31.0 The Four Competencies of Leadership

31.1 What is "The Four Competencies of Leadership"?

Leadership is not based on title; leadership is based on characteristics. What are the characteristics for leadership? There are diversified characteristics of leadership in existence, which several to name are persistence, tenacity, decision-making, self-accountability, teamwork, time management, positivity oriented, continuous improvement oriented, and the list goes on. To work on the path to be a great leader, one needs to be able to assess his/ her level of competency. The four competencies of leadership are identified into: basic, intermediate, expert and mastery.

31.2 The Four Competencies of Leadership

31.2.1 Basic

The basic competency is where the individual identifies his/ her potentials in leadership. It is the identification of leadership characteristics that he/ she already possesses.

31.2.2 Intermediate

The intermediate competency is where the individual further progresses in his/ her potentials in leadership characteristics. He/ she may further develop current leadership characteristics, or search and develop new leadership characteristics. It is also at this stage that the individual progresses in honing his/ her weaknesses.
31.2.3 Expert

The expert competency is signalled when the individual communicates with his/ her subordinates, peers and superiors with a distinguished leadership characteristics. That distinguished leadership characteristics are born from sets of periodical experience. That distinguished leadership characteristics are now the individual's personalized competitive advantage.
31.2.4 Mastery

The mastery competency is the pinnacle of any individual's leadership - the ability to inspire people and promoting people's sense of ownership. This is the time when the individual needs to pass his/ her position to the successor. The individual's role at this stage often is an advisor.

I hope this topic benefits you as much as it has benefited myself, wa la hawla wa la kuwatta ila billah. Insha'Allah, the next topic will be posted in the near future.