What is leadership?
By definition, leadership is ‘the action of leading a group of people or an organization’. But is leadership just a matter of telling people what to do and what not to do? Of course not. Leadership is much more than that. Especially in today’s world. In this article, we will look further into what leadership actually is, and what characterises good leadership.
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Leadership is about inspiring and motivating people
In today’s world, leadership is more than just delegating tasks. It is about inspiring, motivating and getting people excited.
Being appointed as a leader, isn’t enough in itself. You need to be able to excite people and motive them to work towards a common goal. In other words, leadership is the ability to connect with others in a way that makes them want to help you with your vision. Not because they are told to, or because you have a certain title, but because they are inspired by your vision – and by you.
This also means, that leadership can be utilized by anyone. You do not necessarily need to be a designated leader, in order to perform leadership. In fact, you can have significant leadership skills without any formal title.
In the article, ‘What is the difference between a leader and leadership’, you can learn more about how you can perform leadership without necessarily being a designated leader.
Leadership presupposes a vision
In a business or organisation, having a vision is essential. A vision is a realistic, convincing and desirable goal of where you want to be in the future. A vision provides direction.
Leadership is the ability to make people pursuit your vision with you. That could be by telling stories of how you imagine the future looks like when the vision has been realized, or by expressing your own excitement in a way that inspires people. Most importantly, the vision has to be meaningful and relatable in order to get people to follow it.
Visions such as increased revenue or larger profits are usually not very appealing to most people – at least not in the long term. Instead, the vision needs to appeal to the emotions. It needs to be something that ‘grabs’ people, and make them want to follow you. The vision needs to engage both the heart and the mind. Such a vision will also help you and your team stay focused, energized and motivated through the entire journey, simply because you know, that you’re working towards something that matters – something that makes the world a better place.
Understanding the importance of a vision is key to understand what leadership is, and not least understand how to perform it.
Leadership is about making people and ideas grow
Creating an environment in which people thrive, is also a vital part of leadership. Especially in today’s world, where teams are often diverse and consist of people with a variety of backgrounds and skillsets.
It is also important to be able to create an environment where people are able to for fill their potential.
Creative leadership
This calls for a special kind of leadership; Creative Leadership. Creative leadership is a type of leadership where the main focus is to increase the creative potential of a team or group and to increase the innovation capacity. Creative leaders are able to bring together different people to work towards shared goals and able to navigate in a complex and unpredictable world.
If you want to learn how to be a creative leader, and be able to nurture a strong culture for learning and creativity, Kaospilot’s renowned Creative Leadership course, is an ideal choice. Here, you will learn how to become the leader of tomorrow and how to inspire teams to co-create and learn along the way.
Leadership is about longing for change
If you are looking for a more thorough education within the field of leadership, Kaospilot’s recognized three-year program, The Kaospilot Education, is the choice to make. You will train your readiness and build your ability to improvise and learn what is required to lead teams, groups and organisations to work together towards a shared goal. You will become familiar with such areas as organisational development, social entrepreneurship, business consulting, project management and process facilitation. After graduating, you will be qualified to work within a large variety of industries and sectors or you may choose to start your own business.