Leading And Leadership Go Hand In Hand

Leadership and Communication are not new terms for the people working in the corporate world or for that matter any other organization. Many of us must have attended seminars and workshops on these subjects and have undergone various training sessions on the same. Along with the experience, one has to get the quality of leadership sharpened to not only scale higher position in the organization’s ladder but to be a sensitive role model in the organization, society, and family at large. Some people are born leaders and some imbibe & inculcate leadership qualities by consciously dealing with people, situations, and challenges.

As we all know a leader is someone who always inspires, motivates, and influences subordinates, colleagues and people at large by guiding them in the proper direction, helping with needs, facilitating learning, taking responsibility and maintaining integrity. In short, he should be a role model, but ironically in most cases, we found the leaders/superiors/bosses are arrogant, insensitive, and self-centered. Working with such bosses or leaders becomes a challenge for the subordinates or down-line people. In such cases, an employee either leaves the job or gets stuck into the culture of adulation to win the favor of his/her boss. Gradually, this practice itself becomes the culture of that organization. This culture then moves from upward to downward and impacts each level of the hierarchy in the organization and finally, the overall culture of the organization gets adversely affected.

Sometimes, a leader wants the objectives of either personal or of the organization to be fulfilled at any cost, and in doing so he seldom pays attention to others’ wants, needs, and desires. They simply believe controlling people by threatening, scolding and shouting at them is the only way forward to get the work done. Fine, sometimes it works and he/she may get the expected result and may achieve the desired objectives by controlling and coercing people but it won’t sustain for long. A leader has to understand that he is working with human beings who have feelings, aspirations, goals, expectations, and desires to grow and evolve.

Leaders must also realize and understand that just becoming a leader, boss or employer doesn’t mean that he/she is supreme power or authority entitled to treat the subordinates with humiliation and threat. Leadership is not about being superior but being a part team and one of them.