Do leaders need management skills?
Executives and middle managers
Executives and middle managers face high intense and job demand. Leaders are more stressed out and under those conditions, their performance is impacted as well as their influence on others. Effective executive leaders master some managerial techniques to reduce stress. Statistics show that more than 90% of leaders manage stress by temporarily removing themselves, either physically or mentally, from the source of their stress. (see McDowell-Larson, 2009). Additionally, effective leaders use an effective leadership style which fits both the team and the organization’s structure as well as its culture.
Styles of leadership> visionary, affiliative, coaching, democratic, directive and pace-setting (Daniel Goleman)
Daniel Goleman, a pioneer of Emotional Intelligence (EQ), conducted in-depth research on leadership style across the top 2% of leaders in 500 global firms and identified several broad styles of leadership including visionary, affiliative, coaching, democratic, directive and pace-setting. So by following a leadership style, it shows how bold a leader is, where boldness is essential for leading upwards (see F. Clark, 2013).
Level of leaders maturity on both job and psychological levels
Likewise, the effective leader engages in a mix of task and relation behaviours (Cubero, 2007; Graeff, 1997; Shin et al., 2011; Yukl, 2008; 2011; Yukl & Mahsud, 2010). The level of maturity – both job and psychological maturity – of followers determines the correct leadership style and relates to previous education and training interventions (Bass, 2008; Hersey & Blanchard, 1969, cited in Allen McCleskey, 2014). Secondly, delegate wisely. Selecting the right people for the right jobs is the key to effective delegations. Effective leaders save a lot of time by delegating meaningful responsibility to their team members. However, delegation is different from micromanaging. That means effective leaders should not interfere in the details as long as the team members are doing fine.
Skills set of effective managers and leaders
Many bosses feel that they need to be in control and interfere with every little thing that their employees do, which leads to an ineffective delegation. Thirdly, setting goals for the team, evaluating, and recognizing their achievements and results, communicating and rewarding against their achievements are all performance standards used by effective leaders. Importantly for controlling is that goals must be clear and specific, attainable, relevant, and measurable (see Economy, 2016). Fourthly, leaders tend to be rational and effective understanding of the situation and respond in an appropriate way.
All of that requires good communications skills, by listening carefully to teams’ suggestions and concerns and take corrective actions. Actions are based on many communication channels horizontally and vertically.
Is there a difference between a manager and a leader?
Although there is a difference between a manager and a leader, while managers’ goals arise out of necessities rather than desires, whereas leaders, adopt personal, active attitudes toward goals (see Zaleznik, 1977), still as a result, effective leaders requires managerial skills to stay in control, reduce stress and tension, and achieve the optimal outcome by thriving people using effective techniques.
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