The Biggest Leadership Myth
Perhaps the biggest and most widely believed myth is that leaders are born, not made. But the fact is that the skills required to lead can be learned through effective training. You've probably heard the statement: "leadership is a rare skill". Well, that may be true. But the reason is simply because of the lack of training and coaching required to develop leadership skills.
Another reason that leadership may have become a rare skill is because of our perceptions of what a good leader should look like. These perceptions affect our ability to identify and train potential leaders for our organizations. In developing effective leaders for your organization, take the following popular myths and facts into consideration.
Myth: Leadership exists only at the top of an organization.
Fact: Leadership roles exist at all levels of the organization.
Myth: Leaders are charismatic.
Fact: Most leaders are all-too-human, flawed, and have no particular charm.
Myth: Leaders don't need to be concerned with details - they only need to be concerned with the big picture.
Fact: This style of leadership won't cut it in our sector. An awareness of details is required to effectively stay on top of things. The key is separating details that provide meaningful information from those that are unimportant. Leaders need to know the details, but they don't necessarily need to manage the details.
Myth: Leaders need to carefully orchestrate everything in advance and then sit back, occasionally responding to unforeseeable exceptions.
Fact: It is unrealistic to expect an organization to run as smoothly as a well-oiled machine. Even the most effective leaders cannot possibly anticipate all the consequences of the actions they take.
The key to leadership development is effective and continuous training and coaching. Everyone has leadership ability.
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