Welcome to a new series called “GREAT LEADERS . . .”
I love seeing people step into new levels of leadership. My hope is that as you follow along you will be inspired to become a more effective and influential leader.
noun lead·er \ˈlē-dər\ – A person that leads –
Simple enough for you?
Quote of the day:
“If you think you are a leader and you look behind you and noone is following, think again” – Loren Cunningham – co-founder, Youth With a Mission.
1 – GREAT LEADERS… must be visible
In order for people to follow you, they have to see you.
Imagine that you are leading an expedition over a mountain to a magnificent alpine lake. You are the most experienced, you’ve been there before and you can’t wait for the others to see what you have seen.
Before you set off, you cast the vision, telling of the wonders of the other side of the mountain. And you’re off. Your team starts at a quick pace, excited to get to their goal. As the summit comes into view, the going gets tough and you notice your team has slowed. But not you! You have what it takes!! So you power on, thinking you will inspire them. You pass the summit in record time and finally get a glimpse of the goal ahead.
As the lake comes into view your heart jumps and you spin around to tell the team what you see… and there’s no-one there!
You went too far ahead and they couldn’t see you, so they couldn’t follow you.
Leadership tip – Go far enough out in front so you are actually taking people somewhere, inspiring them to be a part of something great, but not so far ahead that you lose them.
You can’t lead well if you are distant from your team. You can’t lead by remote control.
Your job as the leader is to cast vision, inspire your people, be an example, show the way forward, connect with and empower your team. you cannot do these things via email alone.
People have to see you. They need to know you care. And they need you to see them working. Don’t be the boss who catches your people doing something wrong. Be the boss who catches your people working hard and tell them that you see them. It can be disheartening when your boss doesn’t see you working hard because your boss is just not around. Many leaders give affirmation when their people have completed a task. This is good leadership but I also like to affirm my people when they are in the middle of it, when they are doing the work. To tell them you see them working and are happy about it is a big boost in their day. This simple act of highlighting someone’s work ethic, not just their product, can really improve the outcome. And they will want to do it again and again.
And remember affirm publicly, correct privately. make it a habit to affirm your people in front of others. It means more. There is more weight behind it. And be consistent across your team. Everyone gets affirmed. If you have to search for the gold, then search, and when you find it call it out for all to hear. When a leader is speaking it is like they are holding a megaphone. Affirmation sounds louder when it comes from your boss.
Criticism sounds even louder! It booms in the ears of your people. So make sure no-one else is listening when you need to bring some correction. The moment you correct someone in front of their peers is the moment you start to lose them. This is a form of humiliation and it is very hard to recover from. It also puts fear in the hearts of the others listening, that this might happen to them. Some of you might say that’s a good thing, but in my experience fear is the worst motivation, yielding poor results. So hold your tongue until you have a setting where it is appropriate to bring correction. After bringing critique, point them forward to the goal ahead. You have to keep them in the game. Make it loud and clear that you still believe in them and you are excited about what is to come. Correction is not the end, it is an opportunity for growth. There may be a need to bring the outcome of your conversation to the team together, so they know you’ve worked it out, but not often. You need to use finesse in these moments. Your goal is to build your people up and build unity.
if you are connected to the heartbeat of your team you can create a culture where people are excited to receive input and are allowed to give input. You must have boots on the ground to do this.
Don’t take my word for it, try it for yourself!
EXTRA – I recommend that critique and affirmation be two separate conversations. Craig Groeschel says, “Don’t muddy your affirmation with critique”. Consistently build the bridge of affirmation so it’s strong enough to have correction cross over it.
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