Behavior of Leadership

7/25/2019 Behavior of Leadership

1/4

1 Introduction

"Leadership" became the rallying cry of the nineties in American Business. Organizations

looked for great leaders to help them survive successfully the many challenges of this

past decade. et! the very notion of leadership often degenerated into a clich! a buzzord. #or e$ample! many identify leadership simply as a manager ith visionary

capability ho someho empoers his or her staff. Although vision and empoermentdo play an important role in the leadership process! they only scratch the surface of hatan e$ceptional leader actually does on a day%to%day basis.

Leadership is the &ey to #acing 'nusual (hallenges. All organizations today face

intense! fundamental changes. )lobal competition has become the norm! complicating

competitive pressures on most businesses and making their challenges greater than ever.As a result! all aspects of an organization must change to meet and succeed in this

environment. *ome of these changes include donsizing and decentralization+ others are

mergers! takeovers! partnering! and spin%offs. (hange has become constant.

But hat,s the effect of all this change- Often! people are uncertain about their obs! their

organization! and their leaders. Often! individual morale suffers! diminishing both short%term productivity for the organization and long%term profitability.

Against this /roblems e see only one solution0 evelopment of leaders at all levels. 2o

succeed in today,s environment! organizations must develop e$ceptional leaders hounderstand the ne! complicated business picture! ho anticipate and respond to inherent

management problems! and ho can dra from multiple resources.

3yths about leadership still e$ist! of course and they ill continue e$ists. 2hese myths

imply that only a special fe can be leaders. 2he five most common myths about

leadership say0

Leaders are charismatic.

Leadersare born! not made.

Leaderse$ist only at the top of an organization.

Leaderscontrol! direct! manipulate! and prod.

Leadershipis a rare skill.

But good leadership is autocratic ith a strong! high%level leader ho dictates hat must

be done and hen! that this leader is alays and discernibly charismatic having been born

ith the skill to say those under him! and that each generation produces only a fegreat leaders.

4 2he 5ine Leadership Behaviors

6e focus on 5ine Leadership Behaviors. Instead! e assume that leadership is a learned

skill empoering the one leading and those folloing.

)reat leaders e$hibit nine different kinds of behaviors that enable them to bring out the

best in their people. *ome of the nine leadership behaviors listed belo involve buildingparticipatory teams. *ome involve the ability to see the larger picture! to chart a course


2/4

for the organization. And some focus on enhancing personal resources. Listed

individually! the 5ine Behaviors include0

3otivatingothers through Adaptive Leadership 7&noing hen to direct! coach!

facilitate! or delegate! depending on the task and person8

9mpoeringothers9ncouragingteamork 7Balancing results! process! and relationships

/reparingpeople for change 7'nderstanding their psychological responses and helping

them create positive change ith force%field analysis8

:avinga strong! clear vision

'singmultiple options thinking 7*eeing different strategic possibilities and being open to

more day%to%day options8

2akingintelligent risks 7;elating decision%making to risks! getting consensus8

*tretchingone,s personal creativity 7;eneing personal resources8

Beingpassionate about ork 7emonstrating presence! inspiration

2he first four behaviors focus on building high functioning teams0 motivating andempoering others! encouraging teamork! and preparing people for change.

3otivating Others

)ood leaders have a strong interest in the personal and professional development of their

people. 2hey encourage their staff to push beyond their limitations and give their personal

best. One of the best ays to get this notion of encouragement and support across topeople is to ask participants to remember and then rite don ho their best boss treated

them! and ho they felt about it. 2hen! have them share their ansers ith the rest of thegroup. /oint out the common denominators in their ansers so that their on e$periencesflesh out a composite picture of hat it is like to offer people the support they need.

#inally! ask them this0 If their on people ere to do a similar e$ercise! ould their on

names be on their people,s lists- If not! hy not- 6here are they falling short in evoking

the best from their people-

9


3/4

four dynamics.

9ncouraging 2eamork

A good leader not only develops his or her people as individuals but also knos ho to

get the best out of people hen they ork on teams. Being able to handle the subtle

dynamics of a hole group of people is not e


4/4

least four options for any given situation! helps develop the skill of searching for ne

solutions rather than going ith the familiar! single ay of past performance.

Intelligent ;isk 2aking

)ood leaders kno ho to analyse the risks inherent in a particular course of action.

2hey kno hen an action is high%risk or lo%risk. 9ven more importantly! they knoho to gain consensus from their staff about the level of risk for particular actions! so that

their people do not treat high%risk activities as lo%risk or vice versa.

*tretching One,s /ersonal (reativity

6hen a leader is able to stretch personal creativity continually! it pulls together all the

other behaviours. 6e sense that e$ceptional leaders are alays learning something ne.2hey are illing to stretch out into ne arenas and discover things they didn,t kno

before.

/assion for the 6ork

2he leader,s ability to inspire and proect into the future helps others feel orthhile intheir on ork and have a sense of purpose. 3ost important is the combination of ordsthat ork ith actions so that others trust the vision and feel confident about its

possibility. *mall group e$ercises! including videotaping! help develop these concepts

e$perientially

Documents

Behavior of Leadership