Leadership: Essential Skills for Effective Commanders - Essay Sample

Introduction

A leader can be described as a person who is the head of an organization, a country or a group of people having the key role of commanding and ensuring that its objectives and purpose are met accordingly. Leadership, on the other hand, is the process itself where the leader influences those he leads towards achieving the desired and set objectives in a unified and coherent manner (Ciulla, 2014). For effective leadership, the person in charge must have great leadership skills which make him a good leader. Examples of general good leadership skills include having a vivid vision, integrity, being honest, humble, focused and courageous just to mention a few.

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In any organization, change is an attribute which mainly affects its long term success. An organization or company has to effectively deal with the changes that occur over time for its continued progress to be on the positive side. Changing the context of practice requires a well-planned strategy to meet these emerging needs. For each forecasted change in context, a unique strategy has to be put in place. Each strategy has to be planned and implemented with a different individual skillset according to the type of strategy being undertaken. To ensure effective forecast of the changes that are likely to occur over time, a good leader is crucial in identifying and ensuring a successful adaptive change throughout the entire process. This is contributed by the level of skills the leader has that correspond to the various strategies being put in place.

Change may influence an organization negatively if not properly handled. For this reason, a great leader has to be aware of the consequences that accompany the change and have the capability to drive the company through the entire process efficiently to ensure it does not succumb to the obstacles along the way. Understanding the various responses of those involved in the change is one of the requirements which a good leader must-have. This helps in obtaining a clear picture of the overall response in the organization towards the change which helps the leader to make an informed decision while implementing the change (Silva, 2016). Guidelines have to be followed by the leader down to those who are involved during this process. This ensures a fair and orderly method during practice. Also, an effective change leader has to study the change models which help him follow through the whole process right from the beginning to the end. Lastly, a good leader has to have a strong will and confidence to perform the implementations of the strategies dealing with the change being undertaken. This ensures full commitment towards the laid objectives for a general success outcome through the changes.

For an effective transition through the process of implementation of the laid strategies, several steps have to be considered by the leader. The first being creating a feeling of urgency. Urgency creation is critical in ensuring the leader has unified support of his organization as a whole. This increases the chances of success towards the implementation and sustenance of the strategies about to be imposed whereby the majority of individuals are more welcoming to the change.

The second step following the creation of urgency is the creation of a strong volunteering team which is responsible for carrying out the strategic changes within the organization. This makes the people being led feel that they are part of the change by being included in the plans made. Therefore become more devoted towards ensuring the success of their set objectives. Thirdly, the leader forms a clear vision and strategic initiatives which enable his desired objectives to be well comprehended by those involved. It makes everyone understand the reason behind the set strategies put in place in line with the contributing change.

Forth step involved in the change management process is the creating of a guiding coalition which ensures the set objectives are strictly followed for an effective changing transformation. The fifth procedure involves the leader's identification together with the removal of barriers that affect the successful implementation of the strategies imposed. Obstacles often arise during the actual implementation of the strategies. Some of the barriers that occur are most often than not unplanned for while a small percentage are foreseen way before they occur making them easy to overcome.

Examples of barriers that may occur during this process include: resistance from individuals being led, breakdown in communication between the leader and his people, turnover of staff in the transition period, lack of sufficient time to train the individuals about the strategies involved, high amount of funds involved in the whole process, malfunctions in software and hardware implementations, short unrealistic timeline of the whole process of implementing the laid strategies together with their sustenance, unexpected twist in the market and economy in general and finally lack of enough people to voluntary participate in the training exercise put in place by the leader.

The sixth step in the change process is the generation of short-term objectives which are quickly achievable. This helps in boosting the morale of the people involved whereby they can visibly observe progress quickly in short stages. With this, the leader gets to easily motivate them towards achieving his planned long term goal. The seventh procedure involved in the maintenance of the strategic change once it is implemented until the time it is completed. Making the whole process have a forward driving force from the leader towards the maturity of the strategy. The eighth and final step is the merging of the strategic change within the institution. The leader uses various ways to ensure that the change implemented has successfully been integrated to the organization for its general effectiveness with the main aim being the success brought about by the strategic change (Herman, 2016).

Taking into consideration various changes that are likely to affect an organization, we narrow down to three changes namely; changes in funding, policy and community. A good leader can lead his organization through such changes by creating and implementing adaptive strategies which help in overcoming the changes. Each change in context calls for a unique strategy which the leader takes responsibility for. To achieve a successful adaptive change, the leader has to have a high level of skills which enable him to implement the strategies with a lot of wits.

Change in funding interrupts the amount of cash flow towards the organization which is a requirement for the smooth running of the company. A strategy which can be put in place to help an organization adapt to this type of change includes the reduction of expenses by the company. This involves outlining the least relevant expenses which they occur and trying to minimize or merge into other more valuable expenses which the organization cannot run without. Another strategy which a leader can implement is the laying off of personnel to minimize on wages. While implementing this strategy, key personnel should not be laid off to ensure productivity does not drop but is rather maintained.

The skillset required by a leader to implement the above strategies include showing compassion to the involved personnel. This is achieved by having to clearly explain the need for the action taken together with the individual and overall effect it would bring to the organization. The leader should be able to express genuine respect towards his involved personnel in regards to the difficult choices he has to make. Examples of these hard decisions include the number of individual wages offered according to individual contribution to the organization, benefits offered to personnel and reduction of jobs to implement strategic plans for adapting to change in funding. Frequent communication of the leader to those below him is key in ensuring a healthy and workable relationship making good communication skills a necessity to a good leader (Bracken, 2014).

Wise decision making skill is also an important skill set to have as a good leader. It helps in steering the organization in the right direction amidst various challenges which arise. Also helps in reducing emotional stress on workers as a result of adaptive changes unfamiliar to them. The second change is the change in policy which involves the implementation of new systems and procedures. Working policy in an organization is prone to change and to adapt to this change, a good leader must come up with viable strategic plans.

An example of a strategy involving the adaptive change in policy is the laying of proper work towards the new policy is made. This is aided by giving good explanations to involved personnel as to why the new policy is needed together with its advantages and benefits to them and the organization as a whole. Another strategy involves the simplification of the policy change to enable smooth and warm reception from the organization. A complex new change in policy could prove strenuous to a person in terms of how they comprehend and receive it. The third strategy is ensuring maximum involvement of workers during the making and implementation of the new policies. This is achieved by engaging them in every step of the change and by encouraging them to present their feedback which helps in decision making by the leader (Dow, 2014).

As such the leader should have good communication skills, be patient and also be able to provide necessary support whenever the need arises. In addition to that, he should be a trusted individual to be able to influence the changes in policy to his workers and for them to be undoubtedly convinced. The leader should be respectful enough not to ignore his personnel staff views. Thirdly, strategies put in place to changes in community involve the application of diversified concepts to form a coherent and cohesive workforce. A second strategy which can be imposed is the providing of psychological counselling and thorough planning of multiple exercises to assist in eliminating emotional impact on personnel.

Skills required for the leader include: being a role model and leading by example, ability to measure the extent to which his personnel are prepared for the change helping in decision making and finally able to continue to serve amidst the confusion and pressure that come with a change in the community.

Conclusion

In conclusion, a good responsible leader should be able to adapt to any kind of change that faces his organization putting in place well-planned strategies that help in overcoming the challenges that come with changes. A high level of skill set is important in ensuring the strategies are delivered accordingly and have the desired effect on the individuals and organization as a whole.

References

Bracken, I. (2014). Urban planning methods: Research and policy analysis. Routledge.

Ciulla, J. B. (Ed.). (2014). Ethics, the heart of leadership. ABC-CLIO.

Dow, R. S. (2014). Leadership Responsibility in Mentoring Organization Newcomers. Journal of Management Policy & Practice, 15(1).

Herman, R. D. (2016). Executive leadership. The Jossey-Bass handbook of nonprofit leadership and management, 167.

Silva, A. (2016). What is leadership? Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 8(1), 1.