TFSEL 700 - Lecture note I

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to your first course in effective leadership. Before you learn the rules and dynamics of leadership and its application to the different facets of life, it is imperative that you understand the fundamentals of leadership. However, you need to get answers to these questions: 

Who is a leader? What does effective leadership entail? Is leadership the same as management? Why should there be any need for a leader? What are the different styles of leadership? How do the different leadership models and approaches enhance effective leadership? What are the critical competencies for effective leadership? Who leads the leader?

First, I want you to leave behind that mentality that you are not a leader until you have been sworn in or appointed to a leadership position. Not everyone in a leadership position is an effective leader. It is often said that some are born leaders while some learn to be leaders; whether you are born a leader or not, you’ve got to acquire skills in order for you to become an effective leader. In every area of life, talent is never enough; talents + skills + (the God factor) = Success.

Second, get a separate notepad (hardcopy or your computer system’s notepad) for all the courses in this programme to get cogent points. Remember, at TFSEL we’re not just training you to get a certificate, we are taking you through the practicalities of leadership in everyday life. We’ll be elaborating on different leadership styles that you’ll begin to take note of in your office, your school, your church or organization. This is not a traditional school; we do not need you to cram.

Class Methodology

You’ll have Real-Life Scenario (RLS) questions as assignments. An assessment will be given out to you at the end of the 2nd lecture. After which comes your exams and a short self-examination RLS assessment.

n  We’ll be working through self-test models to help you determine your leadership competence level and methods of enhancements.

Ok, let’s begin!

Who is a Leader – Leadership described?

Many people believe that a leader is simply one who is the first, biggest or most powerful person amongst a group of people. A leader is one who gets people to move towards a goal that they don’t yet see – the ‘people’ here can be yourself, another individual, a group, an organization or a community. So the real leader is not just the one in the leadership position but the one who holds the vision and gears people towards realising that vision. The nature of how leading is done depends on the context of the situation on ground, on your perspective, and on the nature and needs of those involved. Leading in itself is a very human activity. Leading humans is quite challenging because you are faced with different faces, different personalities with dynamic behaviours hailing from different backgrounds.

What is effective leadership? 
The ability of a leader to ‘successfully’ utilise all available resources to 

meet set goals (note the word, resources). In the process of working towards achieving the set goals, tools, equipments and materials are needed and must be adequately managed, therefore it goes to say that for a leader to be effective, he must also have management skills. In management, human effort is classified together with all materials, tools and equipments as resources. Effective leadership entails harnessing the potentials and skills of people under you and at the same time maximising the use of all resources to attain 

success and continual success.

An effective leader has a positive effect on those he is leading. His followers are extensions of his own skills and abilities, he utilises each follower’s skills optimally, he disciples his followers to become effective leaders. A leader without a successor amongst his followers is not effective. A leader whose absence brings operations to a standstill is not effective. As an effective leader, you must view your group or team as an organised body with different parts having distinct functions.

Is leadership different from management?

Management in itself involves planning, organizing and coordinating, which are resource-oriented activities whereas leading is focused on influencing people. This assertion can convince some that they are gifted leaders who can ignore these activities and assign them to others with less important things to do. The art of delegation implies that activities can be delegated and roles assigned within the group you are leading, however it is your duty as the leader to make sure that everyone works coherently to achieve the common goal. In the light of this, can we categorically say that there are some who will be better off in management positions and not leadership positions? No. As a leader, you should be able to manage all your resources and as a manager, you should be able to lead the people under you to achieve your aims and objectives. Leadership is to humans while management is to resources. So we can conclude that though leadership and management activities could be different, the skills needed to effectively lead and manage are very much interwoven. So to be an effective leader, you must be an effective manager and vice versa. The Human Resources Manager of an organization does not necessarily lead the organisation but is there to manage resources; in this case, the resources are humans. However he needs to understand that unlike other resources, e.g. equipments, money, materials; humans are dynamic therefore he needs to employ leadership skills to manage the people effectively. When you fail to understand the people you are leading, you’re bound to have setbacks. As an effective leader, when you win, it is your group that has won; your people work with you not for you.

So why do we need an effective leader?

Human beings are designed with the innate ability to function optimally under good leadership. Like we earlier stated, so many people occupy leadership positions but cannot lead effectively. It has become vital to have someone who helps to champion others to achieve an agreed upon or a common goal. The perpetual neglect of the people being led with an otherwise increased focus on the tools and resources has warranted the need for an effective leader. Leadership is all about the people, people with different personalities. While working towards your goals, the leader needs to manage available resources, encourage people when setbacks occur and motivate his people.  The old analogy that “everybody knows that anybody could do the things that somebody could do but nobody did” holds when there is no effective leader. With someone to provide a clear direction, assign roles and coordinate activities, the work gets done.

Competencies and Qualities of an Effective Leader

The particular competencies (knowledge, skills and abilities) or qualities that you need in order to lead at a particular time depend on a variety of factors, including:

1. Whether you’re leading one other individual, a group or a large organization
2. The extent of leadership skills that you already have
3. Your basic nature and values (competencies should be chosen that are in accordance with your nature and values);
4. Whether the group or organization is for-profit or non-profit, new or long-established, and large or small;
5. The particular culture (or values and associated behaviours) of whomever is being led.

Competencies Are Cumulative from Leading Individuals to Organizations. We’ll be looking at the different domains of leadership that at one time or the other you can find yourselves in.  The domains include: 
Yourself, 
Other individuals, 
Teams and groups, 
Organisations and 
Communities. 

Leading other individuals requires that you have the core competencies and more specific skills. Leading in larger contexts requires larger sets of competencies. Core Competencies to Lead in Any Domain

Whether you're leading yourself, others, teams, organizations or communities, there are certain skills that you need to have, these are called core competencies.

• Decision making 
• Problem Solving  
• Managing Power and Influence
• Building trust
• Creativity and Innovation
• Systems thinking
• Ethics and Social Responsibility

Here’s an RLS for you, send your answers to my inbox before Close of Business tomorrow http://www.facebook.com/tolulope.m.ayeni. Please quote your registration number in the Subject of your message. 

RLS - assignment

Jimi is a leader of a group of young people; they have one vision that is, to help the youths in their immediate community to maximize their potentials. This position was handed down to him, he shares in the vision but does not fully understand the group policies, fortunately for him, and the vision is his passion. The problem is, the other members of his team also need their potentials to be maximized but they are too scared to deal with their immediate surroundings. How does a blind man tell another blind man which way goes straight and which is winding? Jimi has a hard time getting these people to be committed, he begins to doubt if he is even an effective leader. However one thing he focuses on is getting a landmark achievement in his tenure, regardless of the inadequate cooperation from her team. As much as he would like to send the uncooperative team members packing, he is also concerned about the effect this will have on their individual life achievements. He is faced with this problem: he wants to help the youths to maximise their potentials, to achieve this he’s been appointed to lead a team he did not participate in choosing only to discover that most of his team members don’t even know their potentials not to talk of maximising them. If you were in Jimi’s position, what would you do?  

Tolulope Mercy Ayeni

Leadership Basics, TFSEL 700.