What Exactly Is A Leader?

Organizations often refer to the officers and their Board of Directors of their organization as the "leadership." Unfortunately, while many of these individuals are placed in positions of leadership, they are not actual leaders.

Dictionary.com defines "lead" as "to guide by going before or with; to influence." It then goes on to say that when it is used as a verb, it refers to taking the initiative. Dictionary.com also defines "leader" as someone who "guides, conducts, is at the head of. Then Dictionary.com clarifies even further by stating that "leadership" implies "the position or function of a leader; ability to lead; act or instance of leading; guidance; directions." Obviously, based on this true meaning of what it means to lead, and thus be a leader, simply maintaining a leadership-type position is merely a very small component of leadership.

During my three decades in training potential leaders on the necessities of leadership, I have concluded that very few individuals are "born leaders," and require training and hands-on experience to develop the skill set and expertise necessary to be truly effective leaders. My experience has demonstrated to me that most individuals in volunteer positions, for any of a number of reasons, are often unwilling to take the time and put in the real commitment necessary to effectively lead. In the past three decades, I have noticed that most individuals thrust into positions of volunteer leadership are well-meaning and well-intentioned individuals, generally possessing genuine, deep attachments and feelings for their organization. These individuals are generally people-oriented, and are proficient at what they do full time. Unfortunately, all the intelligence in unrelated fields, good intentions, and emotional attachments, often does not make one an effective leader. For any of a number of reasons, most organizations have been unwilling to commit the time, resources, planning and continuity, required for effective leadership training. Because of this lack of prioritization and attention to effective training, there are very few organizations that conduct and maintain adequate leadership training programs. Many organizations I have consulted to delude themselves into believing that they have leadership training because they run some sort of program on an annual or semi-annual basis. However, many of these programs do not "feed upon earlier programs" and do not teach and concentrate on what it means to actually be a leader.

I have heard many "leaders" tell me that they envision their position as somewhat ceremonial, and believe that paid staff is the way to go. While theoretically that may sound like an effective plan, the greatest strength of many organizations, particularly small to medium sized ones, is the "personal touch." By and large, organizations are impacted to the greatest degree by the relationships and deference between leadership and members. With few exceptions, when organizations become staff oriented, they lose that "personal touch," which to so many of their members is one of the most essential ingredients. In addition, in evaluating paid staffs of organizations for three decades, the reality is that most paid staffs have weaknesses, and some have severe weaknesses. Paid staffs also have turnover, which harms development building. In addition, most organizations are unable to afford to budget for the salaries that would be needed to have top- notch paid staffs, and often, therefore have to settle for the best they can afford. Another obstacle to being overly staff oriented is costs, because the less volunteers do and the more paid staff does, the more costly it is. In addition, most staffs of organizations suffer from the same challenges that volunteer leaders do - - insufficient and inadequate relevant training.

The optimum situation for an organization would be to train their staffs from the inception, train leadership at the entry level. mid-level, and elite level, and do so on a continuous basis. To be an effective leader, individuals often must "check their egos at the door," and not expect to be complimented for their hard work, but to often shoulder blame for anything that is perceived as going imperfectly. I recommend that anyone considering taking on a leadership position read as much as they can on the subject, and attend seminars given by true leadership development trainers.

Organizations require effective leadership, not just individuals who want to be treated as leaders. Leadership requires commitment, strength, and self-motivation. That is partly the reason that there are so few effective leaders. However, the main reason is inadequate training, and the fact that most individuals enter these leadership positions unaware of what it would really mean to be an effective leader.