January 2011

Leadership Defined

"Leadership is not rank, privileges, titles, or money. It is responsibility." -Peter F. Drucker

Why Study Leadership?

Anyone directly responsible for people or for accomplishing goals through the actions of others is a leader by definition. Those who cause others to act by influencing their thinking, decision-making or behaviors are leaders. Leadership is not a function of position; it's a function of role and activity. Organizations require confident leaders who have the character and competence to lead.

There are at least two major reasons why studying leadership is important. First, the mission of an organizational leader is to achieve the company's goals. Companies either meet or fail to achieve goals depending upon the effectiveness of its leaders. There is no substitute for effective leadership nor is there any way to compensate for the absence of effective leadership.

The second reason is that each leader must strive to become the best they can be because the people they lead deserve nothing less. An organization entrusts its leaders with its most precious resource—its people. It is the organization's people who do the work, no matter how difficult, no matter how boring, no matter how exhausting. They should expect no less than competent leadership in return. Leaders owe it to those they lead to enable them to contribute meaningfully, perform to the best of their ability, know how they are performing and how to develop to their full potential.

Leaders are entrusted with a great responsibility that they must be prepared to carry out. They must embrace the organization's values and learn to apply specific leader skills. Effective leaders understand and embrace the corporate ideology and have developed their own—their personal leadership philosophy—that is consistent with the organization's. Just as a corporate ideology is the unchanging foundation for an organization's culture and behavior, a personal leadership philosophy is an unchanging foundation for leader behavior.

Before developing a leadership philosophy, leadership needs to be understood—its definition, principles and the various styles and their appropriateness under differing circumstances. Likewise, one needs to understand one's self—one's own values, principles, personality characteristics and style tendencies.

Leadership Defined

Since there are many different definitions of leadership in use, let's begin by articulating the one that we use.

Leadership is influencing people—by providing purpose, direction, and motivation—while operating to accomplish the goals and improving the organization.

Influencing people. This means getting people to do what you want them to do. There's more to influencing than simply passing along orders. The example you set is just as important as the words you speak. And you set an example—good or bad—with every action you take and every word you utter, on or off the job. You must communicate purpose, direction and motivation through your words and example.

Providing purpose. Give people a reason to do things. This does not mean that you must explain every decision to the satisfaction of your people. It does mean you must let them know why they are being asked to do something and how they add value to the larger organization.

Providing direction. Communicate the way you want the task accomplished. Prioritize activities, assign responsibility for completing them (delegating when necessary) and make sure people understand the standards. In short, determine how to get the work done right with the available people, time and other resources; then communicate that information to people: "We'll do these things first. You people work here; you people work there." People want direction, challenging tasks, training and the resources necessary to perform well. Then they want to be left alone to do the job.

Providing motivation. Set the conditions that give people the will to achieve something, causing them to use initiative when they see something that needs to be done. Give people challenging goals if you want to motivate them. They did not join the organization to be bored. Get to know your people and their capabilities; give them as much responsibility as they can handle, then let them do the work without looking over their shoulders and nagging them. When they succeed, praise them. When they fall short, give them credit for what they have done and coach them on how to do better next time.

Operating. Leaders act to influence others to accomplish short-term goals. Do this through planning and organizing, preparing (laying out the work and making the necessary arrangements), executing (doing the job), assessing (learning how to work smarter next time) and providing feedback on job accomplishment.

Improving. Leaders also focus on the long-term perspective. While getting the job done is key, organizations expect leaders to do far more than just accomplish the day's work. Strive to improve everything entrusted to you—people, facilities and equipment. There will be new tasks and goals, of course, but part of finishing the old ones is improving the organization. People respect leaders who assess their own performance, find mistakes and shortcomings and commit to a better way of doing things in the future.