CourageousHR|The Importance of Leadership Programs

Leadership is a term that is often sprinkled here and there across different sectors and industries, but the core idea and definition of ‘leadership’ is often lost during practice. More than that, it is quite unnerving to see good managerial qualities being confused with good leadership abilities. And if management doesn’t see the light of the matter, then it may quickly evolve into something unexpected and unwanted, leaving the team demotivated and with broken morale.

What really is ‘Leadership’?

If you think you know what leadership is, think again. It is not easy to define the concept clearly. The best definition that I have come across, till now, is from an article in Forbes, written by Kevin Kruse. According to it, “Leadership is a process of social influence which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal.”

From the definition, it is clear that leadership comes from influence but this influence should be positive and not arise from power or position. A true leader influences his/her followers by his/her innate ability to ‘lead’ through actions and not because he/she has the power to lead. Also, a great leader knows how to maximise the team’s effort by boosting their morale and not enforcing rules or regulations. Lastly, a true leader achieves goals through combined effort and appreciation.

As you can see, leadership is an oft-confused term and this is one of the prime reasons that leadership training has gained ground in the recent years.

Leadership Programs – A necessity?

There is good news for both professionals who are looking to inculcate leadership skills and organisations that want managers to become good leaders. There are various leadership programs nowadays which can help in both the ways. However, a notion of doubt will always be there and some may question the purpose of a leadership training course. To throw some light on the matter, here are some of the reasons why it is necessary for professionals or organisations to go for leadership programs:

Implement the right leadership style – Organisations need to follow a certain leadership style which will be effective in their business activities. There are different styles of leaderships and going for anything randomly is not going to help and may even complicate the work environment. It becomes easy to streamline the functionalities of different teams with a particular style of leadership, resulting in the whole organisation following the same path towards the achievement of goals.
Learn how to influence people the right way – The most important part of leadership is to influence people positively. Leadership programs help managers to understand the right elements that are involved in motivating the team and to discriminate between the good and bad sources of power. It will help them to eliminate the weak sources of influence so that the team morale is boosted.
Learn to take feedback in the right direction – Feedback is important to understand the gaps there are which hamper good relations with the team. It is also a way to not make the same mistake again. Leadership training will help managers to take feedback positively and avoid ego traps.
Build confidence and skills to succeed – Leadership programs will also teach you the essential skills and techniques that will help you to get the confidence required to be a better leader. With the right amount of confidence and leadership skills, you can achieve business goals with ease.

After going through the points, you must have come to the conclusion by yourself and I need not be explicit about the fact that leadership programs are indeed a glimmer of hope for those who want to improve their outlook. All the skills associated with leadership are not innate, and one has to develop them; that’s a different debate altogether and this article will not deal with the details. The main idea was to see if these programs are really helpful. I think it would be safe to conclude that it is.

Author Bio:

Hasib is a professional writer associated with learning.naukri.com. He has written a number of articles related to technology, marketing, and career on various blogs and websites. As an amateur career guru, he often imparts nuggets of knowledge related to leadership and motivation through different media. He is also an avid reader and passionate about the beautiful game of football. Follow him @ twitter