识别核心领导能力 Identifying Core Leadership Skills

在当今不断变化的商业范式中，领导力对任何组织的进步起着非常重要的作用。管理的未来是非常光明的比我们可以预期多年前，它是这些多才多艺的领导者在今天的'管理平台，谁将有助于采取业务水平在全球各个领域更高境界。
随着我们商业环境的日益复杂，，领导者的角色要求他在自己身上成为一个机构，而不仅仅是依靠一个白色的充电器，在一个完全自主的方向上驰骋。一个组织是由不同角色、道德和哲学的人融合而成的，其中一个知道如何把所有这些不同的人结合起来，实现组织使命，成为一个有效的领导者。
几年来领导从不同的角度有演变，“领导就是影响力，它发生在人，那些人故意的欲望明显变化，变化反映的领导人共同目的和追随者”。

Introduction 简介
In today's shifting business paradigm leadership plays a very significant role in scaling the progress of any organisation. The future of management is very bright than what we could have expected years ago and it is these versatile leaders on today's' management platform who will help take business levels across all segments of the globe to higher realms.

With the increasing complexity of our Business environment, the role of the leader demands him to be an Institution in himself and something more than leaping on a white charger to ride off in a solely self-determined direction. An organisation is made up of fusion of people with different persona, ethics, and philosophies and the one among these who knows how to bind all these diverse people into achieving the Organisation mission emerges as an effective leader.

Since several years Leadership has evolved from different perspectives: According to Dr. Richard L Daft (2008), "Leadership involves influence, it occurs among people, those people intentionally desire significant changes and the changes reflect purposes shared by the leaders and the followers".

Similarly another author Yukl, (2006, P-8), has defined it as "leadership is the process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it, and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objective." This definition implies that leadership doesn't imply following procedures or a road map but set up effective tools which set the diverse people's machinery right and achieve the common goal of the organisation. As opposed to the Great Man's Theory that leaders are born and not made this definition of Yukl suggests that leadership is a process which involves all the members of a team and the leader is not the individual alone but an outcome of the team which he accomplished to achieving the common goals. Leonard Ravenhill in "The Last days Newsletter" tells about a group of tourists who were visiting a picturesque village. As they walked by an old man, a tourist asked "Were any great men born in this village?" and the former replied "None, only babies!" Thus leadership is developed and not discovered, John C. Maxwell (1993).

Through this individual report we have tried to enlist the skills and competencies required by the leader to emerge successful in today's business environment. We have tried to mention the core competencies which he must possess so that he is not left behind in this race for potential in the current competitive business arena. Upon review of the available literature and its critical analysis, this report will make propositions for the future leaders for the augmentation of these competencies and skills.

"Corporations are becoming larger and more complex; the competition for all companies is more intense and the competitive environment is very turbulent; in addition, today's stakeholders are more demanding "(Scarborough, 2002, p.2).

There is an urgent need of efficient leaders.

Leadership competencies
The leadership competency enunciates functions, practices and responsibilities that a leader must undertake. These competencies highlight leader's ability to be exemplary and the functional skills which he must develop to scale to greater level of responsibility.

These competencies try to advance the procedures at any individual and organisation level by developing the prerequisites of leadership and possibilities of higher performance management.

Core competency is defined as intangible or bundling of intangible assets that cannot be easily duplicated to competitors; however they also would be difficult to replace if a company found them destroyed or damaged (Whitehall 1997).

According to this definition a leader must possess competencies which are imperceptible and those which are unique to him. These core competencies must be strongly rooted in a leader and must stand beyond the limits of duplication by others.

Leadership skills
Every person is born with a unique identity in this world and leadership differs from one individual to another. But there are certain skills which must be present in every leader inorder that he creates a distinguishing figure for himself among his followers.

These skills are used by leaders in the various set up of the hierarchical levels in the organisation and help him to yield positive results for his Organisation. These will help him survive the potential competitive business force in the present complex scenario.

The skills are as mentioned below:

Communicative Skills: Clear and transparent communication is the essence of receiving and emanating clear and transparent information. The leader creates followers by his ideas. It is when he is able to speak his mind and put forward his rationale that will inspire others to take his vision ahead.

It is said that to be a good speaker you should be a good listener first; the leader has to even listen the grievances and suggestions of his employees to build upon new ideas. Strong and effective communication will help provide a clear vision to the workforce and create benefits to the organisation. In today's web of complex business conditions where grapevines are a common phase lot of misinformation can occur resulting in distorted interpretations. Thus , an effective leader has to use the right communication tools commensurate with his vision success.

Integrity Skills: A good leader is a demonstrator of honesty, fair play and great moral values. A leader with integrity will take unbiased decisions and judgements which will be in the interest of the organization and its workforce. His actions will reflect his thoughts. He will place the interest of the Organisation above his interests. Resultant of his integrity will imbibe honest skills in his workforce who would perform their tasks with less operational errors and grievances and lead to the organisation's enhancement.

Team-building skills- An effective leader will try to blend the diversity of ideas among his team members to achieve a common idea and common goal.

Transformational leaders are often described as charismatic, motivation and a shared vision for those within the organisation. (Bass and Avolio, 2000). A team oriented leader will motivate even the unlike and conflicting minds of the team to share the vision of the team for team success and overall organisation success. He will try to synchronise the team energy, removing he frictions to build up healthy team relations among individual which lead in a massive team effort as an input for a massive positive output.

Decision making skills: Business today is like a labyrinth and to emerge successful a leader will have to come out of it with large number of alternatives and good problem solving techniques. Recognising the existence of problem is an equally paramount skill. Leader should develop sound decision making models and have the ability to predict the problems that might arise in the event of uncertainties. Gaining insight into key issues and ability to make quick decisions and strategic ones will enable you to become a successful leader. The latter must be able to evaluate alternate course of action and manage risks in the most impending situations.

Identifying Core skills:
The complex business problem can be resolved by development of right leadership skills.

It is not enough for leaders to exercise influence, however important these may be to perception of leadership ( Hall and Lord, 1995)

Every leader must identify within himself the below mention core skills to see phenomenon success for organization.

Social judgement skills: - As suggested by Geiwitz ( 1993) that understanding and monitoring social dynamics within the problem domain represents a key leadership skills.

As per this leader should be in a postion to design strategy which will not only work well for the organization but its execution will benefit the society also. They must have the ability to create a coherent environment wherever they can understand effectively which will lead towards the success of the task. They must be able to acquire themselves to adjust to the social setting and respond to the changes of the social environment.

Development of social skills like persuasion, conflict resolution and negotiation are important factors for the finding solution to critical business problems.

Knowledge Skills :- A leader can effectively administer can effectively administrator his competency if he has vast knowledge problem solving, decision making, strategic planning, staffing, revenue generation, branding, marketing and achieving success depends on the knowledge a leader has gathered.

Knowledge, however is not simple and accumulation of bit of information. Instead, knowledge reflects a schematic organisation of key facts and principles pertaining to the characteristics of the objects lying in a domain (Fleishman and Mum Ford, 1989). This implies that knowledge plays a significant role in leadership performance.

Technical skills: present day world is under the giant leadership of information technology. Hence it becomes imperative for a leader to possess the computing and internet skills. Possession of these skills will help to train the lower level and get the task accomplished much faster. Strategic planning is unlikely to be effective unless a manager can make an accurate evaluation of the organisation to those of competition (Peters & Austin, 1985).

Technical skills will help him assess the resources he has and assess the market scenario, assess his competitors, assess the risks. Good working knowledge of this will assist him in resolving issues related to machinery and automation in the Organisation.

Research on entrepreneurs who started successful companies or introduced important new products in established companies suggests that their technical knowledge is the fertile ground in which the seeds of inspiration take root to yield innovative products( Wesley & Mintzberg,1999). Steve Jobs - the CEO of Apple Computers Inc is the businessman at the zenith of business today. His technological knowledge made him the revolutionary leader who is at the helm of the biggest vertical today.

Conceptual skills: A leader needs to understand the link between all departments and sections in the organisation. His fundamental conceptual skills will help him understand the framework of the organisation and how the peripheral factors can affect the system of the Organisation.

Emotional intelligence (EQ):- A leader will experience different facets in the course of carrying out the business activities. In times of profitability or in turbulent crisis the latter will have to keep a moderate emotion and balance it to think about further steps and benefits for the organisation.

Feedback from his workforce, peers, stakeholders and competitors is significant in building a positive attitude which in turn will inspire the team members/staff to get over adverse standpoints.

Rationale for Leadership development
Globalization is a major factor for the development of leadership. These days the geopolitical forces are becoming imperative and outsourcing has become common. Online business is already on zenith and therefore everything has become International thus in an event like this massive and global in its magnitude leaders have to adapt to changes. Because of the world going monotonous, the environment in which the leaders operate is limitless and infinite. Unpredictability in the Economic framework and complexity in the Markets make it inevitable that leaders take change and development as a challenge. With newer innovations, newer choices and newer tastes develop and leaders will have to maintain their integrity in rendering excellent Customer service at all times. The traditional mindset has to be disposed and adjusted and updated according to the prevailing market scenario. Following obsolete methods of leadership may result in decline of the Organisational graph.

Thus there is need for transformational leadership: which has been hailed as highly effective, producing positive effects for individuals, groups and organisations (Bass & Riggio, 2006).

Future focus of leadership
Leadership development is a never ending process. As we are heading towards the future, the entire globe will witness greater amount of revolutionary change which will range from technological advancement, modernisation, outsourcing, knowledge processing and industrial growth.

The future business environment will become more competitive and the leaders of tomorrow will have to comprehend in advance the possible complexities which will gallop before them as challenges. Thus, they will need interpersonal, professional and technical skills which will be highly powerful by nature. Use of techniques like SWOT analysis and quantitative analysis like six sigma will play a critical role for the future leaders to overcome the dynamics of the shifting business epitome.

Future leaders should not only concentrate on retaining the customers/ clients loyalty but should harness and expand the human capital in the organisation. The efforts must be held in maintaining employees as asset to accomplish the organisational goal.

High energy work environments must be developed and leader must give away with their traditional methods of procedures and systems. Unconventional ideas must be encouraged and smart practices for the functioning of business must be administrated. The leader must be able to create a brand for them.

Recommendations for leadership development:
Performance Management : As per Bauer & blates;2002 et al even leaders performance must be evaluated by assigning them with specific Management by objectives as targets and reasoning their performance on the basis of those MBO's. During their performance appraisals higher position must be alloted to the person who has demonstrated greater efficiency in achieving the MBO's and has yielded higher results from his performance management.

Risk bearing : A leader must possess the most important entrepreneural skill-which is bearing risk and undertaking it by being able to predict the uncertainities in the Industrial framework. He must be prepared to take the risks and accountability for uncertain results occcuring out of these pre-evaluated risks. A good leader must develop the skills to equip himself with vast knowledge and technological skills to be able to evaluate the unforeseen risks.

Career Experiences: Knowledge and skills develop as a function if expereince( Ackerman,1992;et al)- In alignment with this theory a leaders' career chronology plays fundamantel role in his descsion making and strtegy planning. His expereince over the years and his ability to stand upto challenges of the business acumen with gradual development and metamorphosis will asist in his development in the future also.

Conclusion 结论
Upon our review of literature it is evident that for the Business management to succeed in this neo-nuclear world modern leadership styles have to be significantly developed. Over the years various leadership theories and definitions have emerged and the concept has been redesigned but the metamorphosis has only made these theories better with time. Recent trends have focussed on educational leadership and choosing proficient and strategic leaders for the overall profitability of the organisation. This should not be considered as a short term benefit but as a continuous development cycle and hence Organisations have to be enriched with newer training methods and which are not just confined to the four walls of the organisation but reach out to the core of the person at his/her individual level and develop effective leaders. Thus there is a need of a stronger leadership program which will develop in leaders the ability to manage their own learning and proliferate their capacity to lead. The Organisations will have to be careful that leadership styles are updated with time to cater to the needs of a new market and focus on the new phase of business environment. This will be the biggest challenge for any Organisation to win the competitive edge.

Leadership effectiveness
A major goal of all leadership development programs is to increase leadership effectiveness in guiding organizations through periods of uncertainty and change. Leadership effectiveness refers to a leader's success in influencing followers toward achieving organizational objectives (Vardiman et al., 2006; Bodinson, 2005). Leadership effectiveness is an evolutionary process of interconnected events and responses to events. Effective leadership is often viewed as the foundation for organizational performance and growth. In fact, effective leadership is a source of competitive advantage for organizations, and the foundation for organizational performance and growth (Kim, 2007). The absence of effective leadership has had a significant impact on the ability or organizations to implement and sustain strategic change initiatives. The essential roles of effective organizational leaders include establishing and reinforcing values and purpose, developing a vision and the strategies necessary to achieve the vision, building the community necessary to implement the strategies, and initiating and managing the changes necessary to assure growth and survival (Block and Manning, 2007; Bodinson, 2005; Reinertsen et al., 2005).