Leadership Training Program, Essay Example

Leadership is a very important aspect in any organization.  A leader is any individual who directs others with an aim of influencing them to follow a set direction.  The leader uses leadership techniques and behaviors to help influence individuals to become successful to achieve the specific goals of the company, group or organization.  Therefore, leadership can thus be defined as the ability to influence or motivate a number of people to achieve a given aim or set of goals.  It involves directing the action and behavior of other people towards accomplishing a given set of objectives (McNamara 12).  There are many leadership theories and principles that are used to help guide individuals to find their inner leader.  Meanwhile, other professionals believe that leadership comes from a specific set of traits that people are either born with or accumulate through childhood and adolescence.  This suggests that individuals cannot be groomed to be leaders; however, a specific training program can be utilized to counter this belief and help guide any individual to take a leadership role in their organization or community.

It is necessary to have a good leader in any organization to achieve success.  There are certain values, skills and competencies that make up a good leader and should be taught through training programs.  A leader should be able to know how to cope with change, while also establishing direction for the group by developing a vision of the future.  As these tasks and responsibilities are completed, the leader must then align people by communicating this vision and inspiring them to overcome hurdles.  These tasks and many others involve several leadership qualities that can exist within everyone, while the ability for them to be used to help benefit the organization may be different.  According to the 4 E’s of Leadership, a leader must be able to envision, enable, empower, energize and ultimately execute the tasks and responsibilities at hand.  First of all, leadership starts with having a vision, then developing a plan to achieve it.  It is based both on data assessment and intuition, hope and fear.  It is a noble challenge.  A vision of the future is the key to getting started as a leader.  Leaders must then decide what methods or tools will be used to enable the objectives, and to encourage the right kind of action.  Effective empowerment provides the space to get the task completed, the space to innovate, and the feedback mechanism to both improve results and to motivate the organization.  The more energy the team generates, the more energy the leader has – in a virtuous circle of reinforcement.  Finally, outstanding execution and follow through applies at every stage of the leadership process.

While these characteristics of leaders are important, there is another set of theories that describes a set of traits that must be utilized in order for the leader to be successful.  These trait theorists offer such characteristics as charisma, enthusiasm, courage, optimism, imaginative, celebrate the organization’s mission or purpose, supply the means to achieve and maintain a global view.  One quality of an effective leader is honesty towards his or her team members as well as to his or her work.  Having good communication skills is also another effective leadership quality.  Interpersonal communication is very important so that the information is expressed to the employees or group members of the organization in the clearest and most-efficient manner possible.  This also suggests that the leader must be a good listener.  Any good leader must be a fast learner and have the ability to spot and nurture potential talent and to take necessary risks.  Furthermore, the leader needs to be enthusiastic in relation to their role, work and cause (Vroom & Yetton 130).  This quality does not only escalate dedication and passion from the team members but also acts as a source of motivation and inspiration.  Good leaders tolerate ambiguity as well as harsh conditions and are always composed, calm and steadfast to achieving the main goals.  They show commitment in the maintenance of good work standards and excellence.  Other qualities of effective leadership include good decision making skills, creativity, confidence, humility and appreciation for what others have done (Vroom & Yetton 132).  Each of these qualities is very special toward the leader’s ability to help motivate and guide the people to help achieve the goals of the organization.

To help implement these traits and characteristics into individuals, a training program must be designed to help achieve the goal of grooming young men and women to become leaders of an organization or group.  Utilizing the information from the leadership development model, each stage of leadership development has someone or something above and below that will help provide structure for leadership.  The training program that is being suggested will help to create a sturdy foundation of traits and characteristics, as well as leadership mentors that can help guide the individual through the development stages.  To begin, an individual must have leadership abilities, which they gain from training, leadership teams, coaches and mentors.  This training program would be designed to help individuals learn specific traits, such as honesty and effective interpersonal communication among other.  Through verbal and written exercises within a group, an individual will gain more courage and higher self-esteem regarding their own leadership and communication abilities throughout the training.

The objectives of this training program are to clearly define leadership, provide a clear understanding of the importance of leadership within every organization, and describe the personality traits and the 4 E’s of leadership that can be developed to help individuals become better leaders. There are three main types of leadership styles that will be focused within the training.  These include Authoritarian, Participative and Free Reign.  Authoritarian or Autocratic leadership styles are when leaders tell their employees what they want done and how they want it accomplished, without getting the advice of their followers.  This is best used when all the information is available to the leader to solve the problem, the time frame for completion is short, and the employees are well motivated.  Participative leadership involves the leader including one or more employees in the decision making process to determine what to do and how to do it.  The leader still maintains the final decision-making authority.  This style is best used when part of the information is available and employees have other parts.  It is important to note that a leader is not expected to know everything, which is why it is important to employ knowledgeable and skillful employees to help in decision-making.  Finally, Free Reign leadership styles are where the leader allows the employees to make the decisions.  The leader is still responsible for the decisions that are made, but the style is used when employees are able to analyze the situation and determine what needs to be done and how to do it.  The leader must set priorities and delegate certain tasks, and must understand that this leadership style is not used to place blame onto others.  These leadership styles will be discussed and an exercise will be used throughout training to help individuals determine what traits they have and what their leadership style would likely be based on that information.

In association with describing and teaching personality traits and leadership styles, it is important for individuals to be aware of the many different leadership styles that can be used in any given situation.  This concept of choosing skills and leadership styles based on the situation is commonly referred to as situational leadership because individuals must understand what traits and skills to use that will help advance the success of the organization in any given situation.  For example, an already stressed group of co-workers would not respond well to an authoritarian or in-your-face style of leadership.  Therefore, the leader must be aware of his or her leadership style and how best to use such skills depending on the situation.  The training program will provide each trainee with a set of situations based on real-world examples.  Within a group, the trainees can discuss what skills and leadership styles would be better suited to solve the problems or motivate individuals than others.  This active discussion will help people learn, and will be overseen by the trainers in order to ensure positive reinforcement and effective learning.  Just as many leaders have specific traits and diverse characteristics, so too do the many challenges that face leaders in any given environment.  These challenges can include globalization and diversity, aging employees, contract and cheap labor, confronting unethical behavior and increased work-life conflicts.  A clear discussion and educational training for these specific challenges can be used in accordance with the leadership style training exercises in order to discuss situational leadership.  Every organization will face these problems and it requires an effective leader to help see the organization through difficult times.

As it has clearly been proven, leadership involves many particular leadership styles and characteristics that are important for goal achievement within the organization.  Leadership training is a crucial factor in creating leaders for the future in any organization, especially within those where current leaders may be aging or retiring.  There is not one specific way to train leaders, but the information providing herein suggests that leaders should become aware of their current traits and the traits of leaders.  This will help in the development stages and a mentoring or coaching option for the training will also help guide young leaders on the right path.  A successful organization would utilize this leadership training program because of the educational and real-world impact the training could have for any individual that is looking to become a leader.

References

Goodworth, C. (1988). The Secrets of Successful Leadership and People Management, Oxford: Heinman Professional Publishing.

McNamara, C. (1997). Overview of Leadership in Organizations. Florida: Authenticity Consulting, LLC.

Veccio, R.P. (1988). Organizational Behavior, Plymouth: The Dryden Press.

Vroom, V. H. and Yetton, P. W. (1973). Leadership and decision-making, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.