Track 2 S23: 2 Basic Principles a Leader needs

Leadership has paved the way to where we are today. Without the pioneers, we would not have advanced to where we are now. But what is a leader? According to Northouse (2019), a leader is an individual who influences, motivates, and guides a group of individuals towards a common goal. In Proakatemia, there are multiple ways where we have to lead. From being a business leader, team leader, department head, community heads, Apuvas, coaches, and even leading ourselves. In my experience, I would say I have failed in multiple ways. However, I would like to share my learning of 2 basic things for a leader to succeed. 

Vision

Sosik and Dinger (2007) claim that a leader has to have a vision because it provides direction and purpose for its followers. This also helps inspire, motivate and guide the decision making towards a desired outcome. Having a vision and a direction helps the team understand where they are going. It helps them know what they are getting themselves into, and what they can gain from it. Now, is it enough just to have a vision? Well. Now, going Deeper into what kind of vision a leader needs to have, a vision has to be SMART Usually leaders tend to overlook these since they are usually called SMART goal setting. But, by having a “specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound” would definitely help your vision to be more appealing towards your team. Why? The usual tendencies of a leader when setting goals are either too idealistic that sometimes it is not attainable, or could be too realistic and basic where there is a loss of creativity and innovation. However, then again it would vary from case to case. But the perfect vision would have a balance of both. Now, how do you achieve that balance? Realistically speaking, it would be hard and could not be put into words. However, by starting from a vision that works perfectly, and slowly treading towards further improving and innovating towards the envisioned goal but maintaining the factors as to how the idea works. In simpler terms, functionality over sophistication. You cannot think about the design of a house you are trying to build when in the first place the house does not stand. or could be too realistic and basic where there is a loss of creativity and innovation. However, then again it would vary from case to case. But the perfect vision would have a balance of both. Now, how do you achieve that balance? Realistically speaking, it would be hard and could not be put into words. However, by starting from a vision that works perfectly, and slowly treading towards further improving and innovating towards the envisioned goal but maintaining the factors as to how the idea works. In simpler terms, functionality over sophistication. You cannot think about the design of a house you are trying to build when in the first place the house does not stand. or could be too realistic and basic where there is a loss of creativity and innovation. However, then again it would vary from case to case. But the perfect vision would have a balance of both. Now, how do you achieve that balance? Realistically speaking, it would be hard and could not be put into words. However, by starting from a vision that works perfectly, and slowly treading towards further improving and innovating towards the envisioned goal but maintaining the factors as to how the idea works. In simpler terms, functionality over sophistication. You cannot think about the design of a house you are trying to build when in the first place the house does not stand. how do you achieve that balance? Realistically speaking, it would be hard and could not be put into words. However, by starting from a vision that works perfectly, and slowly treading towards further improving and innovating towards the envisioned goal but maintaining the factors as to how the idea works. In simpler terms, functionality over sophistication. You cannot think about the design of a house you are trying to build when in the first place the house does not stand. how do you achieve that balance? Realistically speaking, it would be hard and could not be put into words. However, by starting from a vision that works perfectly, and slowly treading towards further improving and innovating towards the envisioned goal but maintaining the factors as to how the idea works. In simpler terms, functionality over sophistication. You cannot think about the design of a house you are trying to build when in the first place the house does not stand.

Execution

In a paper by Covey (2014), the author states that effective execution allows leaders to achieve their goals and create a culture of success within their organization. Execution is just as important as creating the vision. As a leader, one of the first things you would need to execute is to be able to share the vision with your team. Make sure they “share” the same vision with you. It is not enough for them to just hear you share your vision. You have to help them and make them understand. It is different when you share your vision with them in the context of explaining, and when they share your vision in the context where they understand and believe in your vision. Only then, will they be able to act as a team because they share a common understanding. However, this does not stop there. By execution, it would also mean you have a plan for how you would see your team working in the vision that you share. Moreover, the execution part would also mean to be able to communicate all of these expectations and requirements to the team. The whole concept of the execution part is to be able to translate the vision into action that leads to something concrete. 

From having a balance of realistic and creative vision to being able to execute it not only as a team but also as a leader who brings the team together and guides the team towards a goal. These two things may sound simple and basic, but it actually entails a lot of things to do.The concept of having two things needed for a leader was to have some sort of ideals that had to coexist with each other. Yet still keeping it simple and easy to remember. 

Covey, S. (2014). The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals. Free Press.

Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and practice (8th ed.). SAGE Publications.

Sosik, JJ, & Dinger, SL (2007). Relationships between leadership style and vision content: The moderating role of need for social approval. Leadership Quarterly, 18(2), 112-133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2007.01.002