WHAT IS LEADERSHIP AND WHAT FUNCTION DOES IT FULFIL?

At its core leadership is about social impact. It is the influence that occurs between people, where one or more individuals affect one or more other individuals to think, feel and act in different ways. This definition of leadership, however, is not totally sufficient. We can’t, after all, claim it was leadership that made us feel irritated at the arrogant receptionist we met at the gym or what made us decide which car we allowed to pull out into our lane of traffic – even though both of these are great examples of social impact.

In order for social impact to qualify as leadership it needs to be goal-oriented and take place within the framework of a defined social system, such as an organisation, a school class or a football team. By goal-oriented I mean that it aims to influence individuals to think, feel and act in a way that contributes to the defined social system fulfilling and achieving its main purpose and goals. So, for example, it may be that the organisation makes a big profit, that the classroom students pass with good grades or that the football team wins more matches than it loses.

Intended goals can vary between different social systems as well as over time in a single social system. A single social system can also have several goals that need to be achieved concurrently and sometimes these goals may not be completely compatible with one another. In fact many times they can even be counterproductive. Because of this an important basic function of leadership is to ensure that the purpose and objectives of, for example, a work group, department or company are clearly defined for the individuals who are expected to realise and achieve them. This particular leadership function is about clarifying what is expected and the preferred behaviour required, in addition to the kind of performances and results expected within a certain timeframe. In short leadership should help us answer the question: “What am I/we expected to do and achieve”?

A second basic function of leadership is to get individuals and groups to do what they are actually expected to do – or even enable them to do it more often and better! Leadership is therefore about making or influencing people to act and perform in a way that corresponds to or exceeds defined expectations. To what extent people do this as a result of leadership will determine how effective the leadership really is. In cases where people don’t do what they are supposed to do, do it to a lesser extent than expected or perform below the standards required leadership could be considered less effective. At the very least leadership should be considered one of the factors that influences what people do and how well they do it.

Who is responsible for leadership?

Leadership can be exercised by the people who are primarily expected to perform it – such as formally appointed managers or supervisors. This does not mean to say that leadership is something only reserved for or guaranteed by such positions. An individual can demonstrate leadership without having any formal