An ethical workforce is a thriving need of the hour. Organizations should foster leadership roles, thereby instilling an integrated management system.
The classic model for a good organizational leader is the Top Executive in an organizational management, who directs and controls all aspects of the operations in an organization. This Top Executive leader operates through a hierarchy of management, where an organization has a fairly well-defined structure.
In the present competitive environment, any business of an organization is constantly under threat, right from the new comers to the market place, having a different business paradigm. Hence, an organization cannot afford to depend upon the leadership of an individual, or a small team of senior executives to meet such challenges. For meeting such new challenges, a new concept and practice of leadership has evolved. Hereby, like managers have taken over the leadership role along with the top executives and his small team of senior executives.
Through their leadership, like managers can influence people under them to adopt a co-operative and wholesome attitude for successful accomplishment. Moreover, their leadership motivates the people to a higher level of performance through strong human relations. Thus, leadership is an important function of management which helps to maximize efficiency and to achieve organizational goals. In fact, it is an essential part and a crucial component of effective management.
Moreover, by winning employee trust, leadership plays a very big role as a critical factor in employee performance, regardless of what style a leader adopts.
Leadership Role:
Leadership is an essential component required, where a group of people are working to achieve their common goal. Employees look up to their team leader for encouragement, and when their work is appreciated, it boosts their confidence. A leadership role is of great responsibility, where a situation has to be managed most effectively and ethically. They also have the responsibility for building and maintaining employee morale vis-a-vis helping employees to reach their full potential and inspiring loyalty.
To be an effective leader, and having leadership qualities, one needs to be thorough with the product and service it deals with. The leader is ought to have proper product knowledge. Since a leader has to create and develop his team effectively, he needs to have the ability to hire the most effective staff to build up his team. While doing so, he needs to share his ideas and give proper feedback to the management. To build up an effective team, the leader should also have the quality of a coach, by rendering proper and effective training through various workshops, and having others in the workplace to acknowledge their skills.
Training for new or existing employees is very important for an organization. As a trainer-leader, he may need to make employees understand the importance of learning new skills, and help them to understand the new procedures of a department or train team members with tips to increase their productivity.
It is also important for a leader to be a good communicator, which is essential to communicate with different people including his team members, subordinates, clients, etc.
To be an effective leader, one must be able to determine his team member’s unique strengths and delegate responsibilities accordingly for improved productivity.
It is also important for a team leader to motivate and show the right direction to the team or the individuals so as to work towards achieving their goals, and guide them when they face difficulties while working in that direction.
The leader also needs to have the quality of making a proper appraisal of his team members. Such appraisals should be fair enough by giving either positive or negative ratings, as the case may be. However, the positive raters should be given proper recognition in the organization, alongside rewards and awards. This will serve as an eye opener to fellow colleagues, in order to be more effective towards their duties and responsibilities. The management, in turn, should also recognize and promote an effective leader under whom a strong and vibrant team develops and the leader in turn should not feel shy to recommend his team members for promotions whomsoever deserves it. The employees who turn out to be less enthusiastic and below-average performers, should be recommended for proper education and training through various sponsorship programs. Hence, to be a good leader in an organization, one needs to be a good listener, well disciplined, and stay alert to potential issues, besides giving and receiving feedback.
Authored by – Akshay Kumar, General Manager, UNACCO Financial Services Pvt. Ltd.
