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Unit Outline
The Importance of Leadership
Leadership Basics
1. What is leadership?
2. What are the myths surrounding leadership?
3. What are the three components of leadership?
4. What situational factors can strengthen my leadership development opportunities?
5. How can I enhance my leadership growth?
6. What are the rational and emotional aspects of leadership?
Vision
1. What is a vision?
2. Why should I develop a vision?
3. Why is vision important to leadership?
4. What is a mission, and how does it differ from a vision?
Unit Content
The Importance of Leadership
Leadership Basics
What is leadership?
Leadership is an individual's ability to unite followers and motivate them to achieve set goals. This task
is accomplished by communicating a vision of future goals to followers, which they then strive to
achieve.
In order to execute leadership effectively, you will need to develop and utilize good leadership skills.
Without proper leadership skills, organizational goals cannot be reached.
What are the myths surrounding leadership?
Leaders are born, not made. Through hard work and discipline, individuals possessing all types of
personality traits are capable of becoming effective leaders. Even if an individual is naturally prone to
fulfilling a leadership position, being exposed to continual leadership experiences can enhance their
ability to lead.
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You become a leader through experience. Although experience is useful when developing leadership
skills, formal study also provides important benefits. Formal study helps a leader develop analytical
skills that will enable them to examine situations more effectively and take the appropriate action.
All it takes is common sense. Common sense is needed to be a successful leader, but since it varies for
each individual, it is not effective alone. Therefore, a leader needs to possess the proper knowledge and
skills to reinforce their common sense.
What are the three components of leadership?
In order to understand the leadership process, you need to examine three critical elements:
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A strong leader is central to the achievement of organizational goals. Leaders must be honest,
competent, forward-looking and inspiring. Overall, a leader needs to be aware of how to reach
goals while dealing with different personalities and an ever-changing environment.
Followers play a critical role in an organization. Without them, leaders are not needed. Followers
carry out the many tasks necessary to achieve organizational goals. The personality traits,
expectations, and intelligence of followers have a direct effect on the leadership process.
The situation directly influences the leadership process. Since each leadership process is unique,
individuals must always examine the current situational context. To be successful, leaders and
followers should be aware of all variables in each situation.
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A vision provides your followers with a clear focus of what direction to head toward. Clarity also
helps empower your followers since they can refer to the vision and make informed decisions.
When followers believe in a vision, they will be committed to fulfilling it. This commitment to the
final goal encourages followers to go to great lengths in order to achieve it.
When your actions reflect the vision, followers will observe your commitment and be more
willing to support the vision as well. This support will lead to the achievement of the
organization's goals.
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