How To Better Position Yourself To Improve Your Leadership
This month’s question of:
Do I always lead from the front?
Is one that allows me to share with you a number of different ideas? I think the first insight I want to share with you is that you don’t always need to lead from the front, (and I will explain this in more detail a little later) however, I do believe you always need to lead by example.
To help you understand where I am coming from on the concept of Leading by Example, I want to go back to an article I have previously written:
I hear it so often. It gets stated by good leaders and by others, perhaps not so good. I hear it from young leaders and old leaders alike. I hear it from leaders with many years experience and from those with basically no experience.
I hear it spoken about as though it is a strength, when in most cases, it actually is a weakness.
The phrase I am talking about is:
“I lead by example!”
Leadership by example is fantastic as long as the example is the right kind of example.
As a leader do you have people saying this to you?
“Well if you want it done, then you go out and do it”, or
“If you believe it can be done, then you show me how!”
Leadership by example, in my opinion, is not doing for someone that which they should be prepared to do for themselves.
Obviously, there are going to be times when, because of circumstances, you need to go before everyone else and show what can be done.
Then there is no problem.
But if as a leader you always need to “be an example”, by doing what the people you lead should be doing, then you have a problem.
And that problem is either with you or the team. And as it stands, neither the team nor you are going to see the true benefits of a combined approach if everything continues the way it is.
Let me try and put this another way:
“Leadership is what you do with someone not what you do for someone.”
You are involved with the people you lead; you work with them. But as I said, very rarely should you do for them that which they are capable of doing for themselves.
As you no doubt realise, this will take a great deal of discipline on your part because there will be times when you “leading by example” is your fault, not theirs. Think through some of these statements:
• It was just easier for me to do it
• We were short of time
• I have extensive knowledge in that area
• I just needed to show them how it is done
• Delegation is not my strength
All of these are very legitimate reasons. All of them however, are negatives, not positives.
Yes, it might be easier for you to do it; and yes, they can learn from observing you; and yes, time is important; and yes, to every other reason you want to use to justify your actions.
But if all you ever do is solve the problems of the people you lead without helping them learn to solve them for themselves, then you are not really doing the right thing by them.
And leadership is all about doing the right thing by the people you lead.
Leadership is about empowering the people around you. Are you really empowering them by “being an example” and doing it for them time and time again?
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not talking about the one or two situations where you introduce something new and then show them what is going on. What I am talking about here is role confusion: role confusion highlighted by the fact that you continue to fill their roles and don’t really fulfil yours.
So can leading by example be a strength?
Can leading by example really help those you lead?
Can you fulfil your role just by leading by example?
Can you empower someone by leading by example?
Yes!
Yes!
Yes!
Yes!
But it all depends on the type of example you are showing.
• Honesty
• Integrity
• Commitment
• Caring
• Discipline
• Communication
• Values
• Ethics
• Standards
• Purpose
These are the areas where you do want to lead by example. These are the areas that will have people following your lead. These are the areas that will empower people and these are areas that are capable of taking those you lead to another level; firstly as people, and then as colleagues involved in your specific work.
It is this leading by example that will generate the most important aspect of leadership: Trust.
Those around you will follow you because they trust you. People will follow your example when it truly helps them become better. People will follow you when you show your belief in them, by letting them do it for themselves.
So hopefully, I have been able to clarify my position on leading by example which then leads us back to the original question of should you always lead from the front.
To which my simple answer would be, No. But once again please allow me to explain.
My belief is that there are three different levels from which you can position yourself in your quest to be an effective leader.
Above=Leadership
Beside=Fellowship
Below=Followership
Now before we get to far into this, let me outline this important consideration in regard to this model:
One level is not necessarily better or more important than another.
I believe the best level of positioning will be situation specific. I know there would be others that would have contrary view to this and probably a very strong one.
And that view would be along the lines of: “There is only one place to lead from and that is out in front or above the people you lead”. Now without getting us side tracked I believe this to be a very restricted view.
But back to the specifics of:
Above=Leadership
Beside=Fellowship
Below=Followership
As a leader you understand the sequence of influence and you will also be aware that in some occasions you will need to be above or infront of the team, Leadership. Leading them to where they need to be. But at the same time, as we went through above not doing for them those things they should be doing for themselves. Basically, not leading by example by doing the things they should be doing.
But when the team has taken responsibility to go forward. When they have paid the price of responsibility to be able to take ownership of themselves and of the situation, then you as leader, join in side by side with them. They have their roles and you have yours it becomes a Fellowship of specific role identified performance.
You continue working with the team, you build the team in skill, experience, purpose, desire and responsibility. They continue to increase their responsibility to a point where they are taking control of themselves and their destiny. They are in charge of driving themselves, the product and the result.
In one sense, it is almost like you have made yourself redundant. But as you and those you lead continue to work through the sequence and in the process, have now placed you as the leader in a position of leading from behind the team, Followership. However, even from a position behind the team you are watching their every move and at the same time, watching what is coming ahead, so that if you need to change your position for the benefit of all you can.
But for the time, you sit behind the team, you are a follower of the teams action, purpose, commitment and direction.
So although this is a brief overview of the concepts of Leadership, Fellowship and Followership, I would hope that you can see as I said at the outset, that no one position is more important that the other. But where you sit with the team will be dependant upon an variety of situations, needs and influences.
The right place to sit when selected correctly, will bring with it a corresponding level of leadership effectiveness.
Don’t be frightened to develop the team to a point of independence, as in my belief when you have done this, you will be at your greatest level of your leadership effectiveness, that is; you have made those you lead independent of you.
The Journey Continues!
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