The skills approach to leadership suggests that certain skills are important for effective leadership. Skills are what leaders can learn and develop, whereas traits are innate characteristics. The main skills needed for leadership, according to one such theory, are technical, human, and conceptual.
Another approach in the Leadership studies is the “Leadership Skills Approach”. In the previous articles we focused on the “Traits Approach to Leadership” which was based on the personality of the leader, this approach focuses on knowledge and abilities that the leader has. This theory assumes that a leader can learn and develop certain skills that can transform one into a successful leader. Like the earlier Trait Approach this approach also has leader centered perspective.
Skills suggest what leaders can achieve, learn and develop whereas traits suggest who they are based on their intrinsic characteristics which they gain by the virtue of birth. The skills approach suggests that the skills, knowledge, and abilities that are required for a leader to be successful can be acquired thorough training and development.
A skill is the learned capacity to carry out pre-determined results often with the minimum outlay of time, energy, or both. In other words the abilities that one possesses. The dictionary defines skills as “An ability and capacity acquired through deliberate, systematic, and sustained effort to smoothly and adaptively carryout complex activities or job functions involving ideas (cognitive skills), things (technical skills), and/or people (interpersonal skills).”
Competence (or competency) is the ability of an individual to do a job properly. A competency is a set of defined behaviors that provide a structured guide enabling the identification, evaluation and development of the behaviors in individual employees. Competence indicates sufficiency of knowledge and skills that enable someone to act in a wide variety of situations. Because each level of responsibility has its own requirements, competence can occur in any period of a person's life or at any stage of his or her career.
By leadership skills we refer to the essential skills needed for successful leadership. Skills are graded sequences of actions directed to a purpose. At the center of the development of all skills are acts that are absolutely necessary for the effective practice of that skill. Research over many years has shown that there are several key activities that are essential to effective interactions between managers, their staff and their organizations and these activities are generally referred to as Leadership Skills.
Researchers have studied leadership skills and abilities for a number of years and proposed various theories to understand the process of leadership. However, two models that standout in the skills approach to leadership is:
1. Model proposed by Robert Katz in 1955
2. Model proposed by Michael Mumford and colleagues in the year 2000
These models can be seen as complimentary to each other, since they offer different views on leadership from the skills point of view. We will explore these models in the next articles in this series.
The practical and theoretical implications of regarding leadership as something that is constituted of some human skills that can be learned and developed are considerable. All skills have at their core components that are essential for their performance, and once a manager acquires required competencies in these areas they will become effective leaders too.
The biggest advantage of this approach is the assumption that leadership is not just by birth, that some people born with specific traits can only be effective leaders. This approach implies that many people have leadership potential, and if they get the requisite training, can focus on development of certain skills and can learn from their experiences, they can become more effective leaders.
This means that trainings can be designed involving activities and/or exposure to leadership circumstances and events that can lead to increase in skills, knowledge, and abilities.
Personality certainly plays an important role in leadership; this approach identifies and defines certain knowledge areas and abilities that are essential for effective leadership. Use of this approach has resulted in a comprehensive skill-based model of leadership that is used widely by organizations all over the world for advancement of leadership skills of their employees.
This approach resulted in the concept of “Skills Management” which is the practice of understanding, developing and deploying people and their skills. Well-implemented skills management identifies the skills that job roles require, the skills of individual employees, and any gap between the two. Firstly the skills involved are defined in terms of a skills framework, also known as a competency framework or skills matrix. This consists of a list of skills, and a grading system, with a definition of what it means to be at particular level for a given skill. Then individuals assess and update their recorded skill sets regularly which provides a structured approach to developing individual and collective skills, and gives a common vocabulary for discussing skills.
Michigan Leadership Studies led to behavioral Leadership Theory as a result of a leadership study conducted at the University of Michigan. Michigan studies identified three important behaviors of leadership called task-oriented behavior, relationship-oriented behavior, and participative leadership. Two leadership styles associated with studies are employee orientation and production orientation.
Charismatic leadership is a trait-based leadership theory where the leaders act as visionary driven by their convictions and motivate their followers to work towards common vision using their charm and persuasiveness. These charismatic leaders act as role models and exhibit extraordinary characteristics that inspire devotion and motivation in followers to persuade change. Leaders are able to cultivate a profound sense of trust with the group of followers.
Early studies on leadership were done at Ohio State University using the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire to identify the leader's observable behaviors. Ohio State study on leadership found two behavioral characteristics of leadership - people-oriented (consideration) and task-oriented (initiating structure) leadership style.
Trait theories of leadership identify the specific personality traits that distinguish leaders from non-leaders. The trait model of leadership is based on the traits or characteristics of leaders that make them successful in their leading role. These theories use heritable attributes to predict leadership effectiveness.
The Hersey and Blanchard Situational Theory model suggests that a leader must adapt his leadership style based on task and relationship behaviors appropriate to the situation. Leadership style is dependent on the maturity level and abilities of followers. Under this model, successful leadership is both task-relevant and relationship-relevant.
All the teams are dynamic in nature and they take time to come together, they form, develop, and grow in stages, over a period of time. Teams go through five progressive stages: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing and Adjourning. In this article, we want to introduce you to these stages of team development and certain strategies that you can use to help the team grow and develop in each of these stages.
Transactional Theory of Leadership
Transactional leadership theory is based on the concept of rewards and punishments. The transactional management approach assumes that the desires of the leader and follower are different and leaders give followers something in exchange for getting something they want. Transactional leaders expect followers to be compliant and focuses on structure, instruction, monitoring, organization, or performance to get tasks completed on time.
The development of teams is an ongoing process because the composition of the team may keep on changing. The new members may join and the old members may leave the team. The team members pass through several stages for the development of the team and there has been a lot of research to identify these stages. In this article, we discuss the common theories of team development.
Leader-Participation Model provides a set of rules to determine the form and amount of participative decision making. It helps identifies different ways a decision can be made based on the degree of follower participation. It proposes a method for leaders to involve all members of the organization work together to make decisions.
The Leader-Member Exchange Theory (LMX), also called the Vertical Dyad Linkage Theory is a relationship-based approach that focuses on the two-way (dyadic) relationship to get the best from all team members. How leaders maintain their position in groups and develop an exchange with each of their subordinates. How leaders and members develop relationships that can contribute to growth or hinder development.