Judges 5 where Deborah encourages
and influences the people to act and do
something about a bad situation.
People ask the difference between a leader
and a boss… the leader works in the
open and the boss in covert. The leader
leads, and the boss drives. - Theodore
Roosevelt. A position as a manager does
not make you a leader but a boss. Bosses
are obeyed but leaders are followed. The
boss is respected and obeyed because of
his/her seniority. A leader is respected
and looked upon as an example not only
because of seniority but mainly because of
the qualities of character and ability.
A leader is one who knows the way,
goes the way and shows the way. - John
C. Maxwell. Leaders innovate, focus
on people, inspire trust, have a long-
range view, ask what and why, have eyes
on horizon, originate, challenge status
quo and do the right thing. Managers
administrate, focus on systems and
structures, rely on control, have a short-
range view, ask how and when, have eyes
on the bottom line, accept status quo and
do things right.
The question each and every leader should
ask, is what will make people want to
follow them. Generally people will follow
leaders that they respect and who have a
clear sense of direction. No sober human
being would want to follow a non-ethical
leader who has no sense of direction.
Respect is earned and not demanded or
forced. Indeed respect is not automatic
and doesn’t happen because of the
position one holds. People will respect
a leader after observing what the leader
does rather that what a leader says. What
a leader does will help the followers tell if
their leader is honourable and trustworthy
or a self-serving individual who misuses
authority to look good and get promoted
at the expense of his workers.
The followers must trust and have
confidence in the leader and this trust
and confidence is won through effective
communication. If you are a leader who
can be trusted, then those around you will
grow to respect you. For you to be a trusted
leader, you need to Be, Know and Do. This
means that you should be a professional
who possess good character traits; Know
yourself, Know human nature, Know your
job, Know your organization; and Do
provide direction, Do implement and Do
68 MAL34/20 ISSUE
Understand who you are for you have to
lead yourself first before others. Next un-
derstand the people you lead and adjust
your leadership style to suit accordingly.
motivate.
Organisations need strong leadership
and strong management for optimum
effectiveness. The story of creation is
a clear indication of the need for both
leadership and management in the
organization.
God clearly articulated to Adam what
exactly he wanted him to do and
empowered and delegated to him. This
was leadership and management at work.
He engaged in leadership by delegating
to Adam to do the naming, tender the
garden and get involved in recreating
other human beings. Good leaders and
managers will not do everything even
though they can do it but instead will
delegate and empower their followers. The
quality of leadership, more than any other
single factor, determines the success or
failure of an organization. - Fred Fiedler
and Martin Chemer.
Leadership has and continuous to evolve.
The Great Man Theory/Trait Approaches
argued that Leaders are born and they have
innate characteristics such as intelligence,
assertiveness,
above-average
height,
good vocabulary, attractiveness and self-
confidence. This approach assumed that
some basic trait or set of traits existed that
differentiated leaders from non-leaders.
Whereas leaders can be born and these
characteristics are important for one to be
a good leader, possessing them does not
make one a leader. We for instance know
handsome/beautiful people who have
good command of the English language
and yet have no clue of what leadership
is all about.
Researchers discovered that these
approaches may not always produce a
leader and this led to the Behavioral
Approaches. These approaches looked
into the Leaders behaviors or actions as
opposed to personality traits.
Two universities namely University
of Michigan and Ohio University
interviewed leaders (managers) and
followers (subordinates) and identified
basic forms of leader behavior. They
concluded that leaders can either have a
Job-centered leader behavior/Initiating-
structure behavior. Leaders with any
of this behavior pay close attention
to subordinates’ work, explain work
procedures, are keenly interested in
performance, establish formal lines of
communication, and determine how tasks
will be performed.
On the other hand other leaders exhibit
the Employee-centered leader behavior/
Consideration behavior. Such Leaders
are interested in developing a cohesive
work group and ensuring that employees
are satisfied with their jobs. They show
concern for subordinates and attempt to
establish a warm, friendly and supportive
climate.
The other relevant Behavioral Approach
is what is commonly referred to as the
Leadership Grid or Managerial Grid.
This approach has two axis, where the
horizontal axis represents ‘concern for
production’ [similar to job-centered and
initiating-structure behaviors]. The vertical
axis on the other hand represents ‘concern
for people’ [similar to employee-centered
and consideration behaviors].
This results into 5 styles of leadership.
The first one is known as Authority-
Compliance. These are leaders who have
very high concern for production and
very low concern for people. Such leaders
believe that people are tools for getting the
job done and their communication is for
instructions. They direct and dominate and
pressure through rules and punishments.
Such leaders use the authoritarian style of
leadership and believe the employees are a
means to the end.
They apply Theory X which assumes that
workers dislike work and prefer to be
directed, must be coerced to work, want
to avoid responsibility, have little ambition
and want security above everything. Their
attitude is hire and fire and are hard on
workers. Employees in organizations