Styles Of Leadership

The Art of Leadership

There are different types and styles of leadership. There is a style of leadership known as preventive leadership. Preventive leadership is a style of leadership that tries to prevent the occurrence of crises.

There are fewer crises under the preventive style of leadership. People involved with the preventive style of leadership often hold training conferences, shepherds' camps, teaching seminars and workshops. Such leaders are more relaxed and more in control of the organizations they lead. There are other types of leadership that have the people living in the dark. Such people do not know or understand what is happening in the organisations they are part of. Such people do not have an ownership mentality because they do not even know that their organisations stand for.

A preventive leader teaches his people what he wants them to know.

Knowledge indeed gives power to the one who has it. When you have a lower amount of knowledge in something, you are weak in that area. The one with a lot of knowledge about anything, has much more power than the one with a lower amount of knowledge in that area. The one with an MPhil degree or a doctorate degree in History qualifies to teach you when you enroll for an undergraduate degree in History. And you are very comfortable with that because he has a far greater knowledge in History than you do.

I have discovered that almost everything can be taught. It is possible to get whatever you desire from your subordinates by teaching them. Every subject on earth is taught by someone. Learn to teach to achieve your desired result. As a leader, you need to seek to impart knowledge by teaching. This will transform the people you lead into the type of people you would want them to be. Teach your people what you want them to know. They will gain this knowledge and you will benefit greatly from having people who understand what you are doing and who also maintain the aim you have.

Teaching your people what you want them to know saves you from having to run to deal with one emergency after another. Your people gain the requisite knowledge and are on hand to solve problems that rear their heads. This snuffs out the possibility of having a conflagration of issues that demand your attention and creating a crisis which could have been prevented.

A preventive leader trains his people to be loyal.

Loyalty helps in the growth of any venture because everyone has the same aim and works with vigour to achieve the same goals. Loyalty makes people determine to stay true to the aims of the organisation. Loyalty breeds ownership in all the people and makes them deeply determined to go with the maintain of the aim. Disloyalty, on the other hand, is one of the causes of crisis in organizations. Rebels and traitors have a way of destabilizing entire groups, organisations and churches. You can minimize your crises by emphasizing loyalty.

A preventive leader holds regular seminars, conferences, retreats and camps.

To have shared goals with the leader, the people ought to have the same knowledge and understanding of what they are trying to achieve. Seminars, conferences training camps and retreats are opportunities for teaching, discussing, asking questions and learning together. Most serious workers are interested in learning on their jobs. Their aim is to get better at their jobs and

so they are glad to be trained in their areas of operation as well as other areas. Holding regular conferences and camps gives you many opportunities to take your team away and teach them offsite.

The great advantage with this is that there is no interruption in the retreat, camp or conference as the team goes away to concentrate on the affairs of the organisation. Such sessions help the group to understand, ask questions and become abreast with the organisation's goals and objectives.

A preventive leader does not borrow money.

Debts create uncertainty! Debts can affect an organisation's future years and make them nonexistent.

The possibility that your whole world could come crashing down on you because of debt is disturbing. I would not advise you to borrow money. It is possible to live without debt!

Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

Romans 13:8

Preventive leadership is a far more effective style of leadership. Whilst the preventive style of leadership looks ahead and puts measures in place to prevent a crisis, other styles leadership allow the crisis to occur and treat it as an emergency. You are far better off using the preventive style of leadership. Preventive leadership helps an organisation to conserve what it owns and build on it. Be a preventive leader!

Culled from “The Art of Leadership”

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By Dag Heward-Mills