Leadership

"President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Meets Volunteers" by President Of Ukraine is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.

President Zelenskyy of Ukraine meets with volunteers

Leadership refers to a person’s ability to guide and inspire themselves as well as others to act. Writers, speakers, and knowledge workers engage in leadership when they plan activities and resources, resolve conflicts, and reorganize aims and works flows in response to challenges.

Self Leadership

Self-leadership refers to the dispositions and processes people employ to re-direct, self monitor and evaluate their own thoughts and actions. Self-leadership involves self-talk and self-coaching. Self-leadership may involve moderating one’s emotions in response to difficult rhetorical problems and critical feedback.

Team Leadership

Team leadership refers to the processes involved in assigning, supervising, coaching, evaluating, and inspiring the work of others.

Related Concepts: Critique; Mindset, Growth Mindset, Intellectual Openness; Professionalism & Work Ethic; Resilience; Self-Regulation & Metacognition

Leadership Behaviors

Leaders are engaged. Curious, leaders seek solutions to problems. They innovate, disrupt, and transform ways of thinking and doing things. When facing obstacles, leaders research what thought leaders are doing. They have a deep understanding of Information Literacy. They are well read. They listen to podcasts. They seek out other leaders and are open to new ideas ideas.

Leaders are recognized by their actions. For instance, a leader can

• identify (independently or in consultation with others) a vision of the future;
• inspire others to support and advance the vision;
  • use communication channels/tools (e.g., Slack, Twitter, Google Docs) to empower all team members to see the evolving group vision and contribute accordingly;
• identify and secure personnel and material resources necessary to obtain a vision;
• inspire and motivate others (e.g., by engaging in ethical behavior, by empowering diverse opinions, by making evidence-based decisions);
• adjust and revise a vision in response to obstacles and failures;
• empower, acknowledge, and celebrate the works of others;
• create a meritocracy
• distinguish fact from opinion.

Setting tasks and holding people accountable are required leadership skills. Leaders are, after all, the people we look up to for guidance, However, this does not mean that leadership is the same as telling someone what to do or how to do it. In fact, those behaviors when exercised to the extreme can be boorish and autocratic. Rather, leaders are responsive. They listen to their team.

After sincere efforts listening to all points of view, leaders follow their own judgment even when this means the leaders may lose their leadership platform. When necessary leaders will make decisions and choose paths that are unpopular. Yet they are strategic about which battles to fight. Flexible, sometimes they will go along with the will of their team or community. Learning Leadership skills and styles are essential for life and workplace success.

Team Leadership Competencies

Six core competencies are associated with team leadership:

1. Resource Management
   • organize personnel resources,
   • prioritize tasks and activities via a reasonable schedule,
   • allocate time material resources?
2. Task Management
   1. Define responsibilities and expectations
   2. Share defined roles, tasks, outcomes across the team
3. Performance Management
   1. Track individual group member’s progress (e.g., Progress Reports, Project Management software, F2F meetings).
   2. Reward clear thinking
4. Crisis Management
   1. Reorganize when faced with obstacles such as negative client feedback
5. Conflict Management
6. Vision