As the old adage states, “leadership is, as leadership does”. It’s impossible to overstate the importance of an engaged workforce on a company’s bottom line. In business today most leaders are concerned about the bottom line, but since Leadership begins at the top, a leader is accountable from top to bottom.
What is Leadership? There are almost as many definitions as there are commentators. In the world of business, Managerial Leadership is the practice of consciously and continually shaping organizations. Essentially, it is about organizing people and resources productively, to the mutual benefit of the organization as a whole and of the individual employees, in essence leaders give direction and have vision. Leadership can be further defined as the process of directing and influencing the task-related activities of group members.
Leaders are people, who are able to express themselves fully, says Warren Bennis. ‘They also know what they want’, he continues, ‘why they want it, and how to communicate what they want to others, in order to gain their co-operation and support.’ Lastly, ‘they know how to achieve their goals’ (Bennis 1998: 3).
Dr. Paul Hersey, Founder and CEO of the Center for Leadership Studies, states, “Leadership is simply the process of influencing someone to do something that he, or she, might otherwise not do. Leadership is influence. Many people may have a problem with this definition because they equate influence with manipulation. The way I see it, there is nothing wrong with influence as long as you are influencing someone to accomplish something that advances organizational goals and their own goals at the same time. That’s a win win situation.”
In their pioneering work, Dr Paul Hersey and Dr Ken Blanchard identified four different leadership styles that could be drawn upon to deal with contrasting situations. Whilst they identified the styles, their main focus was devising methods in diagnosing the varied situations.
Dr. Hersey equates random leadership style application to a medical doctor prescribing a cure without the proper diagnosis. Many doctors are so weary of a law suit for malpractice that they put in their very best efforts to ensure the most appropriate cure. Why should diagnosing the appropriate leadership style required for a given situation be any different?
So what’s the cost of “leadership malpractice”? “Leadership malpractice” leads to employee disengagement and could have a serious effect on your business.
Many organizations around the world would describe their most important asset as their employees, as these companies believe that a more employeefocused organization will drive both growth and profitability. Tom Brown, The Chief Executive of Second Curve Capital Hedge Fund states, “research indicates that the top 10% of employees typically deliver 6 to 8 times the performance of employees in the middle or bottom deciles.”
Gallup research shows that engaged employees use their talents every day, and deliver consistently high levels of performance. They are natural innovators, with high energy and enthusiasm, who build supportive relationships, and never run out of things to do. The sad thing, according to the Gallup Poll is that only 26% of workers are engaged.
A poll of almost 90,000 workers worldwide by workplace consultancy Towers Perrin found many employees did not believe their organization or senior management were doing enough to help or keep them engaged.
In fact just a fifth said they felt engaged in their work, with more than one third admitting to feeling partly or fully disengaged.
Unsurprisingly, companies with the highest levels of employee engagement achieved the best financial results and were more successful in retaining their most valued employees than those with lower levels, the study found. Effective Leadership therefore should ensure that employees are stimulated and engaged in their jobs with clear achievable goals being set.
This sentiment is echoed throughout the business world. Jack Welch, CEO, General Electric says, “If we don’t get the people thing right, we lose; it is the most important thing in all our businesses.” A statementthat lends further weight that getting leadership right leads to engaged employees throughout your business ensuring peak performing work groups.
Nowadays there are different skills required for effective Leadership in the modern business environment. Long gone are the days where leaders and managers employed an autocratic environment in the workplace. The key to effective leadership is in understanding the performance needs of others and being able to respond to those needs. An effective leader should seek to produce a functional framework designed to meet objectives for the company and be able to communicate with employees clearly and with brevity. In short, effective modern business leaders create environments where individual goals are clear and peak performance is achieved.
The message is clear that good leadership skills are vital to the successful running of an organization. The question to ask is, “Does my organization possess good leaders?” If the answer is “no” then the next question to be asked, should be, “How can I develop the leadership effectiveness of my employees?”
One possible solution is offered by Ascent, a Dubai based Training and Development consultancy. One of the core programs offered by Ascent is ‘Situational Leadership® a program developed by Dr. Paul Hersey, an internationally-known behavioral scientist and highly-successful entrepreneur at The Center for Leadership Studies.
The ‘Situational Leadership® training program is used to enhance performance and develop positive work environments and well over eleven million people around the world have experienced Situational Leadership® training. The skills that people learn help them grow more successful as managers, supervisors, coaches, team leaders and individual contributors.
The Center for Leadership Studies, based in California in the US, is one of the oldest training houses in the world, committed to helping people develop their inherent potential as leaders and to helping organizations succeed and prosper.
Situational Leadership® has been used to train managers and sales people from more than 1,000 businesses and other organizations globally. Dr. Hersey’s pivotal research of influence and behavior led to the development of the Situational Leadership ® Model. Over the last four decades this model has become the basis of the most prevalent leadership system in the world.
Ascent, established in Dubai in 2000, provides people within various industries the opportunities to grow and realise their own potential, thus enabling organisations to maximise on their human assets, optimising their efficiency and effectiveness towards increased profitability.
As the world shrinks into a ‘global village’ and companies become more diverse in their recruitment practices; cultural diversity in organizations is now
a common occurrence. Ascent aims to bridge the communication and understanding gaps brought about by culture, business habits and traditions through its close associations with the world’s leading training and development organisations.
Ibrahim Yafi, Head of Human Resources at The Royal Group says, “It’s nothing new that Leadership is key for a successful business. How to ensure effective leadership is the difficult part. Ascent certainly provided us with a solution. Situational Leadership® proved to be extremely beneficial in helping our managers realize that to be an effective leader you need to understand the individual needs of other employees and respond to those needs. The program definitely had a positive effect on our organization as a whole.”
If a person wants to succeed as a leader or manager in today’s business environment, it is essential that you possess leadership traits that bring out the best in the people around you. Leadership skills are crucial to the success of any organization and Situational Leadership ® has been the best route of success for many of today’s top organizations.
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