Leadership takes place in many forms and are applicable in vastly different scenarios. But what culminates the role of a leader is to lead himself (self leadership) and to lead others (communal leadership).
Self Leadership
Before leading others, a leader have to manage himself well enough. This is when self leadership is essential. Leader has to make sure he is able to control his T-E-A. Thoughts, Emotions and Actions. Thoughts form emotions. And emotions will translate into actions.
One of the important skills that leader has to master is reflecting. Reflecting allows people to process their thoughts. By analysing all different possibilities, leaders are able to turn negative thoughts into positive ones. This change in mindset and attitude sparks a special chain of reaction. Leader feels better (emotion) and behave in a manner that benefits all (actions). At any point of time, when a leader is able to control TEA, he has mastered the art of self-leadership. This is when he is able to lead others as TEA has very much a big impact on his people.
Communal Leadership
When able to lead oneself, a leader must then learn the role of leadership in leading others. At this point of time, leadership branches itself into many different forms- dictatorship, welfare, servant leadership etc. There is no right or wrong leadership as all has its usefulness at different times. But what is more important is the leader must know is how to develop his people.
Leader has to inspire his people to do their best. Leader has to help his people to take on a bigger role. A misconception is for a leader to take on all roles and lead a team. That will only serve to tire the leader, while the people fails to develop themselves. A leader is considered successful using a simple litmus test. When a leader is brought out of the entire team, is the team able to function with similar efficiency?
Some might say that there is two conclusion to the litmus test, one is the leader does not even play any role in the team (which is possible), or two the leader has successfully develop and trusted his team to do the job. This two conclusion are valid and it is up to the people to judge.
Managing oneself and impacting others are the key fundamentals of leading. Being easily affected within oneself will prove to be damaging to the team in future. Failure to lead a team and develop them will undermine the true purpose of leadership which is to inspire the next batch to pass it forward.
