Successful Leadership: Theories, Traits, and Criticisms

Running Head: MANAGING PEOPLE 0
successful leadership
AUGUST 9, 2018

MANAGING PEOPLE 1
Leadership is the process of influencing behaviour of others, leading them to create a clear
vision, and sharing the vision towards the goal achievement. Strong leadership is essential for
the success and growth of an organisation. It is the ability to influence the people in a group,
to influence and motivate them in an order to higher their level of performance. Leadership is
the key to the organisational performance and must be performed at all the levels. A good
leader creates a positive environment, which encourages the members of the team to enhance
their skills and imagination (Silva, 2016).
An effective leader manages people, takes risks, guides, motivates them, and seeks
continuous improvement in the long-term. There are various forms of leadership or
leadership styles, which vary with the nature of the organisation. Some people are born as
leaders, and some acquire the traits of leadership later on. Therefore, the effective leadership
is thus described with the help of the theories of leadership. Thus, the report brings about the
description of successful leadership and the various associated models or theories. In
addition, there is a further analysis of the pros and cons (issues) of the leadership in this
context (Behrendt, Matz and Göritz, 2017).
The success of a leader or leadership depends upon the effectiveness and the outcome, in the
form of goal achievement in an organisation. In an organisation, there are two forms of
leadership such as influential and authoritative; under influential style committed employees
will be willing to work and give their discretionary time to solve the problems. On the other
side, in the case of Authoritative leadership, employees will be working towards what is
asked to them and will be ignorant towards solving problems on their own. Effective or
successful leadership is the key element in the success of a group or an organisation. For
leaders to be effective in delivering value, require essential skills and abilities. These skills
are technical skills, interpersonal skills, communication skills, ability to delegate tasks and
authorities, understanding the employee grievances and issues, and the ability to analyse the
information and decision-making (Igbaekemen, 2014).
A leader should also meet the deadlines on time, encourage, or motivate the team building or
promoting teamwork. For organisation to be successful and stay competitive in the long-term,
they require the leaders who are innovative and easily adapt to the changes. In a broader
sense, a successful leader has the self-managing ability, sets clear goals and objectives for the
organisation, with a vision for the future by fostering creativity and innovation. Successful
leaders are the power or intellect behind any organisation’s success. These leaders have

MANAGING PEOPLE 2
transcended the authority of managers or boss, in an organisation. Such leaders are the
effective combination of charisma, enthusiasm, confidence, and self-assurance. There are
some of the traits or qualities of effective or successful leaders; these can be described as
below (Chen and Hou, 2016).
‘Self-managing’ is one of the important traits or the ability of a leader and it defines the
ability to prioritize on their own goals or objectives, and devising methods to accomplish
them. An effective leader manages at his own the time, goals, and objectives with respect to
his strengths and weaknesses (Lanaj and Hollenbeck, 2015).
Trait of effective leaders includes the ability to recognise and analyse the situation i.e. when
to talk and when to listen. It includes effectively communicating the goals or tasks to their
employees on each level, or department via any medium (mail, phone, and social media).
This defines the attribute of powerful and effective communicator in the organisation. In
addition, to ensure effective communication, a leader has to include people from all levels,
following an open chain of communication. This includes the verbal and non-verbal
exchange of information (Charlier, et.al, 2016).
There are some top leadership behaviours in every successful organisation, building trust and
confidence among employees or team members. It states that bringing and ensuring trust
among employees is essential to build long-term healthy relationship. These kinds of leaders
go beyond their own self-interest, just to fulfil the interests of other members, and they act
with integrity. They communicate the most important values and beliefs to the team
members. Another significant feature of the effective leader is that they inspire people in the
group and talk optimistically about the future (Patel, et.al, 2016).
Leaders who are an important part of the organisation, effectively spends time on teaching
and coaching people, and most significantly treat the individuals as members rather than just
the members of the group. Apart from the above-mentioned attributes or the behavioural
characteristics of a leader, they should review the performance of the employees or team
members. They communicate about what individuals are expected to perform and rewarding
them in exchange. Building sound relationship with the team members and establishing
coordination and collaboration in the organisation are some of the necessary traits or
behaviour of successful leaders. Some examples of the powerful or successful leaders are Jeff
Bezos, Mahatma Gandhi, Adolf Hitler, Abraham Lincoln, and John F. Kennedy. These are
some of the great and successful leaders in their time (Northouse, 2017).