The EXECUTION Factor
“Insights for Individuals and Organizations On The Journey to Greatness”
Pathways to Transformational Leadership
By Dr. Anita Davis-DeFoe
L
eadership is a mysterious blend of managerial
acumen, strategic vision, operational efficiency,
performance management, tactical planning, emotional
intelligence, and the capacity to inspire others to marshal
all of their abilities in support of a common mission.
Leadership is the nourishing ingredient which can ignite
an organization to flourish, or stifle to the point that it
languishes in a sea of mediocrity.
Characteristics
attributed to effective 21st century leaders, are skills like:
The creation of an organizational vision such that
people share it and work tirelessly to bring it to
fruition, or;
Fostering communication networks and a culture that
breeds trust, confidence and commitment, or maybe;
Stirring personal motivation so that people exert
deliberate effort to achieve organizational goals, or
what about;
Building teams that tap into synergy, interdependence
and performance excellence, and;
Understanding that organizations are social systems
which require tapping into emotional intelligence; or
perhaps,
Making calculated risks within the framework of an
overall organizational strategy, and
Nurturing strategic collaborative relationships which
support organizational goals and function as a catalyst
for creating opportunities for goal achievement.
Leadership and management of organizations have
shifted from transactional functioning, the old “step and
fetch it” mentality; to an essential need for
transformational cultures which fully engage and
encourage the participation of workers at all levels. No
longer can performance excellence be achieved in
autocratic climates, with orders and assignments dished
out without any consideration for the motivations,
interests or personality of the individual holding the plate.
In simplistic terms, phenomenal leaders choose, create,
communicate, collaborate, convince, coach, calibrate,
cause, and calculate, always mindful that leadership is not
a system. While certainly, a leader must be intimately
acquainted with management theory and its practice,
becoming a leader by practice and not merely by position,
results from no standard recipe. Impactful leaders are as
memorable as are the results they foster are monumental;
the path to this pinnacle for everyone is uniquely their
own.
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