CULTIVATED BEHAVIOR OF LEADERS

CULTIVATED BEHAVIOR OF LEADERS

The interpersonal relationships of leaders and followers can be improved considerably as a leader cultivates certain behavior. This behaviors include

a) Awareness: Leaders should have a behavior of general awareness,not only for their jobs, but should also have an awareness of what they can do to be better managers and how to motivate their subordinates. Being aware of the factors that make for leadership effectiveness and of the way in which styles are contingent on a range of situational considerations should help any manager learn to be a more effective leader. Furthermore,as it is true in every area of management,knowing and being knowledgeable are not enough. A manager must also have the ability to apply this knowledge to practice.

b) Empathy: Webster defines empathy as "the imaginative projection of one's own consciousness into another being". Empathy is the ability to place one's self in the position of another,stimulating that person's feelings,prejudices and value.

Managers without empathy dont place themselves in the position of their subordinates, they believe that their subordinates have the same objectives,ambitions, values and biases like them. But it is not likely they would have the subordinates would have the same as the managers because people widely differ in every respect but one, which is that they are all guided less by reason than by emotion and the causes of emotion are deeply personal. So many managers personalize benefits for subordinates, while the managers have the freedom to choose the benefits, subordinates must accept whatever the manager chooses and the problem being that subordinates or followers may value the freedom to choose more than they value any given benefits. Then they are charged with a lack of appreciation.

It is a very difficult thing to place one's self in the position of others,because for example a manager may try to do this with his subordinates but they are severely handicapped because outside of work they know very little about subordinates, their spiritual values,health condition, lifestyle, ambitions, personal relationships,loyalties and so on. Also apart from the problem of managers placing themselves in the position of subordinates, there is a problem of understanding or knowing the reaction subordinates would have to issues. Yet a forthrite and conscentious effort to understand subordinates is much better than none.

c) Objectivity: Being objective means looking at things

in a detached, impartial, fact-based way. Managers should strive to observe and trace the causes of events unemotionally. Even though they depend heavily on subordinates and often become emotional about them. It is important to evaluate from a distance, determine the actual causes of results and take intelligent steps to correct poor ones and encourage good ones.

This contradicts empathy, because empathy requires an attitude opposite to remoteness and unemotional analysis. Over emphasizing empathy may cloud a manager's ability to be objective, so a balance is needed. It may be difficult to achieve but each has its place in effective leadership.

d) Self Knowledge: The injunction to know thyself is used in the context of making people aware of why they behave as they do and also what they do to draw forth certain response, lack of response or even hostility from others. It is impossible to empathize or be objective without self knowledge. Managers should study how they behave and the reactions they receive from subordinates, so that hey can correct those which elicit negative responses. They should cultivate self knowledge and put it to work intelligently by watching for favorable and unfavorable reactions to their behavior and identifying causes.