The Leadership Challenge – Leadership Credibility
According to Kouzes & Posner (2012), a good leader should be willing to follow, and honest person, forward-looking, inspiring and competent. These four traits are the key pillars of leadership as described by Kouzes and Posner. These two authors came up with this model after many decades of research in an attempt to investigate the qualities of good leadership, the changes in technology, the environment, and the society. According to their model, a leader is supposed to be a way maker. He or she should come up with sensible ways to overcome social problems experienced by his subject.
The paper is a discussion of the four key elements proposed by Kouzes & Posner, as well as a comparison between these elements with Peter Northouse model of leadership. It also looks at the application of these theories into the contemporary society. The paper also compares the traits suggested by Kouzes and Posner with the leadership model, and traits pointed out by Peter Northouse.
Over view of Kouzes and Posner Leadership Characteristics
Honesty
According to their model, honesty is the single most important aspect that every good leader should portray. The two authors approach leadership as a personal journey into which the leaders should be honest with themselves before they get the opportunity to control other people. They should always be ready to learn from great world leaders such as Martin Luther King, and other remembered leaders. A leader should always be honest and live within a set of admirable ethical beliefs. A good leader should always be honest with the subjects especially when communicating, their strengths, weaknesses, threat and opportunities (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). According to the proponents of the theory, honesty is the first step towards achieving trust from your subjects as a leader.
Forward-looking
Secondly, Kouzes & Posner 2012 recognize that every world leader should be visionary, and always have the plans of the people at heart (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). Every follower wants a leader who has good plans for their future; regardless of their origin, field or religion. Human beings can pursue common goals better when they have a sound chain of command attached to one leader. The leader is also supposed to understand other people’s visions and give them priority’s before his own personal interests.
Inspiring Competence
According to these two authors, an inspiring leader is the one who can share excitement and energy with his subjects. He reminds the subjects of their targets, and motivate them to achieve these objectives and common goals. Such a leader is charming and is talented with excellent communication skills. Leaders who always talk from their heart, and listen to their people before they talk become very inspiring and powerful leaders. The authors suggested that leaders should always make other people feel appreciated for their contributions. A true leader should always remind the subjects that competence is an important aspect of everyday life. When the subjects gain this consciousness, the will always work hard and perfectly to achieve the set goals.
Comparison of Leadership traits according to Peter Northhouse
Peter Northouse (2016) offers an effective way of beginning the leadership journey and he discusses his different theories and approaches from two main points of view. They include the academic and teaching perspective. Peter Northouse focuses on the skills, style, and traits as the primary approaches to leadership. His comparative view leadership skills into some extent different from that of Posner, in that, he coins ‘The Big Five Personality Factors’ and also explains the importance of acquiring emotional intelligence during leadership (Northouse, 2016). His description of three skill approach offers guidance that is related to individual attributes, leadership outcomes, and competencies. He presents the trait approach which is one of the oldest approaches to leadership. According to this method, leaders are differentiated through their traits.
Additionally, the trait approach developed by Peter Northhouse stipulates that a leader should possess the following traits; integrity, self-confidence, intelligence, determination and sociability. Although the methods discussed by Northouse apply in the different contexts of leadership, there are still some similarities with Kouzes & Posner’s leadership model (Northouse, 2016). For example, the two approaches emphasize on strict ethics among the perfect leader. They also view inspiration, and communication as important tools of leadership since the leader and the subject are directly interconnected. Therefore, although the approaches suggested by these two books are fundamentally different, they still share a lot in common because the traits of a good leader are universally accepted across the world.
A good example of a leader who has always displayed the traits mentioned above is Barack Obama; the former president of the United States of America. Besides being a black American; he managed to appeal to the interests of the American majority population, and they made him the President. He has always been honest to his subjects and taken criticism positively during his reign. He has always been ready to sit on the same table with his critics to figure a way out. Obama’s boldness and effective communication has been his greatest strength, and this was very instrumental during his campaigns.
He always listened to his people, especially the poor and the opposition leadership groups. Just like other great leaders in history, Obama has been brave and will be recalled for various achievements such as the arrest and killing of the world’s most dangerous man; Osama bin Laden. Obama’s education level has always been the biggest strength towards his competence. He always interacted with his people, made them smile, and got a way to calm them down in cases of tension. As the president of the United States, he has always maintained his principles firm and did not compromise his integrity at any moment.
The leadership trait that has appealed to me the most is honesty. A study of Kouzes & Posner’s ideas on the importance of honesty in leadership made me realize the power of honesty. I am planning to incorporate this trait into my personal life as well as in my leadership experience. I will achieve this by making it a habit to be honest with myself always. Before pursuing any goal in life; I will always look at the bigger picture and focus on what I truly want out of it. In leadership, I will be honest with my subjects and always encourage communication.
In cases of mistrusts, I will try my best not to compromise my integrity. I will also help my subjects to embrace honesty in everything they do to avoid landing into complicated situations. When I experience situations that tempt me to lie in my leadership experience; I will seek advice from more experienced leaders to assist me in weighing the pros and cons of such course of action. This will make sure that I make the right decision and communicate the right words in situations that are complex. These are the same situations, which, with the right attitude and state of mind help us realize our potentials and capabilities and as well as understanding our emotional and mental development.
Also, just like the argument by Healey & Evans (2014) leaders need to astounding characters for them to easily influence or gain supportive followers as they undertake different tasks especially the ability to take a farsighted approach to confront different types of challenges. This is I intend to achieve.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is clear that Kouzes & Posner have covered the basic leadership traits that every leader should possess. However, they have not covered all the traits and skills, and this makes their approach even more compatible with Northouse’ leadership model. The two models work together to fill each other’s gap. It is also important to note that all these traits cannot work if the leader lacks the right environment. With uncooperative subjects, these traits are not guaranteed to work.
They are also very key point to note during leadership training programs. Some of these traits are inborn while others can be assimilated or learned with time. A good leader should always be ready to learn, take up new challenges, communicate effectively, inspire the subjects and always willing to listen when corrected. These traits and skills are the ones required to change any corporate organization, country or public administration in the society today.
References
Kouzes, J. & Posner, B. (2012). The leadership challenge (1st ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Northouse, P. (2016). Leadership (1st ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage.
Healey, B. & Evans, T. (2014). Introduction to health care services (1st ed.).Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
