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Leadership can be defined as The process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task." In other words, "the process of influencing the behavior of other people toward group goals in a way that fully respects their freedom." leadership definitions include: y y y y y y exerting influence, motivating and inspiring, helping others realize their potential, leading by example, selflessness making a difference.

Raising and maintaining high performance among work force is an essential element to business reaching its goals and objectives. The leadership team--supervisors, managers and executives--plays a vital role in ensuring employee performance levels remain high. This is a challenge for many leaders; however, it's one that can be resolved. With effective leadership, your work force can prove to be your organization's most valuable resource. Improving employee performance through leadership requires skill, patience and creativity. The following systematic steps can be followed: Step 1 Jot down the differences and similarities among the employees who report to you, and draft an action plan for acknowledging those differences as well as the similarities. Use this planning technique to identify goals for your employees, according to their skills, aptitude and capabilities. One of the traits of an outstanding leader is the ability to develop effective interpersonal communication skills that adapt to the varied work styles, culture and needs of employees. Management and leadership are two separate functions; however, to become a good manager, your leadership style needs to be one that acknowledges the strengths in the different personalities and skills within your work force. An effective manager works to adapt her style so it works for the entire work force, not just a select few employees. Attention to the needs of a diverse work force will encourage your employees to perform well. Step 2 Exhibit behavior that your employees will emulate; modeling behavior is likely the best way to train employees in the nuances of professionalism in the workplace. When workplace professionalism becomes standard procedure, employee performance improves because your work force is proud of the manner in which they perform duties and interact with internal and external customers. Employees are most likely to exceed job expectations when they have a sense of pride in their work. In addition, praise employees for their efforts and for a job well done. Providing regular feedback to employees is another trait that true leaders and effective managers possess. Step 3 Reward employees whose performance exceeds expectations and develop performance improvement plans for employees whose performance falls below expectations. Work together with your employees to construct plans that will enhance skill sets and prepare them for future roles within your organization. Investing the time and energy in developing your work force has significant returns. In addition to improving performance, this leadership activity demonstrates you have a vested interest in your employees. This can increase job satisfaction, which can, in turn, raise the level of job satisfaction among your work force.

Step 4 Communicate with your work force on a continual basis. Do not leave your work force uninformed about work policies, organizational change and, importantly, job expectations. Employees who feel they are valued tend to have better performance records and work remarkably well in a collegial and cohesive environment. Without leadership communication, employees will feel unimportant and devalued even if the lack of communication is unintentional. Share all necessary company information that can help employees understand their role in overall business objectives. This technique ensures a fluid exchange of ideas and opinions between a manager and his employees.

3. Process centric Leadership Style Process centric or Bureaucratic leadership is where the manager manages by the book Everything must be done according to procedure or policy. If it isnt covered by the book, the manager refers to the next level above him or her. This manager is really more of a police officer than a leader. He or she enforces the rules. y y y Bureaucratic leadership normally has the following characteristics: Leaders expect a employees to display a formal, business-like attitude in the workplace and between each other. Managers gain instant authority with their position, because rules demand that employees pay them certain priveledges, such as being able to sign off on all major decisions. As a result, leaders suffer from position power. Leadership development becomes pointless, because only titles and roles provide any real control or power. Employees are rewarded for their ability to adhere to the rules and follow procedure perfectly. Bureaucratic systems usually gradually develop over a long period of time, and hence are more commonly found in large & old businesses.

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This style can be effective when: y y y y y Employees are performing routine tasks over and over. Employees need to understand certain standards or procedures. Employees are working with dangerous or delicate equipment that requires a definite set of procedures to operate. Safety or security training is being conducted. Employees are performing tasks that require handling cash.

This style is ineffective when: y y y Pros Increased safety. In dangerous workplaces where procedures save lives, a bureaucratic management style can help enforce health and safety rules. Quality work. Some tasks, such as completing proffessional work or medical examinations, need to be done in a meticulous fashion to be done correctly. Laziness can result in poor work, and hence one solution is to enforce the rules via the bureacratic leadership style. Work habits form that are hard to break, especially if they are no longer useful. Employees lose their interest in their jobs and in their fellow workers. Employees do only what is expected of them and no more.

Ultimate control. An environment whereby employees are intrinsically motivated to follow rules in order to be promoted and succeed results in the tightest control management can ever assume over a company. This control can be used to cut costs or improve productivity.

Cons Dehumanises the business. Bureacratic companies tend to remove as much potential for human error out of the picture as possible. Unfortunately this also has the effect of removing all the enjoyment and reward that comes from deciding how to do a task and accomplishing it. Lack of self-fulfillment. The bureaucratic way of working hampers employees efforts to become successful and independent, because the system becomes too contraining. Parkinsons Law. Cyril Northcote Parkinson made the scientific observation that the number of staff in bureaucracies increased by an average of 5%-7% per year irrespective of any variation in the amount of work (if any) to be done.". He explains this growth by two forces: (1) An official wants to multiply subordinates, not rivals and (2) Officials make work for each other. Parkinsons findings suggest that bureaucratic leadership encourages inefficiency and waste of internal resources in the long run. Position power obessession. After working in an environment that reinforces the idea that authority is created by rules which in turn support senior positions. Employees become attached to the idea that simply being in a job position creates authority. This can lead to intense office politics, arrogant leaders and little incentive to perform well once an employee has landed a top job. Lack of creativity. It goes without saying that a rule-based culture hinders creativity and encourages workers to simply perform puppet-like work rather than think independently. This may result in a lack of growth in the business due to employees simply not thinking out of the box or looking for new areas to develop. Poor communication. A common feature of a bureaucratic system is a complicated network of communication lines. Managers who dont want to be bothered by junior staff simply create procedures that allow them to avoid communicating with those below them. Go through the formal process, Talk to my secretary and My schedule is full are common rule-based excuses for blocked contact. Barriers to communication can hinder the success of any company. For example, the board may be charging ahead with a doomed product simply because their shop floor workers cannot pass on the message that customers are giving very negative feedback.

People Centric Leadership People Centric Democratic Leadership is the leadership style that promotes the sharing of responsibility, the exercise of delegation and continual consultation. The style has the following characteristics: 1. Manager seeks consultation on all major issues and decisions. 2. Manager effectively delegate tasks to subordinates and give them full control and responsibility for those tasks.

3. Manager welcomes feedback on the results of intiatives and the work environment. 4. Manager encourages others to become leaders and be involved in leadership development. Pros Positive work environment. A culture where junior employees are given fair amount of responsibility and are allowed to challenge themselves is one where employees are more enthused to work and enjoy what they do. Successful initiatives. The process of consultation and feedback naturally results in better decision making and more effective operations. Companies run under democratic leadership tend to run into fewer grave mistake and catastrophes. To put it simply people tell a democratic leader when something is going badly wrong, while employees are encouraged to simply hide it from an autocrat. Creative thinking. The free flow of ideas and positive work environment is the perfect catalyst for creative thinking. To The benefits of this arent just relevant for creative industries, because creative thinking is required to solve problems in every single organisation, whatever its nature. Reduction of friction and office politics. By allowing subordinates to use their ideas and even more importantly gain credit for them, you are neatly reducing the amount of tension employees generate with their manager. When autocratic leaders refuse to listen to their workers, or blatantly ignore their ideas, they are effectively asking for people to talk behind their back and attempt to undermine or supercede them. Reduced employee turnover. When employees feel empowered through leadership development, a company will experience lower rates of employee turnover which has numerous benefits. A company that invests in leadership development for its employees, is investing in their future, and this is appreciated by a large majority of the workforce. Cons Lengthy and boring decision making. Seeking consultation over every decision can lead to a process so slow that it can cause opportunities to be missed, or hazards avoided too late. Danger of pseudo participation. Many managers simply pretend to follow a democratic leadership style simply to score a point in the eyes of their subordinates. Employees are quick to realise when their ideas arent actually valued, and that the manager is merely following procedure in asking for suggestions, but never actually implementing them. In other words, theyre simply exerting autocratic leadership in disguise. When Is People centric Leadership Style Effective? Now youve heard about the benefits and drawbacks of this leadership style, lets look at where its actually implemented in the business world. 1. Democratic leadership is applied to an extent in the manufacturing industry, to allow employees to give their ideas on how processes can become leaner and more efficient. While Fordism is still applied in some factories across the country, truth is that production managers are now really starting to harness the motivational bonuses associated with not treating employees like robots anymore.

2. Democratic leadership is effective in professional organizations where the emphasis is clearly on training, professional & leadership development and quality of work performed. Democratic procedures are simply just one cog in the effective leadership mechanisms firms like The Big Four have created over the years. 3. Non profit organisations also tremendously benefit from drawing upon the creative energies of all their staff to bring about cost cutting techniques or fund raising ideas. 4. As previously mentioned, creative industries such as advertising and television enjoy alot of benefits from the free flow of ideas that democratic leadership brings.

4. The way a team is led will have a major impact upon the success or otherwise of the team. When asked what they want from a team leader, team members will often identify several values they would want a leader to hold : commitment to people as well as task is the first key element. desire to support and serve the team as well as lead from the front. enthusiasm, energy, inspiration and sufficient expertise. willingness to shoulder responsibility rather than pass the buck ability to make the team come together to achieve more than a group of individuals.

Commitment to people Most team members are primarily concerned about relationship and about being valued as a team member, before they are concerned about the task that the team is to undertake. Feeling secure in a group environment is an important pre-requisite before individual contribution. The good team leader is able to spend time building the team, not only when the team starts off, but when a newcomer joins an existing team. Desire to Support and Serve Whilst team members want to see the ability to lead from the front, they are also strongly motivated by the ability to lead from the back! Servant leadership from the team leader is vital if team members are in turn, to want to serve each other. This is a particularly key topic for Christian leaders. There is a balance to be struck between a willingness to take on any chores that need to be done by the team, and taking an inappropriate balance of roles so that the leadership is diminished. Enthusiasm, Energy, Inspiration and Expertise

Unsurprisingly team members want to be inspired and motivated by team leadership which has the energy and enthusiasm to fire them up. However, they also want to feel secure that the team leader has themselves, or has access to, the necessary expertise to lead the team in the right direction. The leader doesn't have to be the most knowledgeable of the subject at hand, but if they are not, they must encourage the input of others. Willingness to shoulder responsibility.

Team leaders are tested under pressure. When challenges arise, as they inevitably will, the leader will

need to take responsibility to ensure that they are fixed as far as possible and that the team is strengthened as a result. This does not mean that the leader should admit that issues beyond their control are in any way their fault, (although they should be honest in admitting their mistakes), but rather adopt a proactive stance to ensure the team is not deflected from its course. Ability to achieve more as a team.

Teams only become a team once there is some synergy within the group ie the team process adds value to that which a disparate group of individuals would achieve undirected. This is likely to require the team leader to explore leadership models that share the leadership role within the team, to have an understanding of different individuals team roles, strengths and gifts, establish a mutual accountability within the team, and to create a team environment which is open, fun and allows healthy and productive discussion.

5. Leadership and managership are two synonymous terms is an incorrect statement. Leadership doesnt require any managerial position to act as a leader. On the other hand, a manager can be a true manager only if he has got the traits of leader in him. By virtue of his position, manager has to provide leadership to his group. A manager has to perform all five functions to achieve goals, i.e., Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, and Controlling. Leadership is a part of these functions. Leadership as a general term is not related to managership. A person can be a leader by virtue of qualities in him. For example: leader of a club, class, welfare association, social organization, etc. Therefore, it is true to say that, All managers are leaders, but all leaders are not managers. A leader is one who influences the behavior and work of others in group efforts towards achievement of specified goals in a given situation. On the other hand, manager can be a true manager only if he has got traits of leader in him. Manager at all levels are expected to be the leaders of work groups so that subordinates willingly carry instructions and accept their guidance. A person can be a leader by virtue of all qualities in him. Leaders and Managers can be compared on the following basis:

Basis

Manager A person becomes a manager by virtue of his position. Manager has got formal rights in an organization because of his status.

Leader A person becomes a leader on basis of his personal qualities.

Origin

Formal Rights

Rights are not available to a leader.

Followers

The subordinates are the followers of managers.

The group of employees whom the leaders leads are his followers. Leader influences people to work willingly for group objectives. A leader is required to create cordial relation between person working in and for organization. Leadership is temporary.

Functions

A manager performs all five functions of management.

Necessity

A manager is very essential to a concern.

Stability

It is more stable.

Mutual Relationship

All managers are leaders.

All leaders are not managers.

Accountability

Manager is accountable for self and subordinates behaviour and performance.

Leaders have no well defined accountability.

Concern

A managers concern is organizational goals.

A leaders concern is group goals and members satisfaction.

Followers

People follow manager by virtue of job description. A manager can continue in office till he performs his duties satisfactorily in congruence with organizational goals.

People follow them on voluntary basis.

Role continuation

A leader can maintain his position only through day to day wishes of followers.

Sanctions

Manager has command over allocation and distribution of sanctions.

A leader has command over different sanctions and related task records. These sanctions are essentially of informal nature.