Effective Leadership skill: Goal Setting

A Leader is defines as a person who has influence power on people. No matter what type of leader a person has, the impact he/she had within the society is the major concern of others. Base on the influence of a leader, we can separate it into positive leadership or negative leadership. A leader who has positive leadership will influence people to do good for others. Also, they will lead the group to achieve positive goals for the community as a whole. However, a leader with negative leadership skills influence people to do things that may benefit him/her self and harm others or the society. In history, we have many leaders who influenced their member in both positively and negatively. Such as Mao Zedong from China, Napoleon from France. They are great leaders, but there were consider as a negative leader. Most people do not really enjoy their leadership. Positive leaders included Mother Theresa and Albert Einstein.

According to Yates, leaders and followers are having two way effects; they influence each others. There are four different types of leadership Yates had mentioned. The Bottom-Up Leadership - you leading your boss; Lateral Leadership - you leading your peers, Self Leadership - you leading yourself and Top-Down Leadership, you leading your subordinates.

Yates also mentioned that in order for a leader to perform his/her leadership, he/she need to have vision to oppotunities, energized, skills in communication, charisma to handle situations, and competence.

Leaders are the ones who will base their influence and power to implement their visions in the society. According to Blake and Mouton (1964) proposed a model called the managerial grid, which states that effective managers have a high concern for both people and production. Managers are the leader of departments and at the same time, they are the followers of the upper management. In order for managers to perform effectively as leaders and as followers, goal setting may be the foundation of their success.

Leaders needed to express their opinion with confidence and credibility. Open minded leaders tend to gain supporters faster. However, as the same time, they need to know how to coach and when to allow people to determine the best way to do a task. Keep everyone motivated and resolve all the problems among members. For a strong team, a well rounded leader with all the skills is needed. Both setup goals for themselves and their subordinates to achieve a common goal will ensure the process under control. Plans for short-term and long-term operations managers need to clarify the expectations from subordinates. Monitor the operations and performance of individual, direct the members to achieve the common goal and achieve success together.

Performance on duty is one of the most important parts to determine a leaders' effectiveness. However, besides knowing how to face problems and solve them are not all, leaders needed to have the ability to foresee opportunities and treats the group may encounter. Being able to identify and take advantage of every opportunity and turn treats into opportunities maybe the key to success both individually and collectively.

In order to achieve success in all directions, setting up goals will help clarify the path for both the leader and the members. To develop a meaningful goal, we needed to divide our goals into long-terms and short term goals with a well defined time line. Goals which are specific to deal with specific section of task with a clear description which allow us to measure the process and achievement will help us succeed. Provide awards for achievement will create motivation for members and leader to approach the goal.

Managers are leaders of individual departments and also the followers of the upper management. They are the center of a group and the key to group success. As a manger, understanding the responsibilities and duties will help formulating a path to success for both his/her self and the group. To be a good leader with positive feedbacks from other takes a lot of courage and self motivation. By laying the entire task out and set up goals for both self and members will be one of the key factors to success. It is a very important element to achieve success!

Bibliography

Yates, M. (n.d.). Effective Leadership. Retrieved 4 7, 2010, from 1000advices.com: http://www.1000advices.com/guru/leadership.html

Yukl, G. (2006). Leadership in Organizations. Pearson.