Leadership is the ability of a person in charge to influence the mannerisms of his/her juniors in ranking, in a positive manner to compel them to follow his/her directions. Effective leadership is essential in any organization for success to be a habit. Good leadership is like a black smith’s fire.
It transforms potential into reality with little compromise, and this is a necessity in any organization that is to survive for the foreseeable future. Leadership relies on evolution, to bring new strategies suitable to the ever changing organization environment. The environment has a push effect if the response to the stimuli is inadequate. Organizations tend to stumble if not fail as a whole (Northouse, 4).
A good leader is charismatic. In all situations, good leaders make others feel good about them by bringing out the best. Commitment is also an indispensable trait. This is because excellence is not in a performance but the building of a habit of pure success. Communication is vital to a leader because it allows all organs of an organization to perform at optimal levels and troubleshoot quickly in case of underachievement.
All levels in an organization need to interact effectively to achieve success. Information flow should not be hampered by rank imposed barriers for this tends to break water down the improvements communication brings. Competence is also vital. An efficient leader achieves this by planning, following through to the latter, and achieving without compromise his set of goals.
A good leader is a good listener. The ability to set good goals comes from the ability to receive input whether good or bad from the effectors. Positive response is essential to this stimulus for a leader to be excellent (Bose, 164).
Management techniques have helped develop leadership theories for organizations. Several theories are benefactors to this fact. Trait theory is one of the leadership theories that were commonly in use, in the past. This theory has a superman trait describing the leader. The leader has traits comparable to none within the organization.
The flaw of this theory is in stating that leaders are a product of inheritance but not of the environment. The second common theory is the behavioral theory. This states that leaders are a product of the environment and not product of inheritance. This acknowledges the environment as a shaping factor of an individual’s traits. It also accepts that good leaders learn and perfect what they learn.
Participative theory is the third common theory. This theory involves everybody in the organization. Decisions are a product of consensus of all people within the organization. Its pillar is that active participation increases output levels above board. This theory also tames competition as it fosters group work within the elements of the organization.
Several refinements of this theory are available, but the greatest drawback is that decision making is extremely slow. The fourth common theory is situational leadership. This states that the best decisions are factors of current conditions.
It defines an effective leader as one un-bound by common procedure, but one able to toggle between many decisions dependent on the unique situation. Situational leadership is sensitive to the leader and organizational members (Winkler, 75).
All these are constituents of an effective and responsive leader in an organization. Thus, they underpin good leadership and achievement of organizational goals.
Works Cited
Bose, D C. Principles of Management and Administration. New Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India, 2002. Print.
Northouse, Peter G. Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2010. Print.
Winkler, Ingo. Contemporary Leadership Theories: Enhancing the Understanding of the Complexity, Subjectivity and Dynamic of Leadership. Berlin: Physica-Verlag, 2010. Print.