Chantal Gautier, Senior Lecturer on the Psychology and Counselling BSc Honours course, has written an article for Modern Woman magazine about what constitutes leadership.
Gautier’s academic expertise has led to the publishing of her book titled ‘The Psychology of Work: Insights into Successful Working Practices’, in which she discusses the importance of bringing back the humane to organisational life.
In the article, Gautier wrote: “Ultimately, how best we lead is perhaps down to both nature and nurture. Leaders can certainly be taught how to be more confident or learn how to communicate better, but the essential traits that separate leaders from non-leaders are more difficult to learn. For example, asking an introvert to be charismatic would, at best, be a challenge, at worst, cruel.
“Notwithstanding, successful leaders have begun to consider the impact of negative leadership behaviour on work productivity. Research has found in particular that happy workers who feel respected and valued are most productive. Which begs the following questions: how does one know if one has leadership potential? And what are typical leader style qualities to look out for?”
