Leadership
the art of influencing, directing, guiding, and controlling others in such a way as to obtain their willing obedience, confidence, respect, and loyal cooperation in the accomplishment of an objective.
Distinction between being authority and being a leader
When men obey another because of fear, they are yielding . Their obedience is given grudgingly. There is little loyalty or teamwork, and no desire to give their all for a common cause.
When men follow, they do so willingly—because they want to do what a leader wishes
Development of Leadership Ability
In their book Extreme Ownership, How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win Jocko Willink and Leif Babin describe a leader as:
Development of Leadership Ability
Effective
Ineffective
Leadership ability is not inherited. There are no born leaders.
The true leader
—the ideal for the organization—is the leader recognized as such formally and granted leadership authority not only by the organization but also by the subordinates.
The grant of authority by the latter is the only real source of authority.
Leadership status must be earned.
The best leaders make their jobs appear easy because ________. They learn to ________ that problems are developing and have the fortitude to ________ before the problems become unmanageable.
Types of Leaders
seeking ideas and suggestions from their subordinates allowing them to participate in decisionmaking that affects them, by and large secure the best results as leaders.
use little authority to encourage the employees to participate in getting the job done.
They treat the employees as associates in a joint venture and increase feelings of responsibility and sense of achievement, recognition, and personal growth
this approach increases the employees’ commitment to the goals of the organization.
Situational Leadership
The ability to adjust leadership style to fit the developmental level of the followers and needs of a situation
developed by Kenneth Blanchard and Paul Hersey
Hersey and Blanchard developed situational leadership to:
help supervisors understand how to diagnose situations and apply the correct management style for maximum results.
a combination of task behavior (giving specific instructions) and relationship behavior
Readiness Style 1
(telling)
* Workers are both unable to do the job and unwilling to try
* high in task behavior but low in relationship behavior
officer has limited training in first aid and is insecure about attempting CPR
Readiness Style 2
(selling)
* Workers are unable to do the job but are willing or confident
* high in task behavior and high in relationship behavior
officers eager to write traffic tickets, but sergeant wants to teach how to be more effective in traffic enforcement by adding new behaviors to limited skill sets
Readiness Style 3
(participating)
* Workers are very capable but are unwilling or insecure
* low in task behavior and high in relationship behavior
experienced officers very capable but strongly disagrees with a new directive
Readiness Style 4
(delegating)
* workers are very capable and very willing
* low in task behavior and low in relationship behavior
a detective squad is closer to Style 4, comprised of experienced officers who want to be there
“Situational leadership is based on an interplay among: (three things)
(1) the amount of guidance and direction (task behavior) a leader gives
(2) the amount of socio-emotional support (relationship behavior) a leader provides;
(3) the readiness (‘maturity’) level that followers exhibit in performing a specific task, function, or objective.
It was developed to help leaders be more effective in their dealings with subordinates.
Transformational Leadership and Empowerment
James MacGregor characterized leaders as:
Transactional leadership
or
Transformational leadership
According to the Center for Leadership Studies (CLS) Transformational leaders:
continued
Transformational leaders:
Empowerment of employees