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Some believe that leaders are born, not made, while others think that leadership is a quantifiable set of skills and ways of thinking that can be taught (Messmer 1999). Concepts of leadership, ideas about leadership and leadership practices are the subject of much thought, discussion, writing, teaching and learning (Depree 1989). What is it that makes an effective leader? What are the attributes, skills and competencies leaders of organisations possess, and can these sets of skills be developed through training? Can some leaders perform below their potential, even becoming toxic leaders, and if so how is this occurrence recognisable? This report will investigate these concepts of leadership in order to provide a simple blueprint of the important aspects of what it is to be an effective leader in an organisation. It is clear that effective leadership can make a difference to organisational performance. However, the determinants of leadership success are not as clear-cut. What is clear is that successful organisational leadership relies on a combination of traits, skills, attitudes, environmental and intra-organisational conditions (Sarros & Woodman 1993). The five main attributes or competencies required for effective leadership within an organisation are identified as follows; (1) vision and creativity; (2) setting objectives/achieving targets; (3) confident decision making; (4) team building; (5) coaching. These five attributes are by no means exhaustive when discussing leadership qualities. However with these five skills in place hand in hand with the organisational goals in mind, organisational outcomes and effective leadership success will more often than not be achieved. The relationship of each attribute to organisational outcomes will now be established. Vision is a leadership attribute that always is in vogue. Vision and direction setting are the building blocks to change, where producing change is the primary function of leadership. Vision is often defined as a description of something (eg. culture, technology) in the future in terms of what it should become. In a similar vein, setting directions and providing vision [by leaders] is clearly grounded in the need for organisations to adapt continuously to changing, unstable environments. Vision as a leadership attribute is related directly to employee commitment and work satisfaction. The logical extension of this is that satisfied and committed workers will be more productive, and in turn will assist organisational performance. The problem, of course, is in channelling the vision to achieve objectives without the interference of outside forces (Sarros & Woodman 1993). Vision consists of a number of personal as well as organisational strengths. Visionary leaders are recognised by their energy, capacity for hard work, commitment, and risk-taking behaviour. Their organisational abilities include the tendency to think globally and to communicate widely and unambiguously (Sarros & Woodman 1993). These are the visionary attributes expected today of effective leaders. Very few individual leaders seem to have both the capacities for creativity and vision and putting that creativity/vision into place. More vision/risk-taking needs to be adopted to break the cycle [of doom and gloom]. Whilst creativity in the ranks is often there, leaders do not act, or act on it far too slowly (Sarros & Woodman 1993). Vision, strategic thinking and innovation are terms often mentioned together. Executives believed that effective vision encourages innovation and strategic thinking, but that it also requires courage, commitment and communication to be achieved. Vision and creativity may be directly related to organisational innovation, however strategic thinking, direction setting, and a motivated workforce underpin the measure of the success visionary thinking produces in terms of organisational outcomes. These relationships, while descriptive, provide a conceptual framework for coming to terms with visionary business leadership, and for further research in this area. Setting and achieving objectives are the mainstays of leadership, and are as much components of vision as they are its outcomes. Without appropriate visions that are readily translated into tangible objectives, achieving targets will remain largely problematic (Sarros & Woodman 1993). A major aspect of effective leadership therefore appears to be the establishment of clear and specific objectives and the attainment of those objectives.
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