Leadership

According to Kotter, leadership is about coping with change. Leadership focuses on change and innovation; it focuses on the big picture; it focuses on strategies that take calculated risks; and it focuses on peoples values. As Kotter points out, you cant manage people into battle; they need, deserve, and want to be led, or in Harry Trumans words, A leader is a man who has the ability to get other people to do what they dont want to do and like it. According to Howard Gardner in his book, Leading Minds, the key to leadership, as well as to the garnering of a following, is the effective communication of a story. While the definition of a story is broad, it calls attention to a common core. I maintain that the most fundamental stories fashioned by leaders concern issues of personal and group identity; those leaders who presume to bring about major alterations across a significant population must in some way help their audience think through who they are.

Thus, effective leaders must be excellent communicators. They must be able to tell simple, understandable, and relevant stories that define an organizations values, communicate their vision for the undertaking, and move the human heart. The obvious question is, Can a sales manager be both a manager and a leader?, and the answer is, Yes, but its hard. In fact, if sales managers are going to improve performance, they have to innovate, which requires that they create and manage change while they cope with the complexities of being a manager.

Leadership Styles
Kotter suggests that leadership is about coping with change, focusing on the longterm and the big picture, not always playing it safe, and concentrating on people and their values, not just the bottom line.But leadership is more than just coping with and creating change. Jim Collins published an article in the Harvard Business Review about leadership as a precursor to his best-selling book, Good to Great. In the article, titled Level 5 Leadership, he writes, The most powerfully transforming executives possess a paradoxical mixture of personal humility and professional willthey are timid and ferocious.

Shy and fearless. They are rareand unstoppable. Level 5 leaders were most often found in the good-to-great companies identified in Collinss research.

Collins identifies the attributes of personal humility: 1. Demonstrates a compelling modesty, shunning public adulation; never boastful. 2. Acts with quiet, calm determination; relies principally on inspired standards, not charisma, to motivate. 3. Channels ambition into the company, not the self; sets successors for more greatness in the next generation. 4. Looks in the mirror, not out the window, to apportion responsibility for poor results, never blaming other people, external factors, or badluck.

And Collins identifies the attributes of professional will: 1. Creates superb results, a clear catalyst in the transition from good to great. 2. Demonstrates an unwavering resolve to do whatever must be done to produce the best long-term results, no matter how difficult. 3. Sets the standard of building an enduring great company; will settle for nothing less. 4. Looks out the window, not in the mirror, to apportion credit for success of the company to other people, external factors, and good luck. A level 5 leader is not typical of the narcissistic, headline-grabbing, credit-glomming, and selfcentered moguls Common in the media, such as Eisner or Trump. These two are not leaders, but bosses, moguls, and tyrants whose style is autocratic, or, as Daniel Goleman would say, pacesetting. Goleman, who popularized the concept of emotional intelligence (EI), classified five leadership styles as follows:

Coercive

1. Modus operandi: Demands immediate compliance 2. The style in a phrase: Do what I tell you. 3. Underlying emotional intelligence: Drive to achieve, initiate, self-control 4. When style works best: In a crisis, to kick start a turnaround, or with problem employees 5. Overall impact on organizational climate: Negative

Authoritative

1. Modus operandi: Mobilizes people toward a vision 2. The style in a phrase: Come with me. 3. Underlying emotional intelligence: Self-confidence, empathy, change catalyst 4. When style works best: When changes require a new vision or a clear direction is needed 5. Overall impact on organizational climate: Most strongly positive

Democratic

1. Modus operandi: Forges consensus through participation 2. The style in a phrase: What do you think? 3. Underlying emotional intelligence: Collaboration, team leadership, communication 4. When style works best: To build buy-in or consensus, or to get input from valuable employees 5. Overall impact on climate: Positive

Affiliative 1. Modus operandi: Creates harmony and builds emotional bonds 2. The style in a phrase: People come first. 3. Underlying emotional intelligence: Empathy, building relationships, communication 4. When style works best: To heal rifts in a team or to motivate people during stressful circumstances 5. Overall impact on climate: Positive

Pacesetting

1. Modus operandi: Sets high standard of performance 2. The style in a phrase: Do as I do, now. 3. Underlying emotional intelligence: Conscientiousness, drive to achieve, initiative 4. When style works best: To get quick results from a highly motivated and competent team 5. Overall impact on climate: Negative

Coaching

1. Modus operandi: Develops people for the future. 2. The style in a phrase: Try this. 3. Underlying emotional intelligence: Developing others, empathy, self-awareness 4. When style works best: To help employee improve performance or develop long-term strengths 5. Overall impact on climate: Positive

In order for leaders to be able to lead, they must have followers, because, as Abraham Lincoln said, No man is good enough to govern another man without that mans consent. And to gain followers, leaders must be popular. But you dont become popular by ordering people around or by being a boss or bossy. Bosses are unpopular, and would be voted out if the people who work for them had a chance. Leaders, on the other hand, are elected by their followers from whom they take orders. This keeps people loyal and ready to continue to give their leaders support. On the other hand, bosses give orders from above and take credit. Leaders, unlike bosses, create a corporate atmosphere of trusttrusting competent people to do their job with a minimum of political power plays.

Warren Bennis and James OToole believe the following about leadership: 1. Leadership is a combination of personal behaviors that allow an individual to enlist dedicated followers and create other leaders in the process. 2. they demonstrate integrity, provide meaning, generate trust, and communicate values. 3. they energize their followers, humanely push people to meet challenging goals, and all the while develop leadership skills in others. 4. Real leaders, in a phrase, move the human heart.

Drucker On Leadership
Peter Drucker is the known as the father of modern management. He has been writing about management for over 60 years, and no one is more respected by executives and academics alike. In the June 1 issue of the Wall Street Journal, Drucker wrote an article titled, The Rules of the Executive Class. Here is that articleit is an excellent primer on management: An effective executive does not need to be a leader in the sense that the term is now most commonly used. Harry Truman did not have one ounce of charisma, for example, yet he was among the most effective chief executives in U.S. history. Some of the best business and nonprofit CEOs I've worked with over a 65-year consulting career were not stereotypical leaders. They ranged from extroverted to nearly reclusive, from easygoing to controlling, from generous to parsimonious. What made them all effective is that they followed the same eight practices:

Ask "What needs to be done?" Failure to ask this question will render even the ablest executive ineffectual. Jack Welch realized that what needed to be done at General Electric when he took over as chief executive was not the overseas expansion he wanted to launch. It was getting rid of GE businesses that -- no matter how profitable -- could not be No. 1 or No. 2 in their industries.

Ask "What is right for the enterprise?" Note that the question is not what's right for the shareholders, or the executives, or the employees. Those are all important constituencies who need to support a decision, or acquiesce in it, if the choice is to be effective. But if a decision isn't right for the enterprise as a whole, in the long run it won't be right for any of the individual stakeholders.

Develop action plans.

The action plan is a statement of intentions rather than a

commitment. It should be revised often, because every success creates new opportunities. So does every failure. Napoleon allegedly said that no successful battle ever followed its plan. Yet Napoleon also planned every one of his battles, far more meticulously than any earlier general had done. Without an action plan, the executive becomes a prisoner of events.

Take responsibility for decisions. This is particularly important when it comes to hiring or promoting people. If after promoting a person, the decision has not had the desired results, executives don't conclude that the person has not performed. They conclude, instead, that they themselves made a mistake. In a well-managed enterprise, it is understood that people who fail in a new job, especially after a promotion, may not be the ones to blame.

Take responsibility for communicating. Effective executives make sure that both their action plans and their information needs are understood. Specifically, this means that they share their plans with and ask for comments from all their colleagues -- superiors, subordinates, and peers. At the same time, they let each person know what information they'll need to get the job done. The information flow from subordinate to boss is usually what gets the most attention. But executives need to pay equal attention to peers' and superiors' information needs.

Focus on opportunities, not problems. In most companies, the first page of the monthly management report lists key problems. It's far wiser to list opportunities on the first page and leave problems for the second page. Unless there is a true catastrophe, problems are not discussed in management meetings until opportunities have been analyzed and properly dealt with.

Make meetings productive. Every study of the executive workday has found that even junior executives and professionals are with other people -- that is, in a meeting of some sort - more than half of every business day. Making a meeting productive takes a good deal of self-discipline. It requires that executives determine what kind of meeting is appropriate and then stick to that format. It's also necessary to terminate the meeting as soon as its specific purpose has been accomplished. Good executives don't raise another matter for discussion. They sum up and adjourn.

Think and say "We." Effective executives know that they have ultimate responsibility, which can be neither shared nor delegated. But they have authority only because they have the trust of the organization. This means that they think of the needs and the opportunities of the organization before they think of their own needs and opportunities. This one may sound simple. It isn't, but it needs to be strictly observed.

I'm going to throw in one final, bonus practice. This one's so important that I'll elevate it to a rule: Listen first, speak last.

Which Leadership Style Is Best? The answer to the above question is the answer students usually hear from teachers, It depends. It depends on the situation in which sales managers find themselves. For this reason, one of the most important attributes a good sales manager must have is flexibility, probably second in importance to being an effective listener. Sales managers must be

flexible to adapt to the needs and challenges of their sales organization. If an organization requires a new vision and radical change, an authoritative style is best. In a sales

organization that is under stress and has rifts, an affiliative style might be best until the stress is gone. In normal conditions and in most situations, a coaching style is probably the most effective one for a sales manager. A coaching leadership style that combines personal humility, professional will, and excellent communication skills that transmit an organizational vision and move the human heart will achieve superior results.

The Autocratic Leader This leader has little concern for his or her colleagues and refuses to see them as individuals with unique skills. Instead, to this person, they are tools to get a job done. An example of an autocratic leader could be a project manager who shows great results when in tight deadlines, but who has trouble keeping the results from falling apart when the team demoralizes and breaks down. Autocratic types need to focus more on the contributions of the individuals on the team, recognizing and nurturing each as the project progresses.

The Democratic Leader This is the leader who believes that the best decision is one that is made in a truly democratic fashion. Everyone gets a vote, and as a result the process itself starts to bog projects and progress down. Momentum takes place only when there is a consensus of opinion (opinions are in no short supply in most companies). This leader needs to recognize that he or she has been given the opportunity to lead others because of a presumed ability to make decisionsnot to simply guide others in making theirs. One nightmare scenario that I have seen as a recruiter happens when I work for a manager like this; hiring decisions are never made without a vote. Just as in academia, the recruiting process goes on and on, almost as if a huge hiring committee was at work. Ever seen this at your company?

The Parental Leader This type of leader will take the team in hand as a parent would with children, protecting and sheltering them from the elements of the organization. The parental leader would prefer to have the team members emotionally dependent upon him or her, leading to a subtle frustration of their scientific growth and development within the company. These leaders, often the firms most respected technical staff and managers, need to remember that a part of the job is to develop their team members into leaders themselves by cutting the apron strings.

The Hands-Off Leader At the other extreme of the scale of involvement, there are leaders who feel that their people can do what they wish, even to the point of letting the organizations goals flounder, or allowing individuals to get way too far into quicksand before help is offered. Working for a hands-off manager is one of those situations that sounds great until you get into itand find that you are out on a limb. Everyone likes independence, but the hands-off leader needs to remember that each person also needs a touch of support and some occasional direction

The Driven Leader This type of manager has the best interests of the organization at heart, but manages by imposing his or her will. Forceful and objectives-oriented, this person requires perfection but is not so caught up in that perfection as an opportunity to get results out before the competition. Driven leaders tend to forget that their people want to be led, and not pushed. Although blessed with better people skills than the autocratic leader, this sort of person still needs to concentrate more on making his or her teams want to succeed. The Consultative Leader Heres where true leadership really starts to have an impact. The consultative leader makes the assumption that there is a uniqueness about each individuals skills, and that some may outshine the leaders in certain areas. Ideas are encouraged and shared, and decisions are made that reflect the combined intelligence of the team members. This leader consults with them and smooths the way forthem to do a better job. Where a parental manager may give the team a sense of confidence in the leader, the consultative leader gives the team members a sense of confidence in themselves.

By instilling this confidence in their work, the consultative leader sets the stage for what is known as maintenance behavior, the ability to keep things moving along on an even keel. In that regard, this leader becomes a sort of organizational gyroscopevalued by the company for the ability to develop internal harmony.

Leadership style
A leadership style refers to a pattern of behavior and actions leaders use to achieve the desired outcomes. It describes how they set up standards for the team, develop their teams short- and long-term goals, listen to employees, provide them with the feedback, motivate, reward and punish them.

Sometimes a leadership style for the executive would be dictated by the company itself, its history or a certain philosophy it may have on managing people. Sometimes the leadership style would be a function of your personal characteristics, mentorship experiences in the past, or other factors, which would make you gravitate toward a given style as your main style.

Leadership styles are different. There are no good or bad, right or wrong leadership styles. The most effective leaders know how to adjust their leadership style depending on the situation they are in. In addition, while a certain leadership style may work well for you today, it may no longer be effective in your future roles. If you get promoted, for example, and now have to lead a team with more senior members you may need to adjust your style to rely more frequently on Visionary or Coaching styles. On the other hand, you may be in a situation when you are dealing with an employee who no longer responds to your efforts to motivate or develop him. In that case you may resort to Commanding style to resolve the issue at hand. If you are in a startup, an investment bank, or in any other fast moving and competitive environment, it may be more appropriate to use Pacesetting leadership style.

There are six main leadership styles (Goleman, 2002): Commanding Pacesetting Visionary Affiliative Democratic Coaching

Commanding Leadership Style

The main objective of this style is immediate compliance. When you use this style you tell employees what to do with no solicitation of their input or listening to their reactions. You monitor your employees closely, rely on criticism and conveying the consequences of failure to comply.

This style is appropriate in crises, urgent situations and instances where noncompliance will have serious consequences, such as safety. You may also apply it with unmotivated employees where you tried everything you could, but do not see the hoped for follow-through. It may also used in environments of simple and straightforward tasks, where no creativity or innovation are required.

While this style is probably the most frequently used in todays business, beware that in the long run it may result in employees passively resisting, rebelling or leaving altogether.

Pacesetting Leadership Style

The main objective of this style is executing tasks fast and with high quality. When you use this style you would emphasize excellence and improvement in performance for your employees and would set challenging goals. The description of your attitude would be: if you cant keep up, you shouldnt be on my team, or if you cant do it right, Ill do it myself. You would be apprehensive of delegating tasks to anyone who is not an outstanding performer, tend to work individually and promote individualized effort rather than team, set examples of task execution to the employees and expect highest standards of execution and quickly take the responsibility away from those who underperform.

This style is appropriate if your employees are highly motivated and do not require manager feedback for further growth. It often works in fast paced and competitive environments where the direction and objectives are clearly defined. It can also be used with underperforming employees who are not showing the signs of improvement. Research shows, however, that used for extended period of time this approach tends to impact morale.

Visionary Leadership Style

The main objective of this style is to provide long-term goals and vision. When using this style you explain to employees the companys direction, ask for their perspectives (but indicating clearly that you are in charge) and motivate them by relying on both positive and negative feedback. You set up performance goals based on the larger vision and measure the success in relation to those goals.

This style could be effective in startup, turnaround and realignment situations when explaining the new direction or vision to employees is needed, when you are perceived as an expert in the subject matter. You can also use it with newly hired employees.

Affiliative Leadership Style

The main objective of this style is creation of harmony. You are using this style if your primary focus is to meet your employees needs, stress things that keep them happy and avoid confrontations. You would instead try to provide positive feedback and reward employees based on the personal characteristics as much as on performance. This style is appropriate when your employee base is conflicting and you need to promote harmonious environment, when you need to repair broken trust in your organization or when employees are experiencing personal difficulties. Relying on this style excessively, however, may result in loss of motivation of employees who are better performance as group praise may send a message that poor performance is tolerated. Make sure the performance of employees is adequate.

Democratic Leadership Style

The main objective of this style is reaching a consensus. When you use this style you rely on your employees making the decisions impacting their work, trust their abilities to make those decisions, which sometimes may be complex and cross-functional, and reward group rather than individual performance. You create a group commitment to the goal.

This style could be appropriate when you are not clear about the path forward and you need to leverage the knowledge of your employees. They need to be self-sufficient, competent and have at least as much information and insight about the situation as you do. The style will not work when the environment is fast changing and the decisions need to be made immediately. When you use this style, make sure you or somebody else enforces the deadlines. That will ensure that the execution of the decisions is not slipping. If that does start to happen, consider creating a crises (or a feeling of a crises) to get everybody through checkpoint. During the meetings, ensure that those who have not spoken, or you think are afraid of speaking out, have had a chance to express their thoughts. Often, those members of the team have a dissenting opinion, hearing which would help promote a healthy and balanced discussion. This is often more of an art than science and requires you using your emotional intelligence, empathy and communication.

Coaching Leadership Style

The main objective of this style is to develop your employees. When using this style you inquire about what they learned and what they could improve or do differently. You help them develop their long-term goals, identify strengths and weaknesses, provide feedback and motivate them to improve. You look at mistakes as learning opportunities, talk to employees in a form of open questions and listen to them inventively. This style is appropriate when your team is well established, consists of experienced and motivated employees who understand the companys goals. The approach works in the environments that require employee innovation and risk taking and when you have deep knowledge of your employees work areas. Beware that this style is powerful, yet somewhat inefficient and risky when employees perceive it as micromanaging.