The website article “Leading & Leadership” posits that certain skills will result in success as a manager. Vision, goal setting, and training are cited as key skills of effective leaders. Broad behaviors are categorized in order to define leadership types and differentiate leadership styles. Within these definitions is a style of purposeful and logical management best described as strategic management.
Strategic Management and Leadership Having the power to hire and fire is simply not enough to be an effective manager in today’s world. An increasingly educated workforce trained to think in terms of individualism does not respond well to simple exercises of authority. Strategic management is the key to unlocking any organization’s productivity. This is no more or less that the creation of an organization whose sum is greater than its parts. This requires leadership with the skills to train and manage with clear vision and inspiration.
Defining Strategic Management In an environment of constant change, no organization can exist long by doing things as they have always been done. This is a recipe for irrelevance and bankruptcy. “Just as you perform preventive maintenance on your car, you must perform preventive maintenance on your organization” (Clark, 2010). Innovation, adaption, and education are the keys to keeping an organization moving forwards successfully. The successful leader imparts a clear vision for the future of the organization that details structure and goals. These goals are broken down into achievable steps to be taken one by one. Personnel are trained and supervised so as to complete these objectives. Success is rewarded to inspire and build confidence. Loyalty is fostered amongst individuals and teams. Efficiency and production are simply byproducts of this new culture. This is not achieved by accident. Every goal is set with an end result in mind that sets up the workforce for a greater challenge and consequently greater
References: Berchelmann, D.K. (2013). Purposeful leadership — it’s not a technicality. Retrieved from http://www.360hpl.com/purposeful-leadership-its-not-a-technicality/ Clark, D.R. (2010). First impressions. Retrieved from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/impress.html Iacocca, L. & Whitney, C. (2007). Where have all the leaders gone?. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.