Applied Leadership and Personal Development

APPLIED LEADERSHIP

BACKGROUND.

• All nations, communities and organisations in the world today crave for dynamic leadership.

• In the past, leadership development was not emphasized because people thought leaders were born and not made.

• New findings have shown however, that all men possess latent leadership qualities which can be developed by training.

• This course is designed to help you deploy these probably latent leadership abilities, understand the dynamics of leadership, and teach you to become a great leader in a multicultural and multi-ethnic society.

• You will learn the key qualities that delineate leadership and share innovative ways to build these qualities.

WHAT DOES LEADERSHIP MEAN? WHO IS THE LEADER, AND WHAT ARE HIS MENTAL AND PHYSICAL QUALITIES?

Leadership is the ability to guide, direct, or influence people.It stretches far beyond a political office or a title. Leadership is the process of effectively coordinating the attainment of a set objective.

• To be an effective leader, you must prepare for the future by laying out a program for developing, maintaining, and mobilizing the key skills and qualities that define leadership.

• You must think more flexibly about innovations, strategy, change, and problem solving.

• Describing his ability to invent and innovate, across a complex set of challenges, the 19th century French scientist and founder of microbiology, Louis Pasteur said “chance favours the prepared mind”.

• Looking at Pasteur’s accomplishment in the field of science, you will see that he was truly ready for chance to favour him.

• Two centuries later, Louis Pasteur’s statement remains more relevant now.

• Even in this 21st century, if you can trail Pasteur via a series of mind preparations, then pushing the frontiers that delimit effective leadership would be a thing of ease for you.

Note that they are three absolutes in the leadership triangle:

1. Lead.2. Follow.3. Get out of

the way.

THE CONCEPT OF LEADERSHIP.The International Institute of Leadership and Governance (INILAG) defines leadership as “the ability to bear the cross of followership and still clearly show the way to the desired destination or attain the desired goals.”

• Leadership is fundamental to the human make-up and to our origins. • At various degrees, every human has the natural inclination for one form

of leadership or the other. • A leader is therefore not what we become but who we are.

• Your capacity to lead is inherent and true leadership is a discovery of your potential and a commitment to self-manifestation.

• Understand that every woman is a leader of herself in the first place, and of the persons around him her, by extension.

Based on the INILAG definition, leadership is composed of:

• The leader.• The people who follow him and,• The purpose, goal or destination

which must be attained.

• Ideally, as a leader, you don’t hold all the aces. • If people do not follow you, you are merely taking a walk, and people will

not follow you if you are not going to a desired destination.

QUALITIES OF A LEADER.

• Good leadership is seen through a combination of qualities, and like so many other things in life, you don’t just get better at leadership.

• You improve on your leadership skills through regular practice and skill development activities.

• As we take a look at the qualities that define you as a 21st century leader, it is pertinent to add that improving on any of these qualities will enhance your grasp of complex leadership challenges and aid you in finding practical solutions to them.

1. Vision.

• Vision is everything for the leader. • At the individual or team level, vision sparks the fire that lights the path

for others to follow. • Vision is the main guide of the leader, and as the saying goes “if you don’t

know where you are going, you will never get there”.

• Vision is that quality of knowing the way and seeing the goal before it is achieved.

• Jonathan Swift refers to vision as “the act of seeing things invisible”. • Vision is indeed the hope of a people. • It is the main reason for leadership and followership.• That is why the bible says “without vision the people perish”.

The blind author and lecturer-Helen Keller, gave one of history’s most profound sayings on vision when she said “the most miserable man is the man with sight but no vision”.

• As an individual and as a leader, be sure to have a clear vision for the people you lead and focus your energies on transforming the vision into reality.

• People normally follow the woman man with the strongest vision. • Attempting to lead with a blurred vision is detrimental to the you and your

followers. • People today are smart enough to follow only the person man with a clear

vision.

• What is your vision for yourself , your family and organisation in the short, medium and long term?

Pause and Ponder.

× What do you need, to achieve this vision?

Pause and Ponder.

2. Initiative.

• Initiative is the ability to decide and act on your decision without waiting to be told what to do and when.

• Like the bullet when triggered, the only language of initiative is action. • Vision without initiative is a play of ineffective imagination. • Conceive it, discuss it, share it, write it and tell the whole wide world; the

prescient leader remains the man who would simply initiate it. • Like Nike would say, “Just Do It”.

• Initiative is daring to begin in the face of uncertainty.• Procrastination would put a cloak in the wheels of initiative and could be

described as an enemy of initiative, but the upward going and prescient leader knows major steps to be taken towards the realization of vision.

• He takes initiative because he has the courage to start.

• Initiative sets the ball of great expedition rolling and without it the noblest deed never gets done.

• Great potential requires great initiative. • Without daring to start, nothing gets done. • As Henry Bergson says “think like a man of action, act like a man of

thought”.

• What factors have delayed start-off?

Pause and Ponder.

* Are these factors real factors or fear factors?

Pause and Ponder.

To improve on initiative, you might have to:

• Draw up a time line for each activity.• Then you go ahead and set a realistic start and end date.• And you discipline yourself to keep to these dates.

3. Enthusiasm.

• Encarta defines enthusiasm as a passionate interest in doing something. • Great initiative is needed to start the realization of a vision but enthusiasm

is the major source of energy when it comes to accomplishment.

• A passionate enthusiast is a boon to the team and an asset to her followers, but an un-enthusiastic leader would make an ass of herself.

• You must be highly enthusiastic about the vision and strive to inspire enthusiasm among followers.

• Enthusiasm is the ability to continue with a high level of excitement and energy even when there seems to be no hope of success.

• It is what keeps everyone in the team inspired and excited for the next one step, even if they are not sure of making it through.

• As a leader, you must be enthusiastic and stir your followers to achieve enthusiasm.

• Ivren Ball said “knowledge is power but enthusiasm pulls the switch” and Ralph Waldo Emerson agreed with him when he said “nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm”.

• Have you observed a fall in your energy level or that of your team mates?

Pause and Ponder.

• Is there a loss of interest or commitment?• What could you do to raise the energy level?

Pause and Ponder.

Building Enthusiasm

• Discuss the goal to be achieved in the present continuous tense.• This has proven to be a great way to boost enthusiasm.

4. Focus

• Focus is a concentrated effort or attention on a particular thing. • The magnitude of the vision is directly proportional to the degree of focus

you will require. • You should therefore constantly focus on the goal to be achieved and the

task ahead. • The temptation might arise to make even the most effective leader lose

focus; howeveraas an effective leader, you must stay focused even in the midst of great uncertainty.

As a leader, you must keep your eyes on the ball and your heart in the game. Focus on the direction of your goal and follow the nose throughout the game. That way everyone on your team will follow suit.

For maximum productivity, keep the goal before your eyes, all day long and in your bed at night; until the goal becomes a part of your life; “Live for something lest you die for nothing”.

• At the doldrums stages when you give so much in exchange for little progress, focus and a never-say-die spirit are the hallmark of great leadership.

• Have your eye in the storm all through the journey, learning every bit in the process.

• This may be a hard die to cast but it is always worth the while.

• Are you beginning to lose focus?

Pause and Ponder.

• What other things are you doing apart from your major goal?

Pause and Ponder.

Building Focus

• We are not all equal in our ability to multi-task. • For certain people, the mere interest in certain endeavours might cause a

loss of focus, making it imperative to prioritize and weigh activities by their opportunity cost.

• A panacea for the loss of focus would be to constantly place a picture of the goal to be achieved before your eyes.

5. Character

J. C. Maxwell say that “Leadership is a combination of two elements; competence and character. If a leaders must be without one, he should be without competence”

Leadership without character is like a nice car without an engine. It may attract honour and respect but it never gets you anywhere.

What you do can take you far, but what keeps you there is how you do it.Show me a leader without character and I’ll show you a leader worse than a follower.

Since character is the quality that makes someone distinctive, a leader lacking in character can be neither trusted nor followed.

• As a leaders, you should have integrity, walk your talk, keep your words and be who you seem.

• Neither sway with the wind nor swim with the tide, but in all things and at all times, let your yes be yes and your no be no.

• You should be good to all and blameless in all and never take a port in the storm because, after the storm is over, integrity becomes the most expensive commodity in the market place of life.

• Dealing with diverse characters would strain yours but neither throw caution to the wind nor dice with death. He, who perseveres to the end, wears the crown.

• Character, to a large extent, is determined by your value system, so build your life on values that last.

• Values like God, Family, Honest Work, and Integrity would go a long way in making you a man of flawless character.

• As a leader it’s always better to be right than to be liked, so be sure to what is right.

• Let unswerving integrity be your watch word. • In a world where the vast majority clamour for the

top without regards for the cost, great character would both elate, elevate and put you on a pedestal.

• Remember that if ever crises arise, people would seek the men of character rather than the men of status.

• Aim to be a leader of good character.

#LEAD #EXCEL #BETHEBEST

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