The world has seen many interesting leaders over the years; Napoleon, Hitler, Putin, Obama, and the interesting Donald Trump. Some have inspired us, some we have feared, and some have brought countries to their knees. The world relies on great leaders on a global scale, but also in the small company boardrooms, the activist party rallies, and local sports social clubs. Having the people willing to stand up and make the important decisions, to coordinate and bring together an array of people, and to inspire action is important to moving companies and the world as a whole forward.
Though I am not a fan of being in the top chair myself (I
would prefer not to have the responsibility of final decisions on my shoulders
– “Completer Finisher” and “Teamworker” Belbin role weaknesses coming through),
I do appreciate having a good leader above me, guiding me to be the best I can
be. Though I am working on my first ever
group assignment at the moment, I have endured several poor leaders in my work
environments. From this I can give a
fairly strong list of what qualities I would like in any future leaders I
encounter (feels a little like writing a requirement list for a dating website,
but here goes):
- Decisive (able to make the tough decisions and stick to them)
- Knowledgeable (they must understand their subject/industry, and the jobs their team members do)
- Empathic (Understanding towards their team members, show some compassion)
- Fair and Inclusive (No favouritism or singling out of individuals)
- Open minded (Open to new ideas, suggestions and forward thinking. If we can’t move forward, a company or team won’t grow)
- Communicative (This is a biggie as without communication within a team, everything falls apart)
- Mature and diplomatic
Within the Belbin team roles (Belbin Associates, 2015), the
delegating Co-ordinator is my preferred leadership style, preferably with a bit
of action driven Implementer, and diplomatic Teamworker. I find Shapers, which I have had to deal with
in the past (four in one company), to be too abrasive with little regard for
others, although they are useful for driving new ideas they don’t communicate
or work well with their teams.
For myself, if I was in turn a leader, I hope I could be all
of the qualities I listed above. The decisiveness I would need to work on, but
I know I would do my best to include the whole team and treat everyone
fairly. Forward thinking, delegation and
communication I think would be my strengths.
To inspire a team to create something great is what I believe the goal
should be of a leader, not to bully people to do as you tell them.
REFERENCES:
Belbin Associates. (2015). Belbin Team Roles. Retrieved from http://www.belbin.com/about/belbin-team-roles/
2 comments:
I Like description and comparison to a dating website. When pondering on this the relationship you develop with any leader always has thing we need, like and dislike. It hard sometime to appear to balanced and appreciative when you are getting other instructions. I am sure you will make a great leader one day.
I can understand the sentiment of not wishing to have the leader's responsibilities! It really does require a strong character to be able to be fair in dealings with your followers and yet juggle all the responsibilities smoothly. I agree with the Belbin role you've identified for yourself- you really have been efficient in coordinating our team roles, tasks, communications etc. so far into our team work. I appreciate that.
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