Women In Leadership

All too often, leadership appears to be concerned with grand visions and strategies.

However, true leaders should also keep in mind the seemingly smaller-scale skills that are central to an organisation’s day-to-day functioning. According to Dr Marjolijn Dijksterhuis of the UCT Graduate School of Business, the dichotomies between these skills are encapsulated in the argument surrounding leadership versus management.

“Leadership is often considered a facet of management; one which defines the relationship between the manager and her employees,” Dijksterhuis says. “The skills that help address logistics are generally associated with the more administrative aspects of management, such as organisation, planning, staffing and controlling.”

With this in mind, Dijksterhuis says the five key qualities that ensure leaders meet their practical responsibilities, instead of focusing solely on strategic matters, are:

DELEGATING: “This is important because it stimulates learning experiences for your employees,” Dijksterhuis says.

COACHING: This not onlyfacilitates learning for your employees, but also provides a window for them to reflect on their work and recognise opportunities for development. A number of training programmes are available to help you hone your coaching skills. In the meantime, put your skills to use in one-on-one and group coaching sessions.

TRANSPARENT COMMUNICATION: Openness is the foundation of a culture of trust and honest feedback. As a leader, you need to embody these traits. Talk to your employees, find out what drives them and be open to critical feedback while striving to ensure your own is constructive.

BEHAVING CONSISTENTLY: Integrity shows people you’re reliable and helps contribute to an atmosphere of trust, says Dijksterhuis. “Be aware of your actions, words and non-verbal communications: do they truly come from you, or are they a reflection of what you believe others want to see and hear? Lead from the inside out, not the outside in.”

APPRECIATE DIVERSITY: The ability to capitalise on diversity is a major asset in an increasingly interconnected world. Dijksterhuis points out that “being able to appreciate and employ diverse perspectives and approaches is critical to success”

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 3:49 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.