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Qualities of a leader by P.J.PHILLIP

Adapted by Navendu K.Sharma

Qualities of a good leader

1. Innate QualitiesInnate means inborn. Researcherssaythattherecouldbesome qualities which peopleareborn with

and maybeessential forthem tobea goodleader.

Physical features

Mostofour physical featuresare inbornbecausetheyare passedon from earlier generationstoours

genes. Physical featuresarenotessential inallareas,butthereareareas where physical featuresare

important.

For example, if someone wants to get into the army, he should have a minimum height, no spectacles, a

particular range of weight and etc. So we can keep our physical features in good condition, but thereisnt much we can do to change our physical features because they are inborn.

Mental Ability Intelligence

Scientistssaythat weareborn withbasic intelligence.Sothere isnothing much wecandoabout it,but

wecan keep it fit justlike physical featuresbyexercising our intelligenceonaregularbasis,sothat we

cansharpenour intelligence. Butbasically, wecannotchangeour intelligence. Soallleadersrequirea

certainlevelof intelligence.

2. Acquired QualitiesThese are the qualities which are acquired through training. These qualities are not only required for

good leaders but also for peoples life skills to be successful in life.

Domain knowledge and skills

Youhavetobe goodattheskillsand knowledge in whichyouare functioning oroperating. Onlythen,

yoursub-ordinates willrespectyouasaleader.

For example, if you want to be a cricket captain, first and foremost you should be a good cricketer. If you

want to be a project leader of a group of computer engineers, first and foremost you should be a good

computer engineer. When your sub-ordinates come to you with problems, you should find solutions to

them and they should feel that their leader is one step ahead of them. This is when your sub-ordinates

respect you as a leader.

Inter-personal Skills

Leadership isabout persuading people, which meansyourabilitytounderstandother people,your

abilityto interactand influenceother people. This is whereyour inter-personalskillsbecome important

andcanbeacquiredthroughtraining.

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Communication Skills

A leader willhaveto persuadehis followerstodothingsandriseabovetheir personal interestand work

towardsachieving common goals.Sohehastobea goodcommunicatortodothat. Heshouldbeableto

convey, persuadeand influencehissubordinatesand followers. Thiscouldbedoneby writtenororal

communication.So, goodleadershavetobe goodcommunicators.

Motivational Skills

This isavery importantskill whichaleadershouldhave. Heshouldbeableto motivatehis followers.

For example, Gandhi was able to motivate his followers to rise above their selfish interest and die for

their country to get independence.

Emotional Skills

Emotionalskill isactuallyalifeskilland issomething whicheverybodyofusshouldhave,butaleader

shouldhave it morethananordinary person. Emotionalskill isto maintainemotionalstabilityandnotto

beswayedbyextremes.

When a group or a team meets with failure, the leader should not be depressed and when it meets with

success, not too much excitement should be there.The followers can afford to do this but the leader is

expected to maintain stability. When the group is down, the leader gets the group out of depression.

How do weacquireemotionalskills?

Psychologistssaythatescapism shouldbeavoided inlife. Escapism meanstorunaway from problems.

Escapism isverynaturaltohumanbeingsandallofus practicethisonaregularbasis,butthisshouldbe

avoided.

For example, you have an assignment to submit on a particular date. You absent yourself in the class,

thinking that the teacher will forget it the next day. But the teacher doesnt forget it and fails you in your

internal. So by running away, you are not finding a solution to the problem. You just find a temporary

solution to a permanent problem and this is very natural to human beings.

So psychologistssaythat wheneveryouare facea problem of permanentnature,confrontthe problem

and findasolutiononceand forall. So if wedothisonaregularbasis, weareacquiring emotionalskills.

3. X-FactorAfteralltheresearchthathas gone into finding outthe qualitiesofaleader,researcherssaythatthere

isthatsomething which isunknown ina greatleader, whichcannotbe identifiedorexplainedbut

attracts peopleto it.

The wordthatexplainsthex-factor ischarisma. Charisma isthatsomething ina personthatattracts

othersto it, which isdifficulttoexplain.

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Styles of leadership

Whatarethestylesofapproachedleadership thatyoucanadopt whenyouare ina positionof

leadership?

Authoritarian Style (being bossyandhaving fullauthority)

This isthe mostcommonandtheeasiestthing todo.Yousit inthechairanddecidetobetheboss.So

this is whereyouexercise fullauthority.

Democratic Style

Theleaderdecidestosharehisauthority withhis followers. He is willing todiscussthings withthem and

is willing to makehissub-ordinatesa partofthedecision-making process.Sohere, wehaveashared

authority.

Laissez-faire Style

Thisexpression means hands-offor free. This meansthattheleader keepshishandsoffhissub-

ordinatesorhis followers. Heallowsthem to functionthe waythey want. Thisdoesnot meanthathe is

a weak leader.It meansthathe knowshis followers;he knowstheyarecapableandcompetent;and

thereforeheletsthem functiontheirown way.Sothere is minimum authorityexercise inthe positive

sense.

Now you may feelthat Democraticstyle isthebeststyleofleadership. Butscientistsaythatanyoneof

thethreestyles maybethebeststyleaccording tothe person.Sotherearethree factors which

determineyourstyleofleadership:

1) F

ollowers2) Situation3) The personalityoftheleader-the personalityshouldbe flexibleandadaptable fora goodleader.