The big question we have to
ask today is what is leadership?
Leadership is probably the most important element to our success.
Leadership can be defined as motivating one or more people to move in a
certain direction. That move can be
in the form of taking some action and/or acquiring a new belief.
So, by this definition, leadership can also be defined as Influence and
it also can be defined as Sales. Both
are fundamental elements in your success.
You may have never thought of it that way.
Be honest, how many of you thought becoming better at Leadership,
Influence, and Sales would help prosper your life?
Probably not very many of you.
However, I am going to give it my best to “influence” you on the absolute
truth of that fact.
Effective
leadership is the most vital element to any organization.
With it and you can reach the stars.
Without it and the murkiest swamp will become your home.
As John Maxwell says, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.”
So, what is effective leadership and how do we become that kind of
leader? I believe one of the best
definitions comes from author J. Oswald Sanders’ when he described leadership as
“Influence.” Sound familiar?
We all influence people everyday.
It may be as simple as influencing your co-workers on where to go eat
lunch or as vital as influencing your teenager not to use drugs.
The first thing
I think we need to understand is that there is a difference between an
“Influential Leader” and a “Positional Leader.”
The Positional Leader has the title.
I am the President. I am the
Director. I am the King of
the nation. Well, that is great.
But that doesn’t in and of itself make you influential.
The Influential Leader may be the peasant of the kingdom or the entry
level employee. Influence is about
inspiring and moving people into action in order to reach a desired goal.
I hope you have the position, but I also hope you have the trust,
respect, and heart of your people. Whatever
your position is at this time, I want to help you develop into the Influential
Person that you were born to be.
Before we can go any further, I
believe it is important that we dig a little deeper into the explanations and
actions of leadership. Let me ask
you a question. Is there a
difference between a leader and a manager? There is, isn’t there.
Ok. What does a leader do?
What is the first action that they take?
Right. They create a vision.
They may not create a vision for the entire organization but they
definitely do for their part of it.
Alright, what does a manager do?
Right. They make it happen.
They implement the vision.
The leader creates where we are going and the manager breaks the vision into
manageable parts and assigns the tasks to the right people and assures that it
happens. Ok, let me throw another
concept out there? What does a
coach do? A coach motivates,
inspires, teaches, provides resources, disciplines when necessary, etc…
Which are we?
A Leader, a Manager, or a Coach?
That is right. We are all
three. I don’t think we can
separate it anymore. We have to be
all three. We are a
Leader/Manager/Coach. Now, that
makes our task a little more daunting but will make us much more effective and
successful in the long run. As I
close this article, I encourage you to let this concept be a seed in the fertile
soil of your mind. Let it grow.
Let it develop and before you know it, so will your influence.
