The success of a business or industry is determined by a chosen leader, who has a significant impact on the current situation and future of the company. Every company or organization has a president, chief or leading person, who heads the business. The leader plays an important role within the organization, which is not only concerned for the success but also the effectiveness and labor productivity. One of the important qualities of the leader in the organizational structure is leadership. Leadership is the ability of the leading people of the company to mobilize the other people within the organization through being personally involved in building connections with every person. Moreover, leadership is a continuous process of learning and the willingness to assume the responsibility. The highly responsible leaders constantly gain new knowledge and strive for the development of their skills. According to Adair (2013), leadership is a quality that people have to learn and no one can teach people leadership. To fully understand the essence of leadership within the organization, it is important to consider the main role of a leader, the principles of exemplary leadership and the most effective leadership style at the present time.

The Role of a Leader

Leadership is the action of leading people in the organization towards achieving the main goals. The role of a leader is to formulate a clear vision for the team, motivate the employees, identify the potential of every team member, and create the organizational culture. In addition, the first and most important role of a leader is the formulation of a new direction and vision for the team of the company. Not all employees can believe in the particular goal of the organization. Therefore, a positive leader influences every subordinate to make them fulfill their obligations by means of explaining the vision and the importance of their role in achieving the goals of the company.

The motivating employees means to understand the needs of employees well enough, equip them what they need, and appreciate the good work. A positive leader cooperates and communicates with each of the team member to know more about their requirements. Moreover, a leading person praises and encourages the subordinates in their efforts and achievements of the objective.

When identifying the potential of employees, it is important to understand the role of every team member in the work process and provide them with the possibility to participate in teamwork in order to identify their capability. Furthermore, it is important to understand how leaders can maximize the talent potential of their teams. The leaders should invest considerable time in careful cooperation and experimentation with the team, with the purpose of improving employee interaction, and the effectiveness of business performance.

The organizational culture is the conviction that can encourage the employees to know about the traditions of the company, including the practices and values of the work. The fundamental values of the company begin with its leadership, which then develop into a leadership style. According to Schein (2017), the leader defines the fundamental values of the organizational culture. Developing the strong common behavior, values, and beliefs entails the establishment of durable organizational culture. This will in turn ensure the creation of a healthy climate and working conditions for the employees.

Leadership Style

The effectiveness of leadership is dependent on the style of leadership that the leader applies. Moreover, an effective leader is supposed to know the conditions through which a particular approach of leadership will be effectively applied in practice. It is considered that the democratic leadership is the most effective leadership style at the present time. The main concept of the democratic leadership is focused on the participation of team members in the organizational process with the goal of increasing the individual and organizational effectiveness. The democratic leadership generally defines the participative approach to leadership, according to which the employees have a chance to develop their leadership skills through the use of joint decision-making and leadership. Therefore, the employees are involved in the problem-solving process both in the team and the process, they become effective leaders. “Under democratic leadership, team members experience a high level of personal satisfaction and are more committed to the team and its final decision” (Hamilton, 2010, p. 273). Democratic leadership is effective in cases where there is not only a need for the motivation of team leaders but also a need for each person to develop their leadership abilities.

Principles of Exemplary Leadership

Each of the leader of the organization accepts the leadership challenges, which include achieving the highest standards of the team management and finding extraordinary solutions to the problems. Kouzes and Posner (2012) claimed that the leaders used the five practices of exemplary leadership, which demonstrated their potential and the high standards of leadership.

Model the Way

The Model the way principle is the first and the most fundamental action that allows the leaders to receive and preserve credibility. The exemplary leaders understand that if they want to obtain commitment and achieve the standards above the norm, they need to create the models of the behavior, which they expect from others. The leaders create the best standards and then provide an example to be emulated. Since the prospect of difficult changes can suppress people, the exemplary leaders set intermediate goals; thus, people can achieve the small victories and subsequently create opportunities for the great ones. They set the indicators in case when people have doubts about where to go or how to get there.

Inspire a Shared Vision

The exemplary leaders sincerely believe that they can make a change in the vision of the organization. They foresee the future by means of creating a perfect and unique image of what the company can become. Through their strong qualities and quiet convictions, the exemplary leaders attract others to their visions and perceptions to make the team see the exciting possibilities in the future. The leaders see the future by means of imagining the significant opportunities. Every company, organization, and social community begins with a vision. The exemplary leaders should involve others in a common vision and a priority plan of the organization. To attract the team to a vision, the leaders should know their subordinates and speak their language. The employees should believe that the exemplary leaders understand their interests and necessities. According to the achievement of the support, the leaders should have the knowledge about the hopes, ambitions, visions, and the values of the team because it is the force that creates the future of the organization.

Challenge the Process

Regardless of the specifics of the organization, the exemplary leaders explore the opportunities for innovative ways of improving the organization. They participate in addressing the adversity and create the opportunities for growing, innovating, and improving. The leaders know that the innovations and extraordinary ideas are entailed the experiments and risks. No leader has achieved a personal success without the risk situations. Despite the imminence of mistakes, the exemplary leaders continue to operate in any case, accepting the inevitable frustrations as learning opportunities. The way of coping with potential failures of experimentation is the adaptation to organizational change through the additional actions and small achievements. The exemplary leaders perceive staff as the team where they can conduct as many experiments as possible.

Enable Others to Act

The leaders facilitate cooperation and establish the strong teams, and actively involve others. Brent and Dent (2010) claimed that the leader increasingly needed to focus on influencing, communicating, and developing the effective working relationships among the members of the organization. The exemplary leaders understand that the mutual esteem is what supports the extraordinary efforts. They want to create an atmosphere of trust and respect, reinforce every team by means of making each employee feel capable. The significant goals of the company are not achieved through the actions of one person. They require an effort of the team and reliable relationships. Therefore, it is important to be open to all ideas and to give every member of the team a chance in the decision-making process. The leaders reinforce the capacity of every member of the team to keep the promises, which they make.

Encourage the Heart

In fact, it is hard work to find the extraordinary solutions to the problems within the organizations. Achieving the main goals of the company is difficult and steep, and, thus, the employees become exhausted and frustrated. To keep hope and determination of the employees, the leaders appreciate the effort that every member of the team makes. Each of the team members need to receive praise for their efforts, which helps them to move towards achieving the goal. This is only a part of the job of leaders to express the appreciation for the employee’s contributions and to create a culture of appreciating values and wins. The praise and awards expressed for the efforts of the staff are an important moment in the team relations, which requires the individual and group recognition.

In conclusion, leadership is the process of directing the behavior of others toward the achievement of common organizational goals. Leadership is motivating people to fulfill tasks according to the standard and quality above their norm. The leaders of the team not only identify a clear vision of the company and potential of every member of it but also they motivate the employees and create the organizational culture. Moreover, the leaders have the responsibility to establish the vision and mission of the organization in order to determine the future direction for growth. The leaders’ ability to demonstrate their potential in all of the five practices of exemplary leadership, they thereby show others they have the capacity to achieve the highest standards of leadership. The strong leadership skills are always needed in both good and bad times of every company.