One of the greatest myths about leadership is that some people have it and some don’t

During the past 15 instalments, we have carefully analysed the aspects of “Blue Ocean Strategy”. When you want to come out of a crisis, the first priority is to understand the strategic angle. There is no doubt, the Blue Ocean Strategy would help you to develop a new path to move upwards. From today onwards for seven weeks, we will be talking about Leadership development because it is the second important point you need to consider.

What is leadership?

Leadership is not about position or title, power or authority. It's about relationships, personal credibility, and what you do. It's about an observable set of skills and abilities that are useful wherever you are. The leadership skills can be strengthened, honed, and enhanced, given the motivation and desire, along with practice and feedback, role models, and coaching.

The first place to look for leadership is within oneself. The executives must take that look into themselves to find out the skills they now have and to build more into their potential to make a real difference. Focusing on the practices that actual leaders employ, this brief course of study will offer young leaders the opportunity to measure their current leadership strengths and weaknesses, to make a plan for improvement, and to commit to growing as true leaders.

One of the greatest myths about leadership is that some people have it and some don’t. A corollary myth is that if you don’t have it, then you can’t learn it. Neither could be further from the truth.

We all have leadership qualities ingrained. All we need is polishing them up and bringing them to the forefront. It is an ongoing process to develop ourselves as a leader.

What do we mean by the challenges of leadership?

Being a leader is in itself a challenge. The challenges of leadership are really of three kinds: external, coming from people and situations; internal, stemming from within the leader himself; and those arising from the nature of the leadership role.

External challenges

It's almost impossible to imagine a situation where a leader doesn't have to cope with external challenges. In an organization, such issues as lack of funding and other resources, opposition from forces in the community, and interpersonal problems within the organization often rear their heads. Social, economic, and political forces in the larger world can affect the organization as well.

To some extent, the measure of any leader is how well he can deal with the constant succession of crises and minor annoyances that threaten the mission of his group. If he is able to solve problems, take advantage of opportunities, and resolve conflict with an air of calm and a minimum of fuss, most of the external issues are hardly noticeable to anyone else.

If the leader doesn't handle external challenges well, the organization probably won't, either. We've all seen examples of this, in organizations where everyone, from the Managing Director to the junior executive, has a constantly worried look, and news is passed in whispers. When people feel that leaders are stressed or unsure, they themselves become stressed or unsure as well, and the emphasis of the group moves from its mission to the current worrisome situation. The work of the group suffers.

Internal challenges

While leadership presents to each of us the opportunity to demonstrate the best of what we are, it also exposes our limitations. In many cases, good leaders have to overcome those limitations in order to transmit and follow their vision. Fear, lack of confidence, insecurity, impatience, intolerance (all can act as barriers to leadership. At the same time, acknowledging and overcoming them can turn a mediocre leader into a great one.

It's often very difficult for people, especially those who see themselves as leaders, to admit that they might have personality traits or personal characteristics that interfere with their ability to reach their goals. Part of good leadership is learning to accept the reality of those traits, and working to change them so they don't get in the way

Challenges arising from leadership itself

Real leadership makes great demands on people. As a leader, you are responsible for your group's vision and mission, for upholding a standard, often for being the group's representative to the rest of the world and its protector as well. These responsibilities might be shared, but in most organizations, one person takes the largest part of the burden.

In addition to its responsibilities, leadership brings such challenges as motivating people - often without seeming to do so - and keeping them from stagnating when they're doing well. Leaders also have to motivate themselves, and not just to seem, but actually to be, enthusiastic about what they're doing. In other words, they have to be leaders all the time.

The most important personal quality people look for and admire in a leader is personal credibility. Credibility is the foundation of leadership. If people don’t believe in the messenger, they won’t believe the message. Titles may be granted but leadership is earned.

Eight Practices of Exemplary Leadership

For leaders and leadership-aspirants, the following eight practices of exemplary leadership model continues to prove its effectiveness as a clear, evidence-based path to achieving the extraordinary. It turns the abstract concept of leadership into easy-to-grasp practices and behaviours that can be taught and learned by anyone willing to step up and accept the challenge to lead.

As measured and validated by the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI)—one of the most widely used leadership assessment instruments in the world—ongoing studies consistently confirm that these eight practices are positively related to both the effectiveness of leaders and the level of commitment, engagement, and satisfaction of those that follow.

Model the Way

Leaders establish principles concerning the way people (peers, colleagues, and customers) should be treated and the way goals should be pursued. They create standards of excellence and then set an example for others to follow. Because the prospect of complex change can overwhelm people and stifle action, they set interim goals so that people can achieve small wins as they work toward larger objectives. They unravel bureaucracy when it impedes action; they put up signposts when people are unsure of where to go or how to get there; and they create opportunities for victory.

Inspire a Shared Vision

Leaders passionately believe that they can make a difference. They envision the future, creating an ideal and unique image of what the organization can become. Through their magnetism and quiet persuasion, leaders enlist others in their dreams. They breathe life into their visions and get people to see exciting possibilities for the future.

Challenge the Process

Leaders search for opportunities to change the status quo. They look for innovative ways to improve the organization. In doing so, they experiment and take risks. And because leaders know that risk taking involves mistakes and failures, they accept the inevitable disappointments as learning opportunities.

Encourage others to Act

Leaders foster collaboration and build spirited teams. They actively involve others. Leaders understand that mutual respect is what sustains extraordinary efforts; they strive to create an atmosphere of trust and human dignity. They strengthen others, making each person feel capable and powerful.

Celebrate success

Accomplishing extraordinary things in organizations is hard work. To keep hope and determination alive, leaders recognize contributions that individuals make. In every winning team, the members need to share in the rewards of their efforts, so leaders celebrate accomplishments. They make people feel like heroes.

Innovate constantly

Innovation is a key factor in the success of any business. The demands in competitiveness faced by any company, whether in the present or in the future, are just huge. We are living in an unpredictable environment, and that requires quick reactions.

The good news is that we are also living in a scenario which is favorable to encouraging creativity, with an increasing accessibility and many tools to motivate innovation with. Leading requires giving great importance to innovation in any field and understanding that the real risk lies in not innovating. (Read more next week)

Leaders will effectively get everyone in the organization, from executives to employees, involved in developing an environment of innovation where creativity is rewarded.

Lead the change

The functions of planning, analysing and controlling, done by the leader over the rest of the group, have traditionally been given great importance. But precisely because of the ongoing change that we said we are facing, these responsibilities will become less and less indispensable, as the leader cannot effectively control such an unpredictable environment.

Therefore, the ability to adapt to change will become increasingly valuable and successful leadership will be supported by the ability of transformation. In addition to that, leaders will move with more frequency between different cultures and business models, so they will need to show flexibility and adaptability. The leader of the future is destined to be the driving force for change.

Develop soft skills

Social skills or “soft skills” will be regarded (as a matter of fact, they already are) as one of the most demanded types of skill. These skills are the ones needed to persuade, influence and convince others in order to achieve goals.

Leadership will categorically require these skills, and their mastering will result in a great asset for the company. The leader of the XXI century must stand as a ‘social influencer’ on their environment. One of the top priorities of the company of the XXI century will be to understand and watch the communication process within and outside the organization itself.

(Lionel Wijesiri is a retired company director with over 30 years’ experience in senior business management. Presently he is a freelance journalist and could be contacted on [email protected])