While preparing for the talk, I kept getting pulled back to John Maxwell's "The 5 Levels of Leadership". I was intrigued by some of the peripheral materials that I was reading that had to do with some of the concepts that he had spoken about, which seemed to be central to what a lot of people were thinking. John Maxwell talks about the 5 levels of leadership:
1. Position Leadership: This is the title that we have which we tend to use by right. People follow us because they have to – they don't have a choice.
2. Permission Leadership: This has to do with relationship. We build relationships with the people we are working with. Then people begin to follow us because they want to rather than just because they have to.
3. Production Leadership: Here we begin to produce results. People look at what we have done for the organization and they begin to respect us as they look at the momentum that begins to kick in.
4. People Development: Reproduction happens – 'Leaders beget leaders'. You begin to look at the people around you and try and help them to be the kind of leaders that they ought to be. So there's a development that happens with people around them. Here's where loyalty kicks in because now people are beginning to realize that, even more than the position you have and the relationships that you've built and the results that have come to the organization, you're really interested in them as individuals, wanting to make them better than what they are.
5. Personhood or Pinnacle: Here people follow you out of tremendous awe. They follow you for who you are or what you've done for people and for the company. This is a stage that people very rarely get to.
He says, "If you take these 5 positions, the first position – the title – is given to you. But the next 3, permission, production and people development are earned. And the last one is bestowed upon you."
But it's the fourth one that has been getting my attention in these last couple of weeks as I looked at different writings. People development seems to be a keynote that is being sounded by many leadership gurus in today's work arena. It is important that, while getting our job done, we must also develop the leaders in our team around us, below us, so that we are investing into people as well.
I came across this article by Marvin Bower in McKinsey Quarterly entitled, "Developing Leaders in a Business". He says, "We need to abandon command and control structures and adopt a program to develop leaders. Authority should be replaced by leadership. One of the keys to be able to develop leadership around is for leaders to have essential qualities. He lists about 8 or 9 qualities, but the one that I really want to focus on today is trustworthiness. It is important for leaders to have trustworthiness, because then nobody second-guesses their motive in being able to give them training. Leaders need to be trusted. What is trustworthiness? It is integrity in action."
Richard Heckert, chairman of DuPont says, "If you always tell the truth, you won't have to remember what you said." Trustworthiness is a key quality in a leader even as you begin to build leadership around you.
Robert Galford and Anne Drapeau wrote an article in Harvard Business Review, "Enemies of Trust". They say, "There are three kinds of trust in an organization.
· Strategic Trust – the trust employees have in the people running the show to make the right strategic decisions. Do top managers have the vision and competence to set the right course, allocate resources intelligently, fulfill the mission, and help the company succeed?
· Personal Trust – the trust employees have in their own managers. Do the managers treat employees fairly? Do they consider employees' needs when making decisions about the business and put the company's needs ahead of their own desires?
· Organizational Trust – the trust people have not in any individual but in the company itself. Are processes well designed, consistent, and fair? Does the company make good on its promises?
All of these three types of trust are distinct, but they are linked together in important ways. A good manager will make sure that none of these areas get violated because all of them are important for the well being of the organization. Trust, when shaken, can bring down a leader and an organization.
So we need to be very careful about trust, as we build trust into our relationships with people and as we seek to develop people around us. The development of people comes from trust that comes from both sides – people who are being developed and the leader who is developing. It is the cornerstone. That has really intrigued me. Are we trustworthy leaders? Is that a core quality? If people were to talk about us, would they talk about our trustworthiness? Would they talk about our integrity in action?
That was the challenge for me in these last weeks – to just look at myself and ask the question: Am I trustworthy? Am I developing people around me? Do I trust them? Do they trust me?
It's strange that the second most important command that is found in our Scriptures is: Love your neighbor as yourself. That's a great line for us in corporate settings. Our neighbor can be the person sitting across from us, at a desk a few feet away from us, a team member, somebody in the organization. We have neighbors right through the day. Do we love them as we love ourselves? Do we do for them what we do for ourselves? As I try to enhance myself and grow myself, am I allowing that same thing to happen for them? That's been my challenge – to look around today, at the people and say, "Do I love them to the point where I am willing to invest in them and make them better leaders by helping to develop them?"
That's Corporate Capsules point this week – to look at development of leaders. John Maxwell's fourth area - People Development – reproduction and see where loyalty sets in and people begin to do the things that we ask because they respect us, because the decisions we have taken in the past and we are committed to building up people all around us. Remember to love our neighbor as ourselves this week and in the weeks to come.
Let me pray for you. Almighty God. Thank you for your word that comes to us, to love our neighbor as ourselves. Help us to figure that out in our various arenas of influence and power and authority. Help us to be able to develop the people around us, that men and women around would come to respect us, not because of the titles we have or the authority we wield, but because we show love and concern and care for those around us. May that be a hallmark of our leadership. We ask you to help us achieve it in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
• John C. Maxwell, "The 5 Levels of Leadership," http://www.johnmaxwell.com/blog/the-5-levels-of-leadership
• "Developing Leaders in a Business." Book excerpt, McKinsey Quarterly, "The Will to Lead" by Marvin Bower. http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/leading_in_the_21st_century/developing_leaders_in_a_business?cid=other-eml-cls-mip-mck-oth-1403&p=1
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