There is abundant literature on leadership with many models and frameworks to describe it and understand it. One of the models that I have found more practical to apply, teach and develop leadership is The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership®  by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner. They have studied leadership for more than thirty years. Their research was focused on identifying what do effective leaders do when they are at their personal best.  After millions of surveys to leaders in different types of organizations they found similar patterns of behaviors despite the differences in culture, gender, age and other variables.

These set observable skills and abilities – behaviors – are the basis for The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership®:

Here is a description of each practice:

Model the Way

Leaders who model the way:

• Establish principles concerning the way people (constituents, peers, colleagues, and customers alike) should be treated and the way they should pursue goals.
• Create standards of excellence and set an example for others to follow.
• Put up signposts when people feel unsure of where to go or how to get there.
• Create opportunities for victory.

Inspire a Shared Vision

Leaders who inspire a shared vision:

• Passionately believe they can make a difference.
• Envision the future and create an ideal and unique image of what the organization can become.
• Enlist others in their dreams through their magnetism and persuasion.
• Breathe life into their visions and get people to see exciting possibilities for the future.

Challenge the Process

Leaders who challenge the process:

• Search for opportunities to change the status quo.
• Look for innovative ways to improve the organization; and in doing so experiment and take risks.
• Set interim goals so that people can achieve small wins as they work toward larger objectives, since complex change threatens to overwhelm people and stifle action.
• Unravel bureaucracy when it impedes action.
• Accept occasional disappointments as opportunities to learn, because leaders know that taking risks involves mistakes and failures.

Enable Others to Act

Leaders who enable others to act:

• Foster collaboration and build spirited teams.
• Actively involve others.
• Understand that mutual respect sustains extraordinary efforts.
• Strive to create an atmosphere of trust and human dignity.
• Strengthen others, making each person feel capable and powerful.

Encourage the Heart

Leaders who encourage the heart, know that accomplishing extraordinary things in organizations is hard work. To keep hope and determination alive they:

• Recognize the contributions that individuals make.
• Celebrate accomplishments of the winning team because the members need to share in the rewards of their efforts.
• Make people feel like heroes.

Leaders who engage in The Five Practices are more effective and successful than those who do not, and they are perceived by others as:

•  Having a high degree of personal credibility.
•  Being effective in meeting job-related demands.
•  Able to increase motivation levels.
•  Successful in representing the group or team to upper management.
•  Having high-performance teams.
•  Fostering loyalty and commitment.
•  Reducing absenteeism, turnover, and stress levels.

The Five Practices are very useful to develop leadership because the individual can easily identify which practices he does regularly and which ones he has to start doing in order to be perceive as a leader and to achieve extraordinary results.