Basic Concepts of Leadership Development
Whoever is providing leadership needs to be as fresh and thoughtful and reflective as possible to make the very best fight.” Faye Wattleton
Leadership development is a process in which an individual enhances his / her ability to direct and guide followers. Basic concepts essential to effective leadership development include acceptance of follower’s individual differences, perceptions, and characteristics. Development of an understanding of how to effectively motivate, empower, and acknowledge the value of one’s followers are also critical elements of effective leadership development.
- Individual Differences: All people have much in common however every individual is uniquely different from all other individuals. Individual diversity must be recognized and appreciated.
- Perception: People view things differently even when presented with the same objective in the same environment. Perception is the unique way an individual sees, organizes, and interprets his/ her environment.
- A Whole Person: Individuals function as total human systems composed of skills sets, values and believes, and cognitive ability. A leader cannot neatly separate the emotional conditions present in a follower’s home and work life from one another nor can the leader utilize a follower’s cognitive ability and skill set without also utilizing all the other elements present in the follower’s total human system.
- Motivated Behavior: Making use of the technological resources of an organization is dependent upon motivation of the members of the organization. Motivation is based either upon increased need fulfillment or the threat of decreased need fulfillment. Increased need fulfillment has proven to be the more effective approach.
- Desire for Involvement: Empowerment provides a means of allowing followers to fulfill their need to be a part of the organization’s decision-making process.
- Value of the Person: People have a desire to be recognized and valued for their unique skills and abilities. They want to be treated with respect and dignity and refuse to be treated merely as an economic apparatus.