a leader can always develop a certain level of leadership ability. In fact, most of the qualities needed by a leader, like charisma and confidence, can be developed further through experience in a leadership role. Leadership development training programs aim to show people how they can become leaders. A leadership development program can also help people learn the different qualities and behavior needed so that others can look up to them as leaders.

There are different kinds of leadership styles. Some leaders can even take on several leadership styles, depending on what certain circumstances need. In many cases, people who are new to leadership roles (like supervision and management) often feel the pressure to lead people in a rather dominant way. In some cases, this might just be what the team needs but for mature teams, dominant leadership is definitely not the answer.

It can be quite tricky to determine which leadership style to take on given a particular situation. Through leadership development training programs, leaders can learn how to adjust or adapt to certain situations so they can effectively direct their team through different challenges. Moreover, a leadership development program can also help leaders learn how to work well with their teams so they can achieve common goals.

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