Leadership in any arena is dependant on many things. My view is that a leader is not just a boss or the person in charge. A leader inspires his / her people to be thier best. A leader mentors, teaches, challenges and encourages his/ her people.
I believe very strongly in the concept of "Servant Leadeship", basically a belief that the higher you go in an orgniazation the more you owe to the people below you. This concept can be used in any environment where there is heirarchy, or bosses. No matter where you are on that ladder you owe it the people you have the priveledge of leading to give your all to thier needs and thier concerns as well as your own.
Just becasue you are in charge does not mean you are always right, it means you have the responsibility of investigating and finding out what is right and pursuing that position. Making sure your people understand the mission and getting their input can often make the journey towards the goal easier and more impactful.
Being a leader means staking out the high ground and teaching your people why you believe your position is correct. Demanding that people do as you say is the easy part, getting people to "buy in" to your idea and run with it , using all of thier skills and abilities is the true art of leadership.
For the people that say discipline must be a large part of leadership, I say; It depends on how you define discipline. The root of discipline is disciple, to follow.
If someone does something wrong beacuse they were trying to accomplish your mission and they did so witout malice, you must correct the action and re-align them. If they do somehting wrong to cut corners or evade work then negative discipline comes into play. For most people, positive actions work much better than negative.
And finally you must care about your people. You cant live thier lives but they shold know you care about them and thier lives. This is part of servant leadership. Giving of yourself as your people need it, be that time, energy, advice or just a listening post.
Being a good leader is not about you. Its about your people. JPangaro
No comments:
Post a Comment