Monday, October 22, 2012
Strength-based leadership
Leadership does not occur in a vacuum. It occurs within a community of individuals who are brought together for a common purpose. Strength-based leadership involves a leader who is able and willing to discover the strengths of those he or she is working with in order to form a working plan and solution to an issue. The community of practice is the real-life setting where important decisions are discussed and agreed upon. By utilizing the strengths of contributing members, a leader is able to implement a solution for which all group or team members feel responsible.
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Peter,
ReplyDeleteI think you raise great points about the idea that "leadership does not occur in a vacuum". I also agree that leadership requires intelligence to discover the talents of others. To be a great leader, one must be willing to share power, and sometimes even follow those who they normally lead. Today, many leaders are micro-managers, who believe that they cannot share responsibility and the power that they covet. In order to truly be considered a great leader, you must be willing to share the power, and trust that others will accomplish the task. Take for example the teacher in a classroom. The easy way to teach would be to place notes upon the board for students to copy. The difficult choice would be to develop a research project, where you share responsibility for its completion with the students. You trust that students will work, and they trust that you have developed a worthwhile project. You may also have to follow your students down a path that you did not envision when you developed the project. Students may provide a different view or idea, and this is the point of teaching and the amazing ability that a great teacher can inspire within a student.