LUSAKA SCHOOLS OF NURSING

CLINICAL INSTRUCTORS (SET 3)

LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT ASIGNMENT

NAME: BARBARA MITI

QUESTION: DISSCUS GARDNERS NINE LEADERSHIP

TASKS

The Nine Tasks of Leadership

INTRODUCTION
Leadership is more of an art than a science, whereas
management is often thought of as a science in which a series of
logical steps can be followed to implement whatever the role
demands leaders differ from managers in a variety of ways.
Leaders are active in formulating goals and objectives for the
people who work for them. They look for a better way to do
things.

John W. Gardner outlines nine (9) tasks that leaders perform. We

will take a snapshot look at those things that leaders do.
Goal setting: Leaders assert a vision of what the group can be at
its best. Setting goals probably requires extensive research and
problem solving. A leaders role as a goal setter varies from group
to group. Goals emerge from several sources. Leaders perform
this very important task several ways. Apart from a vision, a
leader may also point to solutions for problems or may define how
unity may occur or how to focus energy. Envisioning of goal is not
simply the job of a leader but it is a job of the team of individuals
who understand the mission.

Value affirmation: Each society and organization is based on

core values which are both written and unwritten. A group of
people come to have shared views about right and wrong, better
and worse, virtuous and vicious, and good and bad. There is no
neutrality about such ideas. Values motivate. Values fall victim to
the passage of time and decay, according to Gardner. Leaders
help keep the good alive and vital by a powerful process. This is
regeneration. Its a rebuilding of a special kind. Leaders
rediscover values from tradition and adapt them to present reality.
Motivate: Gardner states Leaders do not normally create
motivation out of thin air. Leaders unlock existing motives so
that collective action can pursue shared goals. Leaders must
disentangle the ones that serve that purpose from those that
dont. Leaders are aligners. The effective ones create the
circumstances and mindsets that make for great performance.
They create a climate in which there is pride in making
significant contributions to shared goals. Motivating groups to
achieve greatness sometimes involves things beyond numbers
and technical matters. The task of motivating also involves other
powerful aids to problem solving empathy and intuition.
Effective leaders tune into these areas too.
Managing: Gardner identifies five (5) broad activity areas of
managing in leadership tasks: (1) planning and priority setting:
the how planning, prioritizing, policy formulation of
accomplishing goals; (2) organizing and institution building:

designing structures and processes; (3) keeping the system

functioning: presiding over the essential chores involved in
achieving shared goals; (4) agenda setting and decision making:
charting pathways for meeting goals; (5) exercising political
judgments: preventing conflicts that will block progress.
Achieving Unity: Three things constitute the workable unity
described by John W. Gardner as a task of leadership. Avoiding or
diminishing conflict and dealing with polarization and building
community are absolute requirements of effective social
functioning leadership. The third part and no less important cog
in the wheel is trust. The effective functioning of society and its
organizations depends upon trust. According to Gardner, this part
of the unity task of leadership is that people must believe that
others will observe custom, follow the rules, and behave with
some predictability. Leaders must preserve it. And the first
requirement is that they have the capacity to inspire trust in
themselves.
Explaining: Leaders, to be effective, must find the words to let
people know what the problem is, why they must do certain
things, and why things frustrate them. Effective explaining
requires more, Gardner points out, than clarity and eloquence. It
requires people who know how to help with this as well as
channels and media through which it can occur. Simply put,
Leaders teach. Every great leader is clearly teaching.

Serving as a Symbol: Leaders serve as a symbol to their

organization. Top leaders symbolize the collective identity and
continuity of a group. Leaders do not expound on their own,
idiosyncratic views. Instead, effective ones embrace the fact that
they serve as the ceremonial collective voice of the group.
Leaders are set apart and examined by their followers.
Representative of the Group: Gardner describes this as
representing the group in its dealings with others. It is a
substantial leadership task. The tasks of representing and
negotiating, defending institutional integrity, or public relations
with external systems increase with higher leadership rank.
Gardner adds A distinctive characteristic of the ablest leaders is
that they do not shrink from external representation. They see the
long term needs and goals of their constituency in the broadest
context, and they act accordingly.
Renewer: Leaders must foster the process of renewal. Marching
down old paths, using old slogans, and striving for old objectives
may sometimes be appropriate. Gardners thoughts point the
student another way: But the world changes with disconcerting
swiftness. Too often the old paths are blocked and the old
solutions no longer solve anything. Gardner also stated:
When organizations feel they need an infusion of new talent,
they look to their recruitment process. But the largest untapped
reservoir of talent is in people already recruited but thereafter
neglected.

The quickest road to renewal is the mining of that untapped

resource. Among other things it would solve the problem of
maintaining an organization that is responsive to both leaders and
the people it serves. Vital people, using their gifts to the full, are
naturally responsive. People who have stopped growing, who no
longer have confidence in the use of their own powers, build
bastions of procedure.

CONCLUSION
In the nursing field, there is a considerable amount of focus given
to management and very little given to leadership. But we must
remember that, unlike management skills, leadership is not
necessarily tied to a position. Everyone has the potential to be a
leader, and nurses have the responsibility to be leaders in their
organizations. A person can be a leader without being in a
position of authority and as health care professionals, everyone of
us must remember that because we all have the potential to
provide leadership at some point in our lives.

REFERENCE
A practical Guide to Leadership Development, HCPpro,Inc.,2007