FEBRUARY 10 — Leaders of organisations are often sandwiched between the pressure to achieve assigned goals set by the appointing authorities and the demand to cut down the loads by the employees.

Some accept the role of leadership and commit to the assigned goals, while others negotiate as they deem fit.

Nonetheless, in the execution of their mandate, leaders vary in their leadership style from autocratic, bureaucratic, democratic, transactional, visionary, laissez-faire, coaching, to servant leadership.

Be it for their personal agenda or for the assigned goals, every leader aspires to leave a legacy of their accomplishments.

The employees under the leadership need both push and motivation to execute the command and help build the legacy.

It is not unlikely that the employee would lose their spirit of ownership of the organization as they keep on trucking to follow the leader’s way of leading to build a legacy.

In other words, the execution of a leader’s command without sincere commitment could cost their passion, dedication, and dreams for the organisation.

A leadership with partnership might play a crucial role in preventing that loss, where a leader needs to instill a sense of belonging for the organization among the employees.

Leaders who use authoritarian deterrents and restrict their employees’ access to them are less likely to build leadership through partnership.

A foundation for building leadership with partnership needs engaging the employee for setting the goals, rather than a convincing (read imposing) approach to assigning goals that might go beyond their limits.

It is noteworthy that pushing the limit at the workplace beyond the means of the employee might result in their physical and emotional exhaustion, reduced cognitive function, and weakened immune system.

Furthermore, an employee might lose their dedication to execute the command if that means compromising their daily lives or family affairs.

The dedication to the organisation would be lost if the return and reward from the work were less than what they sacrifice in their lives for the work.

The ambition of the majority of young people seeking a freelance livelihood is a testament to the view that stressful regular jobs leading to a work-life imbalance are less rewarding, as they observe among their predecessors.

According to a study, an estimated 70 per cent of Gen Z freelancers cite flexibility, I.e. preference to design their work around their lives, as a top motivator.

Hence, a leadership with vision to build partnerships among the employees has become imperative, where a leader would care for the lives of the employees beyond the office boundary.

The partnership spirit can minimise the distance of insensitivity between the command and the spontaneous adherence to it. In turn, this could enhance the emotional attachment to the work they do in the office.

Leadership with partnership also reflects on how a leader cuts down the counterproductive impact of showing off who is the boss or who is in command.

While it is common to have a group of employees who often butter up their leader, the same group would condemn the leader behind their back for showing off their executive privileges.

Indeed, it is easier said than done to build a leadership with partnership among a complex array of mindsets among the employees.

However, it is worth trying, as Theodore Roosevelt once famously said, “People care how much you know only after they know how much you care”.

It is important to note that the tenure as a leader is short-lived within a given timeframe.

However, the impact of the legacy, be it positive or negative, is long-lasting.  A leadership, beyond the principle and a purpose, that instills a partnership with the employees might mark a positive legacy impact on the workforce.

Whether a leadership legacy would leave a memorable imprint in the hearts of the workforce would depend on how a leader led and left the chair of leadership.

A telltale sign of the leadership legacy imprint is surely marked by the farewell bid of the employees to the outgoing leader.

The very first time I attended to bid farewell was to the headmaster of our school. No one among the teachers and students who opted to express their experience about the outgoing headmaster left the podium without shedding tears. I doubt anyone among the audience had left the reception without tears, too.

Despite a new headmaster being appointed for the same chair, everyone was heartbroken and watched in anguish him leaving the school.

Unlike in modern days, love, respect, and gratitude in a farewell bid in those days were not only expressed in words but also in tears and warmth.

I doubt if the outgoing headmaster had gone through any training to learn how to become a successful leader. Yet he was a successful mentor, leader, and manager.

Above all, everyone felt him as a partner in their lives, so to speak. Hence, they failed to resist tears during his departure.

* Prof Mohammad Tariqur Rahman is the Deputy Executive Director (Development, Research & Innovation) at International Institute of Public Policy and Management (INPUMA), Universiti Malaya, and can be reached at tarique@um.edu.my

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.