Leadership Gets Right to the Heart of Things

“Leadership” is one of those over-used business words, but it’s also a really important idea for every organization. From an organization development perspective, leadership has mostly to do with motivating others to more effective behavior and working relationships. Leadership is not necessarily associated with positional authority; leadership can come from any part of the organization.

Of course, it is ideal for all managers to be effective leaders. I can tell you this – if a manager blames any recurring problems on employees, that manager is not being a leader! Someone who is a leader takes on responsibility for success beyond the limits of their role, and engages others in working to benefit the entire organization.

Leadership Development is the process through which people are taught the skills to be an effective leader, and are given the opportunity to practice them in carrying out the work of the organization. Leadership skills include:

• effective interpersonal communication skills such as active listening, assertive speaking, feedback, and negotiation,
  
• knowing how to understand and relate to others’ perspectives, motives, and abilities so as to improve the ability to generate buy-in,


• and coaching and team development techniques.

Some people have a hard time understanding how important these skills – often called “soft skills” – really are to organizational success. To these people I might ask which is harder to find, someone that has the technical skills necessary to do their job or someone that knows how to work with others to get the best possible results?

-Marc