Path to Leadership

Running head: PATH TO LEADERSHIP
Path to Leadership
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Path to Leadership
Introduction
Leadership can be defined as the process of enlisting the support or aid of other people with an aim of achieving a certain goal or objective. Leadership is very essential to any organization of company as people need to be guided for them to act in a manner that ensures completion of certain task. The path to leadership is not a smooth one as one has to master numerous skills and knowledge to influence people in a positive manner. For example, a leader must be able to behave in manner that positive behavior from his or her followers. He or she is also expected to learn how to work with different people. Generally, leaders must portray certain leadership skills and also be able to apply different styles of leadership to be successful in leading people (Burwash, 2007).
This paper intends to examine the path to leadership by analyzing its goal and essential leadership traits.
Goal of Leadership
Individuals in leadership positions aim to achieve a number of goals. For example, they ensure everything and everybody is moving in the right direction, that is, towards goal attainment. They also deeply invest in their followers to ensure their loyalty and commitment to the course. It is also a leader’s goal to ensure peace among followers or in the organization. A leader may be expected to make hard decisions as long as they contribute to the betterment of his or her followers. It is also a leader’s goal to ensure results. This means that he or she must ensure every follower is fully motivated to work to ensure success of a company or an organization. Ultimately, a leader must ensure team loyalty. There is no way an individual can be able to enlist the aid of people or followers who hate him or her. Ensuring loyalty also helps the leader to achieve high performances among followers (Bell, 2011).
It is also a leader’s goal to seek counsel whenever possible considering the fact that it is hard for an individual to deal with all issues. A leader should not only identify problems but also come with viable and initiate their implementations. It is also a goal of every leader to ensure he or she is able to connect with well with followers to be able to establish an environment of trust. These are just but the major goals of leaders as the list is actually almost endless (Treichler & Carmichael, 2004).
Team Work
The complexity of today’s world call on individuals with the intention of becoming leaders to develop teamwork skills as many tasks are now being handled in teams. Leading teams is a very challenging task to many people. For example, most people work under the assumption that a team leader calls all the shots and it’s upon team members to follow them without question. They also think that a team leader solves all the problems a team might be facing. This is not true at all. In fact team leaders do the exact opposite. It is the goal of a team leader to communicate effectively the goals and objectives of them. Poor communication leads to constant conflicts such role conflicts and intergroup conflicts (Best, 2007).
Great teams leaders will ensure everyone contribute to the agendas of a team. For instance, they are always willing to ask members to air their opinion during team meetings. A good team leader is always able to differentiate process from content. In most case, their job is to provide the content and then let the team deal with the process. A good team leader does to shut down a member’s opinion. Instead, he or she will look for features that can be beneficial to achievement of the goal of the team.
Individuals aspiring to be leaders need to understand the fact that team members feel valued whenever he or she shows interest in what they have to say. It is important to always create an impression that new ideas are being developed from what was previously forwarded by a colleague rather than totally disagreeing with them. Great team leader understand the need to encourage team members as this motivates them to enhance their performances (Best, 2007).
Team leadership also entails a leader being able to solve conflicts or case of disharmony. For example, a leader can use humor to reduce the amount of tension among members. A team leader must also be able to eliminate factors that contribute to disharmony among team members. He or she must also ensure members are able to put their differences aside and commit themselves to accomplishing the task at hand. Trust is also very essential in motivating members. One way through which a team leader can be able to earn members trust is to treat them equally (Palestini, 2006).
Accountability
It is common knowledge that almost every individual wishes to become a leader in the future. However, only a few may be willing to be held accountable for their actions or the actions of others. The problem is that is one cannot be a leader without accepting accountability. Leadership and accountability go hand in hand. A great leader is ever willing to take responsibility of the end results of a particular decision. This means that it does not matter on whether or not the end result is positive a leader should just accept the outcome and deal with consequences. Accountability also entails leader following work rules and treating every stakeholder with the outmost respect (Treichler & Carmichael, 2004).
A great leader is never quick in blaming others on the external environment after realizing a particular outcome. This is because he or she understands the fact that even if the outcome is negative, something can be done to rectify it. In doing so, a leader is able to build trust with his or her followers hence they will be more than willing to take up orders from him or her. Failure to take up responsibilities renders one a victim and this in normally the opposite of a true leader (Best, 2007).
Determination and Adversity
Determination is also one of the major trait any leader should portray to be able to lead people in the desired way. People face many adversities and failure in life. Leaders face even more of this. With this being the case, lack of determination perseverance and persistence will always dissolve within a short while. Great and inspirational people such as George Washington, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, and Julio Caesar just to name but a few had to endure a lot to achieve success. None of this leader found it easy to lead people. They were faced with many adversities and failures. Nonetheless, there determination never led them to turn away from their troubles. They also understood the fact that they were representing many hence their failure meant everyone’s failure (Burwash, 2007).
Leaders should emulate the above examples. Problems or challenges will always be there. However, one’s determination decides on whether or not he or she will be able to conquer them. Determination enables one to conquer any internal or external pressure. It also enables him or her to defeat any feeling of defeat. Essentially, no matter how hard things can be, a great leader will always have the will to move. This is because accepting defeat betraying the trust followers place in them (Treichler & Carmichael, 2004).
Surround Yourself with Excellence
One of the major reasons to why people fail on their quest to lead people is surrounding their selves with failures. Basically, there is no way an individual can be able to achieve success when he or she is walking or socializes with failures in life. An individual with the intention of becoming a leader in the near future must look for mentors, people who have been proven to be great leader. For example, walking or socializing with people like Ratan Tata and Bill Gates can enable an individual to develop great leadership skills in the field of business. This is because the two have been able to lead various organizations in exemplary manner...