Learning Leadership

An organization that does not groom its work force to meet the challenges of a dynamic work environment is bound to fail. It is very important to prepare today’s executives for future leadership. A 2nd line of defense of a fall back plan is required in every sphere of life. And organizations are no different. They have to groom their executives to take the charge of middle level management when the need arises. Similarly middle level management should be groomed to acquire leadership skills. The idea behind learning leadership is to fill in the gap that creeps in between executive level and senior management level. All the successful organizations of the world among others have one thing in common. They never lose sight of the future and they could foresee the challenges that lie ahead. It is this ability of anticipation that has kept organizations across the world in business. But foreseeing future hurdles and challenges is just one part of being successful. The other and most important aspect of being dominant in your area of business is to prepare your employees to meet the future challenges. One of the critical factors of getting prepared is to build and inculcate leadership skills in your work force. Learning leadership qualities is not a difficult task. It requires a mindset that is ready to take calculated risks and is open to suggestions. Here is what Roger Martin has to say about leadership: “But this focus on what a leader does is misplaced. That’s because moves that work in one context often make no sense in another, even at the same company or within the same experience of a single leader….. Trying to learn from what Jack Welch did invites confusion and incoherence, because he pursued – wisely, I might add – diametrically opposed courses at different points in his career and in GE’s history… So where do we look for lessons? A more productive, though more difficult approach is to focus on how a leader thinks – that is, to examine the antecedent of doing, or the way in which leaders’ cognitive processes produce their actions.” And rightly so, it all depends the way we think. The first trait of an extraordinary leader is to think BIG without losing sight of his mission. A leader has to be always in control of the things. No matter how terrible things may go, he/she has to stay calm, inspire the team and steer the ship to the shore from troubled waters.