Concepts of Leadership and Management - Paper Example

Introduction

There are numerous concepts that separate a leader from a manager. Both of these positions entail similar aspects like decision making and assigning of responsibilities, although it is the differences that clarify the contrasts between them. To begin with, managers have subordinates who could be their workers or employees on a payroll while a leader is influential enough to have followers who do not have to be paid to buy into their vision and follow them. Managers relate to their subordinates through an authoritarian style of leadership where they issue commands that they expect to be followed to the letter. This is different from a leader who is usually charismatic enough to inspire their followers into doing the things that the leader makes them believe are the right courses of action (Cole, 2018). Their style of leadership is transformational in that their followers believe adhering to the leader's ideals will benefit them by molding them into better people. Managers are strictly focused on their work to bring in the results which is done within the constraints of time and money. As for the leader, they are people-oriented where they believe in inspiring people to unleash their inner potential to an extent of having them work in the belief of doing what is essentially right or good. While managers like to stick to their comfort zones and run a happy ship due to their risk-averse nature, leaders are generally risk takers who have a clear vision which they take a gamble and believe that it will eventually payoff.

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There are various beliefs and habits that make an individual to be an effective leader. The absence of these beliefs makes the leader a bad one who is likely to create adverse personal experiences for their followers. One of the qualities that makes an individual to be an effective leader is communication and interpersonal skills (Collins, 2014). This is where the leader clearly articulates their vision to their followers with regular updates on the progress made towards the achievement of their visions. The challenges that emerge along the way are also communicated whereupon solutions are sought and implemented to facilitate the continuation towards achieving the laid down vision. The interpersonal skills helps the leader to relate well with their followers as they inspire them to focus on the bigger picture by keeping their eyes firmly focused on the vision of the leader. An effective leader must also have a clear vision of where they want to be and incorporate the help of their followers to ensure they journey on the same wavelength towards the achievement of the said vision. An effective leader is also honest enough to give a candid feedback or report of things as they are to the followers without the fear of rebuttal because they will provide alternative approaches to improving on any noticed weaknesses. Personal experiences with a bad leader include where the leader does not communicate clearly on what they need done yet they expect the followers to execute their vision without hitches. Any problem that occurs in such a scenario is strongly rebuked by the bad leader instead of taking their time to explain what and how things should have been done.

As an individual, I believe I possess the necessary qualities that would make me an effective leader within any given unit. One of them is my strong communication skills where I am able to express myself both verbally and through written content to eradicate any ambiguities to my group of followers. I am also an honest person where I can get bold about the issues that the unit is meant to accomplish and the challenges that lie ahead (Roussel, Harris, & Thomas, 2016). This makes it possible to find new ideas of overcoming such hurdles and help the unit to work towards the main objective or vision. Lastly, I believe I am not a divisive but inspiring figure who will do well in motivating the followers within my unit to concentrate on achieving our vision without any unnecessary distractions. The inspiration given to my employees will help them to pull through even in the roughest of moments while in pursuit of the unit's vision.

Conclusion

The criteria one would use to evaluate whether their leadership is effective or not as seen in their employees would entail the creation of goodwill and trust (Cole, 2018). Effective leadership creates a free atmosphere where the followers can freely express their ideas and concerns without any fear of being admonished. This brings us to the criteria of exact execution of assigned tasks by employees which is a reflection of the clear communication passed down from the leader. Effective leadership does not leave room for second guessing which will likely lead to shoddy work or avoidable mistakes as long as there was vivid communication. Finally, the other criteria that would depict effective leadership would be the confidence of the followers in undertaking their tasks. This confidence is brought about by the knowledge that even if any errors were to arise in the pursuit of the leader's vision, the leader will adopt a conciliatory tone in explaining to the followers what ought to have been done and how it should have been done instead of rebuking the followers with strong words that make them to coil into a corner with their confidence adversely affected.

References

Cole, K. (2018). Leadership and management: Theory and practice. Melbourne: Cengage Learning.

Collins, J. (2014). Leadership qualities: Qualities of a good leader. Leipzig: Amazon.

Roussel, L., Harris, J. L., & Thomas, P. L. (2016). Management and leadership for nurse administrators. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.