The debate about leadership and whether or not it can be taught or being born with it will go on forever.  Of course, this depends on the strength of your conviction of your opinion or the source of facts.

It is said leaders are born, and to a point, this may be true.  We have all observed leaders who seem to display special characteristics of leadership.  They have a large group of followers who, at times, idolize them.  They are charismatic, energizing, appear to be knowledgeable, can be attractive, and seem to generate a feeling of well being.  Certainly these are behaviors some will admire and it may even create positive behaviors with positive results.  Admittedly, this is not all bad.  But who will you follow, who will you trust, who will demonstrate behaviors and values to conquer difficult and even insurmountable challenges?  This is where you need to identify whether or not the leader is competent or not.  This is where you are able to determine whether or not that leader has the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful.  This is the point where you begin to understand where leadership skills can be learned as well as how to be a competent leader.

Leadership competencies are the key.  We can measure the skills a leader by administering tests, quizes, or by certified board evaluations.  We can determine how much knowledge a leader posesses.  Things we can’t see, but are usually which make the most difference are the invisible traits a leader holds within themsleves, their core.  We can’t tell by looking at them what they think their social roles are.  Nor do we know, by observation, their core values, their own self image, or what motivates them.  These clearly are not visible, but we do draw conclusions by observing their behaviors.  So, what differentiates strong leaders from others?  Competencies are any characteristic or behavior of a leader that differentiates the outstanding from the more typical.  Therefore, outstanding leaders demonstrate competencies more often, in more situations, with better results.

Taking all of this into consideration, leadership skills can be taught and you may have born leaders who are not competent in their leadership roles.  Unfortunately, we have observed this too many times in recent history.  But, when competent, leaders have obtained goals far beyond what anyone could have imagined.  This too, has been demonstrated in past history.

Does your organization have a set of competencies to measure leadership qualities?  Does your organization conduct workshops for feedback to your leaders on the perceptions of their followers?  Does your organization use all methods of adult learning to ensure everyone has the ability to learn in their preferred styles?  If not, think about how you feel about your organization’s leadership training and perhaps the quality of your personal leadership.

Posted by Peter Samardak on Tue, Aug 23, 2011 @ 09:47 AM

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About the author

Peter Samardak