In its abstract sense, the art of leadership involves creating an aspirational vision for an organization’s future. In the process, the leader serves to motivate employees and other stakeholders so as to achieve the goals and objectives set by an organization’s management. In this regard, leadership is an important aspect in not only defining an aspirational future for an organization but also because organizations take after the personalities of their leaders. It is, therefore, important that a leader exhibits a certain set of traits if the organization is to obtain a personality that will endear it to its stakeholders. As will be evaluated below, some of these key traits that a leader within an organization should exhibit include empathy, passion, and being a team builder.
Empathy is a fundamental attribute of leadership. According to Gentry, Weber, & Sadri (2016) empathy is defined as the ability to relate and experience emotions, struggles, and experiences of others. It enables a leader to view important issues through the eyes of others. Consequently, it becomes possible for the leader to analyze issues from a different perspective. Approaching issues from a wide perspective, as afforded by empathy, is important for those in leadership positions. According to Wilson (2015), having such a wide perspective in analyzing issues is critical for problem-solving, which is an important skill for a leader.
In essence, empathy implies emotional intelligence, which plays an important role in raising an individual’s cultural competence (Bardea, & Pana, 2010). Cultural competence is critical for any leader in the modern day context. In the past, societal organization tended to be more monolithic even in the business sense where communication was only one way, which is from the seller to the buyer (Gentry, Weber, & Sadri, 2016). However, that perspective has changed in the current times. This is because markets have become more diverse and people have become more interconnected such that they are more active in social processes such as business.
In the past, having a hierarchical chain of command within a business was viewed as the primary means of enforcing management imperatives within an organization. However, a hierarchical chain of command has not always proved to be effective (Wilson, 2015), as it endeared an organization’s leadership to being viewed more as commanding and controlling. As a result, the level of productivity was relatively low.
In the place of a hierarchical chain of command, collaboration among the various stakeholders of an organization has been viewed as the most effective means of management. Collaboration achieves better results by the virtue of creating relationships among the individuals concerned. Human beings are inherently social beings hence creating a conducive environment for such social relationships to thrive within an organization helps to raise productivity.
It is, therefore, evident that from the foregoing that a leader’s ability to create such an environment is influenced by their emotional intelligence and, in essence, empathy. Consequently, this view helps to uphold the argument of Gentry, Weber, & Sadri (2016) that empathy has a positive relationship with an organization’s productivity.
It is especially the case considering that exceptional organizations are the ones that tend to place the interests of their employees and stakeholders ahead and in return, these employees and stakeholders raise the level of commitment to the organization. Therefore, an empathetic leader is not just an abstract attribute but one with practical, positive outcomes as well.
Passion is another critical attribute for all individuals and more importantly for leaders. According to Morgan (2015), passion has a direct bearing to a leader’s energy, creativity, and motivations. It is, therefore, the case that passion is as much an aspect of creating self-awareness as it is an organizational attribute.
A leader’s self-awareness is an important aspect. This is because self-awareness makes it possible for a leader to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. Consequently, a leader can then focus their synergies on their strengths while gradually working on their weaknesses. In the long run, this has the effect of improving the personality and temperament of a leader. It is an important attribute for leaders since, as earlier mentioned, an organization’s personality takes after the personality of those in its leadership positions. Therefore, an admirable personality for the leaders reflects positively on the organization. From the foregoing, such a personality is a factor of one’s passion.
As illustrated above, passion provides an opportunity for those in leadership to be self-aware and in the process determining their strengths and weaknesses. This process of soul searching plays a crucial role in assisting the leaders to determine their natural talents and gifts. A combination of natural talents and gifts as well as emotional and acquired intelligence helps to make the leaders all rounded. This has a positive impact on decision making and problem-solving.
However, self-awareness necessitated by an individual’s passion is not just of importance to the affected individual but to the entire organization as well. According to Morgan (2015), leaders are individuals who make things happen. Therefore, by virtue of them being self-aware, they can translate the same to those they lead. Leaders assist those that they lead to become self-aware through an evaluation of their passion. As a result, the entire organization can have a focused approach towards creativity, energy, and motivation for work.
In essence, passion helps to create a sense of purpose within the organization. The ability of an organization to exploit this is in a situation where there is a unity of purpose. This can only be achieved in a situation where the leader has a clearly defined passion that then transcends all the way down to all the other employees and stakeholders. As a result, the level of productivity within the organization is raised. This is especially so in the event that those in leadership can align the responsibilities assigned to employees with their passion.
Morgan (2015) is also of the view that there is a direct link between passion and emotional intelligence. This is as a result of the fact that the attribute of passion requires an individual to be more self-aware. A high level of self-awareness makes it possible for a leader to have knowledge of how best to handle situations that may arise out of the various relationships within an organization. This is especially so during instances of conflict. It is, therefore, the case that self-awareness makes it possible for a leader to view issues from different perspectives hence making it possible for them to be empathetic. The ability to be a team leader is another important attribute of a leader in an organization. This is especially the case in the modern day organizational structure. In many organizations, the division of labor and specialization are the main attributes of the production process both for the goods and services sectors. Such attributes imply that the work of a single individual inherently affects the performance of another individual and eventually the entire organization.
It is, therefore, necessary that a leader has the skills and knowledge to create a conducive environment for teamwork in order to leverage of the synergies of all the individuals involved in the production process. In essence, team building requires that a leader illustrates the various components of management. These components include the ability to plan, organize, coordinate, and control (Bass, & Paul, 1998). It is, therefore, the case that leadership cannot be viewed as being exclusive to management principles. As a result, a leader’s ability to be a team builder is both an acquired skill as well as knowledge.
The ability of a leader to be a team builder is dependent on the leadership style that they have embraced. The two primary leadership styles are autocracy and democracy. Autocratic leadership is primarily concerned with controlling. However, in a democratic leadership style, the opinions of each and every individual are taken into consideration. Such an approach not only helps to foster unity but also helps to raise other key attributes such as empathy.
A leader that can inspire team building ensures that the organization becomes successful in a number of ways. Team building in its inherent sense requires high levels of communication. Therefore, a leader that creates a conducive environment for team building; in essence, it makes communication within the organization possible. Improved communication within an organization helps in improving the process of decision making, solving problems as well as conflict resolution. In such an environment, the level of productivity tends to rise.
A leader that inspires team building also ensures that the organization gains from leveraging on the ideas of each and every individual involved in the team. It is because, within a well-structured team, individuals can freely share their thoughts and ideas and in the process helping to raise the level of overall creativity and innovation within an organization.
References
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