Leadership

- It is the ability to develop a vision that motivates others to move with a passion towards a
common goal.
Other Definitions:
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some understand a leader simply as somebody whom people follow, or as somebody who
guides or directs others
Others define leadership as organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal.

The 7 Traits of Effective Leaders

1. Make others feel important. If your goals and decisions are self-centred, followers will
lose their enthusiasm quickly. Emphasize their strengths and contributions, not your own.
2. Promote a vision. Followers need a clear idea of where youre leading them, and they
need to understand why that goal is valuable to them. Your job as a leader is to provide
that vision.
3. Follow the golden rule. Treat your followers the way you enjoy being treated. An
abusive leader attracts few loyal followers.
4. Admit mistakes. If people suspect that youre covering up your own errors, theyll hide
their mistakes, too, and youll lack valuable information for making decisions.
5. Criticize others only in private. Public praise encourages others to excel, but public
criticism only embarrasses and alienates everyone
6. Stay close to the action. You need to be visible to the members of your organization.
Talk to people, visit other offices and work sites, ask questions, and observe how business
is being handled. Often you will gain new insights into your work and find new
opportunities for motivating your followers.
7. Make a game of competition. The competitive drive can be a valuable tool if you use it
correctly. Set team goals, and reward members who meet or exceed them. Examine your
failures, and celebrate your groups success.

LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOUR

Katzs Three-Skills Approach

Katzs (1974) seminal article on the skills approach to leadership suggested that
leadership (i.e., effective administration) is based on three skills: technical, human, and
conceptual.
Technical Skills
Technical skill is proficiency, based on specific knowledge, in a particular area of work. To have
technical skills means that a person is competent and knowledgeable with respect to the activities
specific to an organization, the organizations rules and standard operating procedures, and the
organizations products and services (Katz, 1974; Yukl, 2006). Technical skill is most important
at supervisory levels of management, less important for middle managers, and least important for
top managers such as CEOs and senior managers. Finally, technical skill is proficiency in
working with things.
Human Skills
In contrast to technical skills, human (or interpersonal) skills are proficiency in working
with people based on a persons knowledge about people and how they behave, how they operate
in groups, how to communicate effectively with them, and their motives, attitudes, and feelings.
They are the skills required to effectively influence superiors, peers, and subordinates in the
achievement of organizational goals. These skills enable a leader to influence team or group
members to work together to accomplish organizational goals and objectives. Human skill
proficiency means that leaders know their thoughts on different issues and, simultaneously,
become cognizant of the thoughts of others.
Conceptual Skills
Conceptual skills allow you to think through and work with ideas. Leaders with higher
levels of conceptual skills are good at thinking through the ideas that form an organization and
its vision for the future, expressing these ideas in verbal and written forms, and understanding
and expressing the economic principles underlying their organizations effectiveness. These
leaders are comfortable asking what if or hypothetical questions and working with abstract
ideas. Conceptual skills allow leaders to give abstract ideas meaning and to make sense of
abstract ideas for their superiors, peers, and subordinates. This skill is most important for top
managers, less important for middle managers, and least important for supervisory managers
(Northouse, 2010).

Leadership Styles

1. Authoritarian or Autocratic
- An autocratic leader makes decisions alone as power is usually centralized in one person.
Decisions are enforced using rewards and the fear of punishment. It is often referred to as
an unprofessional and abusive style called bossing people around.
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The authoritative leader traits are: seldom lets others make decisions, feels he/she is
the most qualified and experienced, considers his/her views to be most valid, lacks
confidence in others abilities, critical of differing opinions, rarely gives recognition, is
easily offended, uses others for his/her benefit, action oriented, highly competitive

The biggest weakness of this style is the failure to recognize the skills and abilities within
other people. They are often denied opportunities to use or exhibit their skills in decisionmaking venues. Yet, the greatest strength of this style is to produce action when it is
needed.

2. Participative or Democratic
- The participative leader includes one or more employees in the decision making process.
Communication flows freely and suggestions are made from both directions. The
participation often encourages member commitment to the final decision.
- The participative leader traits are: team member ideas or equal with the leader, everyones
input is considered, leader is team facilitator, leader is coach/player, frequently accepts
teams ideas over own, focus is on stimulating creativity, creates culture of innovation

3. Consultative Style
- This style focuses on using the skills, experiences, and ideas of others. However, the
leader or manager using this style still retains the final decision-making power. To his or
her credit, they will not make major decisions without first getting the input from those
that will be affected.
- The consultative leader traits are: often involve others in problem solving, team building,
retains right for final decisions, focuses his/her time on more important activities,
provides proper recognition, delegates but keeps veto power, weighs all alternatives
before final decision is made
Is there a right leadership style? Most managers tend to promote one over another. The fact
is there is no One style, that one silver bullet. A good leader learns to recognize when and how
to use any or all of the above the styles.

Coaching for exceptional performance workshop

The objective of the Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop is to improve your
responsiveness to informal coaching opportunities that occur in the course of daily activities.
Difference between coaching and mentoring
Significance
Coaching and mentoring involve pairing experienced professionals with employees that could
use help adapting to the environment and culture of the workplace. This can include pairing a
mentor with new employees to help them settle into the surroundings and get off to a good start.
Coaching often comes in play when a new employee or current employee can benefit from
personal guidance on specific job duties, processes or responsibilities. Small businesses can also
use mentors to help develop other employees along a specific career path, such as management.

Difference between coaching and mentoring

Coaching is task oriented
The focus is on concrete issues, such as managing more effectively, speaking more articulately,
and learning how to think strategically. This requires a content expert (coach) who is capable of
teaching the coaching how to develop these skills.
Mentoring is relationship oriented
It seeks to provide a safe environment where the mentoree shares whatever issues affect his or
her professional and personal success. Although specific learning goals or competencies may be
used as a basis for creating the relationship, its focus goes beyond these areas to include things,
such as work/life balance, self-confidence, self-perception, and how the personal influences the

Handling Work Problems

Workplaces are naturally stressful environments, and personal conflicts between co-workers
can be both a cause and product of this stress. Yet allowing them to build and intensify will only
further impair the work environment.
1. Approach conflict with an open mind
Different people have different perceptions, and solving workplace conflicts requires finding
a common ground, not waiting until one person caves to the other. Try to understand the other
persons point of view and how he or she arrived at it.
2. Consider what might have caused the conflict
Take an objective look at yourself and determine what you did or said to contribute to the
situation. Try to place yourself in the other persons shoes and consider how the situation could
be handled differently in the future.
3. Be respectful of differences
Workplaces are diverse places, today more than ever, and what is acceptable to one person
may be offensive to another. If your office has a diversity program, consider attending it, and if it
doesnt, be the catalyst that brings one to your workplace
4. Try to cut the conflict off in its early stages
Ask your co-worker if you did anything to upset him or her, Communicate your willingness
to talk about this and see if together you can solve the issue.
5. Listen carefully
Before jumping to conclusions, sit down with the person with whom youre in conflict and
try to understand the issue fully. During the conversation, make sure you acknowledge his or her
feelings and paraphrase their opinion back to them to enhance your comprehension.
6. Be mindful of your language
It is important to avoid assigning blame to the person youre speaking with, and taking note
of the words you use will help you avoid falling into this trap. Try to use I statements that
explain how you feel, and give examples of why you feel that way.
7. Ask for help
If the conflict continues to build, recruit someone in the workplace whom you respect to act
as a mediator. This could be your manager, a human resources professional, or a manager from a
different department.

8. Be sure the problem is resolved

The problem isnt properly resolved until both parties in the argument feel better about the
situation. Set guidelines for how to handle a similar situation in the future. You might say
something like, Lets commit that you will let me know right away if I do something that upsets
you, and when you bring it to my attention, we will stop what we are doing to address it,