Visionary Leadership within Institutions
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Visionary Leadership
There are different types of leadership in various capacities within institutions and visionary leadership is an example (Almog, 2012). The vital aspect of leadership is the existence of compatibility between leaders, followers, type of leadership in place and the ability to work towards achieving the goals of the institution. According to Curtis & Manning (2015), companies through their leaders work on achieving success by creating it in a different way as the focus shifts in the future and possible trends for the firm to respond. Visionary leaders are not familiar, but their characteristics are, with the peculiarity of being open, imaginative, persistent and convincing, being able to create a vision for an institution and work towards it.
According to Almog (2012), visionary leaders create a clear picture of the future and secure commitment to achieving the vision without deviation. A visionary leader is aware of the people, tools, structures and systems required to achieve the vision and engage appropriate effort required. Current organizations do not need crisis management of systems and operation. Instead, leaders go beyond the typical leadership practices to create a future and work towards achieving it (Stam, van Knippenberg, & Wisse, 2010). A visionary leader determines where the firm is and where it needs to be within a specified period and objectively design steps that would lead the institution towards achieving the set future.
Visionary leadership differs from other leaderships in that traditional forms work within the status of organizations and work within universal ways while visionary leadership rethinks of a company status and on how to transform the way of doing things. Visionary leadership is transformational in nature and practice and tends to view an institution as an outsider than inform ways of thinking and doing things (Sudhakar & Vinod, 2011). The common leadership styles focus on the business from within and continue the everyday practices.
Visionary leadership embraces options that seem impossible but takes on the challenge of identifying a solution to complex issues. According to Curtis & Manning (2015), visionary leaders do no sit on authority and dominate their followers, but they are flexible and seek opinions from like-minded individuals, which will assist in identifying possible solutions to complex issues. Unlike other leaderships that brush off disparate ideas, visionary leadership connects the thoughts and theories to provide new ideas and solution that apply to their scenario. According to Almog (2012), visionary leadership styles can be learned and acquired, and through commitment and persistence, a person can better leadership styles to become visionary and take an institution to a successful future.
An example of a visionary leader is Steve Jobs (Grant & Sharma 2011), a person who confessed not to have been so good in class but the use of his leadership styles and continual adjustments saw his company excel. Being able to lead Apple Incorporation to run ahead of the global technology and provide solutions not envisioned anywhere else is a great achievement and has seen the company stand challenges and economic problems. According to Grant & Sharma (2011), until his death, Jobs led the balanced visions of the company and actions, and motivated employees to play as a team and give their best recognizing outstanding contribution.
Apple Inc. has commitment to technology entrepreneurship and innovations that see its products and software improved as per the projected future needs. My leadership style is visionary as I always put effort to make visions reality and get a solution out of complex situations that would otherwise be impossible. I always push for excellence through identifying possible models and concepts applicable to situations and motivate people to adopt them to ensure achieving the vision. Ensuring that a vision is a reality is the most important thing, and influencing people suitably brings the desired results (Chung, Chen, I-Heng, Lee, & Lin, 2011).