Introduction
The current economic environment calls for every business organization to ensure that they are perfect in every department to survive. The best of them, though, is leadership which determines the performance of all the other departments of the organization. Leaders in any business organization must ensure that they have every form of talent and knowledge to ensure that they are capable of dealing with the increased competition In the dynamic market. As a person determined to be a leader in an organization, I believe that I must examine myself and understand what I have and what I don’t have, and see how I can improve on the deficient areas.
Leadership and organizational performance
I have exemplary communication skills. I am not just a good listener, but also a good speaker. I can easily entice one into a conversation despite his mood. I have managed to win confidence in everything I undertake as a result of my ability to explain and allow the point to sink home. Also, I can be a good listener. I can steer someone into offering information while I speak as little as necessary. These are among the talents that I have that make me an asset in any organization that I might work with.
The current business environment calls for the organization to involve technology in every aspect of their business. Knowledge of information technology and its application to business entities is therefore a necessary tool that can assist an organization floor its competitors while satisfying the needs of its clients. From my undergraduate to now, I have studied several units that entail the application of IT in business organizations. Furthermore, I have been in an internship with an organization that was very information technology-intensive. I performed every role assigned to me by the use of the computer. Every communication was information technology-oriented. This gave me hands-on experience as opposed to what I was simply learning from class. I can now boast of great skills in several IT applications that are business-oriented.
Among the skills that I have sharpened within my studies and other hands-on experience working with organizations are learning skills. Having realized that the business world is dynamic and requires learning of new tricks every day, every leader within an organization must understand and learns every innovation within the industry. Furthermore, the leadership of the organization must ensure that every new process and system are well understood. This is a skill that I have learned in class and also naturally endowed. I can adapt and learn new skills that I come across. Also, I have an undying appetite for knowledge. I always struggle to learn new things which eventually makes me outstanding.
The greatest problem I have has been leadership skills. I have been weak in dealing with teams. Even though I have good communication skills, I have always had problems managing people. Now and then, there are quarrels and misunderstandings. I fail to contain the group and come up with outstanding performance. As a result, leadership skills are my weakest points. I, therefore, intend to improve on them this year from April to August through studying and practicing the leadership skills. I also intend to attend seminars about effective leadership so that I can get clues and ideas on how I can manage people.
This is necessary given the importance of effective leadership on an organization’s performance. The literature points out that there is a direct relationship between effective management and organizational performance. Without effective leadership, the organization cannot prosper.
Literature Review on Leadership
Effective leadership is a prerequisite for any success in a given organization. A good example to bring about the role of leadership to the general benefit of the organization can be explained by taking leadership as the head while the other parts of an organization as the other body parts. Without the head, other body parts will fail to act. As a result, a plethora of literature has been written to address this issue of leadership skills within the management and how this can catapult an organization in terms of productivity.
One of the most outstanding findings within the study of leadership and organizational performance is that effective leadership is directly proportional to organizational performance. This is to say, good leadership leads to good performance while the opposite is true (Avery 2004). He argues that leadership determines whether the organization attains the organizational goals or whether the subordinates adhere to the specified company goals and objectives. Therefore, a successful organization must have efficient leadership that will not only assist the organization to realize its objectives but also ensures that the subordinates operate within the expected limits. These two will together steer the organization towards success.
One of the most outstanding findings within the study of leadership and organizational performance is that effective leadership is directly proportional to organizational performance. This is to say, good leadership leads to good performance while the opposite is true (Drath, 2006). He argues that leadership determines whether the organization attains the organizational goals or whether the subordinates adhere to the specified company goals and objectives. Therefore, a successful organization must have efficient leadership that will not only assist the organization to realize its objectives but also ensures that the subordinates operate within the expected limits. These two will together steer the organization towards success.
Bolman and Deal (2003) state the importance of efficient leadership in the achievement of organizational goals. He argues that the current business environment is marred by several challenges. To begin with, he purports that the current market is characterized by increased dynamism. Only innovation-based approaches can keep an organization on top of the competitors. There is also increased competition in terms of price/performance. Coming up with creative designs that consequently destroy the competencies in existence is one of the ways through which the organization can stay in control of the market. To attain all these, effective leadership is a prerequisite. Only effective leaders can help the organization maneuver through this competition and emerge winners.
Boyatzis and McKee (2005) argue that good leadership implicates positively on the performance of the organization. He further writes that it is only through leadership that the competitiveness of an organization can be improved. Through effective leadership, the management can link the reward scheme to performance. They can easily identify the valued rewards to increased performance. On the other hand, they can easily identify the needed resources to ensure that the employees are well catered for and that every needed resource is available to push forward the objectives of the organization. Also, effective leaders do not only come up with strategies to meet the short time company objectives, but also long time strategies. This calls for vision within the leaders of the organization. The leaders have to ensure that they make a clear frame and model of action so that they can have boundaries within which they must operate. They have to ensure that they act with consistency towards the vision. This involves ensuring that they ensure commitment by every member of the organization towards the specified vision. Without this, it becomes difficult to attain any objectives as most of the employees would be working according to their specific goals and objectives. This would then result in disharmony and conflicts and hence under-performance. With such an organization, there are no chances of success.
Smith (2007) illustrates a clear mental picture of the role of leadership and collective norms of an organization. He argues that team leaders play an axial role in ensuring that the various departments, team goals, and objectives merge into singular organization goals and objectives. It is hence the role of team leaders to ensure they merge the various objectives into one. This is the best approach to beating the competition. The use of small teams headed by a leader ensures that the organization can assist the teams in the process of environmental adaptation while at the same time coordinating collective action towards the common good of the organization.
Carelli (2004) further argues that it is only from leadership efficiency that an organization can achieve satisfaction not just from its staff but also from its customers. Combined, these two lead to financial competence which is the main objective of the organization. He argues that the style of leadership, leadership competence, and employee motivation are the cornerstones upon which organizational competence can be measured.
Knowledge of leadership theories is another way through which a leader can help his organization to remain on top above the rest. In this approach, a good leader must have an understanding of these theories and paradigms to know the best way through which the organization can be managed. The theory of Leader-Member Exchange can be very central in understanding the best way to manage an organization. This theory is founded on relationships as the building blocks upon which organizational success is founded. Northhouse (2004) points out that the relationship between the leaders and the team members can greatly affect the performance of the organization. Effect leaders develop a good relationship between them and their subordinates. Consequently, this translates to job satisfaction from workers, employee citizenship, and commitments to the organization. Furthermore, a well developed leader-member relationship determines the employee turnover and their likely hood to stick to the organization.
Hoyle (2007) argues that good leaders need to be servants. This is in line with the theory of Servant Leadership as a theory of leadership within a business setting. In this argument, effective leaders are those who can be able to start as servants first. They should learn to start by serving others before considering their interests. By starting as a servant, the results are very encouraging. The outcome of servant leadership can only be seen through the increased growth of others. With servant leadership, the ultimate objective of the leader is not looting or following certain self-interests. While it has been argued as to whether acting like a servant is practically applicable to all, the identified areas where this can be applied is enough to give me substantial evidence that being a servant is good enough.
Looking at the paradigms of leadership, there are four paradigms of leadership. Each of the four paradigms has its distinguishing features. To begin with, is the Classical leadership which according to Avery (2004) it refers to the supremacy of a paramount individual or rather a crowd of persons. In this kind of leadership, an individual (s) who is in charge orders his subjects to perform their duties while targeting at attaining a particular objective. The individuals tend to fear to disobey the orders of their leaders. The employees express total respect towards their leaders. The demerit of this paradigm is that a single individual is unable to administrate all the activities taking place within the organization. This is because the activities are vast and some will be left out unsupervised. In this method, orders are made in a tyrannical manner thus contribution from the staff on decision making is not considered. The employees are in most cases non-professional.
Sipe and Frick (2009) explain the transactional paradigm as a type of leadership where aspirations of the employees are identified. The necessities of the employees will be attended to in return for the work performed. Through this, the employees are motivated to work harder so that the set goals are attained. Leaders monitor the performance of the employees and tackle any emerging issue immediately. Here the performance of activities is done daily thus more conventional. Avery (2004) argues out that the level of proficiency is higher for employees in this paradigm as compared to the knowledge of individuals from classical leadership.
Smith (2007) explains visionary leadership entails individuals who have the capability and aspiration to attain success. The members of staff are anticipated to perform their duties with high enthusiasm and dedication to achieve the set objectives. In this paradigm of leadership, the leaders are entitled to motivate the employees and make sure that the employees execute their duties fully until the set goals are attained. However, Avery (2004) argues out on the possible demerits of this method where he states the absence of innovative ideas if disagreements occur between people and the anticipated leader. In this method, during the making of decisions, individuals discuss among the entire staff. Therefore a lot of information is shared thus the staff is motivated to perform expectedly.
The last paradigm of leadership is referred to as organic leadership. According to Northhouse (2004), the working staff including the manager has equal and similar responsibilities. The future steps to be taken and implemented within the organization come from the entire personnel. This type permits individuals with different skills to be leaders amongst them. Individuals from an organization that practices organic leadership don’t focus on leadership positions but concentrate on the new proficiency being introduced within the organization. They mostly concentrate on techniques of attracting individuals who are professionals with high proficiency and sustaining them within their organizations.
Effective leadership is very crucial in any given organization. In any given field, individuals who take responsibility need to have certain features in common to attain future goals within the organization. The absence of this distinctiveness within an organization might fail programs. Therefore the high interest to specialize in leadership by various managers, researchers, and practitioners is to prevent the various projects within the organizations from falling. This is also to avoid failing to attain the set objectives within the organization (Bolman and Deal 2003).
According to Moment (2007, par.4), an effective leader needs to be conscious of how their deeds influence their subjects. Basing on this author’s perception, the leader should perform his duties and delegate the remaining to the staff while paying attention to the necessities of each member of staff. The personnel should all be comfortable with the style of leadership exercised by the leader. The behavior of the leader will in certain cases define the behavior of the staff. Moment further says that this is to enable the workers to be positive towards their duties and perform as expected without supervision. Through this, the set goals may be attained within the organization. In Moment (2007), the idea of the mirror of the leader is supported. Moment (2007) states that in most cases, the behavior of the staff will greatly depend on the character of their leader. It is expectable that workers will show positive behavior basing on the characters portrayed by the leader. The leader should be responsible to demonstrate the wanted behavior within the organization. Leaders are expected to talk of working hard while practicing it themselves for some workers to learn from the demonstration.
Hoyle (2007) states further that effective leadership entails a leader being highly enthusiastic towards his job. The leaders’ enthusiasm is said to have some influence on the interest of the individuals under supervision. The leaders are expected to have full trust in the companies in which they work. By doing this, they will be able to guide the individuals that they supervise to also develop the fervor towards the duties they are entitled to. The road to successful leadership depends on the ability of an individual who is the leader to be able to develop trustworthiness and constancy towards his organization. An effective leader needs to be an example of the performance of her responsibilities. Through this, the leader can be able of inspiring the employees to love their duties and also develop honesty and reliability towards the organization. For effective leadership, leaders must encourage the employees in matters regarding their duties about the requirements of the organization (Moment, 2007). Leaders are expected to not only be innovators but also inventors of new ideas and resolutions to the emerging issues. They should also be expected to create favorable environments for suggestions from the employees. Through this, they should be able to encourage and facilitate the implementation of inventive ideas from the employees. The implementation of constructive ideas within the organization might help in the advancement of the organization structure. This later leads to the attaining of the goals.
For effective leadership to be facilitated, the leader should facilitate strategic planning techniques to assist in guiding the employees in performing their duties. The leaders must give general direction to the entire staff. They are expected to come up with suitable aspirations and objectives to be achieved within the organization. They should emphasize these aspirations whenever they are addressing any emerging issue. The leaders should ensure that the goals that have been developed are assessable. Leaders should not come up with goals that are not measurable. Thus leaders are expected to be very keen while setting up the objectives and goals to be attained. High knowledge is expected from the anticipated leaders. Proper scheduling and emerging with policies is very significant in ensuring that initiatives are met successfully. The general managers within the various organizations are expected to continuously communicate to the members of staff on innovative ideas and the projects to be achieved to make it possible for them to implement (Carelli 2004). A leader must ensure that all the necessary information is effectively communicated to the employees. The failure of the employees to implement what is expected might lead to a failure in attaining the set initiatives within the organization.
According to Boyatzis and McKee (2005), effective Leaders within any given organization are expected to come up with suitable and effective techniques for the delegation of duties to the workers. All the individuals within the organization should be held responsible for any results that may come from each of the departments. The leaders are expected to be answerable to the general performance of the organizations. This is because the leaders are always in the supervision of every activity that takes place within the organization. The leaders are even the ones that ensure all the employees have delegated duties and that each one of them is performing to the expectations of the organization. The results that are received within an organization always emerge from the various plans and schemes that have been made by the leaders. The employees should also be held responsible for all their deeds. The employees may be found in this trap especially when they neglected the various guidelines and direction they were given by their leaders leading to the poor performance of the organization. The set targets within the organization may not be achieved. Without the regular evaluation of the performance of an organization and inspection of the delegated duties within the members of staff, the set targets within an organization may not be achieved.
Effective leaders are expected to have a lot of proficiency concerning the different techniques of tackling and addressing failure within an organization. According to Boyatzis and McKee (2005), “…failure can become the next step of learning, the beginning of another new creative idea” (p.23). The technique of dealing with the acts of failure to attain certain objectives should not necessarily be punishment. Leaders are expected to take this as a point of invention of new thoughts and ideas. Punishing the employees is not the best method of counteracting the failures. However, a negative result will be expected as the employees will tend to be demoralized and be unenthusiastic in proposing and developing new ideas. Due to the fear of failure, these individuals will not be able to suggest inventive ideas.
Drath (2006, p. 80) suggests that leaders are expected to know to be able to supervise and systematize the employees within any given organization. The invention of new ideas and thought necessitates joint efforts of the entire staff within an organization. However, the mentality of relying on only one individual for the innovation of new ideas might lead to complete resistance of an organization to change. According to the research illustrated in Drath (2006), “A team’s success or failure at collaborating reflects the philosophy of top executives in the organization. Teams do well when executives invest in supporting of social relationships and demonstrate collaborative behavior by themselves…” (p.43)Therefore support within an organization is very important as it helps in the sustenance of the entire activities within an organization. The lack of support can thus fail to achieve some of the set goals and objectives.
In Moment (2007), it is explained the flexibility of effective leaders. Leaders are expected to adjust to the various changes in any given field within the shortest time possible. The leaders are the heads of any given organization. Therefore, it is expectable of them to be the first ones to cope up with the various changes that may be encountered during the operation of the organization. The leaders should be the first ones to adjust the changes in the organization before the employees face them. Nearly all organization needs leaders who are very quick when it comes to matters of adjusting to the various changes within the organization
Leaders play significant roles in any given organization. According to Avery (2004), leaders within an organization assist in the promotion of moral standards among the members of staff. They help in modeling the accepted codes of conduct among the workers as per the regulations of the organization. Leaders should be very frank. They should also be held responsible for the various actions that they perform. They should also have an obligation to encourage the employees to always behave in an accepted code of conduct. Therefore all the actions of the employees depend on the deeds of their leaders. He further writes, “for employees to practice ethical behavior, they must work in an environment where that behavior is greatly encouraged and supported too”. The information is coherent to that of Avery (2004, p.40) which states that certified leaders are entitled to be candid and be held answerable for the various faults that they commit. They should lastly anticipate the same character, conduct, behavior, and truthfulness from their employees.
An effectual leader enhancing proper and fair leadership should ensure that he treats all the employees equally, fairly, and with respect. During the delegation of duties, employees should be given the responsibilities equally and also basing on the specialization. An individual should not be given work where he does not fit. All this is determined by none other than the leaders. The administrators should never try to disregard intolerable behaviors. These behaviors are very important as through them, individuals are capable of coming up with new innovative ideas to counteract the bad behaviors. The poor habits are thus the best ways of verifying the consequences of certain bad characters. The fault can thus be avoided the next time. The leaders should be the ones to emerge with new ideas, suggestions, and techniques to completely foster good behaviors and good relationships among the employees (Carelli 2004). The leader should ensure that all the bad characters within the members of staff are removed. The leader should be able to pay the employees equally and within an appropriate time. The manager should be able to compensate the employees for any extra effort. This will help in attracting the interest of the employees completely towards the organization. The employees will also be motivated to work harder till the set goals and objectives are achieved.
Northhouse (2004) points out the importance of efficient leadership in the achievement of organizational goals. They argue that the current business environment is marred by several challenges. To begin with, they purport that the current market is characterized by increased dynamism. Only innovation-based approaches can keep an organization on top of the competitors. There is also increased competition in terms of price/performance. Coming up with creative designs that consequently destroy the competencies in existence is one of the ways through which the organization can stay in control of the market. To attain all these, effective leadership is a prerequisite. Only effective leaders can help the organization maneuver through this competition and emerge winners.
On their part, Bolman and Deal (2003) argue that good leadership implicates positively on the performance of the organization. They argue that it is only through leadership that the competitiveness of an organization can be improved. Through effective leadership, the management can link the reward scheme to performance. They can easily identify the valued rewards to increased performance. On the other hand, they can easily identify the needed resources to ensure that the employees are well catered for and that every needed resource is available to push forward the objectives of the organization.
Also, effective leaders do not only come up with strategies to meet the short time company objectives, but also long time strategies. This calls for vision within the leaders of the organization. The leaders have to ensure that they make a clear frame and model of action so that they can have boundaries within which they must operate. They have to ensure that they act with consistency towards the vision. This involves ensuring that they ensure commitment by every member of the organization towards the specified vision. Without this, it becomes difficult to attain any objectives as most of the employees would be working according to their specific goals and objectives. This would then result in disharmony and conflicts and hence under-performance. With such an organization, there are no chances of success.
Hoyle (2007) gives a clear mental picture of the role of leadership and the collective norms of an organization. They argue that team leaders play an axial role in ensuring that the various departments and team goals and objectives merge into singular organization goals and objectives. It is hence the role of team leaders to ensure they merge the various objectives into one. This is the best approach to beating the competition. The use of small teams headed by a leader ensures that the organization can assist the teams in the [process of environmental adaptation while at the same time coordinating collective action towards the common good of the organization.
Sipe and Frick (2009) further argue that it is only from leadership efficiency that an organization can achieve satisfaction not just from its staff but also from its customers. Combined, these two lead to financial competence which is the main objective of the organization. They argue that the style of leadership, leadership competence, and employee motivation are the cornerstones upon which organizational competence can be measured.
Knowledge of leadership theories is another way through which a leader can help his organization remain a cut above the rest. In this approach, a good leader must have an understanding of these theories and paradigms to know the best way through which the organization can be managed. The theory of Leader-Member Exchange can be very central in understanding the best way to manage an organization. This theory is founded on relationships as the building blocks upon which organizational success is founded. Boyatzis and McKee (2005) point out that the relationship between leaders and team members can greatly affect the performance of the organization. Effect leaders develop a good relationship between them and their subordinates. Consequently, this translates to job satisfaction from workers, employee citizenship, and commitments to the organization. Furthermore, a well developed leader-member relationship determines the employee turnover and their likely hood to stick to the organization.
Boyatzis and McKee (2005) argue that good leaders need to be servants. This is in line with the theory of Servant Leadership as a theory of leadership within a business setting. In this argument, effective leaders are those who can be able to start as servants first. They should learn to start by serving others before considering their interests. By starting as a servant, the results are very encouraging. The outcome of servant leadership can only be seen through the increased growth of others. With servant leadership, the ultimate objective of the leader is not looting or following certain self-interests. While it has been argued as to whether acting like a servant is practically applicable to all, the identified areas where this can be applied is enough to give me substantial evidence that being a servant is good enough.
Role of leadership in an organization
Considering the axial role of leadership within a given business organization, it became a prerequisite for me to ensure that I develop my leadership skills. The first step was ensuring that I enroll in classes specifically designed for leadership. Also, I have scheduled myself for all the seminars in the year whose theme is leadership and business management. Through these seminars and classes, I intend to understand the technical parts of leadership in management. This involves leadership styles and paradigms. Also, I intend to join a leaders club where I will meet other leaders and know how they manage to manage their organization. Through discussions with the other members of the organization, I will be able to see how these leaders manage to carry themselves and how they handle unique problems. This will not just help me understand how to manage people, but will also assist me to avoid the stresses I have had to undergo as a result of rifts between me and the employees now and then.
To this point, I have registered with a member’s club in the neighborhood where I am joining other members every Friday. During these meetings (I have attended three so far), I have learned several skills. Through discussions carried amongst us, I have learned many tricks from first-hand information sources. There are challenges whose solutions were not learned in school. It requires a personal ability to solve them. In these cases, discussions from various leaders have assisted me to attain skills for solving such problems.
I have also enrolled in classes in classes where I am pursuing a specially designed certificate for leadership. In this class, we have imparted skills of leadership and also given practical application of leadership styles and paradigms. Through the practical approach to leadership, I have managed to acquire several skills that I never knew before. Apart from the above-mentioned approaches, I have also bought several books where I am reading on leadership as a concept. The books have also given me a chance to gain skills in leadership.
I have engaged in this expensive venture of gaining knowledge on leadership because of the highlighted importance of leadership in business management. I understand how important it is to have an idea of leadership styles and their applications. This also includes leadership paradigms and challenges. By being equipped with these, I am in a position to successfully lead an organization. I can be able to ensure that my employees and clients are all satisfied, motivated, and happy. This is in line with the study by Sipe and Frick (2009) who pointed out that employee and client satisfaction is guaranteed with effective leadership.
By developing pertinent skills in leadership, I will be able to manage teams and hence lead to increased productivity for employees. This will be as a result of motivated employees and coordinated activities among team members. Furthermore, I will be able to assist the organization to merge the diverse goals and objectives of the various departments and teams into one objective and goal of the organization as a single entity.
By acquiring these skills, I may be in a position to combine my other skills with leadership skills making me a very efficient leader.
In conclusion, leadership is an essential component in an organization setting even though it is faced with various challenges during the day to day operation.
One of the major challenges that are encountered in leadership is that the performance of the organization relies on leadership. For instance, good leadership will lead to success in the organization while poor leadership will fail. The major determinant factor to achieve the set-out goals and objectives is good leadership. Efficiency in leadership results in better performance of the organization.
Effective leadership is a prerequisite in business since the current market is marred by dynamism. For example, there is increased competition therefore the leaders are faced with the responsibility to design strategy to counter the threat of competition. It follows that the final decision lies upon the leader to ensure that the business maneuvers through competition and finally emerges victorious.
Another potential challenge that is faced by leaders emanates from the responsibility of catering to the needs of their employees. The leader must identify the problems that the employees are facing in the work. For example, the leader must improve the working condition, compensating the employees. The leader also must reward the employees who have excelled in their performance.
Making a decision is another challenge that the leadership experience in an organization running. This is because the responsibility of deciding organizational policy lies at the hands of the leaders. Therefore the leaders have to design better policies for the organization since bad policies will lead to the poor performance of the organization. Leaders are supposed to invent new ideas and also provide resolutions to the emerging problems in the organization.
It is worth noting that leaders are the ones who are expected to emerge with ideas, suggestions, and techniques for running the business.
The leader is also faced with the challenge of merging the entire department in an organization to achieve one organizational goal. The leader is therefore a unifying factor in the organization since he has the duty of coordinating the activities of the various departments to achieve a common goal and objective. Therefore it is the responsibility of the leader to ensure harmony in the organization by consulting the parties concerned to determine the way forward.
The important characteristic of a good leader is that he is the servant of the people. Effective leaders should serve the interest of the minors before considering their interests. This shows that the leader should care much for others. Consequently, a leader should be able to practice transparency and accountability in the administration of the duties i.e. the leader should not show much favor to one group as compared to another group. The leader has to remain neutral since harmony is achieved through effective leadership.
Another characteristic of good leadership in an organization is knowledge. An effective leader must have a proper understanding of how to manage the organization without much difficulty. For a leader to excel, he has to understand the needs of the employee as well as those of senior staff in the organization. To add on, the leader should have a high thinking capacity to decide for the good of the organization.
A leader is also supposed to be focused. This means that the leader should state his vision clearly and also outline the aim and objective that the organization is supposed to fulfill within a given period. A visionary leader has greater aspiration towards success since he is likely to motivate the minor towards achieving the common goal. This gives a sense of direction to other minor staff since they are informed about the target of the organization.
Leaders are required to have a motivating spirit to boost the morale of the junior members. For instance, the leader should be able to pay employees at the appropriate time; compensation should be given to workers who have shown an extra effort, and so on. He should be able to encourage junior members whenever they experience hardship in life.
Reference List
Avery, C., 2004. Understanding Leadership: Paradigms and Cases. London: Sage Press.
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E., 2003. Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership (3rd ed). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Boyatzis, R. E., & McKee, A., 2005. Resonant Leadership: renewing yourself and connecting with others through mindfulness, hope, and compassion. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Carelli, A., 2004. The truth about supervision: Coaching, teamwork, interviewing, appraisals, 360-degree assessments, and recognition. Springfield: Charles C.Thomas Publisher.
Drath, H., 2006. The Deep Blue Sea: Rethinking the Source of Leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Hoyle, J.R., 2007. Leadership and futuring: Making visions happen (2nd ed). Corwin Press.
Moment, R., 2007. Top 7 Leadership Skills for Business Success. Top 7 Business [Online]. Web.
Northouse, P. G., 2004. Leadership: Theory and practice. London: Sage.
Sipe, J. W., & Frick, D. M., 2009. Seven pillars of servant leadership: Practicing the wisdom of leading by serving. Mahwah, New Jersey: Paulist Press.
Smith, A., 2007. The taboos of leadership: The 20 secrets no one will tell you about leaders and what they think. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.