Leadership can be defined as the process of understanding people's motivations and leveraging them to achieve a common goal. Different definitions of leadership all agree on three essential elements: 

• Self: leaders have self-awareness and effectively express their personal qualities.
• Other people: leaders influence, motivate, and inspire stakeholders.
• The job: leaders define, clarify, and revise outcomes to be achieved.

The notion of purpose, answering the question "why are we doing this job," is tied to these elements. When people share a sense of purpose, they find meaning in their efforts, and are motivated to perform better. To express this sentiment, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said: "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea."

Who are the leaders?

Early studies on leadership focused on the traits and behaviours of individuals in senior positions. As a result, leadership is often perceived as an individual competence or role. instead, leadership is a team sport. In more modern and agile organisations, all employees need leadership qualities. These will differ and manifest in a variety of ways, depending on a person's role and their organisation.

What is an effective leadership style?

Successful leaders do not all exhibit the same behaviours. They may act differently in similar situations and have distinct personalities. 

Regardless of leadership style, inclusivity is crucial. The CIPD-sponsored report ‘Inclusive Leadership... driving performance through diversity!’ defines inclusive leaders as those who acknowledge their biases and preferences and seek out diverse views to make better decisions. 

Is leadership a process?

As we learn more about leadership, we understand that individual traits or behaviours alone cannot explain leadership effectiveness. Process leadership theory suggests that leadership is about the relationship between leaders and followers, though the exact mechanisms of this mutual influence are not yet fully understood. If leadership is a process, it can be learned and taught within organisations. 

The concept of management that emerged in the nineteenth century focused on command and control principles. Managing entailed planning and implementing strategies, tactics, and policies from the top down. Later studies made a distinction between "managing tasks" and "managing people." Managers need to influence people to achieve objectives, which is a leadership skill. 

The terms "leadership" and "management" are linked and used interchangeably because early leadership research focused on senior managers. Leadership is often defined as developing an initial vision and inspiring others to achieve it. Management involves translating the vision into reality by guiding team actions and behaviours. Both aspects play a role in achieving organisational objectives.

Theories of 'ethical leadership' started emerging after the financial crisis of 2008. They emphasise the need for core values and a sense of purpose. Ethical and people-centred leadership became even more important during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Leaders need to be guided by principles that enable them to make ethical decisions regardless of circumstances. Evolving corporate governance practices are driving leaders to articulate these principles and make ethical decisions.

Dan Pink once said, "at some level, leadership is about creating other leaders." Yet, it is still not clear if leaders can be developed and how. What qualities and competences make an effective leader? And how can organisations foster such qualities in their employees? 

Considering the distinction between individual leaders' styles and leadership as a process, two types of activities are required:

1. Identifying and developing individuals' capabilities to lead others effectively.
2. Creating organisational cultures and climates that support leadership.

Developing individual leaders

Organisations can undertake various activities to enhance an individual's leadership capabilities. Our management development factsheet explains how to identify development needs and how to develop leaders and managers. 

Individuals are often promoted to managerial role because of their technical competence. Therefore, they might lack leadership skill and need support to develop them. This can be provided through formal programmes, on-the-job opportunities, or coaching and mentoring. The report Developing managers to support employee engagement, health and wellbeing suggests how to design successful management development programmes.

Some development approaches focus on individuals with honesty, integrity, and strong moral principles. These approaches translate these values into behaviours for leading others. The research report Cultivating trustworthy leaders demonstrates how organisations can use value-based approaches in recruitment and development to promote trust in leaders.

Organisational design and development to enable leadership

As mentioned earlier, leadership is often viewed as a collective phenomenon or process. The distributed leadership model suggests that leadership can be shared among team members. Individuals assume the role of leader when necessary to support the team and peers. This approach can only succeed if the organisational structure and culture support it. If an organisation is centred on individual leadership, distributed leadership won't work. 

Even individuals with great leadership skills can fail if the organisation doesn't support them through effective structure, processes and policies, as explained in the report Leadership – easier said than done.

Organisation design and culture can support the success of leaders. More resources on this topic can be found in our report Tackling the barriers to leadership overview and case studies. 

There's more in our factsheets on organisation design and organisation development.

Our Profession Map puts the purpose of the people profession, championing better work and working lives, at its core. The profession can gain trust and credibility by following this purpose. 

People professionals used to rely on "best practices" to develop people management strategies. However, best practices become soon irrelevant in an ever-changing world of work.

People professionals need to make situational judgments, supported by evidence and guided by principles. This approach allows them to meet the specific needs of their organisations without compromising core principles. Our Profession for the Future work encourages people professionals to promote innovative ways of doing business and identify new areas of strategic focus.

Contacts

Acas - Leadership

Books and reports

Learmonth, M. and Morrell, K. (2019) Critical perspectives on leadership: the language of corporate power. London: Routledge.

Lewis, C. and Malmgren, P. (2018) The leadership lab: understanding leadership in the 21st century. London: Kogan Page.

Owen, J. (2020) The Leadership Skills Handbook: 90 Essential Skills You Need to be a Leader. Kogan Page

Pullen. P. (2022) Virtual leadership: practical strategies for success with remote or hybrid work and virtual teams. 2nd ed. London: Kogan Page.

Reissner, S. and Watson, G. (2023) Developing skills for business leadership. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and Kogan Page.

Wyatt, S. (2020) Management and leadership in the 4th industrial revolution: capabilities to achieve superior performance. London: Kogan Page.

Journal articles

Aziz, H. (2019) Why is humility so relevant for leaders and can it be developed through coaching? Strategic HR Review. Vol 18, No 1. Reviewed in Bitesize research.

Bazerman, M.H. (2020) A new model for ethical leadership. Harvard Business Review. Vol 98, No 5, September. pp.90-97.

Beddoes-Jones, F. and SWAILES, S. (2015) Authentic leadership: development of a new three pillar model. Strategic HR Review. Vol 14, No 3. pp94-99.

Chapman, M. (2020) Courageous leadership: what defines it in the modern organisation. Strategic HR Review. Vol 19, No 2. pp47-50.

Fernandez-Araoz, C., Roscoe, A. and Aramaki, K. (2017) Turning potential into success: the missing link in leadership development. Harvard Business Review. Vol. 95, No 6, November/December. pp86-93.

Hurley, A. (2020) What kinds of leaders will equip organisations to survive crisis and disruption? People Management (online). 26 March.

Moldoveanu, M. and Narayandas, D. (2019) The future of leadership development. Harvard Business Review. Vol 97, No 2, March. pp40-48.

Ross, S. (2019) Why some talented leaders succeed while others derail. Human Resources (online). March. pp38-40.

CIPD members can use our online journals to find articles from over 300 journal titles relevant to HR.

Members and People Management subscribers can see articles on the People Management website.