QUALITIES OF A SUCCESSFUL LEADER

Leader is a person who provides vision, direction and motivation to the subordinates to achieve great actions. Leading involves providing leadership. Leaders are in all areas like Business, Politics, Education and so on. In the words of George Terry, Leadership is the activity of influencing people to strive willingly for group objectives. Alford and Beatty define, Leadership is the ability to secure desired actions from a group of followers voluntarily, without the use of coercion. Great leaders have shaped the destiny of people, organizations and even countries. Regardless of their vocation there are certain common traits about great leaders such as they are extremely motivated, set high standards for themselves and their followers, love to accept challenges, eager to learn new things, having focused approach, etc. Decisions and actions of such leaders provide lot of satisfaction to their followers. Effective leadership is required to lead and guide the subordinates to perform organizational tasks effectively.It is observed that many people interpret the terms leadership and managership synonymously. However it is not so. Leadership can exist even in an unorganized set up while managership exist in a formal organization set up. Separating leadership from managership will help in focusing on qualities rather than on qualifications of the leader. Leadership though is an important element in managing. The essence of leadership is followership. People like to follow that person whom they feel can help them in achieving their desires and expectations.Every manager develops a style in managing the activities. Such styles vary from leader to leader, from situation to situation, and from organization to organization. The main types of leadership styles are: Autocratic Style is old fashioned and now outdated to a considerable extent. It only directs the followers to do without asking questions. A manager with old fashioned/traditional outlook assumes positive expectations from the subordinates. His leadership is imposed leadership and lacks popular support. He commands and expects compliance. He has full control on his subordinates and gets the work done from them even by using force. Subordinates honour him out of fear of punishment and not because of affection for him. Bureaucratic Style is noticed in the case of government departments, public bodies and public sector enterprises. It is not effective in the business world particularly in the private sector. It fails to introduce innovation and flexibility in the organization as per the need of the situation. Such leaders do not use their discreation they function within the framework prepared by rules and regulations. Here, the decisions are taken by the leader strictly as per the rules and regulations set. A bureaucrat wants his subordinates to follow his orders and instructions in total. Delays in decision-making are not taken seriously. The overall approach of leadership is mechanical/casual. Consultative Style is constructive, liberal and sympathetic towards subordinates as their views are taken into consideration while taking decisions. The subordinates are allowed to express their views freely and are taken into consideration while taking decisions by the leader. It is liberal and willing to consider the suggestions of subordinates with open mind. A consultative leader consults his subordinates on his proposed decisions and actions. He encourages participation of subordinates in the decision-making process. It gets support and respect from subordinates and is treated as the best style of leadership. This leadership style is also called Democratic Leadership Style. Laissez-faire Style is rather passive. The subordinates are given full freedom to take decisions and actions, independently. Guidance from the leadership is limited and many matters are left for the consideration and decisions by subordinates. The leader does not motivate or guide or even encourage the subordinates to take initiative and interest in the work. The leader is rather indifferent to his responsibilities. He acts more as a chairperson in generating and evaluating alternatives in search of group consensus.Paternalistic Style aims at creating a family atmosphere within the organization. The leader is respected and treated as a father figure by the subordinates. This type of leadership is more suitable in small organizations, where there are a handful of employees, and just one leader or boss. The leader advises, guides, consoles and helps the subordinates even during their personal hardships. This style is mostly followed in Japanese organizations. The leader considers himself as a parent figure.Sociocratic Style attempt to run their organization like a social club. They believe in a warm and pleasant social atmosphere. For them, the interest of the subordinates comes first and then that of the organization. The superior takes a decision by keeping the interest of the subordinates. The interest of organization may be secondary. He consults the subordinates for decision making. Neurocratic Style is highly risky oriented and wants to get the things done at any cost. He is highly sensitive and gets quickly upset at failures. The leader may be emotional and eccentric and may not consult the subordinates in decision making. He takes the decision and is responsible for decision making but he may shift the responsibility on to his subordinates.Situational Style now-a-days in most well managed organizations, the managers follow situational leadership style. This means, the leadership style varies depending upon the situation. In other words, the leader may be autocrat at times, consultative at times, and participative at times, depending upon the decision and the situation. Managers need to be good leader. A leader according to Websters Dictionary is a person who takes charge of or guides a performance or activity. To be a Successful Leader, one must possess good qualities. The qualities are as follows:An ideal Leader needs Self Confidence which is one of his personal traits and useful for facing complex problems and challenging situations easily and effectively. It is a rare quality because of which a person feels that he has capacity to solve his problems independently. This self-confidence creates initiative to deal with all challenging situations effectively.An ideal leader requires initiative while performing his job. He must know the art of doing right thing at a right time and also to take appropriate decisions without any delay. He also needs innovative mind so as to lead his subordinates tactfully under varied situations. In addition, he needs imagination to discover new ideas or new techniques for handling business activities. He should be emotionally matured. He neither gets frustrated by one or two failures nor overjoyed by one or two favourable results. He always behaves with a sense of self-discipline.A leader should possess the ability to think rationally. For this, he needs sound educational background. A leader should be superior as compared to his followers. He will get respect from them only when he proves his superior quality intelligence. He should be intelligent to judge the situation around him and offer suitable leadership style. He must possess decisiveness. This means ability to think positively. He must be able to formulate appropriate line of action.He should be an effective communicator. He should be able to communicate his thoughts in an accurate manner. Even motivation of followers is possible easily, if the leader is an effective communicator. In addition, he should be able to understand clearly and correctly the communication from his subordinates. In short, a communication skill is one useful trait of a good leader.He needs dynamic personality for influencing his subordinates. It is the basic requirement of a good leader in business and also in other aspects of life. It is the sum of total of physical, mental and social qualities available within an individual. It is a comprehensive term. He should be to face any change-favourable/unfavourable with confidence/ease.An ideal leader needs vision and foresight. He needs capacity to imagine the situation or problems likely to develop in the near future and adjust his leadership style accordingly. These two qualities bring success and popularity to a leader.He needs flexibility in his approach. He should be able to change his views, policies and methods as per the changes taking place around him. He should be liberal, flexible and adjustable as per the needs of the situation.A manager who is unwilling to assume responsibility of guiding the group fails as a leader. A manager may delegate his authority but he cannot shift his responsibility.He should possess knowledge of inter-personal skills to understand others. He can direct, motivate and coordinate the efforts of subordinates only when he understands their mind and deals tactfully. A good leader should be knowledgeable. The subordinates took forward to the leader to come to their rescue at the time of administrative crisis. Such knowledgeable leader is respected by his subordinates.He needs administrative capacity. This enables him to have expected result from his followers.He as a leader has to discharge various duties. He therefore, needs technical knowledgeable relating the area of his operation. It will enable the leader to evaluate the performance of his subordinates.A manager has to deal with his subordinates of varied types. He must be able to satisfy his subordinates and create confidence in their minds. For this, he needs knowledgeable of human psychology. In addition, a good leader also needs patience for avoiding hasty decisions and actions which may prove troublesome to his organization. A good leader also needs patience while dealing with his subordinates and others. He as a leader should be able to judge people and situations. He has to take decisions quickly and also correctly as per his judgement of the overall business situation. Similarly, he should be fair and impartial while dealing with the demands and disputes of his subordinates. Here, proper judgement of the situation is required.