What is formal and informal leadership. Informal leader

In each team there is a distribution of roles. Some people occupy a dominant position due to their position, while others have to obey them. Such a person is usually called a formal leader. But there is another type of people who, regardless of their place in the company structure, have a significant influence on the team - these are informal leaders. These are employees who have earned the trust of the team and have natural organizational skills.

An informal leader is a person who does not always occupy a leadership position, but his word in the team is always significant for the company.

Difference of concepts

The concept of a formal leader means a mandatory set of characteristics:

• by virtue of his position, he is obliged to make decisions and coordinate employees, although he is not always a leader by nature;
• he is responsible for the activities of his subordinates.

There are situations in which a formal leader may lose authority in the eyes of his employees, and for some reason they may not recognize his leadership in the team.

The advantage he has is official authority, which is a factor determining his dominance in the team. But sometimes assurances on paper are not enough.

Formal leaders do not feel the need to build personal relationships with subordinates; they are limited only to working relationships.

And often this does not work in their favor. Formal leadership arises at the moment of signing the act of hiring an employee and does not have human factor, therefore, in an informal group there is always an unofficial leader, and in a formal group there is always an official leader.

An informal leader is a person who is not given a leadership position and does not have sufficient authority to manage personnel, but has power over employees. His main advantage is that he has a closer connection with his colleagues, as a result of which he can be more influential than the formal leader.

Often they choose a person who has qualities that the main leader does not have.

Reasons for appearance

Not formal leadership It is noteworthy that sometimes the team, without realizing it, is under the influence of its colleague. In case of some problem they turn to him more often than to a formal one. And he cleverly proposes his ideas, stimulating others to implement them thanks to his charisma.

The emergence of an informal leader in a team is not uncommon and occurs in most organizations.

This is due to the fact that, regardless of the type of activity, personal relationships are always valued in any team. And no matter how good the boss is, employees will always find an idol to whom they will listen with greater joy. Such people are loved by the team, but not always by the current leader.

Often such cases arise in a company with an authoritarian management regime. In the case when the manager does not try to improve relations with his subordinates, everything is compensated by the influence of the informal leader. Such people are distinguished by an active lifestyle, openness and charm. They can easily resolve conflicts and reduce the intensity of passions.

There is another extreme at which they appear. A boss with a soft character provokes the emergence of a tougher employee who is capable of making responsible decisions.

Kinds

Informal leadership groups share common qualities but have differences. There are 5 varieties in total.

1. Organizer. Such a leader deals with organizational issues. He establishes time management, draws up plans and schedules, and organizes a clear distribution of responsibilities. He may not be emotional and charismatic enough, due to which his ideas may remain unrecognized, although useful.
2. The shirt guy is a person endowed with good imagination; he always has a lot of ideas in stock. He is the life of the party. He has strong energy and charm; his ideas almost always impress everyone. What sets him apart is that he can inspire the team to carry them out. The performance of such people directly depends on their mood and approval from colleagues. He communicates with both his colleagues and management on equal terms.
3. A rebel - such an employee always knows at what moment and what needs to be said, and knows how to correctly express his thoughts. He often argues and proves that he is right to his boss. Such a person is a fighter for justice. He constantly defends someone’s interests and provokes riots, arouses affection among his colleagues, and if he quits due to a conflict with his boss, other employees of the company may leave after him.
4. The conductor is the first person a manager turns to if he does not want to build relationships with his employees, but wants to convey information to them and get the necessary reaction. Such people are distinguished by their friendliness and won the trust of others, therefore they are good organizers of productive work. They cannot be called absolute leaders, because independent decisions are more difficult for them than carrying out instructions from their boss.
5. A gray cardinal is an employee who does not claim leadership, but has influence in the team. He is attentive to detail, and this gives him the ability to manipulate people. This is a supporting character, but, being in the shadows, he successfully leads the process.

Relationships between formal and informal leaders

A meeting of two leaders in society - formal and informal - can lead to a clash of interests. Smart leaders know how to pacify the ardor of informal managers, and sometimes make them, if not their friends, then their comrades-in-arms. It’s good when work productivity increases due to the influence of an informal leader, but there are also opposite situations. All informal activists are divided into two types.

1. Constructive – has a positive effect on the work process. It is in his interests to build trusting relationships with both employees and the boss. He is guided by the interests of the company and implements ideas that contribute to its development; he is the main creator corporate culture companies.
2. A destructive leader does not always use his influence for the benefit of his superiors. Provokes other employees to resist the manager’s decision, questions his authority and plots against the manager.

Most informal leaders, by their active position, show their desire for a higher position. But it often happens that the official leader does not approve of such undertakings. This happens because not all “informals” are well versed in the company’s business or they lack certain skills, and sometimes influence alone is not enough.

It happens that, having achieved his goal - a promotion - he burns out and stops striving for something, or the team chooses a new favorite, and the decisions of the former informal leader cease to be as significant as before.

Role in work processes

Many managers do not pay attention to the leaders on their staff and do not think it is right to “collaborate” with them, but this decision is fundamentally wrong. Such a person, if you do not control him, can create a lot of problems in the future:

• people will stop working;
• put forward demands for changes in working conditions;
• they will want a dramatic salary increase, etc.

If you notice an informal leader in your team, you need to find him mutual language. His relationship with management can lead to high achievements. If the informal person is not aware of the plans of the enterprise and makes the right decision, as it seems to him, without advice, this can be fatal for the company.

Pay attention to the rebels, if there are any: they need to be loaded with work to the eyeballs so that they do not have time to think about strikes.

Conclusion

When an informal leader appears in a company, this can affect the company both positively and negatively. Much will depend on how the leader behaves with him. The boss must structure the work process so that a friendly atmosphere reigns in the team.

Sociology, as the science of the development of society, helps to better understand the mechanisms of its development in order to confidently navigate the present or make predictions for the future. Formal and informal leadership, from the point of view of the average person, are very similar: in both cases we are talking about who leads the team or the masses. In fact, these concepts are different to the point of opposites. This will be discussed in more detail in this article.

Let's start with terminology. It is considered to be one who walks ahead, leads a group of people or a competition in sports. From this point of view, a formal leader is a leader (commander, boss, director), who, due to his official position, is given the authority to manage a group of people.

There are many examples to illustrate this: political parties(), companies, firms, departments - any community created for the purpose of solving a specific problem (sometimes for a long period of time). Simply put, in the case of formal leadership, the starting point for rallying different individuals around their leader is an external force. The leader of everything is appointed, but never elected. Often his role is imposed, he is forced to obey, without daring to confront him openly.

Important. A formal leader most often does not have the makings of a leader and lacks charisma, while he knows perfectly well how to lead, using his power and relying entirely on it.

Formal leaders, even if they come from their own background, are more connected to their superiors than to their subordinates. They carry out the policies adopted by the company, are representatives of the administration, and serve to organize the exchange of information between ordinary employees and senior management. They may be appointed for a fixed term and are changed frequently, but are never chosen by vote or favoritism.

How to define informal leadership

Informal leadership is fundamentally different from the previous version in its essence: it is based on respect, recognition of merit, and personal relationships. In the vast majority of cases, such a leader is completely trusted, sometimes to the point of endowing him with supernatural powers or abilities. However, he does not have specific duties or rights.

Sometimes a group headed by an informal leader may be in opposition to official power (even to the point of developing conflicts). Or he risks having a time bomb in his environment: a hidden leader will constantly stir up people, interfere with their work, and distract them from the task at hand.

Important. A wise leader will try to get along with the unofficial leader friendly relations in order to skillfully use its capabilities and influence on the team for your own purposes. And in a completely ideal situation, this is one and the same person.

Typically, the reasons for the creation of informal formations in society or a team are the following:

• unified social environment. People are united by common interests, origin, place of residence - this is an absolutely normal phenomenon. Moreover, compliance this condition contributes to the emergence of a comfort zone;
• need for help. Various groups are created in connection with the insecurity of individual individuals, and together they represent a real force that can overcome the limitations of individuals and ensure the security of the entire organization;
• insecurity. Partially related to the previous point, by combining individuals into a collective, their protection increases significantly;
• lack of communication. Man is a social being; for normal self-determination in society, he needs communication with his own kind and the exchange of information. This implies the principle of information leadership - when a person owns a large amount of data and competently uses this opportunity to manage people.

In the vast majority of cases, the listed criteria are the main ones. It is on their basis that interest groups are formed in society - be it a choral singing club or a youth sub-culture. These social communities are formed almost spontaneously (while to create formal associations a command from above is always required).

This will require knowledge of human psychology, as well as the intricacies of relationships in a team. A person with natural leadership abilities enjoys the unlimited trust of his colleagues and may have the status of “their guy.” His opinion is always listened to and in no case ignored. No one will point a finger at the informal leader, and he himself is in no hurry to introduce himself to the official authorities. He may have complex character, even be a sociopath in some ways, but if the leader does not consider it necessary to take into account his fact of existence, he will make a serious mistake.

It is best to identify an informal leader in an informal setting: there he will demonstrate all his managerial qualities and the degree of influence on the team.

Difference between them

Formal and informal leadership in an organization often act side by side, according to their own independent algorithms. They do not always work in the same direction: a more typical situation for human teams is a situation in which the boss authoritarianly promotes his line of control, and the informal leader explicitly or indirectly opposes him. The head of the unit is appointed by the administration; often he has nothing to do with the team. His task is to interact between senior management and the team he leads. At the same time, the formal leader must ensure the implementation of all decisions made from above. His status, financial situation, as well as career.

The informal leader is practically not interested in obtaining results for his superiors: he already has respect, the trust of his colleagues, as well as a real sense of self-worth. He can use his position for his own purposes; he is almost not attracted to career growth and privileges.

In a critical situation, the informal is capable of organizing a long-term defense against the official authorities. Acting against him head-on, head-on, is the same as stirring up a hornet's nest with a stick: relations with the team will be completely ruined, and you will have to forget about achieving the results required by your superiors.

Examples of such forms

A typical illustration of informal leadership in an organization can be a trade union. There are all the signs of an unofficial community: a single social environment (people for a long time work together), receiving assistance (trade union organizations often create a cash fund to provide material support), security (the interests of workers are defended before the administration). In the 20s of the last century, the influence of trade union leaders on workers in the United States was so great that the mafia structures controlling business had to physically eliminate them.

Another typical example- youth groups. Created spontaneously, based on common interests (favorite football team), practically cannot be controlled from the outside, and have clearly defined leaders. Any large company (Apple) can be cited as confirmation of formal groups: employees are subordinate to the implementation of tasks set by management, acting within the limits of the powers allocated to them. At the same time, the leadership of the company may well be concentrated in the hands of a natural leader.

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Organizations distinguish between:

Formal leadership is the process of influencing people from the position of their position;

Informal leadership is the process of influencing people using one’s abilities, skills or other resources.

“Informal” leadership arises from the personal relationships of the participants. This is the so-called character of leadership. Unlike a leader, who is sometimes purposefully elected, and more often appointed, and who, being responsible for the state of affairs in the team he leads, has the official right to reward and punish participants in joint activities, an informal leader is nominated spontaneously. He does not have any authority recognized outside the group and is not assigned any official duties.

Therefore, the official leader occupying leadership positions, is not always the most authoritative person in the team. If the manager is not at the same time an “informal” leader, then the person who enjoys great authority among his subordinates will corrupt the team and the effectiveness of the organization and the performance itself will decrease. It may well happen that a conflict arises between the formal and informal leaders.

In addition to “formal” and “informal” leaders can also be divided according to the following criteria:

· According to leadership style: a) authoritarian, b) democratic, c) combining elements of both styles. There are authoritarian leadership, which involves individual management of the group’s activities, democratic, which involves group members in management, and anarchic leadership, when the group is left to its own devices. IN different types organizations Various types leadership can be effective in varying degrees

· By the nature of the activity: a) universal, i.e. constantly demonstrating his leadership qualities, b) situational, i.e. showing leadership qualities only in certain, specific situations. One of the most modern and widespread typologies of leaders is the system of Ohio State University (USA) professor Margaret J. Herman. She classifies leaders based on their image. Image translated from English means “Image”, and in everyday life it means the visual attractiveness of a person. M. Herman identifies 4 collective images of a leader based on taking into account 4 variables: the character of the leader, his properties, the ways of interaction between the leader and his supporters, the specific situation in which leadership is exercised. The first image (image): leader-standard-bearer. He is distinguished by his own view of reality and knowledge of the means of achieving it. The standard-bearer leader determines the nature of what is happening and the methods of transformation. Such leaders include one of the leaders of the national liberation movement M.K. Gandhi (1869-1942), V.I. Lenin, Martin Luther King (1929 - 1968) and some others. Second image: servant leader. He achieves recognition due to the fact that he most accurately expresses the interests of his adherents. Leads on their behalf, on behalf of the group. These types of leaders are guided by what their constituents expect and need. Examples of this type include L.I. Brezhnev (1906-1982), K.U. Chernenko (1911-1985) who expressed the interests of the party bureaucracy. Third image: leader-trader. Its essential features are its ability to persuade. Thanks to the ability to persuade, the leader-trader involves his own followers in the implementation of his plans and projects. The 40th President R. Reagan can be called an image of this type. The fourth image: a firefighter leader. He is distinguished by his quick reaction to the pressing demands formulated by his supporters over time. He is able to act effectively in extreme conditions make decisions quickly and respond adequately to the situation.

Leader man

How does a family with patriarchal morals differ from most other families? This is not necessarily a conflict-ridden and problematic family; on the contrary, it can be very friendly, but the father here is the head of the family, in fact, and not nominally. He provides for his wife and children and makes all the cardinal decisions alone. And the wife, even if she works and contributes to family budget, is mainly concerned with children and housekeeping. TO positive aspects Such a family includes the man’s willingness to take full responsibility for both his wife and future children. But in this case, a woman is often forced to give up her career for the sake of family life, or she is doomed to constant dissatisfaction with her official affairs, and even successes, because In the patriarchal model, a woman is first and foremost a homemaker. It should be noted that not for all women entering into such a marriage is a personal failure: it all depends on the character, upbringing, needs of the woman, her idea of family happiness. A wife in a patriarchal marriage is weak, dependent, but very feminine; a man just wants to take care of her, carry her in his arms. Of course, such a life scenario is not suitable for a woman who has indomitable energy, the desire to achieve success in everything she does, the desire and ability to make decisions - she needs to strive to build an equal relationship with her husband, when he will not dictate terms to her.

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All organizations and groups can be divided into two main types - formal and informal. Any formal organization and a group is an institutionally established community of people united to achieve some goal. Informal groups are formed as a result of institutionally unregulated, spontaneous activity of people entering into regular interactions with each other. Formal groups are groups created by the will of the leadership, and informal groups are the product of spontaneous interaction between people during their Everyday life and activities. A formal organization is created according to a predetermined plan. An informal organization is a kind of reaction of people to their unmet individual needs, in particular, the need for communication, protection, support, etc. The main reasons for the formation of informal groups are the following factors:

Need for social belonging;

Need for help;

Need for protection;

Need for communication.

These basic psychological needs of a person are the reasons for the emergence of informal groups through which they are satisfied. These groups are not established prescriptively, but develop spontaneously - as a natural product of interpersonal interactions. Formal groups (organizations) have the opposite genesis - they are imposed, established on the basis of certain external requirements, first of all, on the basis of the needs of organizing a certain joint activity.

Both formal and informal groups must necessarily be somehow organized, which is what happens in reality. The main and relatively most in a simple way Such an organization is to identify among the group members a person who is entrusted with the functions of coordinating it. However, if in informal groups this person is singled out by the group itself and delegated to this position, then in formal groups he, as a rule, is placed in this position due to external reasons. Therefore, an informal group is characterized by the presence of an unofficial leader, and a formal group is characterized by the presence of an official leader - a manager. Informal and formal leadership are quite different phenomena in their occurrence and patterns. Understanding their similarities and differences is necessary to understand the essence of management activities.

The separation of formal and informal organizations (and groups), despite its obviousness, is not absolute. Informal groups can transform into formal ones and vice versa. Both of them, differing in the mechanisms of their occurrence, also have important common features - the presence of a structure, “leading” and “slave” members, many common socio-psychological phenomena. Both of them, provided their volume is sufficiently large, are usually differentiated into subgroups. In formal organizations, this is, for example, the regulation of established divisions and departments. Informal organizations are also divided into subgroups, groupings - the so-called cliques and subcliques, between which rather complex relationships are established. Finally, the most important thing is that any formal organization does not exclude, but on the contrary, presupposes the presence within itself of a number, and often many, informal groups. Thus, in the structure of organizations, especially large ones, formal and informal ways of structuring them closely interact and seem to “overlap” each other. The interaction of formal and informal groups within organizations is one of the the most important problems and management difficulties; it will be discussed below. Here the main thing should be noted: the presence of two types of group organization - formal and informal - is the reason for two different ways management of them - mechanisms of formal and informal management. This is the reason for two types of leadership - formal and informal. They can enter into complex relationships - either combine, or sharply diverge, or interact.

The concept of “formal leader”

A formal leader or manager is a person who directs the work of others and is personally responsible for its results. A good manager brings order and consistency to the work being done. He builds his interaction with subordinates more on facts and within the framework of established goals. Managers tend to take a passive position in relation to goals. Most often, out of necessity, they focus on goals set by someone else and practically do not use them to carry out changes.

The officially appointed head of the unit has advantages in gaining leadership positions in the group, so he is more likely than anyone else to become a leader. However, it must be remembered that being a leader does not automatically mean being considered a leader, since leadership is largely based on an informal basis.

In addition, the behavior of a formal leader depends on whether he strives to move higher up the career ladder or is satisfied with his current position and does not particularly strive for promotion. In the first case, the manager, identifying himself with larger groups of the organization than with a group of subordinates, may believe that emotional attachment to working group may become a hindrance on his way. A leader's commitment to his group may conflict with his personal ambitions and be in conflict with his commitment to the organization's leadership team. In the second, he completely identifies himself with his subordinates and strives to do everything in his power to protect their interests.

Managers prefer order in their interactions with subordinates. They structure their relationships with them according to the roles that subordinates play in a programmed chain of events or in the formal process of making and implementing decisions. This is largely because managers see themselves as a specific part of the organization or as members of a special social institution.

Managers ensure that their subordinates achieve their goals by monitoring their behavior and responding to every deviation from the plan.

Using their professionalism, various abilities and skills, managers concentrate their efforts in the area of ​​decision making. They try to narrow down the set of ways to solve the problem. Decisions are often made based on past experiences.

A formal leader is supported by delegated formal authority and usually operates in a specific functional area assigned to him. An informal leader is promoted due to his ability to influence others and due to his business and personal qualities.

The concept of “informal leader”

An informal leader is one who, for various reasons, has big influence in a group (organization) regardless of their position. Three main leadership styles: Enforcer, Tactician, Motivator.

As a rule, this is the person with whom others want to be close. They want to be close not because of agreements, service hierarchy and similar circumstances, but because of his qualities and attractiveness. One of the elements of adequate leadership is self-control.

Charm is one of the most important features informal leader. An informal leader must be able to please. But being able to please does not mean that he sets himself the goal of being liked. Being liked is a tool that an informal leader can use - a means, but not an end.

Informal leadership is strongly associated with positivity. It is very important to be able to give out positive things freely - without ingratiating or dominating. People like strong and positive personalities.

An informal leader can become a serious problem or reliable support for the leader. In any case, it is important to know informal leaders by sight, use the power of their influence for the benefit of the company, or get rid of them if the situation gets out of control.

An informal leader, without being a manager, enjoys great influence in the team. Such a person can achieve sabotage of management decisions, take part of the team away from the company, and go on strike. But an informal leader can be very useful to a manager, for example, helping to introduce innovations in companies that usually go poorly due to the resistance of middle management.

There are informal leaders in almost every team. Moreover, in large company there may be not one, but several such leaders. A group of ten people is the optimal team for demonstrating informal authority.

Corporate psychologists have special tools for identifying leaders, but usually intuition and observation are enough to understand who is who. Communication skills are the first sign that a person can be a leader.

The very fact of the existence of an informal leader is great luck For the company.

However, informal leaders can also cause harm to business. They can undermine the authority of the leader, question his orders and disintegrate the team. The confrontation between the two leaders gradually turns into a struggle for power, when each begins to fight for influence on employees. As a result, the team's motivation decreases and people stop putting their soul into their work.

Most often, harm is caused by informal leaders who also lead trade unions. If they do not agree with the manager’s decision, they can win over the entire team to their side.

So-called veterans, who are quite experienced and perform their duties well, can also become destructive leaders, but they are not various reasons are not promoted. The situation may be exacerbated if the department head is much younger than the veteran. The informal leader becomes offended and begins to put a spoke in the wheels.

Informal leaders are the most valuable people in a company. In case of conflict, the leader needs to try to understand what he is doing wrong, to take the place of the informal leader. Then the leader will be able to better understand his own shortcomings and weaknesses. And if a boss cannot cope with an informal leader, then what kind of boss is he?

Thus, informal leaders are a kind of stimulator for the head of a company (department, unit) for self-criticism and the desire for self-improvement.

Differences between informal leadership and formal leadership

The main features of a manager and a leader are, as it were, in different dimensions. When conducting comparative analysis It seems legitimate to highlight three aspects:

1) nature and level of training: managers most often become not due to professional choice, but due to a certain combination of circumstances;

2) psychological attitudes manifested in the behavior of managers;

3) social status.

The differences between informal leadership and formal leadership, the specifics of their influence on the activities of the group (organization) are determined by the following basic provisions:

1) the leader is mainly called upon to regulate interpersonal relations in the group, while the leader regulates the official relations of the group as some kind of social organization;

2) leadership can be stated in the microenvironment (which is the group); leadership is an element of the macroenvironment, i.e. it is connected with the entire system of social relations;

3) leadership arises spontaneously; leader of any real social group either appointed or elected, but one way or another this process is not spontaneous, but, on the contrary, purposeful, carried out under the control of various elements of the social structure;

4) the phenomenon of leadership is less stable, the promotion of a leader depends more on the mood of the group, while leadership is a more stable phenomenon;

5) management of subordinates, in contrast to leadership, has a much more specific system of various sanctions, which are not in the hands of the leader;

6) the decision-making process of a manager is much more complex and mediated by many various circumstances and considerations not necessarily rooted in a given group, while the leader makes more direct decisions regarding group activities;

7) the leader’s sphere of activity - mainly small group where he is the leader; the leader's sphere of action is broader because he represents the group in a larger social system.

To sum it up, leadership is predominantly psychological characteristics behavior of individual members of the group (organization). Leadership is a social characteristic of relations in a group, primarily from the point of view of the distribution of management and subordination roles. Unlike leadership, management acts as a legal process regulated by society. The leader is promoted to the position of leader because he demonstrates a higher level of activity, participation, and influence in solving any problems than all other members of the group. Other members of the group thus voluntarily accept leadership, i.e. put themselves in the position of followers (subdominant) in relation to the leader. The leader is the one who is placed in the specified leading role and is endowed with a system of coercive powers, mainly of an official legal, authoritative nature. Because of this, the leader and manager have a qualitative various forms and the degree of impact on the group (organization). These differences, in turn, directly and strongly influence how exactly management activities can be carried out by them, how they can realize their leadership position. A leader has influence - the ability to influence individuals and groups, directing them to achieve certain goals. Influence is mainly realized through the phenomenon of authority. The leader has (either along with authority and influence, or in addition to them) power and status. This is no longer the “ability to influence”, but the duty to influence. A leader and a manager can use significantly different sources and forms of influence to organize management activities - influence and power, respectively (“the power of authority” and “the authority of power”).

Coexistence of formal and informal leaders

An informal leader enjoys great influence in the team. Such a person can achieve sabotage of management decisions, take part of the team away from the company, and go on strike. But an informal leader can be very useful to a manager, for example, helping to introduce innovations in the company

Many are convinced that the very fact of the existence of an informal leader is a great success for the company. If you identify an informal leader and enlist his support, a leader can make his life much easier. The informal leader will carry out ideas and reinforce the orders of the boss. In addition, people with leadership qualities are the best personnel reserve; it is employees with such qualities who are primarily appointed to leadership positions.

Experts believe that an informal leader appears where the leader misses some functions - the informal leader takes them upon himself. Most often, the director pays insufficient attention to personnel management: motivation, contacts with employees. As a result, the communication process between the leader and the team is disrupted. For people, this is tantamount to the absence of a leader as such, so they have a need for an informal leader. In this situation, the director needs to restore functions and communications as quickly as possible, and “take over” the functions from the informal leader. Otherwise, the influence of the “informal” will increase by leaps and bounds.

However, informal leaders can also cause harm to business. They can undermine the authority of the leader, question his orders and disintegrate the team. The confrontation between the two leaders gradually turns into a struggle for power, when each begins to fight for influence on employees. As a result, the team's motivation decreases, and people stop putting their soul into their work.

Most often, harm is caused by informal leaders who also lead trade unions. If they do not agree with the manager’s decision, they can win over the entire team to their side. In one pharmaceutical company, in opposition to such a trade union leader, the management organized another trade union, where they lured most of the employees. The informal leader, realizing that he was left with nothing, made concessions.

Experts advise dismissing informal leaders as a last resort: the team will endure the departure of such a person for too long. Moreover, by leaving, the leader will only prove the incompetence of the boss. It is best to view informal leaders as partners, not as enemies; he needs to be interested. The leader can convince the oppositionist of the correctness of his position. It does not matter what position the informal leader holds in the company. He realizes himself, begins to perceive management orders differently and becomes a disseminator of ideas in the team. As a rule, an employee lights up, begins to live by the company’s goals, grows professionally and after some time can take a leadership position if he also has other competencies necessary for a manager. In critical cases, you can systematically undermine the leader’s reputation and compromise him in the eyes of the team.

In the event of a conflict with an informal leader, the manager needs to try to understand what he is doing wrong and take the place of the informal leader. Then the leader will be able to better understand his own shortcomings and weaknesses. And if a boss cannot cope with an informal leader, then what kind of boss is he?

When it comes to any team - a group of students at a university or employees in the workplace, there is always a person appointed to the role of leader. This could be a headman, a senior manager, someone who is responsible for everyone and sets the direction for the process. This person is a formal leader, that is, officially vested with power. But is such a leader always a real one - not one who should lead, but one whom people will be happy to follow? How is an informal leader defined, what qualities does he have? Let's talk about this in this article.

Leadership and organization

Remember yourself as a child. Playing with your peers on the street, you intuitively knew who was the initiator of your entertainment and pranks. This personality may not have been the brightest among other children, but nevertheless everyone in the company realized that he was the one ideological inspirer and organizer, and in some ways tried to imitate him. This is an example of what an informal leader is - a person who does not need nominal titles, but is able to successfully organize, direct and complete a process, and who knows and skillfully uses the qualities of other team members.

Nominal and real control

Beginning with adolescence people are faced with another type of leadership - nominal. An informal leader in a group does not require election; the team intuitively knows and feels that this person will lead everyone. The formal leader is elected. In schools and higher educational institutions, this is the headman - a student who is the link between the teaching staff and students. In a work team - a group of workers equal in position - the manager also most often chooses a “senior” who sets the vector of work and provides the opportunity for feedback on the work process. What qualities should an official leader have and why most often cannot a formal and informal leader be represented by the same person?

The difference between nominal and real leadership

In order to understand why real leaders rarely find themselves in leadership positions, you need to understand what qualities are valued by those who appoint the formal leader of the team. So, first of all, this is responsibility and punctuality - the formal organizer must clearly, “in form and on time” answer to his superiors about the work and the results of labor. This person is often a careerist and does not hide it, and his superiors, seeing such ambition, promote him. career ladder and uses this desire to his advantage. The formal leader may not be a person of the highest moral principles- in pursuit of his own goals, he sometimes has to inform his official superiors about the actions of his colleagues, and report on what is happening within the team. In addition, the formal leader, taking advantage of his position, can demonstrate his advantage in status over his colleagues. What qualities does an informal leader have?

What are the characteristics of a real leader?

It is best to imagine an informal leader, focusing on the characteristics of the ringleader in a children's team. Children behave much more naturally than adults, since they are not yet bound by any obligations. For example, a person may possess outstanding ones but suppress them due to circumstances (financial or otherwise). Children don’t chase after anything, they just play for their own pleasure.

Remember who led your “gang” when you were a child playing with your peers? This man might not have a clear physical advantage, but he had his own inner core. A leader does not adapt to anyone, he is on his own, and follows only his own convictions. This type of person never imitates the behavior of others, and no matter how much he likes them, he will not imitate them. Its value lies in its naturalness. The leader has his own clear value system, which will not change situationally. He gains trust because of his constancy and consistency in his decisions.

An informal leader also does not need followers; he will not form a circle of imitators around himself. He offers ideas, but if the team does not consider it necessary to implement them, then he will not humiliate himself to requests. Remember your childhood: it’s unlikely that the leader of your company persuaded everyone to play this or that game. If he suggested something and the other guys refused, he would simply change the idea.

Leadership in the adult world

An integral leader in childhood may not be such as he grows up. Since we live in a society, we have to adapt to circumstances, and sometimes we have to stand on our own. own desires. However, a person with pronounced leadership qualities will not cease to possess them, even if the situation turns against him. Meanwhile, the roles of the formal and real leader are so different that they rarely intersect. The boss is completely disadvantaged by a true leader in a leadership position. Such a person will not always obey instructions, is unlikely to inform on his comrades, and he will not be able to play “insider” both for his boss and for his colleagues.

Or imagine that in educational institution appointed an informal leader. If the opportunity arises to miss lectures, of course, the informal leader will want to take advantage of it, since he is an ideological organizer and is looking for the most effective ways to spend time for himself and the team. But for the headman, such a decision is not correct, since it harms the educational process.

So is there an answer to the question: “What kind of leader will an informal leader be?” For his comrades and colleagues, perhaps he would have become the best and most desirable manager, but this cannot be said about his superiors and the production process. It is for this reason that a wise boss will not choose his “ right hand"a true leader, but will choose a candidate based on other important qualities.

When an informal leader in a team is a hindrance

You need to understand that a true leader is most often a revolutionary at heart. He loves freedom, authority is alien to him, he has no idols. It doesn’t matter what he does and what position he works in - first of all, he will listen to his inner voice, and not to the needs of the work process. These qualities can serve him badly. Imagine that in a team there is a person who constantly encourages his comrades (and quite successfully) to skip classes, leave work early, and organize “sabantui”. If this person is valuable as an employee, then management should give him a separate role in the organization. For example, give him such powers that it would be unprofitable for him to disrupt the process of work or study. Then the rebel will be “bridled” and will be able to express himself in other areas.

The role of the informal leader

Why do you need an informal leader of an organization? This question is quite naive, because this person is the main inspiration and example for others. This is not good or bad - it’s just how the roles are distributed. Without an informal leader, the team will not have something irreplaceable, although it cannot be felt materially. Without such “glue,” members of the organization will feel like disparate, unconnected units of the team. When there is no informal leader in a group, group members do not have a common vector of movement. If we are talking about work, then without a real leader there is often staff turnover, people easily leave workplace in case of even small problems. On the contrary, an informal leader strengthens the team; people feel almost like a family. And sometimes they rush to work with no less pleasure than going home after it.