What is leadership? This people have been asking for years, and hundreds of answers have been given to this question over the years. According to Daskal (2021), the definitions of leadership are as many as the number of leaders that we have. Daskal asserts that conducting a Google Search on the word “leadership” returns 479,000,000 results, which are all unique. So, why are we so obsessed with defining the word leadership? For me, the obsession with finding out the definition of leadership started from an early age because I believed leaders were unique and special people who made a change in the world. I wanted to know the definition of leadership so that I could know how to become one. As such, I read numerous articles on leadership, some explained leadership in terms of traits, behaviors, skills, competencies, and so on. I was not quite satisfied on these definitions because I felt that none of them really captured my perspective on leadership until I read Northouse book “Leadership Theory and Practice”.
According to Northouse (2018), leadership is a “process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” (p.43). This definition implies that leadership is made of four main components: 1. It is a process; 2. It involves influence; 3. It happens in a group setting; and 4. It involves pursuance of common goals. I believe this definition best speaks to my perspective of leadership because it incorporates these four components, which I believe are essential to leadership. In the subsequent sections, I will discuss each component in detail to show why everyone’s definition of leadership should include these four components.
Leadership is a Process
Leadership is multidirectional, not only does the leader impact the followers, but the followers also impact the leader (Free Management Books, n.d.). As such, leadership does not just involve giving orders, it involves interactions between the leader and the followers. When we define leadership as a process rather than a specific set of traits, skills, or behaviors that one person has, leadership becomes available to every person in the group (Northouse, 2018). Leadership stops being confined to position, it becomes emergent and every group member can become a leader. We all have different skills sets that makes us exceptional at some tasks while awful in others. As such, defining leadership as a process allows for emergent leadership, whereby team members who are not formally designated as leaders can act as leaders and leverage their strengths during certain tasks. According to Przybilla et al. (2019), this kind of leadership enhances group performance, cohesiveness, and community. Therefore, defining leadership as a process is ideal.
Leadership involves Influence
Influence not authority is what makes leadership successful. Do you believe this is the case? Influence means that a leader is able to affect followers by communicating with them. Northouse (2018) stresses that “influence is the sine qua non of leadership” (p.43), which means that leadership cannot exist without influence. The only way one can lead a group of people is by influencing them. Imagine a case whereby a “leader” gives instructions to her followers, and the followers do the opposite of what they are instructed to do; would you call this person a leader? No, of course not because to lead means that they are people who are following. However, many leaders depend on the authority that their assigned positions give them to lead, which is not very successful in improving team performance (Miller, 2019). Instead of relying on their position of authority, leaders should seek to influence their employees using other more effective sources of authority including their expertise, organizational and corporate understanding, and interpersonal relationships. These sources of authority are more inspiring than leading by threats and fear.
Leadership Happens in a Group Setting
John Boehner famously said, “A leader without followers is simply a man taking a walk.” Therefore, leadership has to occur in a group setting, whereby at least one person is a leader, while the others are followers. This means that leaders are just as important as followers in leadership. If this is so, why are followers usually neglected when defining leadership? How many articles or theories have you read about followers as compared to those about leaders? This neglect of studies on followership negatively undermines our ability to become good leaders. To become a good leader, you need to understand your followers better so that you can be able to effectively influence them. Kellerman (2007) explains that leaders need to learn about followers because they have influence and power even though they lack authority. She discusses the different types of followers – participants, diehards, bystanders, isolates, and activists – and how leaders can effectively influence these different groups of followers in her article “What Every Leader Needs to Know About Followers.” Explaining the different characteristics of these groups of followers is beyond the scope of this blog, but you can read more about this by following the embedded link.
Leadership involves Pursuance of Common Goals
Common goals mean that the goals being pursued are mutually benefiting, that is, both the leader and followers derive some benefits when they achieve the goal. According to Northouse (2018), the emphasis of mutually benefiting goals helps us differentiate ethical leadership from unethical leadership. I agree with Northouse’s assertion that we need to include the concept of common goals in leadership to be able to differentiate good leaders from bad leaders. Think about the traits or behaviors that you have read that a leader should possess. Some of the common traits and behaviors associated with leadership include self-confidence, charismatic, determined, brave, risk-taker, and so on. So, does it mean that every leader who possesses these characteristics is a good leader? Think about a leader like Adolf Hitler, didn’t he possess all these characteristics? Then, what makes you believe that he was a bad leader? When you include common goals in your definition of leadership, then you can confidently classify Hitler as a bad leader because he used his leadership position to pursue his own goals rather than goals that would benefit his countrymen. This is the reason why the definition of leadership should include common goals to ensure that we encourage leadership that is ethical.
In conclusion, leadership is not just one thing, it is made up of four main components: 1. It is a process; 2. It involves influence; 3. It happens in a group setting; 4. It involves pursuance of common goals. All these components are essential to leadership, thus should be included when defining leadership to get a comprehensive view of leadership. It is important to remember that leadership does not only involve the leader impacting the followers, it also involves the followers impacting the leader. As such, leadership is an interactive process that involves followers and leaders influencing one another. It is also important to not that leadership cannot exist without influence or followers, and there are many sources of influence rather that being appointed to a position of authority. To lead effectively, the leader needs to consider the needs and values of followers as well because leadership occurs in a group setting and this act inspires followership that is organic. Lastly, leadership must pursue common goals to be considered ethical; otherwise, it is bad leadership.
References
Daskal, L. (2021, March 28). 100 answers to the question: What is leadership? Inc.com. https://www.inc.com/lolly-daskal/100-answers-to-the-question-what-is-leadership.html
Free Management Books. (n.d.). Dunham and pierce’s leadership process model. Free Management eBooks – Online Library. https://www.free-management-ebooks.com/faqld/leadtheory-03.htm
Kellerman, B. (2007, December 1). What every leader needs to know about followers. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2007/12/what-every-leader-needs-to-know-about-followers
Miller, K. (2019, October 24). How to influence without authority in the workplace. Business Insights – Blog. https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/influence-without-authority
Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and practice (8th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Przybilla, L., Wiesche, M., & Krcmar, H. (2019). Emergent leadership in Agile teams–an initial exploration. Proceedings of the 2019 on Computers and People Research Conference. https://doi.org/10.1145/3322385.3322423
Hello,
Your interest in leadership from such an early age is quite intriguing. I feel as though you and I went through opposite circumstances. Whereas you wanted to become a leader I generally avoided the role. I find I did well in a leadership role when I had some sense of direction and general guidelines. In another class (PSYCH 490), I evaluated myself in terms of being a decision maker or advisor, I found that I enjoyed executing plans, but I did not enjoy making decisions that steer a group one way or another. Taking this class as well as others has really helped me to learn more about myself. Before this class I feel as though followers were always given a bad reputation, but now I understand that they are just as important as leaders. As you pointed out “A leader without followers is simply a man taking a walk” (Boehner).
One thing that I would like to add is that good leadership can be assessed in multiple evaluations by organizations. A common measure of successful leadership is by having subordinates’ rate their leaders, in an appraisal rating (PSU WC, 2016, L. 1, p.10). Another known successful leadership that contains many more steps is by first identifying the competency model, second administering a paper-and-pencil tests, third conducting structured interviews, and lastly conducting assessment centers (PSU WC, 2016, L. 1, p.9). Many organizations use this approach when trying to fill and important leadership position.
References:
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2016). PSYCH 485 Lesson 1: Introduction to Leadership. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2181168/modules/items/35188484