Most of us believed that leadership comes from birth and it was also a political adjective. Well, this may be true for old times, because leadership was a privilege for the families and was passing as a heritage from father to son. The families had very strong social barriers that do not allow any person to be a leader.
By 20th century, with industrial change movement, sociologists began to focus on the leadership concept at their researches and we began to think that leadership does not come from the fact that the gene family or society! So, barriers had been removed
Leadership was actually a little more complex situation. If the leadership does not pass our genes, we had to have and develop some leadership qualities.
So, What qualities?
In the first level of leadership, there is a high caliber professional that is a problem solver and drives for results. In the second level, there is a contributing team member who is a good communicator and has a learning agility. In the third level, there is resilience and perseverance. The leader is innovative and competent in managing. In the fourth level of leadership, the leader knows how to impact and influence. The leader is effective and a strategic thinker.
Finally, in the fifth level of leadership; there is an executive who is energizing and leading people. The leaders show personal humility and professional will, they are selfless.
For the people who aren’t yet level five, work will always be first. They get the fame, fortune, power, adulation an so on.. Work will never be about what they build, create and contribute.
For the people who have the potential to become level five will develop under the right circumstances by; self reflection, a mentor, loving parents, a significant life experience and etc.
These qualities are competencies for leadership. Any of the competencies have strength in itself. There is always a need for the balance. Example; Experimenting without persistence is unbalanced and persistence without experimenting is meaningless for innovation. That’s what we call this as “balanced versality”.
12 Tips for self-assessment
• Respect yourself while striving to improve
Be confident and clear about ideas and consider all issues
• Be straightforward and direct while being respectful to others
• Express you needs while being helpful and conscious of others’ needs
• Be highly self-motivated while managing stress and respecting others
• Be persistent in overcoming obstacles and trying new things
• Be logical while at the same time value intuition
• Be organized while at the same time adapt to changes
• Be willing to take risks and carefully analyze the risks for pitfalls
• Enforce rules and guide performance while maintaining positive relationships
• Be responsible for decisions while collaborating with others
• Maintain a positive attitude while being mindful of potential problems
Source:
Harrison Assessments International, Paradoxical Leadership, 09.2014
http://www.harrisonassessments.com /www.eande.com.tr
Yaşamak Şakaya Gelmez 