Leadership is an amalgamation of crucial personality traits that influence choices. An individual's leadership capability can be determined using the Five-Factor Model of Personality, where the spectrums include agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience, extraversion, and neuroticism (Northouse, 2018). The most important trait is conscientiousness or self-discipline. The trait is mainly tested in stressful situations where responsibility and reliability factors are pertinent. A conscientious leader ensures that all duties are delegated and completed on time. Openness to experience also comes in handy in an environment that is continually evolving ( Lord, Day, Zaccaro, Avolio & Eagly, 2017) . A competent leader needs to be flexible enough to provide amicable solutions to problems as they arise. Such flexibility helps diffuse frustrations as well as exhibiting the leader's prowess in dealing with unexpected occurrences. Nonetheless, such resourcefulness and flexibility cannot exist without extraversion (Lord et al., 2017). Leadership entails self-confidence, especially when making tough decisions and providing direction for others. For this reason, a leader needs to trust in themselves and believe that the decisions they make on behalf of the team are the best in each situation. In doing so, the leader assures the team of following the right direction toward fulfilling the set goals and objectives. If a leader is doubtful, the uncertainty will trickle down to the team members who will question every decision made, thus hindering progress. When a leader is confident and keeps reassuring the team members that they are doing the right thing, tasks are completed in a competent and timely fashion.
Skills Approach
The skills theory of leadership emerged due to flaws in the traits approach. Considering the trait approach is relatively fixed, it is not easy to cultivate new leaders who lace those traits (Mumford, Todd, Higgs, & Mcintosh, 2017). Skills theorists, therefore, sought to discover abilities and skills that make leaders effective. The three-skill approach suggests that effective and efficient leadership requires three skills, namely technical, human, and conceptual skills (Northouse, 2018, p. 102). Technical skills encompass the proficiency in a specific type of work while human skills involve the ability to work with people. On the other hand, conceptual skills encapsulate the leader's ability to work with broad ideas and concepts. The three skills are of paramount importance, but their level of application depends on the organization's level of leaders (Mumford, Todd, Higgs, & Mcintosh, 2017). As leaders maneuver through the different levels, the importance of the skills also fluctuates. For instance, leaders at the top management level require more conceptual skills than technical skills to have a holistic view of the organization. Alternatively, the supervisory management requires more technical skills to guide and assist their junior staff competently. The skills approach places the performance of effective leadership on learnable skills, which means that leadership is open and available to anyone. However, the skills theory application is weak in its predictive ability (Mumford, Todd, Higgs, & Mcintosh, 2017). The approach lacks an explanation of how an individual's competencies result in effective leadership. Additionally, the approach not only includes innate abilities that are trait-like such as cognitive ability, but the fundamentals appear exhaustive, which makes the theory less precise and more generic.
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Biblical Application of Concepts
Leadership involves giving instructions to junior staff and encouraging them to follow them. From a Biblical perspective, the book of Kings is filled with instructions, hope, as well as encouragement (Merida, 2015). However, leaders are often under much pressure, particularly during a crisis, and when they make a mistake, they carry the burden of the blame. Although they may possess all the traits and skills suitable for leadership, they also possess vulnerabilities and weaknesses. The book of Kings shows that every leader has limitations. For instance, after the monarchy divides, all of Israel's kings fail (Merida, 2015). King Solomon, whose wisdom appears to be unparalleled, eventually drifts into folly and shame (Merida, 2015). This shows is that although traits and skills are essential, they do not automatically translate into flawless leadership. In retrospect, certain traits and skills such as conscientiousness and openness to experience are essential in leadership as they determine choices. The skills and traits are mostly tested during a crisis and their application shows an individual’s capability to become an effective and efficient leader.
References
Lord, R. G., Day, D. V., Zaccaro, S. J., Avolio, B. J., & Eagly, A. H. (2017). Leadership in Applied Psychology: Three Waves of Theory and Research. Journal of Applied Psychology , 102 (3), 434.
Merida, T. (2015). Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Kings . D. Platt, D. L. Akin, & T. Merida (Eds.). Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group.
Mumford, M. D., Todd, E. M., Higgs, C., & Mcintosh, T. (2017). Cognitive Skills and Leadership Performance: The Nine Critical Skills. The Leadership Quarterly , 28 (1), 24-39.
Northouse, P. G. (2018). Trait Approach. Skills Approach. In Leadership: Theory and Practice (8th ed., pp. 74, 102-105). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
