Body Language Does Matter In Leadership!

Body language is the fire of today’s discussion irrespective of the job, status and the age. The psychologists suggest that body languages communicate more than your verbal language there by proving the adage; actions speak louder than words, true.
Indeed, the body language communication is detrimental to the success of the individual and the team as, the fundamental elements of triumph such as inspiration, motivation and dedication can be deeply cultivated in the followers through the positive body movements. The use of space around, the gestures, the facial expression, all should infuse the feeling of warmth, motivation and confidence in the individuals. Therefore, it is imperative for the leader to design the movements thoughtfully as any mistake can explode the basis of victory within no time!
The extra usage of the body movements like smiling, moving here and there and constantly dressing your outfit; all these actions distracts the attention of the team mates and drift them away from the exact motive of the discussion. A lot of movement shows that you are a nervous man.
Moreover, the extra smiling faces are taken less seriously by the followers, too. However, smiling face at appropriate time infuse the aura of warmth and confidence.
The eye movements are of immense importance in coaching and guiding the team mates.firstly; do not focus your attention and eye movements on few selected people. This would demotivate the others and would not inspire them to give their best. Consequently, the team would lose the individualism and creativity in their task as those ignored faces would never come up with the ideas that would unleash their talent.
Secondly, when listening to an individual suggestion or query, maintain a firm eye contact for, it leaves the impression to the follower that he is equally important for the designated task and his efforts and ideas would influence the yield greatly. Feeling of being respected and valued would engulf the very existence of him and he would be more committed to his work.
The mouth and lip movements indicate let others read your mind. Twisting and turning of lips and turning the lips to one side suggest that you are either too confused or you are thinking some thing else and saying other thing, all leaving an impression that their something to be kept hidden.
Standing tall, with shoulders kept high and relaxed boost up the morale and confidence of the followers as these are the signs of leader being confident and positive.
Don’t have the gesture of being low and droopy if you are tired for it is interpreted by the follower as if you are disinterested in the task.
Just do not go on with the abrupt decisions or do not let the tinge of sadness or tension mask your face for it loses your confidence and the feeling of trust that followers have on you would evaporate in to nothingness.
Touch is more powerful means of communication. It bridges the gulf and cultivates stronger and lasting relationships. The leaders must shake firmly with all team workers at the end of meeting and must pat them for their good work. It inculcates the feeling of being more connected and the followers would be more comfortable with him. This superb feeling of comfort would allow them to come up with the best of their work.
The leaning forward in the meeting towards the followers leaves one to think as that the task has to be done as soon as possible. The hastiness then swept the very nook of the decisions and followers then act on their thoughts without giving a second glance.
In open discussions session, the hands in pocket, clenched fist, clenching an object firmly or a foot at back conveys closed nonverbal signals, giving an impression that you are uncertain of your actions, resulting in a feeling of disinterest and lack of trust among the subordinates. The contrary actions then suggest that you are too sure of your abilities and have nothing to be kept secret from the followers.
Do not cross your hands or have crossed legs in a meeting for it implies that you are confused in the wild jigsaw of the task and, therefore are too uncertain. It makes others feel that you are not open to others opinion or ideas, too. The best gesture of hands and arms is to keep aside which unveils your confidence on your abilities.
As a leader you are always communicating through verbal and non-verbal communication and, both types of communication means a lot when it comes to have an effective, influential leadership. Your body language reflects your thinking, your strength of words, and your character and last but not the least your influence and success hence; it is of great importance to keep a firm look on it to steer out of this phase of test as a conquering leader.

Are You A Successful Leader?

Leadership is a relationship between leader and followers based on ability and position, with an aim to achieve the certain goals, which is made possible through conducive environment, mutual understanding and effective communication; allowing the clear insight of vision and the steps to attain it, to the followers .
The researchers have suggested the various leadership styles, theories and characteristics but what pledges the guaranteed triumph, the question is still in discussion. The successful leader can be defined as the one who has attained in all the tasks and has remained as an outstanding and influential person through out his job.

The article puts light on some of the qualities possessed by all the great leaders of the past.
The successful leadership stems from being exceptionally sharp in decision-making and always come up with the right conclusions at demanding time. The leaders carefully analyze the facts and figures and open a new episode of creativity, each time they express their ideas. He possesses the ability to best interpret the information and reach at more practical and lucrative solutions.
The successful leaders possess vitality in his actions which instill the inspiration and the unbeatable feeling of motivation in the followers. This insurmountable inspiration and motivation acts as a catalyst towards the promising success. To get the task done, this is an important step by the leader as, it produces the cohesive feeling among the team mates. He must have a correct idea of the weakness and strengths of the individual and then work accordingly to bring them together, as a whole
Importantly, the successful leader is good at transferring his ideas and vision. The fluency, the enthusiasm with which he conveys his ideas to the subordinates engulf them with an invincible feeling of promised success. The clearer he is in his vision and goals, the better would be the performance of the followers.
To be an effective leader, he must have the true insight of the leadership styles and what style suits which situation. Only the apt of the situation and selection of the styles accordingly would assure the accomplishment of goals. On the basis of the individuals knowledge, the resources available, the related experiment, the nature of task and the relations with subordinates; the decision of situation is made in to effect.
Integrity in the words and actions is essential leadership skill. If the subordinates believe on the words of the leader, he would trust on him and will look forward to him in the troublesome situations. He would be expected to make fair judgments. The leader must be honest a in his judgments and must give the juniors their due reward; this will instill confidence in them to trust on their abilities and work harder.
To come up as an authentic leader, he has to make a leader among his subordinates. History has proved that only those leaders are written in the golden pages of history that have produced true leaders. For this to be done effectively, the leader must act as a role model for the subordinates and should keep his words. He must entrust the subordinates with few authorities in certain matters and expect the best from them. Timely guidance, instilling confidence through responsibilities would carve their skills of leadership, which would be unveiled as the situation demands.
If these superb qualities are the hallmarks of one’s character, he is truly a successful leader-the only support in the violent sea of crisis!

Top Five Leadership Styles

The well popular and the immensely important concept of leadership unveils with itself many approaches, leadership styles and skills which if truly applied and are well integrated ,keeping in view the reality and the depth of goal, will ensure the positive, promising environment for success. These leadership styles are emerged from the different theories put forwarded after the thorough research.

There lies a broad spectrum of leadership styles, ranging from the classic, old and bossy styles to the modern, participative and thoughtful styles, successfully catering the needs of as diverse situations as the styles possibly are. It covers all the areas of leadership, ranging from a small school to a corporate organization, from the coaching of athletes to running a successful business; only the apt selection of leadership style and proper application of it, ensures the effective leadership across the board.

The following are the most common leadership styles

Authoritarian Or Autocratic Style

This sort of leadership style mainly revolves around the power of the leader where the leader, solely, exercises all the powers and the subordinates are only expected to complete the designed job without any questioning. Since all the activities are controlled by leader and the subordinates are not taken in to confidence, so they are highly uncertain of their future. This results in high absenteeism and staff turnover. The leader does not participate in the group and, just come up with directions to the subordinates. Hence; this style lacks creativity and innovation of new ideas and techniques that come up if young subordinates are given at least a little free hand. These budding minds then feel like being bottled- up and are totally confined.

This style is generally viewed as the bossy or dictatorship style.

It is helpful only in the situation when the leaders possess the excellence in knowledge or there is lack of decision-making time.

Democratic Or Participative Style

This type of leadership style is truly creative as it permits all the subordinates to participate in the decision making process by coming up with ideal suggestion and creative ideas. Here, the subordinates are fully involved in the task, from decision-making process to working on it with commitment and, hence they are highly certain of their future and can visualize their success in near future. This impulse acts as a source of motivation.

Since, this style encourages the maximum participation on both sides; there lies the good communication and friendliness between the leader and the subordinates. Hence, this style could be well applied in the situations which are task-oriented and, at the same time demands the good, comprehensible communication.

It minimizes the aggression, hostility and grievances among the group members and paves way to the greater satisfaction and high morale. It ensures the personal development of subordinates, too.

Employee-Centered Style

The employee-centered style is little bit more freedom oriented than democratic style. The leaders just designed the achievable goals and, articulately explain it to the employers. The rest is the job of the subordinates to follow any possible strategy that paves the way to success. The leaders then focus on the human aspect of the subordinates and motivate them in the application of their useful thoughts.

This style is best applied on the subordinates who possess the considerable knowledge about the task.

Production-Centered Style

The style is quite contrary to the employee-centered style where the focus is on the production rather than on the human aspect. The employers are kept pushed to meet the deadlines without giving deserved attention to the assigned task. The focus is mainly on the increased productivity and the best use of employers is made to attain this target.

This style can no longer be applied in today’s scenario where the subordinates are not willing to be directed and pushed all the time. In fact, today’s scenario portrays that the subordinate is more leader than the leader himself.

Supportive Style

This style is linked with the psychological relation between leaders and subordinates, which springs from the good mutual understanding and good communication skills. Leader, when adopting supportive leadership, appreciates and truly acknowledges the work of subordinates, does not force the worker to do beyond his capacity and often keeps in mind the problems of subordinate. In fact the leader appears more as a source of help to the subordinates. More than that, he always stand up for the rights and efforts of the subordinates and, do not criticize them harshly or even in front of others. The leader is willing to get influx of ideas from the subordinates and, often appreciates and rewards them for their extraordinary thinking.

When such a strong, motivated and appreciably good relationship exists between them, they subordinates feel motivated and always endeavor to do the best.

However, this relationship can not be solely applied. It has to be integrated with the employee-centered style or participative style, the required perceived results can then be guaranteed.

The leadership styles are extremely diverse and their effective application is totally subjected to the situation. The hallmark of a true leadership is that it analyzes the changing attitudes, values and the situation appropriately and then implements the blend of leadership styles, which reflect those changes, that eventually ensures the good outcome at the end.