The age long debate about the difference between leadership and management presupposes that there are distinct differences between the two concepts. In this piece, my focus is the fact that even though both concepts are different, they have complimentary and learnable skills. This realisation therefore underpins an enduring notion that leadership and management can be taught as a skill.
However, even though many organisations have long adopted the view that leadership training helps high potential individuals to become leaders and impact them with knowledge and various skills that will help in performing leadership roles. Leaders need both soft and hard skill training to perform optimally in this era of uncertainty. These range of skills might include listening skills, time management skills, and conflict resolution skills, to name a few.
Leadership training has also been known to enhance rapid globalization, generational gap coverage, and empowerment of remote leaders, especially as the ongoing reorganisation of work (into remote & hybrid modes) has demonstrated.
While those already in leadership are not limited to leadership training since they need to keep updated on the new ideas, trends, and technology in their place of work. Aspiring leaders need a foundation of soft skills that help them influence their co-workers’ behavior. Some of the essential skills that any leader must possess include initiative, loyalty, honesty, passion, enthusiasm, strategic thinking, reliability, respect, accomplishment, and good listening skills.
Numerous misconceptions are associated with leadership training.
This piece looks at a few harmful misconceptions about leadership training which individuals and organisations must avoid. These have been known to lead to ineffective leadership training and consequently breed leaders who are exposed to unwholesome habits, thereby transmitting the same perception to other leaders.
Here are the top five leadership training misconceptions.
Leadership Cannot Be Taught
The expression that leaders are born, not made, is far from the truth. Even though some people appear to be natural leaders, most individuals develop their leadership skills through training, growing on the job, and observing. They depend on mentors and coaches in various situations and seek guidance when making critical decisions. Traditional leadership training tends to include attending conferences, workshops, and seminars to acquire more leadership skills.
Acquiring effective leadership skills also include reading books and even getting advanced degrees to further improve their leadership skills. Most successful organizations constantly evolve in empowering the leaders by allowing them to acquire new ideas that will enable them to plan and strategise with the changes and beat their competition by always seeking improvement.
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Leaders Must Be Extroverts
There is a fallacy that leaders tend to be outgoing. In comparing introverts and extroverts, the two terms describe how outgoing someone is or isn’t. An extrovert is associated with talkative, confident, and gregarious individuals, while introverts are synonymous with shy and withdrawn. Extroverts talk things through and engage others’ decisions before concluding, while introverts tend to process ideas inwardly, considering their position more independently. Introverts tend to lead on instinct and have a good sense of what is best for the organization, while extroverts are eager to engage with other teams to plan, strategize and solve the problem.
Leadership Is Synonymous With Management
Many people believe that leadership and management are the same. Not all managers are leaders – at times being good at managing doesn’t make a good leader. Managers are known to maintain the process and systems that ensure there is the workflow in the organisation. Leadership is all about inspiration. Leaders are more visionary. They are focused on the bigger picture. Leaders may also have management responsibility, and applying both skills effectively requires a fine balance.
Leaders Must Be Leading
Leadership doesn’t mean one must be a workaholic. Most leaders know how to balance their lives and personal lives. The misconception that leaders are supposed to be working around the clock intimidates many people hence avoiding leadership roles. Effective and efficient leaders know their limits and what they demand from themselves without experiencing burnout.
They create time to refuel and time to watch and relax. They also inspire their teams; working without time for leadership reflection is counterproductive. Most leaders understand the need to avoid things that may result in a mental roadblock.
Position Determines Leadership
Leadership is not associated with job descriptions. Just because one holds a title does make him or her a leader. Titles don’t mean they are good leaders or even managers. They are prompt to make poor decisions that may affect the organisation’s bottom line. Authentic leadership stems from influence. The leader must give guidelines and move the organisation forward by ensuring teamwork among the staff and proper coordination.
The above five leadership misconceptions are quite common in spite of many leaders having debunked them during their training.
Leaders need to resist the temptation of holding these misconceptions. This will help them understand what is best for them and what they must consider while deploying their leadership skills.
