The need and importance of leadership
Dr. Adalat Khan
July 25, 2007
Managers are the most important people for any business organisation. Whether it is a very small business or a multi billion Ringgit corporation, the success or failure of both them depend on good management. What is good management ? To answer this question we need to appreciate, that today good management in addition to basic management skills also requires leadership skills. In fact, leadership is the key quality which every manager must acquire to become an effective manager. A manager may develop a perfect strategy to make an organisation successful, but to carry forward that strategy towards realisation, he or she needs leadership qualities. Leadership, then takes a bigger, broader and more important role.
In this presentation we will be emphasising why it is necessary for managers to get transformed and become leaders. In essence we will be talking about core leadership qualities which if acquired will make good managers, also excellent leaders. First of all let us see why there is a need for transformation for managers to become leaders. Many reasons can be offered, some of which are as follows :
1. Globalization
Excellent transportation services, state of the art telecommunication technologies, and open door policies of the government have undone with the national boundaries. The whole world in fact has become a small village and a single market. People can buy and sell through phones, faxes and the latest “internet” which has eventually made the whole world as a single market. This is what the Japanese management guru Keneichi Ohmae calls “The Borderless World”. To survive in this Borderless World traditional management skills are insufficient and self-defeating. As such managers have to gear up by shifting their paradigm towards leadership.
2. Increased Customers Satisfaction
The customers of today demand good quality of products and service at the cheapest possible price and the funny thing is that they always get it. To provide best, cheapest, reliable and fastest service there is a need for switch over from managerial to a leadership roles and this is the second reason which support becoming good leaders.
3. Educated and Better Informed Employees
Today’s employees have easy access to information through T.V, radio, newspaper and other media. They listen to management programmes showed on T.V, attend training programmes and know more than the employees knew ten years ago. This has resulted in well informed, educated and intelligent work force. To get things done from these people, the traditional management concepts of control and fear motivation are not working. To motivate today’s employees concepts like positive reinforcement, teamwork, empowerment etc. are required which comes with leadership.
4. Radical and Fast Changes
We live in an era where radical, fast and constant changes are taking place. Every year and sometimes even twice or thrice a year businesses have to bring out new models and products to the market. To cope up with this type and other changes, a new breed of managers are required.
These and many more challenges necessitates that in addition to their managerial competencies, managers should also acquire leadership qualities. It will be a good news to know that each person has the potential to acquire these qualities and become a good leader. So, the next question will be, what are these qualities ? There are many answers to this question but in essence all these answers can be clustered into core qualities. By acquiring them a manager can become a good leader.
These are :
1. Have a Vision
We are one of the luckiest people in the world because our honourable Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir has given this country “Vision 2020” This vision has given us a sense of direction for becoming what we are capable of becoming. But regretably, even then most people underestimate their need to have a high vision. The majority of managers also fall into this category and as a result organisations managed by them falter and fail.
To succeed and progress people should have a compelling vision of their future. True leaders acknowledge that today’s, employees do not work for bread alone, neither subsistence or high salary. They realise that employees want something beyond dollars, benefits, security and the promise of retirement. They want to be a part of something bigger than themselves - and the key word is vision.
For managers to meet the expectation of their employees they need to offer a vision for their organisations. They should articulate that vision in simple terms where people can relate with and own it. By sharing that vision with others, leaders create a vision community, where everyone share the same vision and strives to make it a reality.
2. Superior Human Skills
Traditionally, more emphasis on technical skills dealing with the work methods rather than human skills which enables people to motivate others to do what they want them to be done. At times human skills become more important than the technical skills. This requires today’s managers to master the art of human skills, acquiring good communication, and interpersonal skills. True leaders outshine managers as communicators because they truly believe the saying “people don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care !” To inspire, to motivate and to empower ordinary people to achieve extra ordinary result, the human skills need to be deployed.
3. Honesty and Integrity
The old proverb “Honesty is the best policy” still holds water. A good leader needs to be an honest person. Some people have this wrong conception of thinking that manipulative, coercive and hypocritic approach will help them get what they want. This approach may help others, but leaders should have a high sense of integrity and noble values. People may not be honest themselves, but they look upto honest leaders - persons whom they can trust and follow. Leaders meet these expectation by being truthful and by showing high consistency between their words and deeds.
4. Team Building skills
People are the most important assets of any business or other organisation. The efforts of people make or break companies. To let their efforts make better companies, leaders need to instill among them team work, co-operation, and mutual respect. This is easier said than done. Because as mentioned earlier different people have different personalities, which at times lead to group tussles, frictions and even infights. To blend people together and develop synergistic relations a leader is needed. Leader is a person who help people to see the benefits of working together, harmony and teamwork. He or she leads them to come out of these problems and take them to a new horizon of understanding and mutual respect. A good leader develops superior teams who enable the organisation achieve excellent results.
5. Global Outlook
In the quest to exploit market opportunities around the globe, businesses are increasingly experimenting with new strategies and structures which cut across national boundaries. But if these experiments are to yield anything of lasting value, businesses need to have leaders with global outlook. Leaders who not only survive in local market but thrive on international market opportunities. Leaders with global outlook subscribe to the idea “ If you are not the best in the world at what you’re doing, you shouldn’t be doing it” . Global outlook requires leaders of tomorrow to get armed with talents like strategic awareness - that is scanning and benefiting from business opportunities which surface on international scene. Additionally to become universal players, one need to acquire cross-culture sensitivity, adaptability to new situations and the ability to work with international teams.
Leadership has acquired greater meaning and importance for managers as they face enormous challenges and pressures. The driving forces of change and uncertainty coupled with the changing needs of the time businesses need managers who are willing to become good leaders. By articulating a vision and sharing it with others, deploying good human skills, remaining hones and credible, becoming team players and thinking globally managers can transform and become leaders.
Dr Adalat Khan can be reached at: dradalat@gmail.com
American Central University www.acusa.net
In this presentation we will be emphasising why it is necessary for managers to get transformed and become leaders. In essence we will be talking about core leadership qualities which if acquired will make good managers, also excellent leaders. First of all let us see why there is a need for transformation for managers to become leaders. Many reasons can be offered, some of which are as follows :
1. Globalization
Excellent transportation services, state of the art telecommunication technologies, and open door policies of the government have undone with the national boundaries. The whole world in fact has become a small village and a single market. People can buy and sell through phones, faxes and the latest “internet” which has eventually made the whole world as a single market. This is what the Japanese management guru Keneichi Ohmae calls “The Borderless World”. To survive in this Borderless World traditional management skills are insufficient and self-defeating. As such managers have to gear up by shifting their paradigm towards leadership.
2. Increased Customers Satisfaction
The customers of today demand good quality of products and service at the cheapest possible price and the funny thing is that they always get it. To provide best, cheapest, reliable and fastest service there is a need for switch over from managerial to a leadership roles and this is the second reason which support becoming good leaders.
3. Educated and Better Informed Employees
Today’s employees have easy access to information through T.V, radio, newspaper and other media. They listen to management programmes showed on T.V, attend training programmes and know more than the employees knew ten years ago. This has resulted in well informed, educated and intelligent work force. To get things done from these people, the traditional management concepts of control and fear motivation are not working. To motivate today’s employees concepts like positive reinforcement, teamwork, empowerment etc. are required which comes with leadership.
4. Radical and Fast Changes
We live in an era where radical, fast and constant changes are taking place. Every year and sometimes even twice or thrice a year businesses have to bring out new models and products to the market. To cope up with this type and other changes, a new breed of managers are required.
These and many more challenges necessitates that in addition to their managerial competencies, managers should also acquire leadership qualities. It will be a good news to know that each person has the potential to acquire these qualities and become a good leader. So, the next question will be, what are these qualities ? There are many answers to this question but in essence all these answers can be clustered into core qualities. By acquiring them a manager can become a good leader.
These are :
1. Have a Vision
We are one of the luckiest people in the world because our honourable Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir has given this country “Vision 2020” This vision has given us a sense of direction for becoming what we are capable of becoming. But regretably, even then most people underestimate their need to have a high vision. The majority of managers also fall into this category and as a result organisations managed by them falter and fail.
To succeed and progress people should have a compelling vision of their future. True leaders acknowledge that today’s, employees do not work for bread alone, neither subsistence or high salary. They realise that employees want something beyond dollars, benefits, security and the promise of retirement. They want to be a part of something bigger than themselves - and the key word is vision.
For managers to meet the expectation of their employees they need to offer a vision for their organisations. They should articulate that vision in simple terms where people can relate with and own it. By sharing that vision with others, leaders create a vision community, where everyone share the same vision and strives to make it a reality.
2. Superior Human Skills
Traditionally, more emphasis on technical skills dealing with the work methods rather than human skills which enables people to motivate others to do what they want them to be done. At times human skills become more important than the technical skills. This requires today’s managers to master the art of human skills, acquiring good communication, and interpersonal skills. True leaders outshine managers as communicators because they truly believe the saying “people don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care !” To inspire, to motivate and to empower ordinary people to achieve extra ordinary result, the human skills need to be deployed.
3. Honesty and Integrity
The old proverb “Honesty is the best policy” still holds water. A good leader needs to be an honest person. Some people have this wrong conception of thinking that manipulative, coercive and hypocritic approach will help them get what they want. This approach may help others, but leaders should have a high sense of integrity and noble values. People may not be honest themselves, but they look upto honest leaders - persons whom they can trust and follow. Leaders meet these expectation by being truthful and by showing high consistency between their words and deeds.
4. Team Building skills
People are the most important assets of any business or other organisation. The efforts of people make or break companies. To let their efforts make better companies, leaders need to instill among them team work, co-operation, and mutual respect. This is easier said than done. Because as mentioned earlier different people have different personalities, which at times lead to group tussles, frictions and even infights. To blend people together and develop synergistic relations a leader is needed. Leader is a person who help people to see the benefits of working together, harmony and teamwork. He or she leads them to come out of these problems and take them to a new horizon of understanding and mutual respect. A good leader develops superior teams who enable the organisation achieve excellent results.
5. Global Outlook
In the quest to exploit market opportunities around the globe, businesses are increasingly experimenting with new strategies and structures which cut across national boundaries. But if these experiments are to yield anything of lasting value, businesses need to have leaders with global outlook. Leaders who not only survive in local market but thrive on international market opportunities. Leaders with global outlook subscribe to the idea “ If you are not the best in the world at what you’re doing, you shouldn’t be doing it” . Global outlook requires leaders of tomorrow to get armed with talents like strategic awareness - that is scanning and benefiting from business opportunities which surface on international scene. Additionally to become universal players, one need to acquire cross-culture sensitivity, adaptability to new situations and the ability to work with international teams.
Leadership has acquired greater meaning and importance for managers as they face enormous challenges and pressures. The driving forces of change and uncertainty coupled with the changing needs of the time businesses need managers who are willing to become good leaders. By articulating a vision and sharing it with others, deploying good human skills, remaining hones and credible, becoming team players and thinking globally managers can transform and become leaders.
Dr Adalat Khan can be reached at: dradalat@gmail.com
American Central University www.acusa.net