Influence Of Leadership And Leadership Development

An organisation’s culture predominantly develops from its leadership and similarly the culture of that organisation can affect the development of leadership in that organisation. For instance, some leaders work within their organisational culture, rules and existing norms whereas others first understand it and realig the culture with brand-new vision and revision of its earlier assumptions, rules and norms (Bass & Avolio, 1993:112). The essay opens up with brief introduction to leader and leadership development (LD) and the various theoretical approaches to leadership with in-depth discussion of transformational leadership theory and it’s implication in providing LD opportunities to all. It concludes with critical claim of the entire discussion in brief.

Peter Northouse (2010) defines leadership as, “a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” (Yukl, 2012) and a famous leader: COO and co-founder, hovelstay.com defines leadership as “not just about finding ways to lead better or motivating your team but about being there from the beginning as equals and becoming a mentor when need be” (Helmrich,

In leader development emphasis is on individual-based skills, knowledge and abilities associated with formal leadership roles and the main focus being on human capital through developing the leader’s skills and traits whereas in LD the prime focus is on developing social capital through building networked relationships between people that improve organisational resource exchange and cooperation among individuals thus the primary emphasis is on using and building interpersonal competence (Day, 2000). Iles and Preece (2006) point out that self-awareness is a part of leader development whereas social awareness is a facet of interpersonal competence for LD (Schyns et al,