Leadership of Groups: Developing Visionary Leaders - Essay Sample

Introduction

Groups exist for various reasons and involve people with a common objective. Besides, groups have various demographics and aspects that unify the group members, such as age. Therefore, the leadership of groups is important since the leaders help to keep members intact as well as objective to the aims and targets of the groups.

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Group leaders provide direction and leadership to the other members of the group, and therefore they should always remain visionary. The paper focuses on developing a guideline that can be given to individuals who lead groups. In addition, the paper provides leadership styles and resources that group members can use in leading their group members. Some of the activities that could be involved in a group may include discussions about relevant issues, community action, special interest causes, sporting, and recreation, as well as music and performing arts.

How to Plan and Conduct Group Activities

When team leaders take more time to plan for activities, it becomes easier to plan. For instance, if a group is having an activity such as team building, it would be appropriate that the event is prepared in a month's time. Also, it would be effective if the team leader sets up a planning team.

Planning is one of the greatest activities of any group leader. Therefore, adequate planning should be done to help in efficient performance and evaluation of group activities, including requirements for submissions. Some of the roles played by group leaders to help inappropriate planning include setting realistic timelines, determining specific tasks, as well as prioritizing and sequence tasks and removing potential distractions to the group activities. Group activities should be planned by determining an appropriate timeline (Xue et al. 2018).

It is challenging for one person to plan for all the activities of a group. Therefore it would be appropriate that the team members find a team that helps in organizing and planning the events of a group. By setting up a team, the group leader is able to delegate some of the tasks as well as get feedback and opinions regarding a particular task.

The group that helps in planning would also be effective compared to one person because there would be brainstorming ideas, thus ensuring that the events are conducted in an appropriate manner (Chen, & Rybak, 2017). Group leaders should also define the goals and objectives of the group. Having defined goals help the group to achieve its purpose. For instance, a recreation and sporting group can define certain objectives, such as having fun as well as effectively competing with other groups (Xue et al., 2018).

In addition, creating a detailed budget for group activities is one other function of the team leader. For instance, one should consider some of the costs incurred by a group such as insurance, transportation, and parking, food and beverage as well as activity providers. Also, a venue should be selected based on costs. Therefore, the team leader should select a venue that is cost-effective for the members of the group.The team leaders should also devise checklists for logistics in instances where the group members are to travel for an activity to ensure that all members are present and participate in the activities. Team leaders should also develop an event day agenda.

Support for Group Members

Group leaders should support group members by practicing optimism in all the activities of the group. For example, they should encourage the members to work hard and produce results.Team leaders should support group members in various ways, such as building on their strengths as well as empowering and inspiring others.

Also, team leaders support group members by encouraging them and motivating them to be productive. For instance, the group leader can go ahead and intervene on personal issues that the members may be experiencing and supporting them where necessary. Efficient communication and appropriate feedback mechanisms should be provided by the team members where communication is done in both bottom-top and top-bottom avenues (Chen, & Rybak, 2017).

For instance, the opinions of the group members should be collected and forwarded to the leader for consideration. Also, an appropriate communication medium should be established by the group leader where information is disseminated and reaches all the members in a timely and accurate way. Another way that group leaders can support their members is by acknowledging and rewarding them for tasks that are done well.

Team leaders should not take credit for the success of the group but should reward and recognize the people that make it possible. Group members should always be driven by the spirit of workmanship while their leaders should be led by humility, where they recognize and appreciate their members.

Group leaders can also support their members by being decisive and confident in their actions, thus serving as good role models to their team members (Xue et al., 2018). Other ways that group leaders can support their members include setting clear and appropriate goals, offer opportunities for self-development, foster collaboration among team members as well as encourage happiness while undertaking group activities.

In addition, group members should remove obstacles and help group members so that they can comfortably concentrate on the finer points of the activities of the group. Besides, group leaders support their members by helping co-create purposeful work and actively involving all group members. Finding out what motivates the group members and help them to build on their skills.

Leadership Styles and Resources

Group leaders, develop future visions as well as motivating the organizational members towards achieving the goals. Group leaders should aim at developing the potential to influence the behavior of the group members. Besides, group leaders should have the capacity to influence the members towards the achievement and realization of a goal.

Some of the traits of a good leader include being visionary, courageous, honest, humble, as well as confident. Great group leaders help their followers to reach their goals and are usually not afraid of delegating functions to people who are better than them. Besides, they do not take pride in the accomplishment of the group but instead congratulate, praise, as well as reward group members that are productive in their tasks.

Other leadership skills that are exhibited by good group leaders include proper communications, awareness, integrity, innovation, as well as the ability to develop good relations. The leadership skills are essential since they position group members in a manner that they are able to make thoughtful and wise decisions regarding the mission and objectives of the group. Some of the leadership styles that group leaders can exhibit include democratic leadership, coach-style, and strategic, transactional, bureaucratic, as well as transformational leadership.

Group leaders should provide appropriate resources to the members of the group to facilitate efficient operations. For instance, the group leader should always ensure there is a sufficient budget for the operations of the group. Also, human resources should be provided to accomplish the required tasks to ensure that certain group members are not overwhelmed by the roles assigned.

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leadership is an approach where leaders adopt an approach that leads to an individual. The aspects of a transformational leader include being inspirational, adaptability, as well as the ability to share a collective organizational consciousness. Factors considered in transformational leadership include idealized influence, individual consideration, intellectual stimulation, as well as inspirational motivation.

Therefore, great group leaders are able to exhibit the traits of transformational leaders by ensuring that their followers succeed and become leaders as well. It is essential for group leaders to exhibit transformational leadership styles because it helps in creating and managing a change, creates enthusiasm, and engages all group members as well as helps in lowering the turnover costs of the group (Xue et al., 2018).

Besides, transformational leadership is crucial because it encourages members of a particular group to be productive. Transformational group leaders work with the team members to identify the required change and create a vision to guide the particular change by executing proposed changes by group members as well as by inspiring them. Therefore, transformational leaders do not only create a positive change to the group but also to the individual members.

Laissez-Faire Leadership

Laissez-faire leadership is an approach adopted by group leaders, where they delegate most of the functions to the group members. Group leaders who exhibit a laissez-faire leadership style allow members of a group to make their own decisions.

This type of group leader provides a vision to their members. Laissez-faire leadership style is important in managing groups because it encourages specialists to function in a productive manner (Chen, & Rybak, 2017). Therefore, group leaders should emulate the traits of laissez-faire leaders in order to ensure productivity and a harmonious relationship with the members of the group.

Democratic Leadership

Group leaders that exhibit democratic leadership style are able to possess certain traits such as empowering group members, distribution of responsibility, as well as seeking the opinion of group members to make appropriate decisions. Democratic leadership is a style where members of a group take an involving function in the activities of a group and also the decision-making process.

The benefits of democratic leadership include the ability to create job satisfaction among members as well as encouraging creativity and innovative solutions to the challenges of a particular group.

Transactional Leadership

Transactional leaders ensure compliance within a group through rewards and punishments. Leaders ensure that their followers remain motivated by providing a reward to group members who perform exceptionally.

Besides, transactional leaders focus on self-motivated individuals who work in a structured and directed environment (Chen, & Rybak, 2017). Other aspects of a transactional leader include practicality, extrinsic motivation, as well as rewarding people for good performance. However, transactional leaders discourage independent thinking.

Charismatic Leadership

Charismatic leaders are able to show aspects of maturity, compassion, humility, positive body language, effective listening skills, as well as being confident (Chen, & Rybak, 2017). Charismatic group leaders lead their followers through the authority that is derived from the charisma of a leader.

Charismatic leaders encourage certain behaviors in others by way of persuasion and force of personality as well as eloquent communication. The leadership style relies on persuasiveness and the charm of the group leader. Charismatic group leaders are confident and are able to persuade and influence the behaviors of the group members.

Strategic Leadership

Strategic leadership refers to the ability of a group leader to express a strategic vision for the group as well as to motivate and persuade the group members to acquire the vision. Some of the aspects of a good and strategic group leader include being visionary, courageous, open, focused, as well as being prudent. Strategic group leaders act as the drivers of change within a group by creating and developing techniques that make group members accept changes from time to time.

Conclusion

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