Effective leadership is what separates thriving organizations from the rest. Leadership entails creating a vision of the future and laying down specific strategies to help actualize that vision. It is often confused with management, which refers to the set of cumulative processes ranging from planning, budgeting, organizing, controlling, and supervising. In most cases, effective management leads to the success of an organization. Visionary leaders are responsible for making crucial decisions based on their sound judgment, which will eventually benefit all stakeholders. This is why it is crucial to have proper leadership that would project the vision and values of the organization effectively to achieve success (Harrison, 2020) . Even though there are several leadership styles used by different organizations, there are still some common characteristics that stand out for all effective leaders.
In order to transform any organization into a successful one, there are some critical components that leaders have to focus on and ensure they are implemented. First, they have to come up with the organizational vision. This is the most crucial step in leadership. It is necessary to Coming up with a picture of the future that is relatively easy to communicate with the stakeholders. This set vision needs to appeal to the employees, customers, and shareholders. It helps specify the direction with which the organization is to move. It steers the organization to a desirable position. The leaders are then responsible for setting down specific strategies that will help achieve the organization’s vision. This includes a series of rigorous analytical thinking and brainstorming so that the strategies developed are effective in achieving the vision. This means that the leadership group has to exude competence in decision making on a personal level. This team’s decisions are what determine whether the vision will be achieved or not. Leaders can come up with numerous plans, programs, and directives aimed at transforming an organization. However, without a vision, those efforts will not yield any positive results.
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Secondly, there is also a need to properly and clearly communicate the vision to employees and ensure they are up to date with the strategies that the management puts in place. Communication is a crucial aspect of the whole transformational agenda of an organization. The executives need to use every possible channel to rigorously inform the employees of the direction the organization is taking. Effective leaders ensure that their plans and strategies are well known to every stakeholder. Without proper communication, various parties undermine the efforts aimed at transforming the organization by the executives.
Effective leadership also entails establishing a sense of urgency. It is necessary to get the employees out of their comfort zones and get them to put in extra effort for any growth to be achieved. A transformational program requires a great deal of cooperation from many individuals. These individuals also need the motivation to put in enough effort. Effective leadership ensures that these people can offer more than enough to steer the company to a desirable place.
Leaders are primarily concerned with the positive and progressive transformation of the company or organization they work in. they are more concerned about the development of others and not necessarily themselves. There are several essential characteristics that great leaders exude, the basis of these being boldness and good judgment. A leader should challenge, create, achieve, inspire, energize, assess, and decide. Boldness prompts a leader to be creative and think outside the box. It helps leaders come up with better ways of approaching any given issue in the organization. Boldness helps leaders in their pursuit of success despite the presence of setbacks and hindrances. It makes them focus on their primary goal even when they encounter obstacles. It inspires commitment, dedication, perseverance, and creativity in others. It compels employees or a group of followers to draw social and intellectual support from a leader who is willing to offer guidance and advice whenever it's needed.
Leaders who are reflective and thoughtful about what goes on in their environment are usually known to portray good judgment. They also take into account the viewpoint of others, assess them to tell whether they are viable or not, and also understand the facts relating to the issue. Listening is also an essential skill that enables good judgment. A good leader accurately assesses a situation, collect all relevant information, and analyzes the information to come up with a proper judgment that will benefit the organization (Alloubani & Akhu-Zaheya, 2018) . Good judgment helps most leaders to establish the most appropriate course of action to take depending on the available information and situation. It helps them choose the best strategy to employ for different scenarios. Together, good judgment and boldness form the basic foundation of any effective leadership.
Styles of leadership
There are different styles of leadership that is employed by different organizations. The most common one is transformational leadership. It has been effective for most companies over the years. It focuses on leading from the front. Here, the leaders come up with a vision and strategies to achieve this vision. They then go ahead to set developmental goals and make sure the employees are conversant with the methods they intend to use to achieve those goals. A transformational leader mainly focuses on setting goals and ensuring employees are self-sufficient and effective (Lexa, 2017) . Such leaders must exude high levels of emotional intelligence to enable them to communicate effectively to workers in a way that elicits responses. General George S. Paton is an example of a 20 th -century transformational leader who used this leadership style to inspire and motivate his soldiers to achieve the set objectives.
Another style of leadership is known as servant leadership. Here, the need for the workers or followers supersedes the leader's needs. It is viewed by most people as unsuitable, and they question how a leader could be a servant. However, this leadership model brings out the fundamental reality of what being an effective leader is all about. A leader must serve in whichever way that benefits the organization. Service to the company’s employees by supporting them when they develop their own skills and help them achieve their personal and organizational goals. Servant leaders act as role models whom people look up to for guidance and support. These types of leaders portray true concern and care for the people they lead. They make sure they give them proper support in terms of time and resources needed to get the job done. An excellent example of a servant leader was Jesus Christ, who dedicated himself to his followers.
Confrontational leadership is another type of leadership that was mostly employed by leaders in the past. It entails a leader coming up with a specified policy and then challenging other people to conform to it. A good example of confrontational leadership is Malcolm X, who was very vocal in advocating for reforms. This mode of leadership is bold, and most of the time, it is supported if the principles of the policy are good and true.
In conclusion, leadership is an essential component of human life. There are leaders in every aspect of our lives. For leaders to be effective, they must develop the ability to challenge, inspire, achieve, create, access, and then determine the appropriate course of action both for themselves and the employees.
References
Alloubani, A., & Akhu-Zaheya, L. (2018). Leadership styles and theories. Leadership Styles and Nursing Care Management , 1-23. https://doi.org/10.2174/9781681087450118010003
Harrison, C. (2020). What is leadership? Making Sense of Leadership . https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39787-6_1
Lexa, F. J. (2017). Qualities of great leadership. Leadership Lessons for Health Care Providers , 44-49. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-801866-8.00007-x
