Pre-requisite to Leading Others
Consider the following characteristics of leadership:
- Leadership is influence. Your followers don’t need your leadership if they’re going to do what needs done without your influence. That doesn’t mean you have to hover over them to direct their every move. It means creating the culture,
values, and clarity of vision and strategy so that competent people know and are inspired to do the right thing without your micromanagement. - The goal of influence is to change behavior. If nothing needs to change, there’s no need for influence or leadership.
- Changing behavior requires getting someone to do what they wouldn’t naturally do or don’t want to do. Someone has said that there are only two ways to change behavior: Manipulation and inspiration. We can manipulate by threatening loss of pay, position, promotion, or status. Or we can inspire by casting a vision and helping followers be energized to see their role in bringing that vision to reality. Do you do your best work when led by manipulation or inspiration? I’m guessing inspiration. The same is true of your followers.