The Leader Within You!
Last night, I once again heard Alpacino’s famous speech from the movie “The Scent of a Women” Wherein he says “makers are Men, creators are Leaders. Mind you the kind of leaders you are creating”. The minute I heard him, I just knew I had to write on this topic.
Since childhood I have experienced that leaders are people who able to influence a group of people & make them do what they want them to do. However, at the same time in order to achieve their goal leaders are capable of walking that extra mile… with or without their followers because they are driven by passion. And that is the reason leaders have so many followers.
Characteristics of a leader are: True leaders are known to have very strong values & principles which are non negotiable.
- Integrity
- Courage
- Truthfulness
- Benevolence & Forbearance
Some leaders are born & while others are created!!! But I very strongly feel that every person has a leader within him or her. The only difference comes is that some know it & some don’t. Some nurture it and some don’t. In the next couple of paragraphs I will give my best shot to help you IDENTIFY, UNDERSTAND the leader within you & help you CHOOSE the right leadership style.
So before we move on to talk about leadership styles, let’s internalize & see what kind of a person you really are. If you are able to identify the kind of person you are, it would automatically determine your style of leadership.
- Autocratic: Are you bossy, authoritarian, dominating, dictatorial & think high & mighty about yourself or say it either my way or the high way.
- Bureaucratic: Do you prefer others follow rules, policy, procedure, routine, & make no exception to it.
- Diplomatic: are you skilled to handle sensitive matters or people even when you don’t like them or for that matter know that they are lying.
- Participative: Do you believe in consensus & involve others in the decision making process. Do it the right way.
The second way to assess your behavioral style is to make sure you understand are your personality type. Are you a passive, aggressive or an assertive person. Based on personality, most leaders have an orientation to which they align most easily or to which they can relate most easily. This is where your natural talents or abilities are displayed or come into play. Because of its effect on leading, it’s important to understand where personality comes from.
After working for six plus years I must have demonstrated a combination of at least two shades at one point in time and hence I feel that no one can depict just one true style. It always has be a combination of 2 or more.
So how do we choose which is the right leadership style?
Your leadership style should largely be dependent on the TYPE OF JOB you are expected to do and second decide the correct leadership style. Second, decide on an appropriate leadership style for that job.
- Job Assessing your type: First, determine the type of demanding is your job type. I.e. what is the real nature of a job? For example, if you are in a collections process you would have a different leadership style. On the other hand when you run an NGO you might have to switch to a softer leadership style.
- Choose the right leadership style: When deciding on a leadership style, you can concentrate on three criteria – communication, delegation & decision making.
- Type of communication
Type of communication means whether the communication has to be Formal, Semi formal or casual. The formality criterion involves the way you communicate—verbally or in writing, formally or informally. The second point is how frequently you have to interact. - Conceptualize the end & Delegate tasks step-by-step:
As a leader it is important for you to know the end and the objective of any task in hand should be very clear. Once this is done the work can be delegated to employees & can be closely monitored at every step. - Autocratic, Diplomatic, Bureaucratic & Participative approach in decision-making:
Here you make a final decision of either pushing things on to your people or pulling them with you. Whether you take the decision for your team or you take a consensus from all before giving into a situation.
