This is simply a work in progress. Our assignment this week was to start the list of leadership traits a strategic leader must possess. The final list with explanations will be in our final course paper due during week 8.
Strategic leadership can be difficult to define in a single cohesive sentence. However, overall strategic leadership consists of possessing both the abilities “to combine visionary operational management” and being able to transcend this vision throughout the company’s various departments while “taking into account their limitations” (Malewska & Sajdak, 2014, p. 45). Strategic leadership is vital to an organization since it “significantly and positively predicted strategic planning, strategic thinking and competitive advantage,” all which an organization needs to embrace to be successful (Hunitie, 2018, p. 327). To succeed as a strategic leader the leader must possess certain core qualities. Some of the core qualities and characteristic traits strategic leaders exhibit are:
· Accountable, Responsible
· Motivated
· Effective Communicators
· Articulate
· Creative, Visionary Thinkers
· People-Oriented
· Self-Motivated
· Confident
· Resiliency
· Empathetic
Accountable, Responsible
First, a good leader needs to be one that will be respected and trusted by their colleagues. This trusting relationship begins forming if the leader is honest and acts with integrity; of course, this means that the leader also needs to be accountable when situations arise and act responsible. Leaders who are dishonest or deny taking responsibility are rarely trusted or seen as optimal role models for other employees. Leaders who are not trusted will have a difficult time in getting the organization to work cohesively towards accomplishing a goal. This can not only hurt the organization itself, but all employees.
It is also important to recognize that global organizations must maintain some of the highest ethical standards. While this is necessary for more than one reason, it is primarily to ensure that both the company and country they represent are viewed in a positive way. Overall, “integrity plays a critical role in global leadership. It is the lifeblood of authority and essential in securing the goodwill and best efforts of employees” (Morrison, 2001, pp. 75-76).
Motivated
To inspire others, one must be inspired and motivated themselves. An inspirational leader, who is leading by example, that others listen to and willingly follow usually are expressing how they themselves are inspired, and which to inspire others. This motivational direction helps build positive morale with the employees, thus helping increase employee happiness and efficiency. However, a leader must also exhibit other traits to effectively motivate employees, since employees respond to differing motivators. Therefore, ‘the starting point of each manager is to see and understand what motivates employees in the context of the roles they perform, because of all the functions that the manager does, motivation of employees is certainly the most complex, given the fact that what motivates employees is constantly changing” (Glišović et al., 2019, p. 132).
Effective Communication
Leadership is impossible without communication, and a leader needs to utilize effective communication skills. This not only helps ensure that the leaders ideas are being understood and positively accepted by the employees, but that they themselves are being perceived in a positive way. Of course, a leaders effective communication skills also help shape the way the organization is viewed by all the stakeholders. This is vital when a leader needs to shape the organization to meet a new strategic organizational goal.
One such organization that has developed away to effectively communicate is the Louisville Water Company. This company has coined their own communication slogan called the Four Ps of Communication; they are: the First P: People; the Second P: Product; the Third P: Partnership; and the Fourth P: Pipes. However, it took several years before the Louisville Water Company developed its effective communication strategy. In total, “Louisville Water has spent the past 20 years developing a communications strategy involving its people, product, partnerships, and pipe, and
it uses these four strengths to reinforce its message of quality and reliability across the community” (Smith, 2019, p. 5).
References
Glišović, M., Jerotijević, G., & Jerotijević, Z. (2019, April-June). MODERN APPROACHES TO EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION. Ekonomika, 65(2), 121-133. doi:10.5937/ekonomika1902121A
Hunitie, M. (2018, November 11th). Impact of Strategic Leadership on Strategic Competitive Advantage Through Strategic Thinking and Strategic Planning: A Bi-Meditational Research. Business: Theory and Practice, 19, 322-330. Retrieved November 2020, from http://dx.doi.org/10.3846/btp.2014.01
Malewska, K., & Sajdak, M. (2014). The Intuitive Manager and the Concept of Strategic Leadership. Management, 18(2), 44-58. doi:10.2478/manment-2014-004
Morrison, A. (2001, May 1st). Integrity and Global Leadership. Journal of Business Ethics, 31(1), 65-76. doi:10.1023/A:1010789324414
Smith, K. (2019, July). Four Ps for Effective. JOURNAL AWWA, 111(7), 54-59. doi:10.1002/awwa.1325
Comments