Leadership Skills

Leadership Skills

When you ask someone, what is leadership skill, you get to listen numerous answers; Right from, leadership is all about, mentoring, guiding, understanding people, nurturing, managing etc.....of course all the given definitions definitely come under leadership. But here I would like to sum it up in two definitions, which I think covers what is leadership at a broader level.

Definition 1, According to Chanakya

Leaders should have a strong shoulder and a big heart, with a sense of responsibility and commitment.

Would like to give little explanation.

• Strong shoulders, represents the ability to punish or protect if required
• Big heart, is all about understanding people and situations
• Responsibly is managing and driving
• Commitment is dedication towards what is good for people or process

Definition 2, According to today’s corporate world

Someone is considered as a leader when they:

• Create an inspiring vision of the future
• Motivate and inspire people to engage with the vision
• Coaching and building the team to achieve the vision
• Managing the delivery of the vision

Overall, we can confidently say that, Leadership is not a title but "Way of thinking" and anyone can become a leader with the above said qualities.

Well, we talked about what is leadership, now let's see how many types of leaderships are there. Of course, the way there are numerous definitions for leadership, there are also many types of leaderships across the globe.

Broadly, they are classified into five types. The names could change based on different regions or coaching processes across the globe, but the very concept of leadership style would definitely fit into the five styles which we are going to talk about.

The five leadership styles are:

• Bureaucratic leadership
• Transactional leadership
• Democratic leadership
• Charismatic leadership.
• Transformational leadership.

How people choose to lead can have a significant impact, not only on a company’s culture and its identity, but also on team and organizational performance.

1) Bureaucratic leadership

Attributes of this leadership style:

• Follow rules and regulations rigorously
• Ensure that their people follow procedures precisely
• Highly organized and enjoy structure
• Hard to think “outside the box” when unexpected situations arise

Suited to managing:

• Organizations that rely heavily on procedures
• Highly structured organizations that have multiple tiers of management.

Least suited to managing:

• Creativity is important
• People-oriented organizations

2) Transactional Leadership

Attributes of this leadership style:

• Reward and Punishment

Reward: “Meet this target and you’ll get a bonus, raise or promotion.”

Punishment: “Miss this target and you’ll get no more than your basic pay, and you may even lose your job.”

Suited to managing:

• Competitive sales environments
• Production lines
• Inexperienced teams

Least suited to managing:

• Knowledge-based or creative work
• Attracting and retaining highly skilled staff

3) Democratic Leadership

Attributes of this leadership style:

• Who focuses on other people’s needs first
• Listens and empathizes with his team members
• Supports their professional and personal goals
• Involves them in decisions where appropriate

Suited to managing:

• People-oriented companies
• Highly skilled people who require flexibility
• Creative teams, where decisions are made by the team rather than by management

Least suited to managing:

• Results-driven environments, sales or production teams
• A crisis, where quick decisions and fast action are needed.
• Organizations, such as hospitals, where procedures and guidelines are intrinsic to success

4) Charismatic Leadership

Attributes of this leadership style:

• Relies heavily on their charm and persuasion skills to inspire team and get what they want
• Skilled communicator and have a high degree of emotional intelligence
• May start to bend or even break rules to achieve their goals

Suited to managing:

• Start-ups that need to get off the ground
• Situations where morale is low, and needs to be improved

Least suited to managing:

• Organizations that like to follow strict rules and regulations, and have
• little room for innovation
• Risk-averse organizations

5) Transformational Leadership

Attributes of this leadership style:

• Most effective leadership styles is transformational leadership
• High integrity and emotional intelligence, and inspire their people
• Delegate responsibility among his team members
• Team productivity and engagement high

Suited to managing:

• Businesses in rapidly changing industries
• Inexperienced, but ambitious, individuals

Least suited to managing:

• People who are only motivated by immediate, tangible rewards

Quick tips for any aspiring leader:

To become a leader, you should think like a leader

Leader should be the first one to follow any rule. One cannot create policies and just insist that others should follow it. Discipline starts with You

If you want to check if you are a successful leader or not, try to understand if everyone is comfortable and happy when you are around

Quick tips for Mentors in identifying potential leaders:

Does this person give credit to others when they are appreciated?

Are they firm on their opinions, or does they changes their view point every now and then?

How does they conduct meetings?

Given a challenge, how fast does they complete the task?

The best leaders are those who can adapt their style to suit their circumstances, organization and team.

Be a Leader!

Image sources: Freepik.com
Information sources: Corporate Chanakya and MindTools