WHAT ATTRIBUTES MAKE AN EFFECTIVE POLITICAL LEADER

WHAT ATTRIBUTES MAKE AN EFFECTIVE POLITICAL LEADER

Everyone wants a political leader who can represent the ideals of the masses at all levels. A good political leader, therefore, has specific attributes that make them most suitable to represent the needs of the community. It is in the best interests of everyone when a selected leader can do the job that is expected. The definition of a good politician is therefore subject to much speculation. An ideal politician is often represented as someone who is an independent thinker and a wise decision maker. Such a person is also able to consult with the constituents and understand what they want and need. The politician is expected to be an authentic and successful representative of others by sharing their perspectives. A politician can have shared identities with the masses and understood things from their point of view. A good politician can act in a way that defends the interests of those who elect him.

Such an individual should be fair-minded and be able to lead the community by representing their interests. The politician can respect the needs of citizens even when defending particular viewpoints. Such a politician can possess virtues such as fair-mindedness as well as critical trust building and proper accountability. Fair-minded politicians can uphold norms and at the same time value, the democratic process (Svara 2006). A capable politician is one who can respect the needs of the people. A good politician is one who works to find peaceful solutions to conflict and enhance the legitimacy of democratic institutions. Politicians are also able to attend to civil equality, and this is where all citizens are included in the democratic process. Good politicians are also able to defend the community interests to ensure that they do not compromise the interests of those that they represent.

Politicians are also able to promote critical trust and even encourage participation in the political process, and they do this by allowing citizens to have autonomy as well as self-governance. An active political leader is also one who ensures inclusivity of all the groups within the society, and this includes the marginalized. An active politician is one who continually employs strategy, and this is an essential aspect of the fulfillment of goals. The personality of a politician is also another critical aspect of importance, and it will help to guarantee success (Svara 2006). Such a politician is ready to go to all extremes to achieve goals and does so without compromising personal views as well as integrity. The politician can exploit their strengths and acknowledge their weaknesses. The leader understands the pressure to work hard and always stays fresh and alert to create a good media impression. The politician in an individual who is professionally involved in politics while the leader is a person who influences a group of people towards the achievement of a particular goal. A good political leader is one who understands the needs of the community and it able to help in the achievement of community goals and development. Furthermore, such an individual is committed to the message of the party as well.

The politician can advance the party interests and also has charisma as well as eloquence and has good ability in making convincing arguments. The politician also has a good media presence and is intelligent and committed to following the ideals. People still prefer a person who is authentic as Though the politician is expected to be skilled and talented (Caprara 2003). The politician is supposed to be an authentic representation of genuine understanding and commitment to resolving the problems that are faced by citizens. The ideal politician is one who has excellent interpersonal skills and is ready and willing to fight for the cause of the oppressed. It is essential for the politician to have a high degree of integrity as well. The powers of communication, as well as persuasion, are crucial to a politician, and such a person has excellent interpersonal skills and can fight for the cause.

The politician should be an authentic representative and have a genuine understanding of issues as well as a commitment to solving the problems facing the community. There is a growing need for leaders to have minimum academic qualifications as a measure of quality to represent the communal needs. (Caprara 2003). The leader is further able to promote criteria, which are linked to development, as well as ideals, which favor the growth of the society. Such a politician can look into the needs of the population and develop methods of improving the lives of constituents. Through selflessness, the leader can demonstrate the ability to serve and to lead (Englis 1994). A good politician should be politically skilled and should have transformation and transactional leadership behavior. Politically competent leaders should be more effective because of their superior abilities to identify as well as clear visions. Vision identification is another critical aspect as well and the ability to articulate a political insight to the audience. The leader is expected to be able to strategically direct as well as unify and mobilize followers, and this is an essential measure of leader effectiveness.

Leadership is a social influence process, and political leaders are expected to develop methods of inducing subordinates to pursue a particular course of action without coercion and force. A political leader is one who can understand others at work and use this knowledge to influence others in ways that will enhance personal objectives. The politically skilled individuals can read people and understand their mindset (Englis 1994). The leader can learn different situations, appear sincere, and behave in ways that are situationally effective. The leader can forge relationships and align himself with people who will be beneficial. Political skill is critical to the leader, and it will lead to organizational survival thus ensuring success. The political leader is expected to portray a trait of specific behaviors that are vital to effective performance at all levels.

It is also essential to understand the positional powers of the leaders especially as they amplify positive effects of leadership traits. Politically skilled leaders have heightened legitimacy as well as awareness of strategic objectives, and this increases the effectiveness of their vision as well as the articulation of their goals. The political leader is often equipped with uncanny interpersonal perceptive as well as social astuteness. The leader is well suited to construct for their followers an attractive future state, and this energizes the followers to pursue collective goals. The political leader understands the importance of using influence rather than coercion and will inspire followers with optimism and confidence and at the same time energize subordinates towards the achievement of various goals (Keane and Merlo 2010). The leader understands that political campaigns will depend on the manner in which political behaviors are executed. The political leader will, therefore, be motivated to influence others to achieve desirable outcomes at the societal level. The political leader can effectively cope with the demands of constituents as well as various uncertainties that he may face in the line of duty.

The leader is positioned to influence the opinions as well as the experiences of others by adapting their behavior to elicit the desired reactions. The political leader is skilled to engender performance from followers and to lead the group to adequate performance. The political leader can package metrics in a way that will motivate task-oriented behavior in the follower. Such a leader continually engages in conduct that is associated with identifying as well as articulating a vision, and this vision will motivate followers (Keane and Merlo 2010). The leader also understands the strategic use of ambiguity to unify as well as orient followers around commonly shared goals. One crucial aspect of a good political leader is the fact that the leader can reveal excellent emotion recognition abilities. The leader can appear trustworthy as well as sincere and genuine. The leader understands the importance of vision and will regularly articulate the view to the followers.

The political leader understands that visions are powerful tools and they can create meaning for followers around shared goals, inspire, and energize the followers to action. The political leader understands the importance of collaborating with the follower to ensure the creation as well as the realization of the vision. The political leader can acknowledge and actively manage politics, and this will be done through the identification of vision as well as articulation. The political leader is also well connected and can identify with followers at all times (Peters 2001). A good political leader is active because such a leader possesses a set of social competencies that allows one to select and package situationally appropriate behaviors carefully. The leader will use these behaviors to influence and not coerce the follower. The leader gives a plan for purposeful and goal-directed action and can identify various issues that affect the community at all levels. The political leader can control outcomes of followers and understands that they will need tangible results on a regular basis.

The political leader is socially astute and has developed a mindset that understands the connection between power and stewardship. The political leader can integrate the use of political skill and position power and can read from the reactions of followers to make decisions. Leaders who are politically skilled can guide the followers towards various set goals and give the strategies concerning how these goals will be achieved (Peters 2001). Political leaders should also have the ability to shape events and should be innovative. The leader will also gain popularity by exhibiting such aspects as activeness, effectiveness, innovativeness, flexibility, as well as good moral judgment. Adherence to principles is another critical aspect of determining a useful and effective leader.

Personal characteristics have a significant role to play in a politician especially since the individual is often in the center of attention. The political leader is capable of using personality to communicate with the public, and personal values will have a significant role to play in determining various ideologies related to the public. Personality in a political aspect is concerned with different dispositions as well as attitudes, and it is essential for the politician to use these aspects when dealing with the public. Politicians possess specific characteristics that make the community more attracted to them (Caprara & Zimbardo 2004). A good politician will be open-minded to change and will have a receptiveness to change. Such an individual will often conflict with conservation values and calls it for acceptance of the equality of everyone. Leaders in transition will often display various qualities, and they will usually be flexible as well as adaptive and open-minded as well as have high self-consciousness.

It is also essential to understand the impact of the negative personality of political leaders. Consistency and credibility are crucial aspects that leaders are expected to adhere to if they aim at keeping supporters. A successful leader is one who has a long-term vision and is ready to implement change in the country or community. Another critical aspect of good leadership is the ability to show conciliatory behavior in the face of conflict (Caprara & Zimbardo 2004). The leader will also reveal various elements such as pragmatism, consistency, as well as credibility in dealing with others. However, bad leaders have unpleasant personalities, and they are unable to fulfill their responsibilities to the community. A bad political leader will often be selfish and self-involved and will rarely have time for the constituents.

Such a political leader will fail to understand and fulfill the mandate to the people and will instead focus on fulfilling selfish gains. A poor politician will have wanting interpersonal skills and will have an awkward presence in social settings. A bad leader is also misinformed or lacks information concerning the people at the grassroots level and therefore will not understand their needs. The leader will lack sympathy or empathy for people facing different situations and will often be disinterested or not involved in the local occurrence. The political leader will be a poor communicator and fail to communicate with peers as well as other individuals concerning the needs of constituents. The leader will have mistimed motives and will be insensitive to the needs of the local population (Galasso & Nannicini 2011). Good leadership is balanced, but a poor political leader will lack balance as well as discipline. An ineffective political leader will have a poor social presence and will be a poor planner. The leader will have minimal involvement in developmental issues and will often fail to cooperate with peers in developing solutions to issues facing the community. It is therefore apparent that the poor leader will be unsuccessful in practice and will fail to implement the mandate of the people.

It is therefore vital to understand the differences between a good and a bad leader. The lousy leader will be detrimental to the public and will often fail to deliver on promises. A lack of social presence, as well as an inability to perform duties, will often lead to poor outcomes. An excellent leader on the other hand successfully fulfills the mandate and can successfully realize various objectives at the communal level. The good leader will often be characterized by good interpersonal skills as well as a social ability to recognize what constituents urgently need. The good politician will also be eager to fulfill the objectives given and will work with the electorate to realize such visions. The personal attributes of the individual have a significant role to play in the type of leadership the politician will give, and it will determine how the people view him. Political leaders have an essential role to play, and personality has a significant role to play in the leadership shown.

There are various principles of democracy and these have an important role in the proper running of the democracy. One of the principles of democracy is the consent of the hoverned.Democracy is based on the idea that governments are only legitimate if they are based on the consent of the people. The democracy is expected to be a representative government and citizens have to be able to select people to the government to represent them. The democracy should have the rule of law and this means that government and government are expected to obey the law like any other citizen. The democracy is expected to have checks and balances and this means that it is distributed in to various parts each with a function. The democracy is also expected to guarantee certain fundamental rights and follow these rights.

There are various examples of good political leaders. Some of these leaders are like Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama, Winston Churchill, as well as Mahatma Gandhi. Some examples of bad political leaders include Adolf Hitler, Napoleon, Mussolini, as well as Robert Mugabe. These leaders can be classified as good or bad leaders according to what they have done as well as what the people think about them. Whether good or bad these leaders have contributed to their own countries and have a historical significance in their countries as well as around the globe. It is therefore important to understand the different qualities of these leaders and the deeds that they have done.

Bibliography

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