SAN BEDA UNIVERSITY

NATIONAL SERVICE TRAINING PROGRAM

CIVIC WELFARE TRAINING PROGRAM 1

NSTP iREAD
Chapter 3
Leadership
 Chapter 3
Leadership
Learning Objective:
To instill among students the qualities of a leader;
To educate students to become highly effective people;
To inculcate the value of transformational and servant leadership to
students;

Topics

Module 3 offers the following leadership topics:

-Definition and Principles of Leadership
-21 Qualities of a Leader
-Transformational Leadership
-Servant Leadership

Leadership is one of the highest skills that an individual youth can attain in
order to become successful in different areas of life especially in civic service and
public affairs. It is in this premise that the youth, in their role as nation-builders,
must develop leadership potentials to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in
meeting their goals and develop the spirit and ethics of service for the good of
others.

THE LEADER

Leader is:
• Someone who acts as a guide;
 • A directing head;
• Someone who leads a body of troops;

Leadership is:
• The position of a leader;
• The quality displayed by a leader;
• The act of leading;

Leadership is the ability to inspire confidence and support among the people who
are needed to achieve organizational goals. Leadership involves having a vision of
what the organization can become. Leadership requires eliciting cooperation and
teamwork from a large network of people and keeping the key people in that
network motivated, using every manner of persuasion.

Leadership is any behavior that influences the actions and attitudes of others to
achieve certain results. Leadership in itself is neither good nor bad. Societal values
determine whether the leadership of an individual is positive or negative, based on
the goals and results being pursued and on the means used to influence others.
There are many examples of “good” (e.g., moral, noble, virtuous) and “bad” (e.g.,
corrupt, immoral) people who have been extremely effective leaders.

How Do People Become Leaders?

Broad categories such as the following can be used to illustrate how people attain
leadership positions. Examples are given for each category described below.

1. Qualified: Some people become leaders

because they achieve the necessary
certification or credentials for a position.
They may otherwise meet established criteria
or prerequisites that persons in authority
over them associate with the leadership
position.
Examples: lifeguard, teacher
2. Merited: Some people become leaders primarily through faithful and
enthusiastic participation and competent performance over time. These leaders
may be considered to have “paid their dues.”
Examples: Olympic flag bearer, captain of a high school football team

3. Captured: Some people become leaders by campaigning for a position, being

“political,” or otherwise manoeuvring themselves into a position. Leaders in this
category may also take possession or seize the position through positive or
negative means.
Examples: school principals, city mayor, dictator

4. Identified: Some people become leaders because they possess personal or

professional qualities that are recognized as beneficial and undeniable and are
appropriate for meeting the team’s needs at a particular time.
Examples: project manager of a business, military general

5. Defaulted: Some people become leaders simply because other team members
are unwilling or unable to accept the position or responsibility.
Example: someone in a small discussion group needs to lead the discussion

The categories also overlap, resulting in many ways that someone can attain a
leadership position. Leaders can perform at high levels and make valuable
contributions to their teams, regardless of how they were selected or designated
as leaders.

HOW TO BECOME A GOOD LEADER

We often say that some people are good leaders, while others are not. But
what is really our basis for judging one‘s capacity for being a good leader?

From a follower‘s perspective, good leadership can be attributed on several

qualities that a person must have. These qualities make people comply and
passionately follow a leader.

21 Qualities of Leader
1. Character: A leader must have the capacity to rally men to a common purpose
and should have the character which inspires confidence. The quality of a person‘s
behavior, as revealed in his habits of thoughts and expressions, his attitudes and
interests, his action and his personal philosophy in life. There would always be two
paths to choose from: character and compromise. Every time a person chooses
character, he becomes stronger, even if that choice brings negative consequences.”

2. Charisma is the ability to draw people to you. This is a special spiritual gift
bestowed temporarily by the holy spirit on a group or an individual for the general
good of the church. As an extraordinary power in a person, group, cause, etc., it
takes hold of popular imagination, wins popular support. To acquire charisma, you
should be more concerned about making others feel good about themselves than
you are about making them feel good about you.

3. Commitment is the act of committing, the state of intellectual and emotional

adherence to some political, social, religious theory or action especially the
conscious linking of works of literature and art with such theory of action.
Something which engages one to do something, a continuing obligation especially
financial. Commitment inspires people in a group because it it separates the doers
from the dreamers.

4. Communication: Leaders must be able to share knowledge and ideas to transmit

a sense of urgency and enthusiasm to others. Communicators take something
complicated and make it simple. First, believe in what you say. Second, live what
you say. As you communicate, never forget that the goal of communication is
action.

5. Competence is the leader’s ability to say it, plan it, and do it in such a way that
others know that you know how – and know that they want to follow you. All highly
competent people continually search for ways to keep learning, growing, and
improving. The person who knows how will always have a job, but the person who
knows why will always be the boss.

6. Courage: The quality of the mind that enables the person to face difficulty,
danger, etc. without fear. This is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities,
because it is the quality which guarantees all others. Courage is doing what you’re
afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared. Courage isn’t an
absence of fear. It’s doing what you’re afraid to do. It’s having the power to let go
of the familiar and forge ahead into new territory.

7. Discernment is the ability to find the root of the matter, and it relies on intuition
as well as rational thought. Discernment enables a leader to see a partial picture,
fill in the missing pieces intuitively, and find the real heart of the matter. The closer
a leader is to his area of gifting, the stronger his intuition and ability to see root
causes. If you want to tap into your discernment potential, work in your areas of
strength. “Never ignore a gut feeling, but never believe that it’s enough.”

8. Focus. This is the central point of attraction, attention or activity. Remember that
“If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.” A leader that knows his Priorities and
has Concentration. What does it take to have the focus required to be a truly
effective leader? A leader that knows his Priorities and has Concentration.

9. Generosity: The measure of a leader is not the number of people who serve him,
but the number of people he serves. Generosity requires putting others first.
Leader must be grateful for whatever they have. Contentment seems to be very
ideal. A person cannot become generous if he is not contented with what he has.
There are things that we must be grateful for and be contended with. Be generous
in your own small ways.

10. Initiative. This is an introductory act or step, readiness and the ability in
initiating action, one personal, responsible decision. Leaders are responsible for
initiating a connection with their followers. “The starting point of all achievement
is desire.” If you’re going to be an effective leader, you’ve got to know what you
want. That’s the only way you’ll recognize opportunity when it comes. But that’s
not the only area where leaders must show initiative. They must always look for
opportunities and be ready to take action.

11. Listening: Leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand. That’s the Law of
Connection. But before a leader can touch a person’s heart, he has to know what’s
in it. He learns that by listening. A good leader encourages followers to tell him
what he needs to know, not what he wants to hear.”

12. Passion is any compelling emotion, strong amorous feeling, strong sexual
desire, strong fondness or enthusiasm. There is no substitute for passion. It is fuel
for the will. If you want anything badly enough, you can find the willpower to
achieve it. You can never lead something you don’t care passionately about. You
can’t start a fire in your organization unless one is first burning in you.

13. Positive Attitude: If you look at the lives of people in any profession who
achieve lasting success, you will find that they almost always possess a positive
outlook on life. Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they
were to success when they gave up.

14. Problem Solving: We can measure a leader by the problems he tackles. He

always looks for ones his own size. Effective leaders always rise to a challenge.
That’s one of the things that separates winners from whiners. People respond to
problems in these ways: they refuse to accept them; they accept them and then
put up with them; or they accept them and try to make things better. Leaders must
always do the latter. The ability to solve problems effectively comes from
experience facing and overcoming obstacles.

15. Relationships: The most important single ingredient in the formula of success
is knowing how to get along with people. People don’t care how much you know
until they know how much you care. People truly do want to go along with people
they get along with. And while someone can have people skills and not be a good
leader, he cannot be a good leader without people skills. As a leader, the first
quality of a relational leader is the ability to understand how people feel and think.
Leaders have empathy for others and keen ability to find the best in people by truly
caring for others. You cannot be a truly effective leader, the kind that people want
to follow, unless you love people.
16. Responsibility. Success on any major scale requires you to accept
responsibility. In the final analysis, the one quality that all successful people have
is the ability to take on responsibility. A leader can give up anything – except final
responsibility. In a study of self-made millionaires, it was found that all have one
thing in common – they work very hard. If you want to succeed, be willing to put
the organization ahead of your agenda.

17. Security. No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get
all the credit for doing it. Don’t follow the crowd; make up your own mind. No one
can live on a level inconsistent with the way he sees himself. You may have
observed that in people. If someone sees himself as a loser, he finds a way to lose.
Anytime his success surpasses his security, the result is self-destruction. That’s not
only true for followers, but it’s also true for leaders. Nothing is a greater
impediment to being on good terms with others than being ill at ease with yourself.

18. Self-Discipline: The first and best victory is to conquer self. A man without
decision of character can never be said to belong to himself… He belongs to
whatever can make captive of him. Self-discipline can’t be a one-time event. It has
to become a lifestyle.

19. Servanthood. Servanthood is intentionally being aware of your people’s needs,

available to help them, and able to accept their desires as important. You’ve got
to love your people more than your position. Servanthood is not about position or
skill. It’s about attitude. The truth is that the best leaders desire to serve others,
not themselves. The real heart of servanthood is security. Show me someone who
thinks he is too important to serve, and I’ll show you someone who is basically
insecure.

20. Teachability: Value your listening and reading time at roughly ten times your
talking time. This will assure you that you are on a course of continuous learning
and self-improvement. Teachability requires us to admit we don’t know
everything, and that can make us look bad. In addition, if we keep learning, we
must also keep making mistakes. The greatest mistake one can make in life is to be
continually fearing you will make one.

21. Vision. Vision leads the leader. It paints the target. It sparks and fuels the fire
within, and draws him forward. If you show a leader without vision, you will see
someone who isn’t going anywhere. If you lack vision, look inside yourself. Draw
on your natural gifts and desires. Look to your calling if you have one. The greater
the vision, the more winners it has the potential to attract. The more challenging
the vision, the harder the participants fight to achieve it. A great leader’s courage
to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
Transformational leadership is the most well-known and frequently
researched theory of leadership over the last 20 years. This is a form of leadership
that occurs when leaders broaden and elevate the interests of their employees
when they generate awareness and acceptance of the purpose and mission of the
group, and when they stir their employees to look beyond their own self-interest
for the good of the group. Leadership here is recognized as an interactive process,
which transforms both leaders and followers resulting in positive organizational
outcomes (e.g., superior performance, productivity, and OCBs).

Transformational leaders have a clear collective vision and most importantly

they manage to communicate it effectively to all employees. By acting as role
models, they inspire employees to put the good of the whole organization above
self-interest. They also stimulate employees to be more innovative, and they
themselves take personal risks and are not afraid to use unconventional (but
ethical) methods in order to achieve the collective vision.

This form of leadership goes beyond traditional forms of transactional

leadership that emphasized corrective action, mutual exchanges and rewards only
when performance expectations were met. Transactional leadership relied mainly
on centralized control. Managers controlled most activities, telling each person
what, when and how to do each task. Transformational leaders, on the other hand,
trust their subordinates and leave them space to breathe and grow. In that respect,
transformational is a more developmental and constructive form of leadership for
both individual employees and the organization as a whole.
Why is transformational leadership important for organizational functioning?
• Numerous studies have shown that transformational leadership:
• Significantly increases organizational performance;
• Is positively linked with long term market share and customer
satisfaction
• Generates higher commitment to the organization from their
employees;
• Increases employee trust in management and organizational citizenship
behaviors (extra-role work related behaviors such as conscientiousness,
unselfishness and sportsmanship that are unrestricted, not related to
the formal reward system of the organization);
• Enhances employee satisfaction with both their job and the leader;
• Reduces employee stress and increases well-being

How do transformational leaders behave?

Transformational leaders:
• Articulate a compelling vision of the future;
• Use stories and symbols to communicate their vision and message;
• Specify the importance of having a strong sense of purpose and a
collective mission;
• Talk optimistically and enthusiastically and express confidence that goals
will be achieved;
• Engender the trust and respect of their followers by doing the right thing
rather that doing things right;
• Instill pride in employees for being associated with them;
• Talk about their most important values and beliefs;
• Consider the moral and ethical consequences of decisions;
 • Seek different perspectives when solving problems;
• Get employees to challenge old assumptions and to think about problems
in new ways;
• Spend time teaching and coaching;
• Consider each individual employee‘s different needs, abilities and
aspirations;
• Are compassionate, appreciative and responsive to each employee and
recognize and celebrate each employee‘s achievements.

Four components of transformational leadership.

1. Charisma - If the leadership is transformational, its charisma or idealized

influence is envisioning, confident, and sets high standards to be followed.

2. Inspirational motivation - If the leadership is transformational, its inspirational

motivation provides followers with challenges and meaning for engaging in shared
goals and undertakings.

3. Intellectual stimulation - If the leadership is transformational, its intellectual

stimulation helps followers to question assumptions and to generate more creative
solutions to problems.

4. Individualized consideration - If the leadership is transformational, its

individualized consideration treats each follower as an individual and provides
coaching, mentoring and growth opportunities

If such transformational leadership is authentic, it is characterized by high moral

and ethical standards in each of the above dimensions.
Servant Leadership
Servant leadership is a leadership
philosophy in which the main goal of the
leader is to serve. This kind of leadership is
essential because it implies driver toward
good citizenship and community progress.
Servant leadership is a means of serving
others more than oneself. The ability to put
others ahead of yourself and personal
desires is the first mark of servanthood.

A servant leader shares power, puts the needs of the employees first and helps
people develop and perform as highly as possible. Servant leadership inverts the
norm, which puts the customer service associates as a main priority. Instead of the
people working to serve the leader, the leader exists to initiate serve to others.

Servant Leader should focus on the following question:

• Do those being served grow as persons?
• Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more
autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?

Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela are some of the most
famous servant leaders who showed the best examples to follow.

Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi was bound to be dangerous when he opposed the British ruling officials
during his time, but he strongly believed that serving others would be the best way
to lose oneself. His protests were peaceful, where he often did it through logical
discourse and fasting. Eventually, his ideas won out, freeing India from colonialism.
Even if his goal was not to become famous, he was then widely regarded for his
work.

Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa dedicated her life to serving other people in her religious faith
practice. She had her critics from time to time, but there was no one who could
question her motives behind her desire to help others. Also, she never sought
personal recognition, though she insisted on significant changes and was not afraid
to express opinions that others would hesitate to say. Eventually, many call her to
become a saint, with a life that many people consider as a miracle.

Nelson Mandela

Standing before his people, Mandela said that he was a humble servant with a
passion for his people and the desire to see them enjoy equality. Sometimes, he
would take his speeches to the streets, putting his personal well-being at risk, and
at other times, he endured harsh conditions in prison just to make his statements
heard.

The following characteristics are central to the development of servant-leaders:

1. Listening. It is a common thought that communication and firm decision-

making` are important skills for the servant-leader, they need to be reinforced
by a deep commitment to listening intently to others. The servant-leader seeks
to identify the will of a group and helps clarify that will. He or she seeks to listen
receptively to what is being said. Listening also encompasses getting in touch
with one’s own inner voice and seeking to understand what one’s body, spirit,
and mind are communicating. Listening, coupled with regular periods of
reflection, is essential to the growth of the servant-leader.

2. Empathy. People need to be accepted and recognized for their special and
unique spirits. One assumes the good intentions of co-workers and does not reject
them as people, even while refusing to accept their behavior or performance. The
most successful servant-leaders are those who have understood others and
become skilled empathetic listeners.
3. Healing. Learning to heal is a powerful force for transformation and integration.
One of the great strengths of servant-leadership is the potential for healing one’s
self and others. Many people have broken spirits and have suffered from a variety
of emotional hurts. Although this is a part of being human, servant leaders
recognize that they have an opportunity to “help make whole” those with whom
they come in contact. In The Servant as Leader Greenleaf writes: “There is
something subtle communicated to one who is being served and led if, implicit in
the compact between servant-leader and led, is the understanding that the search
for wholeness is something they share.”

4. Awareness. General awareness, and especially self-awareness, strengthens the

servant-leader. Making a commitment to foster awareness can be scary—you
never know what you may discover. Awareness also aids one in understanding
issues involving ethics and values. It lends itself to being able to view most
situations from a more integrated, holistic position. As Greenleaf observed:
“Awareness is not a giver of solace—it is just the opposite. It is a disturber and an
awakener. Able leaders are usually sharply awake and reasonably disturbed. They
are not seekers after solace. They have their own inner serenity.”

5. Persuasion. Another characteristic of servant-leaders is a primary reliance on

persuasion, rather than using one’s positional authority, in making decisions within
an organization. The servant-leader seeks to convince others, rather than coerce
compliance. This particular element offers one of the clearest distinctions between
the traditional authoritarian model and that of servant-leadership. The servant-
leader is effective at building consensus within groups.

6. Conceptualization. Servant-leaders seek to nurture their abilities to “dream

great dreams.” The ability to look at a problem (of an organization) from a
conceptualizing perspective means that one must think beyond day-to-day
realities. For many managers this is a characteristic that requires discipline and
practice. The traditional manager is focused on the need to achieve short-term
operational goals. The manager who wishes to also be a servant-leader must
stretch his or her thinking to encompass broader based conceptual thinking. Within
organizations, conceptualization is also the proper role of boards of trustees or
directors. Unfortunately, boards can sometimes become involved in the day-today
operations. Servant-leaders are called to seek a delicate balance between
conceptual thinking and a day-to-day focused approach.

7. Foresight. Closely related to conceptualization, the ability to foresee the likely

outcome of a situation is hard to define, but easy to identify. One knows it when
one sees it. Foresight is a characteristic that enables the servant-leader to
understand the lessons from the past, the realities of the present, and the likely
consequence of a decision for the future. It is also deeply rooted within the
intuitive mind. As such, one can conjecture that foresight is the one servant-leader
characteristic with which one may be born. All other characteristics can be
consciously developed. There has not been a great deal written on foresight. It
remains a largely unexplored area in leadership studies, but one most deserving of
careful attention.

8. Stewardship. Stewardship is defined as “holding something in trust for another”

based on the book Stewardship and The Empowered Manager by Peter Block.
Stewardship must be practiced by CEOs, staffs, and trustees in their roles in holding
their institutions in trust for the greater good of society. Servant-leadership, like
stewardship, assumes first and foremost a commitment to serving the needs of
others. It also emphasizes the use of openness and persuasion rather than control.

9. Commitment to the growth of people. Servant-leaders believe that people have

an intrinsic value beyond their tangible contributions as workers. As such, the
servant-leader is deeply committed to the growth of each and every individual
within his or her institution. The servant-leader recognizes the tremendous
responsibility to do everything within his or her power to nurture the personal,
professional, and spiritual growth of employees. In practice, this can include (but
is not limited to) concrete actions such as making available funds for personal and
professional development, taking a personal interest in the ideas and suggestions
from everyone, encouraging worker involvement in decision making, and actively
assisting laid-off workers to find other employment.

10. Building community. The servant-leader senses that much has been lost in
recent human history as a result of the shift from local communities to large
institutions as the primary shaper of human lives. This awareness causes the
servant-leader to seek to identify some means for building community among
those who work within a given institution. Servant-leadership suggests that true
community can be created among those who work in businesses and other
institutions. Greenleaf said: “All that is needed to rebuild community as a viable life
form for large numbers of people is for enough servant-leaders to show the way,
not by mass movements, but by each servant-leader demonstrating his own
unlimited liability for a quite specific community-related group.”

THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE

In Stephen Covey‘s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, he wrote about

ways in which people can be productive. The seven habits of highly effective people
are as follows:

Habit 1. BE PROACTIVE
Proactive means ―the ability to choose the response. We have the ability
to choose between right and wrong. But it must be taken into account that we must
be responsible enough for whatever consequences our actions may lead to. Use
your creativity and initiatives. You are the one in charge.

Habit 2. BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

Where do we go from here? Know where you want to go. In making plans
and decisions, see to it that the time and efforts that will be spent and utilized
conforms to what we want to achieve. Use your ability to envision. This is where I
want to go and these are the things that must be done to lead me to that direction.

Habit 3. PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST

Practice self-management. Know your priorities.

Habit 4. THINK WIN-WIN

This concerns mutual benefit. Putting both parties on favorable situation.

Habit 5. SEEK FIRST TO UNDERSTAND… THEN TO BE UNDERSTOOD

As the saying goes, ―The best way to understand is to listen.‖ The practice
of empathy governs this habit. It is about putting ourselves on the shoes of the
other person. Based on the person‘s explanation, we ought to evaluate, probe,
advise and interpret as a way of responding to the person‘s feelings.

Habit 6. SYNERGIZE
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. More tasks will be done if we
utilize all the things that we have. Even though your contribution is that small, if
everybody will do their part, things will go on smoothly.

Habit 7. SHARPEN THE SAW

What we had learned a couple of years back will become outdated. Many
things evolve and develop so fast, that there is a need to update ourselves through
various food-for-the brain resources.

Reference

Covey, S.: Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

Maxwell, John C.: 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader.