Is defining leadership possible? If you look up the word, there are more definitions than you can count.
Here are a few:
- the process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task
- someone followed by others; someone who guides or directs others
- having or being given intentional influence over others
While a strict definition of the words “leader” or “leadership” is difficult to come by, however, we all have an idea of the concept behind those terms. We know that being a leader is hard work. We know that to be a good leader, a person must have the best interests of their followers at heart and be willing to work with those who don’t follow willingly. We know that leaders must be careful not to abuse their power over others.
We also know that in many cases leaders share the same characteristics.
Great leaders are:
Authentic
Another reason that it’s so hard to define leadership is that there are many different types of leaders – football coaches are leaders, and teachers are leaders, and business managers are leaders. They all lead different types of people, and therefore they lead in different manners, but what they all must have to be successful is sincerity. If the football team, the class, and the business team know that their leaders care about them and are invested in reaching a positive outcome as a group, they’ll practice harder, learn more, and work together better.
Flexible
Today’s business world is moving at a faster pace than the average person can follow; studies show that the average person is subjected to 250 to 5,000 marketing messages a day at a time when our attention spans have reportedly dropped to eight seconds. A good leader is someone who can “go with the flow” and adapt to the quickly changing times. Getting new employees, for example, won’t be a problem for a good leader – they can quickly fold them into the team, making the transition as smooth as possible.
Other types of flexibility are also important. Good leaders must be able to communicate in multiple forms, listen to AND hear others, give and take constructive criticism, and make changes in their leadership style as necessary.
Encouraging
A good leader knows that teaching others to be leaders won’t diminish their own skills as leaders. If a leader has shared their knowledge, they can confidently hand projects off to other members of their team and be confident that the project will be done and done well.
Encouraging and teaching others to be better leaders also makes people feel as if they matter, and people who feel as if they matter are better employees.
How do YOU define leadership?
