Is leadership about using the right "techniques"?
|
Navigate The Leadership Questions and Answers Section
|
|
Index Page - Leadership Models, Theories and Terms |
Technique, Yes, But There's More Involved With Leading
If leadership was ONLY about using the right techniques to plan, or inspire, or communicate, our world would probably be much better off, since it would be fairly easy to create great leaders by simply teaching them the right techniques. It's not possible, although certainly people have tried to create leaders through building their abilities to use various techniques.
That's not to say that skills and techniques in areas like communication, negotation, and motivating others are irrelevant. Obviously leader behavior and leadership techniques are important.
But so are things like being genuine in interactions with others, and standing by one's beliefs and values, and acting is trustworthy ways, and those are not about "technique".
One peril some leaders encounter occurs when a leader tried to depend too much on technique (for example, inspiring a team via a rah-rah speech) while acting in ways that are not consistent with the leader role. Often this results in the opposite to what is intended, because employees can feel manipulated, and feel the leader is a manipulative person, and that is damaging.