Introduction
Business success requires strong leadership skills founded on strong business functions, effective communication skills, and diversified managerial skills. This paper addresses leadership as one of the essentials of business. To achieve this, the paper investigates General Electric Co. General Electric Co a United States-based company founded in 1878 with its headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts. It ventures in technology and financial services. The company was featured in the category of the best companies in leadership by Forbes magazine in 2012. One of the factors that has led to the growth and success of General Electric is the great and exceptional leadership skills of its leaders. Thus, to facilitate the discussion on leadership in business General Electric will be considered.
Leadership in business
In an interview conducted by Noel Tichy and Ram Charan on the General Electric CEO Welch, Jr. a lot was revealed about good leadership in business. The most significant lesson drawn from the interview is that leadership skills are essential for the success of a business. According to Welch, leadership is everything.
For instance, when Welch was asked who makes a good manager, he said he preferred referring to business managers as business leaders (Tichy and Charan, n.d.). He maintained that in General Electric managers carry themselves as leaders and not managers. Booyens observes that while managers rely on the systems, leaders on the other hand are dependent on the people. When it comes to offering solutions, Booyesns explains that managers are mostly concerned with obtaining solutions for everyday problems while leaders are concerned with coming up with strategies to have long-term solutions to those problems. Managers are therefore concerned with getting things done there and then. Leaders will operate under the guidance of business future vision and plans. As opposed to managers, leaders are planners and strategic(Booyens,2004). It is therefore very essential to have a ‘leader attitude’ as opposed to a ‘manager attitude.' Most scholars have shown that there is a difference between the two. Welch stated that at General Electric Co it’s all about leadership. The reason for its success is the ability to lead rather than rule.
In the interview with CEO Welch referred to in this paper, Welch talked about business leaders as people who create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion. He also expressed that business leaders are people-centered and will do anything to afford human resource comfort and confidence in the business. Business leaders are not rigid and will not clinch to the traditional channels. They will be less formal and appealing to the employees. Above all, Welch suggests that business leaders are accessible and are always ready to engage and to be engaged by everybody including their employees.
Welch further alluded that good leadership encompasses excellent communication between business leaders and their subordinates. The good and uninterrupted flow of information is of great significance in any business. He stated that the reason why General Electric was feathered in the list of the best companies in leadership is because, among many other things, leaders listen more and talk less (Tichy and Charan, n.d.). He also comments on the method of communication used in the company. As opposed to newspaper announcements, communication between the leaders and their employees is at a personal level. Real interpersonal interactions. Dwyer expresses that communication is an essential skill in business leadership. (Dwyer, 2012). Through communication, leaders can create a business environment that promotes openness and teamwork. Employees tend to trust leaders who encourage communication between them and their leader.
In connection with the above, feedback is an integral part of business. When feedback is given and obtained promptly, it facilitates prompt response and shapes the decision-making process. Welch explained the importance of prompt and effective feedback and retaliated that General Electric is keen on developing ways to speed up decision cycles and encourage the giving of move information by all the stakeholders in the company. Feedback also ensures that the needs of all the stakeholders are addressed accordingly. This helps in improving their welfare. Additionally, feedback helps the business to cater to the needs of the consumers. When feedback is encouraged and utilized properly, a business thrives.
Good leadership in business also entails appreciating and rewarding employee’s efforts. Valerie points out that appreciating and rewarding employees don't necessarily have to be in monetary consideration (Grubb,2016). When employees’ efforts are rewarded they take pride in the leadership and feel part of the business.
In his book “Leadership Secrets from Jack Welch”, Welch attributes much success in achieving great leadership skills in General Electric to the ability to see things as they are as opposed to what they ought to be. He suggests that facing reality is essential in effective leadership. He suggests that when managers are in denial of the fact that their businesses are facing market downturns, extreme competition and intense demands for customer needs they risk remaining optimistic when chances of survival are extremely slim. As a result, they fail to benefit from the opportunities that are brought about by change (Slater,2003). Welch insists that it takes a leader to know that change in the business environment is not isn’t bad and therefore should not be feared. When leaders remainthful and real to the realities of their business environment they don’t shy from doing the right things such as telling all the stakeholders the truth.
Exceptional business leaders like Welch run big companies with simplicity. He maintains that for a large organization to be effective things must be run in simplified strategies. Simplicity boosts confidence and self-assurance. He points out that the insecurity of managers is brought about by complexity. Stressing the need for business leaders to promote simplicity, Lakshman states that real business leaders don’t need clutter (Lakshman,2008). Poor business leaders are nervous and create unnecessary complexity even when confronted with simple problems.
In light of the above, there is a need for business leaders to be confident clear, and precise. This facilitates understanding by every stakeholder of the nature of the business and its goals and vision. Welch attributes the success of General Electric to the simplicity of its leaders.
Another determiner of good business leadership is the ability to define the needs of a business and identify the right people with capabilities and skills to satisfy those needs (Gabarro,1991). Managers who hire employees without ascertaining the needs of the business and if the hired personnel have the necessary skills and capabilities to meet those needs lack proper leadership skills.
Welch states that it is important to view employees as individual contributors to the business. Good business leaders understand employees' role in value addition in any business. He states that at General Electric they have trained their employees to engage in a self-assessment process to determine whether they add value or not. On the other hand, in the capacity of a business leader, Welch states that a good leader must also help in facilitating the process of making employees more productive competitive, and effective. This can be employee training through seminars and workshops. The reason why General Electric is among the top companies in leadership is tainted by exposing making their business operations value-driven as opposed to attaining market control.
General Electric has also portrayed high leadership skills through its simplified decision-making process. In a bid to simplify the decision-making process, Welch discloses that they had done away with some communications filters. They worked towards enhancing direct communication between the CEO and other leaders responsible for the 14 General Electric businesses. As a result, the decision-making process has been simplified and kept free from interference by other corporate staff. Welch states that after a deliberate move to simplify the process, key investment decisions that took years have been significantly reduced. Srivastava expresses that good business leaders must understand that simplifying the decision-making process in a business facilitates faster business operations and growth (Srivastava,2012).
Conclusion
Through the study of General Electric Co and in consideration of other texts. Leadership turns out to be one of the factors that contribute to the growth and success of a business. As depicted in the study, leadership is essential to the success of the business. The paper has pointed out that good business leadership entails the ability to make strategic plans, afford comfort and confidence in employees remain real to changes in a business environment, promote effective communication, and ensure simplicity. Additionally, the ability to define the needs of a business and identify people with the proper skills and capabilities to meet those needs is a pointer to good leadership. The most essential aspect of good business leaders is people-centered leadership. Good business leaders play a teacher and cheerleader role. Business leaders are not controllers or supervisors of business processes but are part of the process.
References
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