PRINCIPLES OF GOOD LEADERSHIP

GOOD LEADERSHIP by Susan Mugambi Arimi

In trying to define leadership, we learned that leadership is a continuous journey and not a one day thing. It contains everything a person learns on a day to day basis. So, it would be appropriate to say, leadership is developed, not discovered. On the other hand, leadership has to do with casting vision and motivating people. Therefore, the realm of leadership, whether in the business world or in the church continues to overwhelm with a sense of mystery by onlookers, who in most cases are followers. Leadership is the skill of influencing people to work enthusiastically toward goals identified as being for the common good. However, the true leader understands that leadership is not just a title, or charisma. It is not even the perks that come with some leadership positions. If one desires to be a true leader, he or she must be involved in a lifetime of lessons. True leadership is about serving other people. Of course, the method through which a leader develops in serving his followers often takes years to be molded and crafted into perfection.
True leadership has to do with a lot of sacrifice on the part of the leader. It demands a lot of energy, time, money, and resources, which the leader could have otherwise channeled into his personal fulfillment. By the way, this in not to say that all leaders attain this kind of sacrifice. Consequently, there are some leaders who intentionally use their followers to fulfill their own ends. Therefore, there is a very precise distinction between good leadership and bad leadership.
As it was mentioned earlier, servant leadership is developed through a process. Certain behavioral traits and disciplines have to be acquired or learned in order to effectively execute good leadership. In the book developing a leader within you, we learned or studied ten principles of leadership. To be precise I will contain myself and examine three of these principles, which by and large are the most essential qualities of any good leadership.

INTEGRITY
The most important ingredient of leadership is integrity. Therefore, integrity can be defined as the state of being whole, complete, and unified. Then, it will be true to say that people of integrity are whole people they do not pretend, nor act with divided loyalties. Integrity is not what we do as much as what we are. When I have integrity, my words and my actions match up. “A person of integrity is one who has established a system of values against which all life is judged”, says V. Gilbert Beers.
Integrity builds trust. People follow because they have confidence in their leader. The highest quality of a leader is integrity, and without it no real success can be achieved. Secondly integrity has high influence value. Emerson said, “Every great institution is the lengthened shadow of single man. His character determines the organization”. Will Rogers said, “People’s minds are changed through observation and not argument”. “Never has there been a time in the history of mankind when the issue of integrity has become so crucial. In the same way a good house has to stand on a firm foundation, good and effective leadership has to be under guarded by integrity”.
Followers look at the leader as an exemplary of character and everything he claims the organization stands for. The leader has to cultivate trust in the hearts of his followers by going through first to pave the way, then usher his followers through the way. The followers need to have confidence to walk into the field when the leader says there is pasture ahead, or refrain from doing so when the leader warns then about wolves lurking in their way. People do what people see. Integrity facilitates high standards. Leaders ought to live by higher standards than their followers. As it is illustrated in the book, responsibilities increase as one climbs the ladder in any organization, whereas personal rights decreases. In any given situation people are limited by lack of character. “A successful integrity check results in a stronger leader able to serve God in a wider sphere of influence. An integrity check tests inner character for consistency” says J. Robert Clinton.
This is no way advocating for absolute perfection as far as good leadership is concerned. However, a leader who lacks integrity will ultimately loose that which he or she struggles to preserve by deception. Personally, I will strive to attain a wholeness life by matching my actions and words in leadership.

INFLUENCE
What is influence? Everyone talks about it; few understand it. Most people want it; few achieve it. This is my conclusion: “Leadership is influence. That’s it, Northing more; nothing less. My favorite leadership proverb is: He who thinketh he leadeth and hath no one following him is only taking a walk”. There are two types of leaders. The one who influences others to follow only is a leader with certain limitations. The one who influences others to lead others is a leader without limitations. As it was mentioned earlier, the true measure of leadership is influence – Nothing more, nothing less. If you don’t have influence, you will never be able to lead others. Again influence is a skill that can be developed. No matter where we are everyone influences someone. “Sociologists tell us that even the most introverted individual will influence ten thousand other people during his or her lifetime. We can increase our influence and leadership potential, John Maxwell says.” The high the persons level of true ability and the resulting influence, the more secure and confident he or she becomes. People have many misconceptions about leadership. Some think if someone has an impressive title or an assigned leadership position, they assume that he or she is a leader. Some times it’s true, although titles don’t have much value when it comes to leadership. “True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned. It comes only from influence, and that can’t be mandated”. It must be earned. The only thing a title can buy is a little time – either to increase your level of influence with others or to erase it”.
A leader with influence is enthusiastic, strategic, courageous, and gains momentum in every step he or she takes in leading others to achieve the goal because he knows his dream and understands his vision. According to the pioneer myth of leadership, “To be a leader, a person has to not only be out front, but also have people intentionally coming behind him, following his lead and acting on his vision. It’s not the position that makes the leader; it’s the leader that makes the position”. As it was mentioned earlier, leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less. It would be appropriate to say the very essence of all power to influence lies in getting the other person to participate. As we have learned the person with most influence is the leader. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. In other words people will follow you when they know you care and are committed to them. “The true foundation of leadership is not power, but authority which is built upon relationships, love, service, and sacrifice”. Last but not least, a true leader must cultivate around the following principles in order to acquire great influence on others:
Integrity
Nurturing
Faith
Listen
Understand
Enlarge
Navigate
Connect
Empower
The length and breadth of our influence upon others depends on the depth of our concern for others. Building relationships on trust is important, because truth is a lifestyle that over the long haul reveals the true value of uncompromised character.

PEOPLE
Developing people is your most appreciable asset. The person who influences others to follow only is a leader with certain limitations. The one who influences others to lead others is a leader without limitations. Guy Ferguson says, “A true leader knows how to do the job, he or she is available to tell others, and will inspire others to do better work. The more people you develop, the greater the extent of your dreams”.
The success in developing others will depend on how well we value people around us. This is an issue of attitude. How much we are committed to people, this matter deals with time. Having integrity with people, this is an issue of character. A standard for people – this is an issue of the vision you have. Influence over people – this is a leadership issue. I totally agree with John Maxwell when says, successful people developers:
Make the right assumptions about people:
Ask the right questions about people:
Give the right assistance to people:
It’s true that the assumptions we have towards people makes us react either positive or negative, and this determines how we’re going to treat them. On the other hand I have noticed that we make wrong assumptions about people depending on what we see rather than what we know about them. I also read in another book that developing others is one of the keys to hitting high team performance levels. When building a high performance team, you’ll want to seek input from team members; encourage participation, share information, ideas, and suggestions. Another effective way to develop others is by coaching, whereby you offer support and resources. A good coach also encourages and uplifts, motivates, instills confidence, and leads people to their highest performance levels. It is crucial when developing others to show trust and confidence in them, and allow them to make decisions.
Everyone in the world wants to feel worthwhile and important. There is hardly a higher compliment you can pay an individual than to help that person be useful and find satisfaction and significance. Unless there is an organization that specifically nurtures and directs the talents within a group to achieve a desired goal, the group in essentially worthless. It is one thing for a leader to have the ability to dress and cast his dream before his followers. It is totally different thing to discover, nurture, and effectively employ the talents that are available to him within his followers in order to achieve a specific goal. Success is really the result of planning. It happens where preparation and opportunity meet. I support the truth that once people realize that you, as a leader can help them become successful, you have won them they’re your! As we mentioned in other areas of leadership, developing people takes time. Be a model that others can follow and not a “motto to say”. The greatest potential for growth of any organization is growth of its people.

THE WISDOM OF CHANUA ACHEBE

By Nicholas Asego

In 1983, Nobel Laureate Chinua Achebe published a book outlining what he believed was the trouble with Nigeria.

The first sentence of the novel, The Trouble With Nigeria, states: "The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership." Achebe then comments: "The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership."

In his later publication Anthills of the Savannah (1987) Achebe sets out to solve the leadership problems afflicting Nigeria. In fact, the novel came to be regarded as Achebe’s leadership thesis.

This concern that troubled Achebe many years ago is being re-enacted right before our very eyes here in Kenya. Our political leaders have reduced us to the wretched of the earth, those who have been dispossessed, borrowing from Fanon’s timeless text.

Their recent decision to unilaterally increase their travel allowance is wrong and to backdate the same to July last year is completely immoral. That they will pocket some Sh800,000 in arrears and nobody can remember the last time they passed a Bill is heartbreaking.

As if this is not enough, they decided to treble the constituency kitty of which they are managers along with those whom they have selected. With the 2007 General Election around the corner, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see the driving force behind their actions.

Almost always when they increase their pay, they vote unanimously, bridging glaring political differences.

Our parliamentarians have failed to establish vital links with the poor, the dispossessed. In a struggling economy like ours, with the greater percentage of the population living on less than a dollar a day, one is amazed at their insensitivity.

While we struggle to get by each day, they cruise past in their fuel guzzlers leaving us chocking in the dust. Like Achebe’s Nigeria, we need nay pray nay crave not for a style of leadership that projects and celebrates the power and greed that has dominated Kenya but for sobriety and peace.

While we crave for a solution to the ever-widening gap between the "tiny class" of the elite and ordinary Kenyans, they are busy telling lewd jokes about important issues like the Sexual Offences Bill.

We ordinary Kenyans, the wretched of the earth are the real victims of our callous system. We are silent and invincible and hardly make it to the front pages. We drink bad water or lack it all together and suffer from preventable diseases as all the while our leaders feign ignorance. We constantly raid one another for water and pasture.

We have to walk to and from our casual jobs because we can’t afford the increased fare. At the end of the day, we must purchase maize flour, milk and bread at the same price with our dear leaders; there is no respite for poor Kenyans.

Like Achebe warned Nigeria, we must take a hard and unsentimental look at the crucial question of leadership and political power. Like the political leadership in Anthills of the Savannah, our leaders have "openly looted our treasury" and "soiled our national soul". We shall never experience real progress without proper leadership. Our undoing is that so far, our politicians have only manifested vicious, incompetent and corrupt leadership.

May be Achebe has a point when he says that "the people get the leadership they deserve up to a point". As they transverse the country declaring their candidature and smiling at the results of Steadman polls, all the while giving us hand-outs, few among us realise that in fact, what they are "giving" belongs to us.

Like the Excellency in Anthills of the Savannah who coerces his commissioners, our Parliamentarians have mastered the art of coercion. They have arm-twisted the Government to agree to their heinous demands for more money, but this will not last.

They need to realise that power can lead to both progressive objectives and destructive aims. This "burden" of leadership can either elicit patriotic or parasitic tendencies in the utilisation and exercise of power. Like the Excellency, people’s ignorance can only lead to politicians becoming parasites of power and this in turn leads to shameless excesses.

Call me what you like but so far, our parliamentarians have shown extraordinary parasitic tendencies.

TIME HAS COME TO DEMAND FOR CLEAN AND SAFE DRINKING WATER

It is no longer secret that water is life. However, this essential resource can be at the same time the main source of death if it is not treated with care where it is prone to pollution and misuse. In kenya today we are faced by a gigantic problem, which is steming from a variety of indirect impact on our water bodies and catchment areas.
Due to urbaniztion, intensive agricultural activities, high population growth rate, deforestation and destruction of ground cover, much of the water in Kenya today is very un safe for drinking. This problem has been ignored for a long time by those charged with the responsibility and duty of water management, to an extent that wherever you go one is afraid to drink water because of the danger inherent. This problem is not only a Central Imenti where we boast of being blessed with a stream every 4 miles to almost every corner of our beautiful country. This problem is not un solvable but the problem is poor leadership coupled without incompetency and lack of patriotism. Time has come for the people of Central Imenti and Kenya at larger to think forward by resolving to demand clean and safe drinking water among other things.

FOR ANY DEVELOPMENT TO BE REALIZED IN KENYA RURAL ELECTRIFICATION IS A MUST

It goes without saying that in this 21 century era, for any targeable development to be realized, people must be empowered. This can only happen if the source of power is brought near the human resources. In kenya, it has been a well known phenomenon that for anything to be done by the government, one must sign and dance with that government. This political malpractice has costed us very dearly and the outcome will be felt many more years to come. The current sitting government has relatively tried as per the recent economic growth rate numbers of almost 6%. However, more time should never be wasted with partisan politics.