Leading From Behind
Present leadership took a change from a traditional leadership style. In past leadership was defined to be autocratic but in present scenario it is not the same. Most of the leaders of past has to manage the unskilled labourers and hence need to be directive in extracting job. The situation has changed now. Leaders of the present manage skilled labourers. Since labourers are being skilled in the process, being an autocratic leader may lead to mismanagement. Hence present leaders should lead from behind to extract job. Leaders of the past know how to tell while leaders of the present know how to ask. Let’s take the example of IT Industry. Software engineers are skilled and they have their own views in working methodology. To extract job effectively from them, a leader need to be participative it’s because the work done in a software industry focuses on team work. Leaders should consider the employees view working under him/her and should be analytical in supporting their views. Thus leadership can be distributed or shared and the job can be extracted effectively. Sharing leadership or leading from behind is not easy if the team size is big, hence proper planning is required to bring up the concept of leading from behind. It would be effective only if planned properly. Managing workers now turned as managing professionals. To manage the professionals a leader should have proper knowledge on the employee’s nature of work. Leaders now turned into a guide or mentor to get the work done from the employees working under. How ever it is true that leading from behind doesn't work all the time, sometime leaders should be directive in a critical situation but this should not occur often. For a smooth management leading from behind or shared leadership always gives a best shot.
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