Vision and Goals

Vision and goals are very important aspects of leadership. Vision is necessary to keep everyone working together and to give them something attainable to work toward. Vision is what compels people to move forward even when faced by tough situations. Goals are necessary in order to create the vision. The goals set a clear step by step process. Goals allow the leader and the employees a sense of direction toward making the vision a reality. In order for the vision to be attainable, it first must be clearly understood by all. Imagine you are running late for dinner so you ask a family member to peel half the potatoes. You get home to find that all the potatoes were only half peeled. Is this what you intended to get done? No, but it is what the other person heard. This is only a minor incident, but there are times when an unclear message could result in extreme errors. If you are a leader by career and your visions and goals are unclear this could lead to chaos and negativity in the workplace, underperformance, and ultimately the loss of your job. Vision gives a leader purpose. This purpose is to ensure that the organization continually moves forward. In order for this to occur, the vision has to be clearly understood by the employees. People tend to be more comfortable in their work when they understand the overall vision. This leads to higher morale and job satisfaction which, in turn, leads to greater productivity. Goals provide direction. Having direction is very important when wanting to continually move forward. Goals provide the drive that fuels people toward what motivates them. Goals give people focus and accountability. With direction, drive, focus and accountability it is much easier to be successful. Putting forth a clear vision and setting goals becomes a way to measure success. Therefore, in order to be a successful leader, it is important to create a clear vision as well as a clear set of goals. The vision and goals set by the leader give the followers direction and meets their needs for being included, feeling valued and accomplished.Without vision and goals, leadership lacks any drive and the workplace becomes chaotic, underproductive and unsuccessful.

Ever heard of any of these people?

These names are included among numerous lists for being some of the greatest leaders of all time.  Of course being a leader spans all races, classes and careers from sports to business to politics and beyond.  

Mahatma Gandhi
Nelson Mandela
Martin Luther King Jr.
Abraham Lincoln
George Washington
Bill Gates
Warren Buffet
Roger Goodell
David Stern

Who has been the most influential person in your life?  

Peter Drucker has been called "the man who invented management".  His ideas influenced the leaders of some of the largest corporations such as General Electric, Intel, Red Cross, IBM and many others. He believed there was great power in developing a community like atmosphere in the workplace.  He believed creating a balance was the key to being successful; balance between the mission of the organization and the common good, between short term needs and long term sustainability and between freedom and responsibility.  He was one of the first to point out that great leadership means empowering your followers.   In 2002, Peter Drucker received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest honor for civilians.

Emotions affect your leadership abilities.

Everyone has something that speaks to them and emotions are strong motivators in guiding us to these goals or life tasks. This motivation affects our behavior and personality. Strong emotions can cause you to take actions you might not normally perform, or avoid situations that you generally enjoy. Why do we experience emotions and what causes these feelings?   There are several different theories on the exact way internal and external stimuli affect emotional responses.   Today I will briefly explain the Canon-Bard theory and the James-Lange theory.

Cannon-Bard theory puts emphasis on external stimuli as causing the emotional response. This theory explains that when we react to a stimulus we experience the associated emotion at the same time.  For example, when someone sees a person they are strongly attracted to the autonomic response is aroused and simultaneously an elated emotion comes over them.  Heart rate increases and they become flush.

James-Lange theory defines emotional experience as the result of internal, physiological reaction.  The physiological responses occur first and the results are the cause of emotions. Therefore, the emotional reaction is dependent upon how you interpret those physical reactions.  Say you miss a very important deadline at work.  You begin to experience rapid heart rate and trembling.  A sinking feeling gathers in your stomach.  From these reactions you interpret that you are experiencing anxiety and fear.

Many things have been found to influence our emotional intelligence.  Things like social support, optimism, neuroticism and self-disclosure all have a relative influence on how much stress we are able to handle.  The more support, optimism, and self-disclosure we have the better we are able to cope.

There are several different types of therapy to help people become more focused on the self and can be very helpful especially when someone is seeking to change a specific proponent of the personality.  Psychoanalysis and social-cognitive processes are two approaches used in personality therapy.

Another type of therapy used by psychologists today is based on social-cognitive views of personality disorders.  Beck’s cognitive therapy takes aim at maladaptive thought processes and negative schema.  According to Beck we tend to magnify negative life events and have an all-or-nothing type attitude.  When we allow our self to think this way we bring about feelings of anxiety and depression. The anxiety is due to our dramatization of life events and can be lessened with cognitive therapy.

In order to be an effective leader, it is important to really know yourself.  Emotions are a very strong part of who we are and emotional intelligence can make or break your success in becoming an influential leader.  Understanding what triggers certain emotions is essential to this process.  What is your emotional intelligence?  To test it click here.

Are we born with leadership traits or can they be learned?

I believe the answer is "both".  To be a leader takes certain personality traits and these are instilled within us from the time we are born.  However, it also takes a lot of knowledge to be considered an effective leader. Even if we are born with certain traits that does not mean we will make a good leader.  On the other hand, even if we are very knowledgeable about the subject of leadership we may not have the character needed to attract followers. In order to be a leader, we need to have within us certain traits as well as to learn the necessary skills.