Abstract
Successful completion of a mission depends on well determined goals and efficiently organized human efforts. Certain undertakings require long term planning and endurance. Short term accomplishments also require rather intensive actions and immediate strategies. In such conditions, individuals have to take up some important roles and responsibilities in order to accomplish the intended mission. The time taken for the completion of the task may not always indicate the significance of the particular action; instead, the members’ relentless efforts, perseverance, and the long term training they undergo make an attempt extraordinary. According to every perspective, a leader’s role is the most important element behind the success of any group. This paper will discuss how a leader can motivate his group and commit their energies and expertise to achieving the shared mission and goals of the emergency management system.
Introduction
The employment of leadership is as important as the total human resource itself in any organized activity. Leadership, in the words of Naylor (2007), is “the process of influencing people towards the achievement of organizational goals” (as cited in Hill & Stewart, 2007, p. 286). Without proper guidance and control, it becomes meaningless to posses employees for any undertaking. All the successful organizations and creative ventures definitely have their own effective leadership structure to reach their objectives. In case of emergency management organizations, the leadership decisions are taken without time lapse and with maximum competency for perfect accomplishment of the short-term objectives. Hence, it is important for leaders to be able to comprehensively handle the challenges from all corners.
Leadership for Emergency Personnel
Because of the unpredictability that human life is facing each day, the number of natural and manmade calamities has been rapidly increasing. It is a tremendous challenge for the authorities of the affected regions to deploy the necessary number of personnel to perform the planned action for a desirable result. Emergency situations are of two-dimensional –both material and abstract blow on the victim. Therefore, according to the Adler School of Professional Psychology (n.d.), besides managing the aspects of the disasters such as prevention, preparation and recovery efforts, the emergency leadership needs to address the psychological issues affecting both the victims and the members of the response team. Emergency leadership is vested with the responsibility of coordinating the functions of several departments connected to the rescue and recovery operations that vary from police, medical care, mental healthcare and all relevant government departments. The emergency managers are consultants between the disaster victims and several government and non-profit organizations primarily. For this executive function, they are expected to keep a good accord with the military, law enforcement agencies, community centers, universities, hospitals and a number of large organizations.
Insight and Personal Development
In a general sense, the effectiveness of leadership depends on insight and its development in the process of management. A new leader taking position at an organization has to deliver better outcome than his predecessor. This is achievable to the leaders only when they realize that their performance excellence depends on the overall wellbeing of the total staff. The element of insight works as a guide for managers. They must be able to focus on the profile of the project they intent to execute and device strategies based on it. In this process, they are asked to introduce innovative ideas and seek guidelines from the experts in the similar field. Only an individual with definite vision and insight can exploit opportunities and harvest reward from challenging situations. Moreover, the factor of insight promotes meaningful communication which is essential for the sustainable relationship in the organizational structure.
Trust Building and Creating Positive Workplace
Personnel management involves interpersonal relationships which essentially need the factor of trust for its very existence. The term trust in management is wider than the normal emotional human aspect. Here, the existence of trust is experienced by the employees only when the leadership is constantly able to provide them a comfortable working atmosphere. Most importantly, leaders can build trust only if they prove dependable for meeting the needs of the employees with regard to their spiritual, emotional, intellectual and financial aspects of working life. According to an observation, “trust is confidence born of two dimensions: character and competence” (Covey, 2009). It may be noticed that for building trust among others, the leader himself has to exhibit a higher degree of loyalty and commitment towards his own team. Thus the consistent credibility and accommodating behavior of the leader grabs high reputation which is helpful in building and rebuilding trust.
Every leader needs to influence the employees either individually or collectively. This is possible if the leader is capable of applying his ‘political savvy’ factor to recognize the situations and study the impacts of changes. Creating a positive workplace is essential for the implementation of the leadership objectives. The exercise of a well connected and transparently communicated team is inevitable for a better workplace. The leadership should focus on quick execution of designed plans and their evaluation so that it can avoid the time lapse and keep the employees work-oriented. Doubtlessly, trusting the capacities of the individuals and listening to their issues with proper concern will yield great result in the outcome of the project. Above everything, the leader should realize the value of self-esteem needs of the employees at lower levels; therefore he can adopt plentiful appreciation as the quick-rewarding strategy at workplace.
References
Adler School of Professional Psychology. Emergency Management Leadership Overview. Retrieved from http://www.adler.edu/page/areas-of-study/chicago/ma-in-emergency-management-leadership/overview
Covey, S. M. R. (2009). How the best leaders build trust. Retrieved from http://www.leadershipnow.com/CoveyOnTrust.html
Hill, R & Stewart, J. (2007). Management Development: Perspectives from Research and Practice. US: Routledge.
