Values Driven Leadership:
The key to successful leadership is influence, not power. I believe that a company is as good as its leadership. Leadership gives the organization vision, and translates the vision into reality through strategy and structure. Structure drives the culture and productivity.
Three types of leaderships – Democratic, Autocratic and Participative. I think Participative leadership is most effective because of a simple reason – It allows employees to become part of the team and allows leaders to make informative decisions. In this type of leadership, the leader involves a group of employees in the decision making process, however, he/she keeps the authority to make the final decision. This is not sign of weakness, rather strength because employees will respect the leader. The effect of participative leadership is to build a cohesive team which works together rather than a set of individuals.
The Autocratic leadership is not effective when the leader needs to make an informative decision because he/she will not have all the information. In some situations, this may be effective where the leader is trying to get more commitment or motivation.
The key difference between Leadership and Management is leadership sets the Vision and the strategy, and Management plans and controls it. To be a good Manager, be a McGregor’s Theory Y manager. Theory X managers assume that people are lazy and they have to b micromanaged. However, Theory Y managers assume that people will be productive if a good environment is created.
An effective Leader – An effective leader is a highly competent, self motivated, energetic person who sets vision, creates goals, hires the right people, creates dynamic teams, encourages a positive and self motivating environment, gives employees all required tools, removes roadblocks and communicates well. The major source of motivation and satisfaction is meaningful work, recognition, increased responsibility and opportunities for growth. Per Herzberg’s theory, a leader must relate to the external environment and externals to the job like Pay, security, benefits, working conditions etc.
An effective leader also seeks and receives feedback, defines and celebrates small wins, accepts challenging jobs, and thinks up new ways of solving problems. What a good leader does not do is – micromanage, make decisions in an autocratic style, does not motivate, punishes failures without a second chance and behaves likes a dictator. Unsuccessful leaders are also those who fail at such relationships, rely overly on past skills and with low self-awareness.
A few techniques to enhance motivation are money, increased job demands, providing feedback, being adaptive and creating high performance expectations.
Team Building Strategies: Teams will be very dynamic if leaders define the team’s purpose and each member’s role, establish norms, encourage questions, emphasize participation, and assess team effectiveness. Also they should promote a team-player culture. Reward team-players – give challenging assignments, higher merit increases, incentive programs and institute some recognitions programs. Also incorporate team player behavior in performance appraisals.
Dynamics of Productive teams: A leader should always try to build dynamic and energetic teams. A few important characteristics of such teams are – an informal atmosphere which is extremely participatory, where members listen to each other, argue professionally, criticize frankly and are conscious about their own operations.
Corporate Culture & Leadership:
Generally, high performing teams are found in companies with high values. To create a successful culture, a company must define its personality. They are many companies like NordStorm, GE, SouthWest Airlines etc. which excelled in establishing values and a culture of resisting bureaucracy, rewarding hard work, opening to employee ideas, involving teams in decision making etc.
An effective leader of a company not only looks after its people, but also plans well and ahead for the company’s growth.
v Strategic planning – Maximize profitability, not market share, be quick in the company’s response to market conditions – reduce management layers
v Quality Control – Convenience for customers, simple and efficient processes/products
v Good Hiring & good training
v Good customer service – Emphasize the importance of your customers
v High employee morale – Celebrate wins, embrace mistakes
v Good Management training and Mentoring.