Article Content

Overview

Leadership is an essential component for the smooth functioning of any organization. The leader pursues several styles to create an inclusive environment and motivate workers to work towards their goals. An influential leader has to persuade the workers in the organization to gain a competitive advantage and generate positive outcomes. We expect our leaders to provide guidance and develop an understanding of specific jobs. We also want to approach our leaders to gain some inspiration regarding our careers. As listed by Gremeda et al. (2020), there are three main leadership styles: transformational, transactional, and laisser-faire. The outcomes of this leadership style are task performance and innovative work behavior.

Transformational leaders are inspirational role models who motivate their workers to innovate. These leaders provide visions and goals in addition to displaying proper behavior. Transactional leaders focus on work based on exchange. The leader inspires and expects a return from their workers. The laissez-faire style requires a limited involvement of a leader in the work culture. These leaders give minimal direction to their employees. It is possible to undertake training in leadership styles with the help of leadership training in India that will support the professional development of the workers.

The Various Leadership profiles

A leadership profile lists the different behavioral traits of an individual in a leadership position. The profile details effective behaviors that will increase the productivity of an organization. Every company understands what kind of leader they want to hire, and the profile helps them to hire such a person. However, a survey conducted by Gallup showed that 87% of the time, most companies do not pick people who are suited to be leaders in the organization. Organizations often choose the wrong individual to play a leadership role in the company, which lowers productivity. According to Harvard Business Review (HBR), the various leadership profiles can be placed under the “problem solver profiles”. These adventurous leaders act as detectives, good listeners, thinkers, and visionaries. Each of these profiles has both positives and negatives; it is vital to understand which profile you identify. With the help of leadership courses in India, the indication will provide an avenue to get training and reduce the skill gap to become a better leader.

Studying the Leadership profiles

1. The leader who is an Adventure seeker – An adventure seeker leader makes decisions by analyzing their instincts. They are motivated by their gut and make decisions that make them feel right about the situation. However, adventure leader is quite optimistic, although this can lead them to danger, as they make a decision using their instinct. On the more positive side, an adventurer knows who they are and is confident about their decisions. Investigator or Detective – The HBR explains these leaders as people who value the importance of information and are always looking to gather data. However, these individuals are often biased towards a specific aspect of the data generated, leading them to make wrong decisions. More information can also lead to confusion and a lack of understanding.

2. A leader who is an active listener – An individual who is an active listener is an asset to the organization, and they have a large group of people who trust and support them. These leaders give the power to the employees to make decisions. However, as a leader, you should also have the confidence to make decisions and not rely on others which may lead to a catastrophe. Others may not have the same expertise or training as you to make decisions, leading to miscommunication and mishandling of the situation.

3. Cognitive or a thinking Leader – A thinker leader will always weigh their options and decide. These leaders are rational and do not focus on the speed of making decisions. Being safe and making decisions based on this does not necessarily provide the same results and may lead to lower productivity. According to HBR, this may lead to a relativity bias which keeps a leader from seeing the reality of things.

4. Visionary – These leaders are innovative like to be different, and make unique decisions. In search of a unique decision, they might attract the wrong solutions. Therefore, these leaders should whether options and analyze the decisions taken before becoming susceptible to a saliency bias.

Knowing which profiles are right for you is critical. Some of India’s best leadership training programs help individuals understand their styles and navigate others. 

Different Dynamics faced by Leaders in the workplace

In this challenging and highly competitive business sector, there is no one style that a leader can use for every situation. There is a continuously changing atmosphere where uncertainty has become the truth. Therefore, no leadership profile can help to make good decisions in a particular situation. Leaders should be comfortable breaking away from their traditional styles and be open to taking up different kinds of approaches to motivate their employees. “Dynamic decision-making skills” focus on mainly understanding “who you are” and gaining knowledge concerning the problem. Agility at work is an important aspect that gives workers and leaders a chance to adjust to different situations. Some of the main issues that leaders face in the workplace are –

  • Indecision
  • Lack of Motivation
  • Lack of Change Management
  • Inability to use different styles of leadership

Conclusion

An effective leader can drive productivity in an organization, and an ineffective one can lower the positive outcome. Therefore, it is recommended that every organization research the best leadership training programs in India to reduce the skill gap and make influential leaders. Leaders have a huge responsibility to direct their employees toward common visions. The leadership style must be cultivated in every individual to take further steps to improve themselves.