Developing a Culture for Leadership Development - Essay Example

Leadership Development Introduction Leadership development refers to the actions and strategies that determine the degree ofan individual or an organization’s efficiency in relation to a particular task they undertake. This might be achieved by developing individual skills or through alternating the ideologies of the personnel. Leadership development is directly proportional to an individual’s traits and characters since leadership is not an inborn factor. Developing a leader is a lengthy process that requires persistence, determination, and patience. This process of development could be achieved through learning, training or personal experience, and the differences in human character traits and ideologies discern leaders and none leaders. Culture can be defined as a common behaviorism that is passed on from one community, society, or social group to the other and therefore becomes a norm or a habit. Culture is therefore a standard belief or principles that govern a community, society or a social group, in line with specific objectives. Many leaders face the compulsion of developing leaders within their organization. It proves challenging for those leaders to establish a balance between the tasks and the people. This paper will describe some of the critical aspects required in leadership development. Environment for developing leadership Environment refers to the surrounding in which an action, activity, or a process takes place. Within an organization, there is need to establish a favorable environment that fosters leadership development. Leadership development is a comprehensive process that requires persistence and determination in order to exalt an individual’s unique leadership qualities or capacities to measure up the requirements of a specific objective (“The Importance of Effective Management “, 2014). The need to create a favorable leadership development environment cannot receive any form of underestimation. A good leadership, developing environment should exhibit the following characteristics; a) High degree of learning A leadership-nurturing environment should be able to provide a conducive environ in which, the learner is free from any forms of destructions. This entails different forms of training, workshops, pursuing further education, and acquiring new skills (Daft, 2008). Any successful career progression to the level of effective leadership requires a continuous learning process (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013). b) Positive environment A learner will develop well in an environment where they know that their ideas are not disputed and that they are acceptable and valid. A positive environment brings a sense of worthiness and confidence to the learner, and in the process, they develop a self-belief in their own capabilities and integrity (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013). Moreover, an environment that encourages participative decision-making serves to highlight that the opinions of all the employees within the organization are valued. c) Strengthen constructive skills A leadership-developing environment should enable the learner to be a critical thinker to make firm and reasonable decisions. Constructive skills are ideas or decisions that bring about positive development in their field of study or participation (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013). d) Motivating environment This is the kind of environment where the learner is exposed to failures, but the system of learning will not discourage them (Daft, 2008). Motivation strengthens the belief of the learner; broaden their ability to entertain new ideas and the ability to predict, either positive or negative prediction. Evidently, motivation offers individuals an opportunity to attain self-actualization (Bosher & Hazlewood, 2008). e) The environment should also be appropriate to the subject matter. The learner should be exposed to an environment where they will face challenges that are similar and likely to encounter in their line of duty. Exposure to these forms of environments strengthens the learners experience in problem solving in case of such similar problems in future (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013). f) A leadership-nurturing environment should enable the learner to practice for future experiences, especially the mental strength. Practice strengthens the leaner’s mental, communication, interpersonal and physical skills in preparation for real and more challenging obstacles (Bosher & Hazlewood, 2008). g) The learner, in all forms of education, which is the formal learning and the real life lessons, should be exposed to trained experts for directions and redirections as they grow. Young leaders require guidelines and motivation for the experienced and trained leaders (Bosher & Hazlewood, 2008). Therefore, it should be noted that a well-enriched environment is a basic tool for leadership development even though, different fields require different environments and this is because of the diverse challenges faced in different professional fields. Circumstances that hinder the development of a leader can be associated to the environment of exposure, ranging from technological to social environments, and such factors are directly proportional to the decision making of the leader, in either positive or negative mode (Bosher & Hazlewood, 2008). Developing and sustaining leadership development environments Like any form of process, managers are faced with unremitting challenges in the developing as well as in the sustaining of the leadership development operation. Managers have to ensure that the right tools are in place and that the learners gain a maximum of what they need to have learned. The tools must be in relation to the objectives of the development process. For example, a developing young soccer coach trainee should fully be equipped with what soccer entails, and not any other sport (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013). Therefore, developing leaders has been categorized as one of the critical aspects that define transformational leadership. Managers understand the weaknesses of their subordinates, and sometimes examining them is a form of improving their efficiency (Daft, 2008). Managers test their employee’s degree of skillfulness to determine and predict the levels of output in future. Managers invent new programs or strategies in order to curb any previous challenges that may face the developing managers, even though they may face some levels of resistance, for example, lack of commitment from the surbordinates (Chen et al, 2013). Managers too have taken the initiative of nurturing the environments of the young talents via institutions that provide good values, social and leadership skills that are reiterated so that the leadership lessons are never forgotten as they grow (Daft, 2008). These aspects of nurturing the young talents bring about a culture to the young generations that is common among the leaders and passed on from one generation to the other. This helps the young leaders to adopt appropriate leadership strategies (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013). Managers play a key role in the development of the leadership environments through teaching, mentorship and offering wise guidelines to the young talents. Some managers too fund the exceptional talents thus becoming responsible for the development of the developing manager. Managers also help the developing leaders with wise and useful pieces of information on how to effectively grow in their specific careers (Bosher & Hazlewood, 2008). As managers, they recommend for professional skills, good networking and derive the right forms of judgments to positively propel the young talents career wise. Leadership development programs prepare intellectually productive as well as good performing managers in their specific world of careers. A positive exposure to the right environment diversifies the abilities of the developing managers and provides them with the understanding, development strategies, and high professional networking skills in the corporate world (Daft, 2008). Therefore, managers provide a leadership development program and a chronological plan in preparation for future experienced and diversified leaders with the most efficient skills in the market (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013). Characteristics of potential leaders Personal drive A potential leader will have the common factor of an unconditional urge to achieve something or certain sets of goal. This drive calls for proper planning, personal sacrifice, determination, and commitment. A leader is able to foresee the future and plan in advance for the uncertainty, and they do not require any form of supervision. Self-sufficient A potential leader will try as much as they can to figure out solutions by themselves. They do not go around asking for how things should be done, they are independent and are able to make communal decisions (Bosher & Hazlewood, 2008). A future leader is a critical thinker Critical thinkers make decisions that are not too obvious in problem solving and their arguments are not grounded by fallacies. In the development of a future leader, challenge from the learner is a critical indication that they are in the right track. This shows that, they not only have to agree to everything, they make their own decisions (Bosher & Hazlewood, 2008). Flexibility Even though leaders are independent, they accept their mistakes and seek for guidance. They do not keep things to themselves. Leaders share their strategies for clarification since they do understand that they are not perfect and that they make mistakes, accept and move on (Chen et al, 2013). Leaders take full responsibility Leaders do not make excuses when things do not seem to work out well. They take full responsibility and the initiative for rectifications (Chen et al, 2013). They do not apportion blames for mistakes or misfortunes, but rather exhibit the willingness to ensure that things forge into the right direction. A leader heightens execution. A main character trait of a leader is that, they are able to mobilize people for performance. They lead by example and are always at the forefront. A leader will guide people on how things are done, supervise, and provide incentive to them (Chen et al, 2013). A leader appreciates the efforts of their subjects. Assertiveness A leader is that who is able to make critical decisions and enjoys overcoming challenges. They are bold and energetic enough to get discouraged by challenges or obstacles. A good leader is creative and opportunistic; they create opportunities out of the challenges they face (Daft, 2008). A leader is a risk taker. Leaders are spontaneous and they go for what they think is right for them. They work hard enough to meet their set goals and targets. They are time conscious, they enjoy what they do, and they are considerate (Daft, 2008). They do not take rejection personal, and they are good listeners. High levels of maturity Personal confidence and maturity are secondary factors to the development of any organization. The degree of maturity can be manifested in the ability to guide, implement and in the accomplishment of the set goals (Chen et al, 2013). Responsible A good leader should be able to undertake their duties with a minimum or no supervision from the higher authorities. They incorporate their cognitive aspect of leadership into everything they do. They respect people’s ideas, and they look for alternative ideas when some fail. They are open-minded and they do not criticize their employees, but they motivate them, and punish them accordingly as well (Chen et al, 2013). Team player One critical aspect of being a leader is the ability to work with others. This brings a sense of unity and oneness and the subject do not feel like they are being dictated on whatever activity the leader is supervising. Being a role model stirs up motivation and positive excitement in any organization. Leadership competency refers to the adequate physical and intellectual qualities that qualify one to a particular task. Even though leadership competency is indispensable in every organization, individual characters are of paramount importance in the creation of a favorable competitiveness (Chen et al, 2013). Leadership competency therefore refers to the ultimate strength that one possess (Lussier & Achua, 2010). Leadership competency in an organization can be categorized into three aspects; a) Personal or self competence This can be described as the individual attributes that define a leader. Some examples of personal or self-competence skills include the following; Personal confidence Decisiveness Commitment and responsibility and Composure b) Leadership skills competence They are described as the outstanding qualities or traits that make one a leader of a certain organization or group of people (Daft, 2008). Some examples of leadership skills competence include the following; Team player Good communication skills Networking abilities Building others c) Managerial competence Managerial competence can be described as the ultimate traits of an individual that make them outstanding managers within a given organization (Chen et al, 2013). Some examples of managerial competence skills include the following; Public influence Critical decision making skills Discernment skills Visionary skills The three main example of competence are very critical in every organization and every type of competence is necessary in specific heights within the leadership pyramid. Leadership competence therefore defines the level of leadership within every organizational hierarchy, and the best managers exhibit most or all the competences discussed above. How managers develop leaders Development of leaders is a very important process since it aims at the creation of the future managers of any organization. Most organizations advocate for in-house creation of leaders as opposed to employing new ones (Sengupta, 2006). The in house creation and development of leaders is paramount because the inexperienced leaders are conversant with the principles, ethics, and the culture of that particular organization (Daft, 2008). The main reason as to why most managers prefer the in-house development of leaders is because it is cheaper in that, the organization does not have to take them through extensive training programs and mentorships that would take time (Madueke, 2010). Therefore, the managers have to device a technique of creating leaders within the available employees, and this is achieved through the following ways; a) Broad exposure to different roles within the organization This exposure is achieved by the even interchangeability of positions or roles within an organization (Judge et al, 2006). This broadens the experience of the employees and gives them the expertise to face new challenges, and improve their competence. b) Motivational programs Motivational programs are meant to strengthen the employee’s belief and psyche in their day to day undertakings within the organization (Daft, 2008). Motivational programs also offer incentives to the employees through awards and motivational talks by the organizations retired ex-employees. c) Creation of healthy completion In every organization, there are always the performers and the non-performers. Managers create a healthy competition whereby the performers are rewarded for their good work. Examples of such awards could be financial awards, salary increment, trips, promotions etc. The competition is meant to push the employees to prove their competence (Brower & Balch, 2005). d) Frequency in assignments As a means of preparation, the employees go through series of workload to develop them into working under pressure. This however, is not meant to frustrate them but to model them for future organizational leadership (Daft, 2008). e) Freedom to develop themselves Employees should not be exposed to dictatorship and therefore they should be given time to develop in their own pace (Brower & Balch, 2005). Managers give leaders time to develop themselves especially after a promotion when they have to work under pressure due to difference in the environment and the change of the roles. It is notable that the development of a leader is a process that involves both formal learning and informal learning, and that managers play a key role in making or breaking a leader. In summary, managers are required to motivate, expose their employees’ skills and competences, create a healthy completion and give their employees freedom in order to get most out of the process of leadership development (Brower & Balch, 2005). Conclusion Evidently, it is critical for each organization to ensure that it has a favorable environment for developing leadership. In an era where transformational leadership is the preferred leadership style, leaders need to offer the pertinent training, motivation, and exposure to their subordinates in a bid to prepare them for future leadership challenges. Notably, a leader should exhibit focus on the people as well as the tasks performed. The adoption of the above strategies can foster effective leadership development. References “The Importance of Effective Management.” (2014). Business Case Studies. Retrieved on 23 March, 2014 from http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/cmi/the-importance-of-effective-management/leadership-and-management.html#axzz2wp27QC00 Avolio, B. J., & Yammarino, F. J. (2013). Transformational and charismatic leadership: The road ahead. Bingley, UK: Emerald. Bosher, M., & Hazlewood, P. (2008). Leading the leaders for the future: A transformational opportunity. London: Continuum International Pub. Group. Brower, R. E., & Balch, B. V. (2005). Transformational leadership & decision making in schools. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Corwin Press. Chen, J., Suen, M., Lin, M., & Shieh, F. (2013). “Organizational Change and Development.” NACS, (2), 1-13. Daft, R. (2008). The Leadership Experience. 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