Leadership is influence
The essence of leadership is the influence which people exert on others; in other words, leadership is interpersonal influence.
If we define leadership, it is "Exerting influence in order to move a group or group members in a certain direction".
As we can see from the definition, leadership originally has nothing to do with position or authority (if you do not agree with this statement, please write your comments). A subordinate may exercise leadership over his or her superior. In our Cricket Team, star players may be more influential than managers or coaches (that is sometime back, i am not sure about current situation).
However, a manager or a supervisor who is the head of a workplace is officially expected from organization to exercise great leadership. Therefore, if the definition described above is applied to a workplace manager, it becomes thus;"Managerial leadership is a process of influencing others to move in a direction for the realization of workplace goals, while encouraging the demonstration of individuality and the voluntary actions of workplace members".
I like your example of subordinates becoming more influential than superiors. I could imagine chief architect of an IT project becoming more prominent than the project manager. Also, a DJ in a radio station becoming more popular than the MD of that station. But apart from IT, media and such emerging industries, I could hardly perceive such leadership examples in more traditional environments. Such scenarios are very limited in our culture I suppose.
ReplyDeleteGood write up Rajeewa..
There are plenty of examples in other industries as well. But, may be those cases are not much popularized. The problem is, if you find someone like that in your department, how do you manage him? That is where you need to apply leadership skills. Have you handle any cases like that in your career?
DeleteI'll be writing few more articles on 'how to handle such cases', please follow up.