All 2 entries tagged Excellence

Can leadership be taught?

So while researching for this PMA i have been mulling over the whole "can leadership be taught"concept. maybe it depends on what you classify leadership as- a skill, a quality, a personality trait?

So i was thinking That ye of course we can experience being put in a leadership position many times, but does that mean were doing it effectively?

alternatively if we consider it as a skill, skills may not be taught but they do begin from learning something at some point. lets take archery for example, there are skilled archers out there. But to begin you are just taught how to hold and shoot an arrow. Then as the days go on you learn how you should be aiming, how you should b letting go of the arrow, what arrow suits you best etc. THis process continues till you develop some skill at it. You are not born with it, you were taught it or shown it, then you pushed yourself to get better and better and learn more. So maybe leadership can be considered as a skill, yes you can learn it wrong and practice incorrectly, but for you to become skilled or effective you've gotta refine yourself, see how your performing and what the results are and reflect and refine.

So yes i think some seeds of leadership can be taught to people or even learned, but achieving effectiveness is upto the individuals effort towards it. If they work harder to understand their employees and provide better leadership for their employees, then they can become more effective leaders. And liek any sportsmen, you never stop learning or working towards a better you!

: 03 Mar 2015 14:06 |  Tags: Excellence Leadrship Management Mbe Questioning |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

what is leadership and can we achieve it?

Is leadership a skill? is it a character? an inbuilt trait or a practice? Is it something that is taught or something to aspire towards?

if you ask a group of employees what leadership is what would they say? What would a soldier say? or a student, or paramedic? what would a sportsmen or a company director say? they would all have variance leadership definitions. What may constitute exemplary leadership practices to a Marine may not be so valuable to a construction worker.

leadership is a word that is thrown around a lot. What we dont realise is that it is more about the followers than anything. leadership is defined by the above followers. Is it not up to the individuals perception?- what they may need from their respective leader is unique to them.

The problem arises when leaders fail to see this factor. A once brilliant leader cannot maintain that followership and motivation without being continually flexible and adaptable to the groups needs and perceptions. ever aware of the changes in temperature

now its all well and good to see this, but how are we to keep this going. This is what i am wondering, in any case i have found that having one to one interactions with people builds a brilliant rapport personally but in a positions of leadership how do you keep that healthy distance where people can still value your guidance as a leader. or is that even a power aspect in itself. should there be atleast some element of distance between leaders or is does it just come down to how inspiring your own actions are to make others follow suite.

this is a reflection in action, maybe ill find the answer this week or maybe its just a matter of adaptability when things arise. maybe taking the coaching approach may help build a better response....

: 10 Feb 2015 20:47 |  Tags: Awareness Define Direction Excellence Growth Le Leadership Learning Lessons Life Wonder |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem