Leadership - Good or BAD ?

Leadership - Good …or Bad ?

Of course we all want – and deserve – good leadership.

Good leadership inspires, it challenges team members to look for a better way, it enables team members perform at their best – even better than they thought they could achieve. And good leadership recognizes achievements of individuals and the team.

Good leadership creates engagement. Team members WANT to be there, working in an environment where there is  clear understanding of the value of the relationship with the leader.

But what about ‘bad leadership’ ? 

Maybe it’s the opposite or the deficit of the points above that make a ‘bad’ leader.

Surely, the term ‘leader’ doesn’t apply if this is the case.

Leadership is a behavior or rather, a set of behaviors.  

As Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner clearly state in the 40 years research of The Leadership Challenge ‘Leadership is the art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspirations.’

Pretty clear, isn’t it?  No room for ‘bad’ in that.

Leadership is also a relationship.

Leadership is learned. And because it’s learned, the best leaders and even emerging leaders, ask themselves a simple question every day: “How can I be a better leader today than I was yesterday? “

How hard is that? 

In the absence of leadership, do we use the term ‘bossman’ ship?

It’s pretty simple: if someone isn’t following at least some of these behaviors they can’t claim to be ‘leading’.

There’s no bad chocolate. If it’s ’bad’ it ain’t chocolate. OK, I’m a chocolate lover.

There’s no ‘bad’ leadership. 

I know leadership is everyone’s business (Thanks Jim & Barry) and it’s not hard to be an exemplary leader. 

Keep leading them, every day.

That would be very good.