Leadership

Frequently asked question about leaders. They are made or born naturally? It is quite difficult for me to answer as I am not a thinker person. Well from my point of view, both of them are true. No matter where he is, an individual who was born like this be given the role of leader. Rasulullah S.A.W said that:

"Each of you is a leader and you will be responsible for people under the leadership of you, a ruler is a guardian and will be accountable to the people; a man is the leader of his family members and will be responsible members of the family; woman is a leader in her husband's house and will be held accountable for his children and his leadership, and servant is entrusted with property master and will be held accountable for what is under the trust. "- [Hadith Bukhari]

However, many also think that someone is not born as a leader, but he has learned the skills to be a leader. For example, family members show leadership skills and be encouraged to show leadership. Next in school and among his friends self-confidence derived from childhood are reinforced by family members makes him stand out as a leader.

Leaders aren't born, they are made.
And they are made just like anything else, through hard work
Vince Lombardi

If you have the desire and willpower, you can also become an effective leader. According to Jago (1982), the good leaders develop through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience. Good leaders are continually working and studying to improve their leadership skills. We can see that effective leaders usually demonstrate certain skills. These skills can be learned.

As a Muslim, I believe that leadership by example is an accurate phrase to describe the leadership matters. Before I forgot, let us share the definition of leadership. Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. Meanwhile, with the same definition from Northouse's (2007), leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more,
do more and become more, you are a leader
John Quincy Adams

A good leader can inspire workers into higher levels of teamwork. What makes a person want to follow a leader? People want to be guided by those they respect and who have a clear sense of direction. To gain respect, they must be ethical. A sense of direction is achieved by conveying a strong vision of the future.

Finish with the introduction. Let me share with you who inspired me in working environment. The person is my boss. My boss is a very responsible person. From my first day of registration at the department, I was quite shy because of his good looking and the way he communicate with me had impressed me.

My boss is a person who has leadership qualities. He has the patience to listen carefully what is being said by others so that he can understand something thoroughly before he acts. He also usually have skills that encourage others to talk because he showed interest in listening.one things I like his style is he use words that can be understood by the hearers and can explain clearly to any questions put to him. The way he explains and answers question given in the meeting had motivate me to be like him.

Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument,
debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand
Colin Powell

I with my technical team always accompany my boss especially during middle of 2011 where we have to go around Malaysia to conduct meeting and site visits. As a junior office, I was also responsible to manage and conduct Value Management Lab for People Housing Projects. Normally at the end of the lab, my boss will present the outcome to the head of department. He has skills in public speaking which is very important asset. In my opinion a skill in public speaking does not mean that someone should be able to speak fluently and fiery.

I respect my boss in terms of solving the problems. He manages to give solutions and good direction to us to complete the jobs well. I think he is a person who has thought leadership toward solving the problem. He manages to analyse a situation and thinking carefully the options for action and the next he takes an action.

The hallmark of a well-managed organization is not the absence of problems,
but whether or not problems are effectively resolved
Steve Ventura

Other than that, he is the good role model to be example. Good leader would prefer to do something to correct itself from too many try to correct others. Without realizing it, leader shows a good example to others.

My boss always gives motivations and free counselling for not only among the officers but also to the subordinates. He has the skills to uplift others to act. He gives praise and reward and show appreciation for the contributions of others. My friend and I always think that he is a perfect person in this world. Having a loving wife, good son, luxury and healthy lifestyle. He appreciates by always say ‘Thank You’. Besides, he spends money every month to celebrate any of staff birthdays.

  

The five most important words a leader can speak are - 'I am proud of you'
The four most important are - 'What is your opinion?'
The three most important are - 'If you please'
The two most important are - 'Thank You'
And the most important single word of all is - 'You'
Denis Waitley

While meeting with the top management, he is able to control a person who is too much talk and can stimulate people shy to speak. He can produce a view without making others feel offended.

As I said before, applying a healthy lifestyle cause my boss neat, healthy and energetic. He understands his soul atmosphere and knows what actions are necessary to control his feelings. He also realized that livings in a family environment are also essential to good management. He always encourages us to put priority to family. For him, without family’s support we are nothing.

Leaders tap into the emotions of their people by getting excited themselves
Brian Tracy

According to J. Manickavasagam (1981), intelligence is one of the traits that feature predominantly. A leader has somewhat more intelligence than the average of his followers. The leader must be able to reason clearly about the problems which he faces and to take an overall view of the organisation. Sometimes lack of knowledge can lead to making a mistake especially when they need to make a decision. 

Secondly the ability to look from another person’s point of view. Leader’s sometime careless to aware of his group’s feelings, goals and problems. This happen when leader failed to judge accurately human reactions in order to be able to influence. Leader should be socially sensitive and socially perceptive.

The most successful leader of all is the one who sees another picture not yet actualised
Mary Parker Follett

Thirdly, lack of empathy is often a cause of leadership failures. One may refuse to see the other point of view. However what will the subordinates feel if his idea is rejected outright in a blunt and rude manner? Some leaders not aware of the particular impact he makes and knows how he appears to other people. Sometimes he think of himself as fair and objective but some of his subordinates may consider him to be biased.

Good leaders make people feel that they're at the very heart of things, not at the periphery.
Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization.
When that happens, people feel centered and that gives their work meaning
Warren Bennis

To improve the understanding of management and leadership, I encourage my colleagues to read related books about management and leadership. Besides, leading by example is the best sources to be applied.

How to apply leadership qualities in yourself and continue to practice those features?
I think that leadership can be learned and improved from time to time. A leader with the right attitude will also make mistakes. Like everyone else, I want to be a good leader too. Respected and gain the trust of others. If not now maybe in the future. If I have a pension one day, I hope that people will remember me as a person who served the community.

As a muslim, I believe that Allah S.W.T had created human, equip them with the intellectual ability and make them as leader on earth. Besides, Allah S.W.T also created the creatures and other incidents as something useful to mankind. In creating these events, Allah S.W.T provides two facilities to human to manage the earths which are skill and resource. Responsibility to lead and manage a group of individuals or a society to achieve the objective or goal is to shoulder the leader. The success and progress of a nation depends heavily on the leadership style of their leader and is closely related to consciousness to fulfill its obligations by community leaders, and further to the pleasure of Allah S.W.T. Islam provides clear guidelines in the leadership that can be applied for the benefit of society.