The Long Walk To Leadership

There are a few dominant leadership styles. Obviously one cannot suggest that any one is the best style. Many billionaires subscribe  to one or more of the  different styles of leadership  recorded.

The question is having to determine in which category does an aspirant leader fit.

Knowing which of the leadership styles work best for you is a  part of being a good leader. Developing a signature style with the ability to stretch into other styles as the situation warrants may help enhance your leadership effectiveness

Throughout history, great leaders have emerged with particular

leadership styles in providing direction, implementing plans and motivating people. These can be broadly grouped into 6  different categories. I submit these styles for reference. However it is the 'Agile'  leadership model which I wish to explore.

Authoritarian Leadership

It is a type of leadership which suggests

"Do as I say"

Participative Leadership

It is a "What do you think?" type of leader who leads by consensus.

Delegative Leadership

This leadership style involves the least amount of oversight. On one end, the autocratic  leader stands as firm as a rock on issues, while the delagative leader lets people swim with the current.

Transactional Leaderahip

Transactional leadership styles use "transactions" between a leader and his or her followers - rewards, punishments and other exchanges - to get the job done. The leader sets clear goals, and team members know how they will be rewarded for their compliance. Process steps and procedures define this leadership model.

Transformational Leadership

In transformational leadership styles, the leader inspires his or her followers with a vision and then encourages and empowers them to achieve it. The leader also serves as a role model for the vision.

Agile Leadership

Inspired by a friend who lives by the promise of Agile Leadership. I decided to research this very phenomenon of agility in the workplace.

Interestingly I found agile leadership to be the practice of creating change that contributes to building an agile organization.

My friend whom I consider to be an agile leader has a passion for learning, open innovation, developing people and creating and communicating  the very concept of a mission and vision.

Agile leadership consists of various  principles which assist in  achieving  organizational goals.

i) Prioritize strong teams over dominant individuals.

ii) Conduct regular planning sessions and give focus to alternative scenarios.

iii) Focus on facts and key performance indicators (KPI) rather than opinion and intuition.

iv) Agile leaders focus on the needs of others. They acknowledge other people's perspectives, give them the care they need to meet their work and personal goals, involve them in decisions where appropriate, and build a sense of community within their teams.

v) Agile leaders develop agile teams, which require a collaborative approach. For example, brief daily meetings to discuss pressing issues, such as short-term status reports, ensure that everyone is on the same page.

“An Agile leadership style may be the ultimate leadership style required for leading today’s talent”

So I wish to express that agility is the ability to change, adapt and to reinvent.

The Covid 19 pandemic demonstrates the need for agile adaptability. It is very distressing to note the rising number of businesses which did not survive the pandemic. Would it be fair to express that a dire need exists to prioritise leadership training and the impact of values on leadership.

Widespread corruption in South Africa demonstrates that the recent  political and business leadership have abandoned the moral high ground of value based leadership. Political leaders, corporate multinationals and BEE tenderpreneurs have violated the trust of South African citizens during the last 10 years.

State capture clearly demonstrates why value based leadership is so important. If  leaders are not grounded in self belief and credible values, they will not only lose the trust of their followers but they potentially lose a semblance of any self respect.

State Capture & Covid-19 have  demonstrated the need for agile change agents among entrepneurs, business leaders and political leadership, many of whom have grasped the gravity of our conditions and who choose to lead with morality and with agility in the face of self interest and greed.

Our companies need to be rebuilt. Our communities need to be rebuilt. Our country needs to be rebuilt.

Herein lies the crux of finding not only a return on investment but  one's purpose to make a difference. Herein lies the crux for the need to develop agile &  value based  leadership as the foundation of sustainability.

I submit that agile & value based  leadership training must be introduced into our schools. It's a foundational discipline and should become our culture. If the Japanese could rebuild after Hiroshima and Nagasaki then we can rebuild after Covid and State Capture.