The old chestnut about whether leaders are born or made is taken up in this article from Ezine:
"Where once we looked to military and political leaders for inspiration and insight, now it is increasingly business leaders who hold our attention and provide role models."Ask someone to name a leader whom they have admired and they are just as likely to name Richard Branson as Tony Blair, Anita Roddick as Margaret Thatcher. This focus is reflected in the growing number of books and articles about business and the main players. "...Machiavelli advocated a combination of cunning and intimidation as a way to more effective leadership. His philosophy, if not his practices, became unfashionable some time ago. "...Much recent work in this area has concentrated on trying to understand why some leaders are more effective than others by looking at their environment and the context in which their acts have been carried out. Situational theory views leadership as specific to the situation, for example, rather than to the personality of the leader. It is based on the idea that different situations require a different style of leader. "...The basis of Situational Leadership is to provide a means of effective leadership by adopting different leadership styles in different situations with different people. Situational Leadership is a model, not a theory. The difference is that a theory attempts to explain why things happen, whereas a model is a pattern of existing events which can be learnt and therefore repeated."Requirements of a Leader: "An effective leader needs to be: - A good diagnostician, who can sense and appreciate differences in people and situations.
- Adaptable, in the ability to adapt the leadership style to circumstances.
"A leader must realise there is no one best way to influence people. Situational Leadership focuses on the behaviours of 'telling' (how much you give orders) and 'supporting' how much you listen and help others.
Jonathan Farrington concludes his article by saying:
"To those who would suggest that great leaders are born not made, I would say this: We can examine all of the great leaders in history and identify some common characteristics but we cannot say they were “Born Leaders”. They all developed into their leadership roles over a period of time, learning the skills along the way. I do believe that leaders can be developed – I have to believe that because currently we have far too few of them in the world"
Source: Ezine articlesLabels: Collaboration, Leadership, SL/2 |