Importance of Leadership at Workplace

By Best Taylor

"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things." - Peter Drucker

"The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been." Henry Kissinger

What is a Leader?

A leader is one who can train and supervise to enhance the skills of his followers that are selected on the basis of their abilities, expertise, knowledge and skills. He imparts his knowledge of future projects and methods in such a way that his/her team members understand by taking action on those steps. Being a leader such a person has the ability of critically analyzing skills and his intuitive abilities influence the workflow as also the belief of staff in effectively carrying out the tasks. Leadership may be a collection of persons like the top management team that consists of a group of people who carry out all the top level tasks.

Qualities of a Leader

Followers of a leader have diversity, unique mental capabilities and set of skills. It is required by the leader to select the right person and give him the right job by using his intuitive abilities. Every person is born with natural or innate qualities that are not developed with education and experience but are inborn. A leader must have influential and persuasive abilities not by force but by knowledge and reasoning that help followers to perform regardless of their self-interest and work towards accomplishment of organization goals.

All of the above explanation of a leader and followers is very important and without this one can never understand its vitality at the workplace. A leader must get his work done by positive motivation. An individual who likes to have GOOD for himself only cannot be termed as a GOOD leader, whereas a leader who focuses on the well-being of employees and organization is an asset.

Importance of Leadership

Leadership is an important function of management which helps to maximize efficiency and to achieve organizational goals. The landscape of workplace changes from generation to generation and it needs not only to increase employee retention rate but improve productivity. Leadership is not about imposing goals but to work with others for the purpose of the organization. They work together in a balanced manner which turns out to be more effective.

If there is an absence of leadership in any of the departments there will be chaos wherein followers will be working on their sole responsibilities/tasks but not towards the objective. These are the coordinated efforts of followers brought in harmony by the leader. A leader can also help the followers whenever there is any change brought into effect, which is mostly uncomfortable for the followers. At this point the leader can act as a remedy or medicine because change causes discomfort.

Strategic Thinking of Leadership

It is important for a leader not to impart his vision verbally but the followers may have understood it at a point where it becomes reality. There are certain factors and unseen events that may hinder the desirable future but a leader always chooses the strategy that may help his ideas to be successful.

- Leadership styles and methods vary because of modern challenges posed by the present era.

- Leadership must be humble so that it expresses your unique personality for the betterment. You need to know about your team and about utilizing their strengths and weaknesses in a productive and effective way.

- Leaders need to see a problem and take it as a challenge; they are the tools for developing passion in people about things that seem impossible by creating an environment where there is satisfaction for followers.

- A leader is not only supposed to supervise but is meant to play the role of a guide for his followers. He not only clarifies their roles and provides guidelines but in fact is always available for his people to listen to their problems and complaints.

- A leader has to drive a strategy while being a visionary. He has to be creative and a risk taker with proper time management while making decisions with emotional and logical reasoning.

- A leader with a charismatic personality will find it easy to persuade people but by listening to them and not by being bossy. In order to create a proper environment at the workplace, a leader must always be ready to learn new skills which improves confidence; it involves acting voluntarily by becoming a role model for followers to climb the ladder and beyond by stepping out of their comfort zone.

If we summarize its importance, basically all these traits, qualities and capabilities of a leader, in turn, run an organization in a systematic manner. A leadership takes all the employees along to turn his vision into reality.

"The secret to success is good leadership, and good leadership is all about making the lives of your team members or workers better." - Tony Dungy

"People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives." - Theodore Roosevelt

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