Download What do we mean by the challenges of leadership?

Recognizing the Challenges of Leadership
Answering the following questions:
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WHAT DO WE MEAN BY THE CHALLENGES OF
LEADERSHIP?
WHEN ARE THE CHALLEN GES OF LEADERSHIP MO ST
OBVIOUS?
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE SPECIFIC CHALLENGES THAT
MANY LEADERS FACE, AND HOW CAN YOU COPE WITH
THEM?
The Chair of the local school committee inherited the job at a time when the community - and
the committee itself - was deeply split by class, economic, and philosophical issues. The editor of
the local newspaper disliked both the school system in general and the new committee chair, in
particular, and took every opportunity to print rumors and distortions that made the school
committee look bad. In the face of personal attacks, both from other committee members and the
press, the committee chair set out to introduce an air of civility and respect on the committee,
using her own behavior as a model.
Leadership constantly presents challenges both to the leader's abilities and to her as a person.
Things change, change brings challenge, and no matter how good a leader she is, she can't stop
that from happening. How she handles those challenges will define her as a leader and have a
great deal to do with how effective she can be. Some challenges come in the form of people or
problems that present obstacles to reaching a goal. Far more come from within the leader herself,
or from the situation of simply being a leader. Every leader must face many of them and learn to
deal with them in some way.
It may seem like "challenges" is another word for "problems," but that's not necessarily true.
Sometimes positive situations present the greatest challenges, testing how well you can use your
opportunities. A challenge is an invitation to rise to another level, to test yourself and improve in
the process, to show that you can accomplish something that may seem difficult, or even
impossible. It has been said more than once elsewhere in this chapter that there are very few born
leaders. Almost all leaders are made by recognizing, learning from, and rising to the challenges
of leadership.
In continuing Chapter 13's focus on leadership development, this section will try to describe the
kinds of challenges a leader faces, and suggest some ways in which leaders can weather and
benefit from them
The Challenges of Leadership apply whether you own a title or not…Mr. B
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY T HE CHALLENGES OF
LEADERSHIP?
Being a leader is in itself a challenge. The challenges of leadership are really of three kinds: 1.
external, coming from people and situations; 2. internal, stemming from within the leader
himself; 3. and those arising from the nature of the leadership role.
1. EXTERNAL CHALLENGES
It's almost impossible to imagine a situation where a leader doesn't have to cope with external
challenges. In an organization, such issues as lack of funding and other resources, opposition
from forces in the community, and interpersonal problems within the organization often rear
their heads. Social, economic, and political forces in the larger world can affect the organization
as well. To some extent, the measure of any leader is how well he can deal with the constant
succession of crises and minor annoyances that threaten the mission of his group. A saying I ran
across often was that “In this business, #!@* runs uphill”…Everyone comes to you with
problems. If everything is going well, nobody needs the boss and in fact they often want to
take credit for the success and dismiss all the planning, organizing and nuturing the leader
does!...Mr. B
If he is able to solve problems, take advantage of opportunities, and resolve conflict with an air
of calm and a minimum of fuss, most of the external issues are hardly noticeable to anyone else.
If the leader doesn't handle external challenges well, the organization probably won't, either.
We've all seen examples of this, in organizations where everyone, from the director to the
custodian, has a constantly worried look, and news is passed in whispers. When people feel that
leaders are stressed or unsure, they themselves become stressed or unsure as well, and the
emphasis of the group moves from its mission to the current worrisome situation. The work of
the group suffers.
2. INTERNAL CHALLENGES
While leadership presents to each of us the opportunity to demonstrate the best of what we are, it
also exposes our limitations.. Fear, lack of confidence, insecurity, impatience, intolerance all can
act as barriers to leadership. At the same time, acknowledging and overcoming them can turn a
mediocre leader into a great one. Good advice, and it applies to leadership both with and
without the title. Mr. B
It's often very difficult for people, especially those who see themselves as leaders, to admit that
they might have personality traits or personal characteristics that interfere with their ability to
reach their goals. Part of good leadership is learning to accept the reality of those traits, and
working to change them so they don't get in the way.
3. CHALLENGES ARISING FROM LEADERSHIP ITSELF
In addition to its responsibilities, leadership brings such challenges as motivating people.
Leaders also have to motivate themselves, and not just to seem, but actually to be, enthusiastic
about what they're doing. They have to be aware of serving their group and its members and all
that that entails. In other words, they have to be leaders all the time. Its about character and
integrity – doing the right thing even when nobody is looking. Is that who you want to be?
Or does that sound like too much effort? Mr. B
WHEN ARE THE CHALLEN GES OF LEADERSHIP
MOST OBVIOUS?
One obvious - and correct - answer to this question is "all the time," but in fact some times are
more likely than others. Leadership is usually the most difficult when the situation is changing or
unstable. When a grass roots group is doing well - gathering allies, getting its message across,
attracting funding - no one much notices what the director does; but when something unexpected
happens, she's expected to take care of it, often in a very public way.
Some particular times when challenges may arise:
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When something new is about to start. When you're beginning a new intervention, trying
something different in a program that's been running for a while, stepping up to another stage in
your initiative, or hiring a new leader, no one is quite sure what's going to happen. Systems and
relationships can break down, and it's often a matter of leadership as to whether the new situation
is successful or not.
When something is about to end. Often at the end of a school year, a particular project or
initiative, a training period - anytime when something is coming to an end and things are, by
definition, about to change - times get difficult. That may be because of a big push to get finished,
or because it's tough to tell what's coming next, or because a close-knit group is splitting up.
Whatever the reason, it often takes leadership skills to make sure that the project ends
successfully, and everyone moves on to the next phase, whatever that is.
When times are tough. If there's not enough funding, or an organization or group is being
publicly criticized, for instance, its leader usually has to try to solve the problem in some way:
find money, reduce expenses, defuse the attacks. Leaders are tested when times are difficult.
During transitions. There are many ways in which a group can be in transition. It may go because of a grant or because of other circumstances - from a loosely organized, grass roots
collective to a much more formally structured organization. It might grow quickly...even too
quickly. It might be losing some key people, or changing leaders. One of the most difficult tasks a
leader faces is trying to keep a group stable through a period of change.
Again, the times where leadership matters most are the same for those with the title and
the leaders within the team. Mr. B
HOW TO COPE WITH EXT ERNAL CHALLENGES
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Face conflict squarely.
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Always look for common ground.
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Retain your objectivity.
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Look for opportunities to collaborate.
COPING WITH YOUR INTERNAL CHALLENGES
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Listen.
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Ask for 360-degree feedback...and use it.
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Look at what's going on around you.
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Reach out for help in facing internal challenges.
From: http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/leadership/leadership-ideas/leadership-challenges/main