Five Leadership Practices
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Kouzes and Posner have presented with the five practices of exemplary of leadership that research suggests can be learned. We can all agree on the practices presented but let us discuss about the five leadership practices that contrast with the list above.
Model the way:
Model the way means doing things that you want others to adopt. You want to lead the way, stay at the front and want your followers to follow you.
But just because you are a leader doesn’t mean that people will follow you whatever your actions be. The belief of the followers should match with that of the leader which must be seen in his activities so that people can follow their leader. Therefore until and unless the leader’s actions match with the beliefs of the leaders, following the leader just because he/she is a leader is not relevant.
Inspire a Shared Vision:
A great leader has a great vision. He/ She can make their vision, vision of others as well. The leaders share a common goal. People focus on that goal and base their activities accordingly to achieve that particular goal.
Therefore the leaders are responsible to inspire on visions and missions of great achievements. The leaders are not only responsible to force their vision, but to make people understand about it so that people can move ahead with the same enthusiasm of the leader to achieve that vision.
Challenge the process:
It is believed that change is necessary and a good leader is always innovative. With change and innovation come risks. And it is always not necessary to take risks.
A good leader can also be the one who follows the process, minimizes the risk and achieves the goal. A good leader should know when to follow the process rather than always looking for risks with changes and experiments.
Enable others to act:
Leaders create an environment that enables others to act. This means that leaders encourage their followers to be empowered, work in teams, be participative, and contribute and many more.
But just creating the environment and letting people know that they are expected to act is not enough. It is also necessary that leaders be able to teach when necessary on how to act. A good leader must understand their followers’ capacity and make them competent.
Encourage the heart
A journey is not always a smooth journey. Leading the way with your followers can have times when people are down and out. They do not feel like moving forward, working more to achieve their goal. This is when leaders must recreate the enthusiasm in people, find the passion in their heart to rejuvenate the desire to achieve their goals.
Leaders must have their own time when they are down and out. They must